USS ''Rogers'' (DD-876) was a of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. She was named for three brothers — Jack Ellis Rogers Jr., Charles Ethbert Rogers, and Edward Keith Rogers — killed in action aboard during the Battle of Tassafaronga in the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

on 30 November 1942. ''Rogers''s

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

was laid down on 3 June 1944 by

Consolidated Steel Corporation Consolidated Steel Corporation (formed 18 December 1928) was an American steel and shipbuilding business. Consolidated built ships during World War II in two locations: Wilmington, California and Orange, Texas. It was created in 1929 by the merg ...

Orange, Texas Orange is a city and the county seat of Orange County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 19,324. It is the easternmost city in Texas, located on the Sabine River at the border with Louisiana, and is from Houst ...

. The ship was launched on 20 November 1944, sponsored by the Mother, Mrs. Josie Viola Taylor Rogers, wife of Jack Ellis Rogers Sr., and commissioned on 26 March 1945.

Service history

World War II and afterwards, 1945–1949

Following shakedown off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, ''Rogers'' was converted to a picket ship at the

Norfolk Naval Shipyard The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard and abbreviated as NNSY, is a U.S. Navy facility in Portsmouth, Virginia, for building, remodeling and repairing the Navy's ships. It is the oldest and largest industrial facility tha ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. After further training in the Atlantic and Caribbean, ''Rogers'' transited the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...

and touched at

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

before reaching

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

on 4 August 1945. With the termination of hostilities, ''Rogers'' departed Pearl Harbor on 17 August for

Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populous a ...

where she arrived on 31 August via

Eniwetok Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; mh, Ānewetak, , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ja, ブラウン環礁) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with it ...

and

Iwo Jima Iwo Jima (, also ), known in Japan as , is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands and lies south of the Bonin Islands. Together with other islands, they form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The highest point of Iwo Jima is Mount Suribachi at high. ...

. On 1 September she stood out of Tokyo Bay to join a fast carrier task group and commence her routine duties as a member of the 7th Fleet. Through the decade she rotated to the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

for duty with that fleet on a regular schedule, and in 1949 assisted in evacuating American nationals from China. ''Rogers'' participated in the " Operation Sandstone" atomic bomb tests in Eniwetok Atoll in 1948. On 18 March 1949, she was reclassified as a radar picket destroyer (DDR) after a height finder radar and more communication equipment had been added and her

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s had been removed.

Korean War, 1950–1953

During 1951 and 1952, ''Rogers'' served as a unit of Task Forces 77, 95, and 96 and participated in shore bombardment, blockading, and patrol missions in Korean waters. During this period ''Rogers'' also served as "lifeguard" destroyer for two Presidents: for

President Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

's flight to

Wake Island Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of To ...

for his conference with General

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was C ...

in 1950 and for President-elect Eisenhower on his return from the Far East in 1952.

WestPac deployments, 1953–1962

After fighting stopped in Korea, ''Rogers'' alternated west coast tours with WestPac deployment. In 1954, she helped in the evacuation of the Tachen Islands. By 1960 ''Rogers'' had made over a dozen six to nine-month cruises to the Far East. After 1st Fleet operations off the

west coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

, ''Rogers'' again deployed in January 1962 to WestPac where she operated with carrier groups, on

Formosa Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is an island country located in East Asia. The main island of Taiwan, formerly known in the Western political circles, press and literature as Formosa, makes up 99% of the land area of the territorie ...

patrol, and participated in a major allied amphibious exercise. ''Rogers'' returned to the 1st Fleet and on the evening of 12 November, successfully recovered a pilot from the aircraft carrier , who had ejected from his aircraft into a dense fog off the coast of southern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Vietnam, 1963–1969

In June 1963, after 18 years in the Pacific, ''Rogers'' departed

for the east coast and FRAM I modernization at

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

. On 30 July 1963 she was reclassified from DDR-876 to DD-876. In May 1964 she returned to the Pacific Fleet. During the summer of 1965, ''Rogers'' visited San Francisco, Puget Sound, and Hawaii as part of the Pacific Midshipman Training Squadron. One year later she was operating off Vietnam in the

