on the 25th of October 1944 the Destroyer Escort USS Samuel B Roberts and the rest of task unit Taffy 3 took part in the Battle of Samar during the Battle of late Gulf nicknamed the Samy B the Destroyer Escort and the rest of the task unit was massively outgunned by a much larger powerful Japanese surface Fleet but the Americans still managed to cause significant damage to the enemy Force by the end of the 2 and a half hour battle the Sami B and three more US Navy ships were sunk but in the process they had beaten back the Imperial Japanese Navy's major offensive against the Allied amphibious Landings on latay in this video we will tell the story of the battle of Samar from the perspective of the American Sailors aboard the USS Samu B Roberts the smallest vessel to take part in the battle but first a quick word on this week's sponsor World of Warships Legends a free-to-play naval Warfare themed game available on Console fight in 400 aircraft carriers battleships Cruisers destroyers and 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including the American tier 3 Premium Battleship Arkansas German tier 3 Cruiser cars rule 7even days of premium account 10 red white and blue camouflages and 10 Hunter camouflages good luck and fair seed the routine morning General quarters alarm sounded aboard the Sammy B at 6:00 a.m. on the morning of the 25th of October to little Fanfare ensen Jack Moore arrived at his post in the radio decoding room a few minutes late having been reading a novel in his bunk he offered a sleepy good morning to Chief Tulia sarapen the head of the Samuel B Roberts radio Department shortly after 6:30 a.m. the intercom crackled and Captain Robert copelan's Voice boomed through the loud speakers Enon Moore immediately sensed something was wrong usually seman Jack Roberts was responsible for addressing the crew what Copeland said next confirmed that the ship was in grave danger a large Japanese fleet has been contacted they are 15 M away and headed in our Direction they are believed to have four battleships eight Cruisers and a number of Destroyers this will be a fight against overwhelming odds from which survival cannot be expected we will do what damage we can Mo and saraphi stared at each other in disbelief neither man able to speak at this inopportune moment a general message from Admiral Chester Nimitz began printing from the coding machine it read due to the splendid airmanship shown in yesterday's engagements I can ensure a defeat of the Japanese Navy from which it will never recover Mo threw the message on the floor in disgust as the ship Sailors prepared for battle on the bridge Captain Copeland was monitoring the radio network when Commander William Thomas gave the order for Taffy 3's escorting destroyers to launch a torpedo attack against the Japanese Fleet Copeland made the split-second decision to join in on the main attack he called the executive officer Bob Roberts into the command information center Bob give me a course to put 60° on the bow of the leading ship in that Cruiser column in a stroke of luck the Japanese warships were lining up perfectly for a torpedo attack cementing his decision to strike now Copeland's next call was to the engine room where he asked Lieutenant Bill trailbridge to push the ship to the absolute limit of its performance don't worry about your reduction gears or your boilers or anything because there's all hell being thrown at us up here and we're just fortunate we haven't been hit yet the boilers were meant to carry 440 lb of steam pressure but tribridge managed to build up 660 lb Instead The Destroyer Escort fell in behind the Fletcher class destroyers Hol and Herman the Samuel B Roberts plowed through the waves of the Pacific Ocean while Japanese shells screamed overheads most of the enemy ships targeting tapi 3's vulnerable escort carriers for most men the tension of sailing into Bassel with such a small ship was nearly unbearable Gunnery officer Bill Burton repeatedly asked to open fire with the two 5-in guns aboard but Copeland denied his request on the bridge Communications officer Lieutenant Tom Stevenson and his best friend assistant Gunnery officer John lle could only watch impotently as the Japanese fleet was occasionally obscured by the silent flashes of their main batteries firing when it was time for both men to take their Battle Stations Stevenson and L shook hands and wished each other good luck unsure if they would survive the coming battle luckily the Sami be's small profile made her difficult to spot in an ocean strewn with smoke and Rain squals by some miracle the ship was able to make it within 6,000 y only 1,000 yard from ideal torpedo range Seated on the torpedo Mount Chief torpedoman Rudy scow prepared to launch however just as Sammy B was lining up the shot a Japanese shell smashed through the ship's radio antenna which sent the rigging crashing on onto the torpedo Mount and jamming it in place a mass of dangling wires nearly crushed Chief torpedoman's scowl knocking his wrench into the ocean in the process a spare wrench was kept in the torpedo Shack but XO Roberts quickly did the calculations in his head and shouted the settings to scow who did his best to train the damaged torpedo tubes on a Japanese Heavy Cruiser by now the Samuel B Roberts was only 4,000 yard away from the enemy Cruiser column Point Blank ranged for the small dist Royer escort the Sami B was so close to the Japanese Fleet that the blasts of the heavy Cruiser's main battery buffeted the ship with turbulant finally executive officer Roberts gave the order to launch Torpedoes and the Samuel B Roberts turned hard to port to escape any return fire in the engine room Lieutenant Trowbridge brought every pound of steam pressure online causing the ship's deck to shake from the vibration of the turbines the next 3 minutes were tense until captain Copeland spotted flames and a column of water erupt near the Japanese Heavy Cruiser a sailor shouted we got her which led to a