USS Samuel B. Roberts

USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413) was a John C. Butler-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy which served in World War II, the first of three U.S. Navy ships to bear the name.

Samuel B. Roberts was named after Coxswain Samuel Booker Roberts Jr., a Navy Cross recipient, who had been commended for voluntarily steering a Higgins boat towards enemy forces at Guadalcanal, in order to divert fire from evacuation efforts being undertaken by other friendly vessels. The ship was nicknamed the "Sammy B".

Samuel B. Roberts was sunk in the Battle off Samar, in which a small force of U.S. warships prevented a vastly superior Imperial Japanese Navy force from attacking the amphibious invasion fleet off the Philippine island of Leyte. The battle formed part of the larger Battle of Leyte Gulf of October 1944. The ship was part of Task Unit 77.4.3 ("Taffy 3"), escort carriers only protected by relatively few destroyers and destroyer escorts. Task Unit 77.4.3 was inadvertently left to fend off a fleet of heavily armed Japanese battleships, cruisers, and destroyers off the island of Samar.

Steaming through incoming shells, Samuel B. Roberts joined Heermann in crippling the heavy cruiser Chikuma with gunfire, depleting almost all of her ammunition. As she withdrew, she was taken under fire by several battleships, with Kongō landing the killing blow. After the battle, Samuel B. Roberts received the appellation "the destroyer escort that fought like a battleship." As of June 2022, she is the deepest shipwreck ever discovered. Her last known survivor died on 20 March 2022.

Of the 224 man crew, 120 survived to be rescued by PC (Patrol Craft), escorting a group of five LCI's (Landing Craft Infantry). During the battle engagement, 89 men were killed, and 25 more perished as a result of wounds sustained during the battle or shark attack (a lack of floatation devices and drinking sea water may have also contributed to men lost while awaiting rescue). The survivors spent about 50 hours in the water before being rescued.