USS Rooks (DD-804)

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USS Rooks 1944
USS Rooks 1944
Overview
Type destroyer
Shipyard

Todd Pacific Shipyards

Keel laying October 27, 1943
Launch June 6, 1944
1. Period of service flag
period of service

September 2, 1944-26. July 1962

Whereabouts 1962 canceled to Chile in
1983
Technical specifications
displacement

2,100  ts

length

114.7 meters

width

12.2 meters

Draft

5.4 meters

crew

329

drive
speed

35 kn

Range

6,500  nautical miles (11,700 km) at 15 knots

Armament

When commissioning:

The USS Rooks (DD-804) was a for Fletcher Class belonging destroyer of the US Navy . The destroyer was used in World War II and the Korean War. In 1962 the ship was loaned to Chile and put into service as the Cochrane . In 1983 the destroyer was canceled.

Namesake

Captain Albert H. Rooks (1891–1941) was in command of the USS Houston , which was sunk in the Sunda Strait during the battle . He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor .

technology

Hull and drive

The hull of the USS Rooks was 114.7 m long and 12.2 m wide. The draft was 5.4 m, the displacement was 2,100 tons . The ship was powered by two General Electric steam turbines, and the steam was generated in four Babcock & Wilcox boilers. The power was 60,000 shaft horsepower, the top speed was 35 knots .

Armament and Electronics

The main armament of the destroyer when it was put into service were the five 5 "/ 38 Mk.30 single turrets. In addition, there were various anti-aircraft guns , which were reinforced in the course of the war.

The USS Rooks was equipped with radar . An SG and an SC radar were mounted on the mast above the bridge, with which aircraft could be located at distances between 15 and 30 nautical miles and ships between 10 and 22 nautical miles. A QC sonar was installed for underwater location .

history

The USS Rooks was laid down at Todd Pacific Shipyards in Seattle , Washington on October 27, 1943 and launched on June 6, 1944. Her godmother was the widow of the namesake Edith R. Rooks. On September 2, 1944, the destroyer was put into service under the command of Commander Robert F. Martin.

After completing the test drives, the ship went to Hawaii to take part in landing and artillery exercises.

1945

On January 22, 1945, she drove with LSTs to Eniwetok , from there to Saipan to carry out landing exercises again.

On D-Day of the landing on Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945, the USS Rooks led the LSTs to the landing section and then served as a radar outpost. In the afternoon she moved to the southeast tip of the island and covered the landings of US Marines there . Between February 21 and 26, it repeatedly used its artillery against targets on Iwo Jima, was used for anti-submarine defense and again as a radar outpost. On February 28, she left Iwo Jima and escorted troop transports to Saipan , drove with other destroyers to Ulithi and then escorted two escort aircraft carriers to Leyte . It reached Okinawa on April 1, 1945 and bombarded the island's coast with a total of 18,624 5 "shells over the next 87 days. During this period, it was repeatedly targeted by air raids and shot down six enemy aircraft. Ammunition, fuel and food were added to the base on the Kerama Islands.The heaviest air raids took place on April 6, 1945. At around 1:00 am she was involved in the shooting down of six Allied aircraft associations attacked. More than 100 aircraft attacked around 16:00 pm and until 16:48 the shot USS Rooks a Kamikaze , and was involved in the shooting of another five. to 17:12 it was in support of the USS Hyman called the was badly damaged by a kamikaze attack. Three other attackers were shot down together with the USS Sterett . The ship's doctor and a medic transferred to the damaged destroyer d it to Reede of Hagushi was escorted.

The USS Rooks took on July 4, 1944, several minesweepers a large-scale demining operation at the entrance to the East China Sea . Originally planned for fire support, it used its artillery to destroy floating mines . It served as a radar outpost and as a reference for the mine sweepers. This operation lasted until the end of July.

On August 1, she escorted the heavy cruisers USS Salt Lake City and USS Chester from Bruckner Bay to Saipan. From Ulithi she then escorted three troop transports to Leyte, where she was repaired until September 1st. Together with several LSTs she ran to Okinawa and from there to Nagasaki . With 92 former prisoners of war on board, she reached Okinawa on September 15. On her return to Nagasaki, she went with the commander of the destroyers in the Pacific, Rear Adm. William HP Blandy , on board to inspect the Japanese naval base in Sasebo . The USS Rooks remained in the waters between Japan and Okinawa until October 26, 1945 . She ran on November 10 in San Francisco and on November 15 in Bremerton , where she was assigned to the reserve fleet in San Diego .

1946-1950

On June 11, 1946, the USS Rooks was decommissioned and inactivated on August 17.

1951-1962

The USS Rooks was returned to service on May 19, 1951. She was assigned to the Destroyer Squadron (DesRon) 20 in Newport on October 13 . The following year, she participated in exercises and was overtaken. On September 6, 1952, the DesRon 20 was relocated to Korea . The USS Rooks served as escort and plan guard for Task Force (TF) 77 and TF 95 . They shelled the North Korean ports of Songjin , Wonsan and Chongjin . She left Korean waters in February 1953 and returned to Newport on April 11th.

She was assigned to the 2nd US fleet, overhauled in 1954 and sent to the Mediterranean from September 1954 to February 1955 . After returning to the United States of America , she served as an artillery training ship and from the summer took part in anti-submarine and convoy exercises. Until July 1962, she undertook trips and exercises along the east coast , into the Mediterranean and into the Red Sea, and was on standby during the Freedom 7 mission in 1961 .

1962-1983

On July 26, 1962, she was loaned to the Chilean Navy as part of the Military Assistance Program , which she put into service as Cochrane .

Whereabouts

In 1983 the Cochrane was canceled.

Awards

The USS Rooks received three Battle Stars during World War II and two Battle Stars for their service in the Korean War .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Theodore Roscoe: Destroyer Operations in World War II p. 489

literature

Web links