loud cheer across the Sami B their relation was shortlived as Samuel B Roberts came across the wreckage of the Destroyer USS h while the Sami B had taken only one glancing hit the hall had been pounded into Scrap Metal by the Japanese battleships and was sinking from his forward position on one of the 40 mm gun mounts Seaman Jack yusen couldn't even tell if the burning ship in front of them was American on the bridge Captain Copeland watched with numb anger at what was happening but he knew that stopping to pick up survivors would only put his own crew in unnecessary danger he wrote after the war that encountering the hall in its final moments was one of those disheartening things that puts a lump in your throat it bothered us to leave those men at the mercy of the Jabs but there was no other choice there was no time to mourn at 8:40 a.m. the small Destroyer Escort was forced into a jewel with another Japanese Heavy Cruiser this time the enemy was well aware of her presence and both ships fired broadsides at each other the men in the 5-in gun mounts immediately went to work firing anything they could get their hands on Copeland recalled the boys took the ammunition just the way it came up the Hoist nobody cared what it was they just took it as it came 5-in blind loaded and plugged 5in AA 5in common 5in AP 5in star Shel 5-in proximity fuse just about whatever came up the ammunition hoist it was all fodder for the guns they threw it in as fast as they could get it in 35 minutes of firing the forward gun turret fired 284 rounds while the rear turret did even better lobbing 324 rounds at the enemy for an average of 10 a minute while the gun Cruise were too busy to be afraid the rest of the sailors on Deck were faced with the terrifying reality of naval combat with little to do except pray for deliverance some briefly lost their nerve there were men who seemed Paralyzed by The Experience standing mute and expressionless throughout the intense bombardment others became frenzied and cowered behind any cover they could find regardless of whether it provided safety the author James Horn Fisher provided a vivid description of the situation in his book The Last Stand of the tin can Sailors there was nowhere to run no foxholes to dive into you had no way to know whether the next round would fall ahead of you behind you to the left or right or come burning straight in right down Lucifer's Pike no degree of personal cleverness could diffuse or deflect a shell Bound in a particular sailor's Direction against a faster more powerful opponent a sailor had neither the hope to Vanquish him nor the possibility to flee the Roberts had no way out but through this enemy Cruiser there thus remained only the duty to engage it however it was that Devotion to duty that Copeland later credited for calming the crew down as soon as the splashes had settled back practically everyone was over it from then on for the most part we were just too busy operating and fighting the ship to think about being scared improbably the Roberts decisively won its duel with the Japanese Heavy Cruiser leaving it super structure burning without suffering a single hit in return watching the enemy ship through binoculars the officers aboard the Sami be's Bridge noticed that the Japanese Gunners simply could not depress their main batteries enough to engage the small Destroyer Escort we'd see the flash of fire then we'd hear the blast and seemingly much later but actually at about the same time wh they'd go right over our heads nonetheless it was inevitable that the Sammy B would eventually suffer a direct hit at 8:51 a.m. 3 8in shells from an enemy Heavy Cruiser struck the Destroyer Escort causing major damage Seaman First Class Bill CER said after the war that in that moment I felt as though I were a bed sheet on a clothes line being whipped by a strong wind light through many of the lower compartments went dark while Communications were abruptly cut off the worst damage was in the forward fire room where boiler lines were torn spraying men with scolding hot steam amid the Carnage 18-year-old Jackson maskill coolly sprang into action and turned off the fires beneath the boilers despite the Flesh on his feet burning down to the bone maskil worked the valves and shut off the supply of steam from the boilers almost certainly saving the lives of many men trapped beneath deck he then removed a metal grate and laid flat on the Keel of the ship the only cool area in the fire room and awaited rescue the combat FL information center also filled with hot steam choking dust and a storm of asbestos insulation forcing the men inside to evacuate to the vulnerable Bridge Tom Stevenson realized he had taken trapnel to his legs but was simply too terrified to feel any pain despite a brilliant performance helming the ship quartermaster elt Gentry was Shell Shocked by the experience and had to be replaced after he no longer carried out Captain Copeland's commands in the after 5-in gun turret the automatic gas ejection system failed which meant hot gases could no longer be cleared from the gun breach with each shell fired the breach grew hotter and hotter at a time when the Sami B simply had to shoot back at the enemy soon the breach detonated one of the 5-in shells killing every man inside Seaman second class Sam blue was blown overboard by the turret explosion but hit the surface of the water so hard that the CO2 cartridge on his inflatable life belt triggered with the Roberts now crippled more shells scored direct hits the ship's mascot a mixed breed dog named little Sammy was Driven Crazy by the incessant shelling I felt sorry for him Copeland later wrote he was running up and down the deck with all the guns firing and the men he knew lying dead at 9:00 a.m. a 14in high explosive shell scored a killing blow on the number one engine room killing Lieutenant Trowbridge and all but one man inside hot shrapnel flew in every direction maming or cutting down many sailors this was a mortal