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DD-823 History
It was inevitable that another Samuel B Roberts would soon
join the fleet as a fitting tribute to the
memories of both the man and the DE-413. That
inevitability became reality in early 1945 when the
Secretary of the Navy designated destroyer hull number 823
with the name Samuel B Roberts.
The second Samuel B Roberts was laid down on 27 June 1945 by
the Consolidated Steel Corporation of Orange Texas.
Launching occurred on November 30, 1945 and commissioning
was on 22 December 1946. Sponsor of the vessel was
Mrs. Samuel B Roberts, mother of the fallen hero. The
new ship was commanded by Comdr. C.T. Doss. A copy of
the invitation to the commissioning follows;
Following shakedown training off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in
February 1947, Samuel B Roberts joined the Atlantic Fleet.
She participated in Fleet maneuvers prior to proceeding to
the Mediterranean in January 1948. Returning to the United
States in June, she began another year of operations along
our eastern coast. She then conducted her second tour
of foreign duty, vi9siting northern Europe from May to
September 1949. Roberts next participated in western
Atlantic operations until March 1950 when she returned to
the Mediterranean to join the 6th Fleet.
She steamed back to the United States in October 1950.
Following further operations in the western Atlantic and
Caribbean, she got underway for Scotland on 10 September
1952 to join NATO forces in “Operation Mainbrace,” before
proceeding to the Mediterranean to once again join 6th
Fleet. Two months later, in November, she returned for
further duty off northern Europe, and finally headed home,
arriving in Newport on 29 January 1953.
Samuel B Roberts operated in the Atlantic and Caribbean from
early 1953 until 3 August 1954 when she headed for the
western Pacific, via the Panama Canal, to begin an
around-the-world cruise. She spent five months in the
waters around Japan and the Philippines, then traversed the
Indian Ocean, navigated the Suez Canal, and arrived home on
14 March 1955. The remainder of the year was spent in
local operations with the exception of a hastily ordered
voyage in July to a lifeguard station off Greenland during
President Eisenhowers’s flight to Geneva.
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