On May 5th, 1938, two idetical ships were launched. They were Destroyers who were destined to play magor roles in the upcomeing war, but the fate of these brave little "tin cans" were to be very different.....They were named the U.S.S. "ROWAN" DD 405 and the U.S.S. "STACK" DD-406 The later ship would serve in just about every Campaign in the Pacific starting with Gaudlecanal to Okinawa....but before departing for the war with the Japanese, she was assigned convoy escort duty in the Atlantic. She is credited with damageing the German sub U-182, forceing her to return to France for repairs. At the end of the war, she carried Japanese Military commanders to prepare for surrender preparations.She was assigned to the BINIKI atoll Atomic bomb test which she also survived. She was sunk at Kwajalein April 24th 1948 by Naval gunfire.....The "ROWAN" served in the Atlantic escorting convoys, and saw much action. She was part of the North Africa landings, and then the landings of "Salarno"....She did her duty to the last and was torpedoed by a German E-boat on the night of May 10th 1944. She went under in less than one minute with 202 of her crew of 273 Officers and men.
Good morning Walt ! Could you please give the coordinates of the sinking of the Rowan, in the Med or the Atlantic areas ? I may have info on the Schnellboote that attacked her. E
Walt and others, doing some blitz researching, I have come up with the following.... the Destroyer USS Rowan defending a convoy off Salerno, Italy was attacked by three S-boots of the 7th Flotilla on Septmeber 11, 1943. She was sunk by a torpedo of S-158 commanded by Schultz-Jena in map square SNF-1, coordinates 40.07n 14. 18c. Schultz-Jena was protected by 2 other S-booten commanded by Holzapfel in S-151, and Heye in S-152 in the same flotilla. On this date there were also 5 other ships sunk by S-boots, Kommandeur Schmidt of the 3rd Flotilla in S-54 sunk three, the Leopardi, Pontonia and the Quintinio Setta. From Angriffe Deutscher Schnellboote im Mittlemeer. E
I dont know guys. Im confused about the dates. The year 1944 which I gave seems to late for the Slarno Campaign, but I did a little cross checking and found that the Cruiser "Savanna" was damnaged,(Sept 11 th 1943) but it did not mention the "Rowan"...But, being just a destroyer, its possible it would not be mentioned in the condenced report Im reading. The first report I got the figgures from may be wrong all the way around. I dont think it could have been the year 1944, so maybe the day and mounth are wrong also.....by the way, what got me interested in these two ships is a launching botton I got at the Flea market. It has the names an date of launching. I did a little reserch on the "haze grey underway" web site ( it is an excellent sight)and found the story I posted, but in much more detail...but their must be a problem with the date of the sinking given.
Walt, yes it is 11 September 1943 according to governmental records covering the losses of US navy Destroyers sunk in action. Listings on several search engines by typing in USS Rowan. Even a web-site to the boat and the book. www.ussrowan.com If you have other sinkings by S boots I may be able to help further......the staements I gave from German archiv's also gives an assumption of the tonnages sunk besides quadrants and S-boot kommandeurs. E
Thanks guys for the correction and information. I would still like to brag on the sight I was bragging about. Thats the first error ive found there, or perhaps I read it wrong. If you want to check it out, just type in HAZEGRAY UNDERWAY.
I'll add more to the Rowan story soon, as I have some files to download from the vets of this fateful mission. Hopeful everyone will be interested........ ? E
The Sinking of the USS Rowan The survivors stated that it was shortly after midnight on September 11, 1943 as they were screening the convoy returning from Oran from the invasion of Salerno, they were dispatched from the convoy to run down the track of a torpedo that had been fired into the convoy.-(S-boots) The torpedo missed them by only about 150 yards. At first, they thought they were following a U-boat, but when the target began to pull away from them, they assumed it had to be a surface target. It wasn't just one target-it was three ! Rowan began firing the forward guns and according to the radarman at the time, the lead target disappeared from the scope. At that point, the remaining two split in opposite directions and came back on the Rowan. They began to fire torpedo's - at least one, maybe two or three. Only one hit in the # 3 Magazine, and it detonated the munitions. They could see the fireball from 16 miles away. The ship was sunk in 40 seconds.......this being the consensus of the survivors. The only men who survived the sinking were forward of the stack. A few were below deck, but my uncle was down in the # 1 magazine. He had no chance, even though he would have been unhurt in the explosion. At this time it is thought that there maybe 6 living survivors left of the Rowan. Just got word yesterday that another of the crew passed away. He was about 87 years old- a wonderful man. He was not aboard at the time of the sinking, but he's one of the men we found as a result of our research....... this being from corespondance with author of "Shipmates", Lorraine Seeley Buell the last two days. E
Hi Erich, Thanks for that. Do you by any chance know how I might get the address of any of these men ? I really like the "launching" botton I mentioned, but would gladly send it to one of the crew members if they would like to have it. What do you think , should I try to do that, or just let it lie....know what I mean ?
It must be something about the 11.... 11/11 is certainly a jinxed date in German history.. it is the day the wall came down it is the day of the end of the German monarchy it is the day of the end of WW1 it is the day of the Reichskristallnacht and there are probably more
Andreas......correct ! When Walt first posted this thread I was doing research and saw 11 September, and all I could say was....... ah crap ! Walt, please go back to www.ussrowan.com go to the top boxes and find contact. Should be listed author and other contacts. Select and go ahead and try and see what develops for you. Lorraine and I must have written each other at least 8 times the last two days. E
I had JUST missed the celebration for the Wall coming down. I didnt get to Germany untill Sept 17th. And I never had the chance to go to Oktoberfest in Muenchen BUT, I did get to go to Expo am Meer in Wilhelmshaven which was OK. [ 21 May 2002, 03:45 PM: Message edited by: C.Evans ]