wound the ship was now dead in the water and settling at the stern the ship had lost electrical power below decks leaving men to fumble and stagger their way through the darkness Captain Copeland sent Lieutenant Stevenson to determine whether the AR gun was still functional but Stevenson was reluctant to go his friend John ler was stationed in that area and Stevenson could not bear the thought of seeing him dead when Stevenson finally got over his fear he went after and was faced with a scene of Devastation the deck was a flame with burning oil and Twisted Metal preventing him from investigating any further when Stevenson investigated L cler's station he found that it was entirely gone Blown Away by shellfire one of the most popular men on the Samuel B Roberts John L cler's Body was never recovered on the bridge first lieutenant and chief damage control officer Lloyd gett gave the Grim news to Captain Copeland after a thorough inspection of the Sammy B I would advise you to abandon ship when the order was passed to the crew key members quickly got to work destroying sensitive equipment lest they somehow fell into enemy hands James Horn Fisher described this process quartermaster Albert Gentry beat the lenses out of a pair of ordinary 7x 50 binoculars then smashed the glass face of a gyro repeater display Howard SEO a soundman took a sledgehammer and gave the sonar machine a few well- aimed blows then he took a Tommy Gun and peppered the contraption liberally with 45 caliber slugs nearly hitting his Skipper Bob Roberts and gentry with the Ricochet Tom Stevenson and signalman third class Charles Nat went below decks and gathered the secret plans for the latay invasion and threw them overboard in a weighted cloth sack for the rest of the crew the next few minutes were a struggle for survival the ship continued to shake with hits from enemy shells killing many who were close to escaping into the ocean radio man third class dick rad had felt the floor beneath his feet growing uncomfortably warm in the radio room before making it on Deck with Chief saraphi he recalled all of a sudden there was another big blast I felt something hit me in the leg and I looked at saraphi and there was just blood all over the place it was awful rad had been badly wounded in the leg while sarapen had his left arm nearly taken off both men staggered to the railing and lifted themselves over the edge and into the water clusters of survivors began to form around the dying ship but not all wanted to be rescued little Sammy the dog mascot had swam out to a raft but after a few minutes decided that he belonged back on the Samuel B Robert he leapt back into the water and swam back to the ship never to be seen again meanwhile Captain Copeland and executive officer Roberts remained on board to search for any more sensitive equipment or documents that still needed to be discarded upon finding none Copeland asked Roberts to supervise the evacuation and rally survivors in the water however Roberts refused Captain I'm not leaving until you leave I don't want you to be a damn fool and get heroic and go down with the ship despite pleading with his XO Roberts refused to budge until Copeland gave him a direct order if that's the way you put it Captain I'll go responded Roberts to which Copeland added that's just the way I'm putting it I trust I'll see you in the water but in case I don't Bob you've been a swell exec and I want you to know that the two men shook hands before Roberts concluded it's been wonderful serving with you Captain I hope you make it I'm leaving you with reluctance with that the EXO left the Flying Bridge to abandon ship copelan remained on board with a skeleton crew to find any Sailors who had not gotten the message to abandon ship the captain could only find a few badly wounded men those who stood a chance at survival were fitted with a life belt and evacuated but some with Mortal wounds were given morphine as a merciful gesture once the dying ship had been extensively searched it was finally time for the last men to leave standing next to Lieutenant git on the submerging fan tail Copeland sheepishly asked how do you go about getting out of here despite being the captain of a US Navy ship Copeland could not swim gnit responded well the best way Captain is to roll over and swim on your back you'll get going with that Copeland and the rest of the crew leapt into the water and left the Sammy be for the last time Once In The Water the sailors swam as far away from the sinking ship as they possibly could to avoid getting caught up in secondary explosions despite abandoning ship a little over 9:00 a.m. it took over an hour for the Destroyer Escort to sink during this time the oil covered survivors formed small groups around the small number of Life rafts that were still seaworthy placing the most badly wounded in the center with such little space on the rafts most formed human chains in the water and watched their ship sink at 10:07 a.m. the USS Samuel B Roberts slipped beneath the waves of the Pacific Ocean said bosen's mate first class red Harrington boys take off your hats there goes a good ship download and play World of Warships Legends for free using my link in the description to receive a huge starter pack including the American tier 3 Premium Battleship Arkansas German tier 3 Cruiser carru 7 Days of premium account 10 red white and blue camouflages and 10 Hunter camouflages good luck and fair seed thanks again to our amazing patrons without which we wouldn't be able to produce videos like this welcome to all our new patrons this month and a special thanks to our patron of the week Sky Tech CEO each week we choose our favorite patreon comments to shout out this week Mark P says that feeling for the sailors similar as to be in a foxhole but moving on water worrying if the next Shell was the one takes bravery and courage to overcome if you'd like to support us please join our patreon 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