Monday Maritime Matters
October 29th, 2007 by xformed
Place holder until the dust of getting the ValOUR-IT program moving.
I was planning on covering the USS HEERMAN (DD-532), but there isn’t any easy answers on the ‘net as to who she was named for.
Check back later today, and I should have some gouge up for Naval History’s sake come early evening.
It’s later…later than I’d like, but here it is:
“This will be a fight against overwhelming odds from which survival cannot be expected. We will do what damage we can.â€
LCDR Copeland said to his crew and then turned his ship into harm’s way to face off against the most formidable Japanese fighting force to sail, as part of Taffy 3, he and his crew’s actions are legendary and earned LCDR Copeland the Navy Cross. Taking three 14″ hits from Japanese battleship rounds, the ROBERTS was severely damaged. His gun crews continued firing, even without hydraulics and gas ejection air, expending almost every single 5″ round they carried, regardless of the type of projectile it was.
He wrote a book about his ship, “The Spirit of the Sammie B,” along with his shipmate, Jack O’Neill.
After the war, Robert Copeland returned to his legal profession, but also remained in the Naval Reserves, rising to the rank of Rear Admiral. He passed away in 1973, in the same city where he was born.
Built by the Todd Shipyard at San Pedro, CA and commissioned August 7th, 1982. I helped train her combat systems team during their pre-comm training at Fleet Combat Training Center, Atlantic. She was homeported in San Diego for her entire service time. Decommissioned September 18th, 1996, she was immediately transferred to the Egyptian Navy, renamed Mubarak (F 911).
This entry was posted on Monday, October 29th, 2007 at 7:16 am and is filed under Maritime Matters, Military, Military History, Navy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
October 30th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
FWIW — I checked the online DANFS… ( http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/ )
Their history for the Heerman begins with “Lewis Heermann, born in Kassel, Germany, 3 August 1779…” and that is about all that I could find (everywhere else cites DANFS).
Oddly, there is more information online about his naturalist son, Adolphus Lewis Heerman, namesake of the Heerman’s Gull… plus a couple of oddities like a link about the family residence in NOLA ( http://www.oceanspringsarchives.com/homes.htm ) or links referring to an ancient article he wrote titled “Directions for the Medicine Chest”.
Thanks for the site, xformed, it is a pleasure to browse and read!
October 31st, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Copeland’s book had been online, but it appears it is only in print now.
It is a gripping story and well worth the investement.