Tonkin Gulf The Gulf of Tonkin is a gulf at the northwestern portion of the South China Sea, located off the coasts of Tonkin (northern Vietnam) and South China. It has a total surface area of . It is defined in the west and northwest by the northern c ...

serving on

Search and Rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

and shore bombardment missions from August 1966, returning to San Diego in August 1967, she operated with the 1st Fleet off the west coast of the United States until deploying again to the western Pacific in September 1967. In mid-November, she was operating in the Gulf of Tonkin, and in April 1968 returned to San Diego, California. Again operating off the west coast of the United States for the balance of the year, ''Rogers'' deployed to the Far East in January 1969. En route she earned the

Meritorious Unit Commendation The Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC; pronounced ''muck'') is a mid-level unit award of the United States Armed Forces. The U.S. Army awards units the Army MUC for exceptionally meritorious conduct in performance of outstanding achievement or s ...

for action in

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an waters on 14 January coming alongside the port quarter of the aircraft carrier with six fire hoses trained on the raging flight-deck fire while exposed to flying shrapnel from exploding bombs. After spending some of her time in the Far East off Vietnam, she returned to San Diego on 6 July. After a year of operations with the First Fleet, ''Rogers'' sailed from San Diego for another Far East cruise. Following five months of service in the western Pacific, she returned to San Diego on 16 December.

WestPac deployments, 1970–1974

At the completion of another spring of west coast operations, ''Rogers'' headed back to WestPac, departing from San Diego on 29 June 1972. She returned to San Diego on 22 December and spent the next year on the Pacific coast of the United States engaged initially in normal operations. Later, in early April 1972, she entered

Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard The Hunters Point Naval Shipyard was a United States Navy shipyard in San Francisco, California, located on of waterfront at Hunters Point in the southeast corner of the city. Originally, Hunters Point was a commercial shipyard established ...

for regular overhaul. Overhaul was completed by 28 August and she left Hunter's Point for various trials and refresher training, which continued until mid-December. On 18 December, she sailed for Subic Bay, but had to return to San Diego three days later because of a medical emergency. She departed San Diego the same day, 21 December, and arrived in Subic Bay on 29 January 1973. Returning to San Diego on 12 June 1973, ''Rogers'' operated along the west coast into 1974. ''Rogers'' was on the gun-line again from January 1973 through April 1973 at the moment

President Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...

declared cease fire. ''Rogers'' fired the last shot of the Vietnam War.

Reserve training, 1974–1980

In 1974 she changed homeports to Swan Island in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, and became part of Destroyer Squadron 37. ''Rogers'' was tasked with training U.S. Navy reserves in the Portland area. ''Rogers'' also made many trips to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

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, Esquimalt Harbour, Nanoose Bay and San Diego to train US Navy Reservists. She performed these duties until 1980 when she was decommissioned and sold to South Korea the next year.

Decommissioning and transfer to Korea

''Rogers'' was decommissioned on 19 February 1981 and was struck from the

Navy List A Navy Directory, formerly the Navy List or Naval Register is an official list of naval officers, their ranks and seniority, the ships which they command or to which they are appointed, etc., that is published by the government or naval author ...

on 1 October 1980. Transferred to the

Republic of Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its east ...

on 11 August 1981, the destroyer served as ROKS ''Jeonju'' (DD-925) until decommissioned on 31 December 1999. The destroyer is now a museum ship at Dangjin Marine Tourism Organization (Sapgyo Hamsang Park) in the city of Dangjin-Gun, Chung Nam Province.

References

External links

*
destroyersonline.com: USS ''Rogers'' (DD-876)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers (DD-876) Gearing-class destroyers of the United States Navy Ships built in Orange, Texas 1944 ships World War II destroyers of the United States Cold War destroyers of the United States Korean War destroyers of the United States Vietnam War destroyers of the United States Ships transferred from the United States Navy to the Republic of Korea Navy Museum ships in South Korea