USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413)

Samuel Booker Roberts, Jr. -- born in San Francisco, Calif., on 12 May 1921 to Samuel B. and Ann [Wexler] Roberts -- enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve on 13 April 1939 at Portland, Ore., and underwent training from 19 August to 1 September 1939. Recalled to active duty as a seaman second class, Roberts reported on board the battleship California (BB-44) on 12 July 1940. After that tour of duty, he returned to Seattle, Wash., as a passenger in Maryland (BB-46) on 12 October, and was released from active duty.

Recalled on 2 December 1940, Roberts received assignment to the transport Heywood (AP-12), formerly the Panama-Pacific liner City of Baltimore , which had been acquired in late October and was undergoing conversion at Portland. Heywood , her crew composed of naval reservists – like Roberts – from Portland, and Chicago, Ill., was commissioned on 19 February 1941. Then, after conducting shakedown training off San Diego, Calif., and in Hawaiian waters, the transport embarked elements of the Sixth Marine Regiment, and departed San Diego on 31 May; she transited the Panama Canal on 5 June, en route to Charleston, S.C., which port she reached ten days later. Ultimately, Heywood sailed for Iceland, reaching Reykjavik on 7 July to disembark elements of the first U.S. Marines to be landed on Icelandic soil.

Within three months, Heywood made a second voyage to Iceland, and before the year [1941] was out, conducted three passenger-carrying trips to Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad. During that time, Roberts advanced in rate to seaman first class on 1 September. On the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941, Roberts’ ship lay at Hampton Roads; soon thereafter, the transport took part in exercises in the waters of Chesapeake Bay, and later made her third voyage to Iceland. Ultimately departing the east coast of the U.S. on 10 April 1942, Heywood set course for the Pacific. Transiting the Panama Canal on 18-19 April, she reached Pago Pago, Samoa, on 10 May. Three days later, Roberts was transferred to await the next available transportation to join his next ship. Embarking in the cargo ship Fomalhaut (AK-22) on 21 June, Roberts reached Wellington, New Zealand, on 1 July.

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Samuel B. Roberts I (DE-413)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.