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Page 68 text:
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SHIPJS HISTORY The USS ROBERT A. OWENS fDD827J is named in honor of Sergeant Robert Allen OWENS, USMC, of Drayton, South Carolina, who was killed in action on the Island of Bouganville in the Solo- mons on 1 November 1943. For his extraordinary heroism in sacrificing his own life in single-handedly silencing a Japanese gun emplacement which had effectively pinned down U.S. forces in the area, Ser- geant OWENS was awarded the Congressonal Medal of Honor. He is survived by his parents and a broth- er, all of Drayton, South Carolina. The USS ROBERT A. OWENS was built by the Bath Iron Works Corporation and launched at Bath, Maine in July of 1946. After a delay caused by a slowdown in Naval construction at the end of the war, the ship was commissioned as a Carpenter Class Destroyer, USS ROBERT A. OWENS fDDK827l. She is one of only two Carpenter Class Destroyers- the USS CARPENTER fDD825J in Pearl Harbor being her only sister ship. Shortly after commission- ing, OWENS' designation was changed to DDE827. Since commissioning, OWENS has participated in every major Atlantic Fleet exercise. She has dem- onstrated her value as a versatile unit of the Des- troyer Force, taking an active part in air defense, convoy escort, anti-submarine, and fast carrier task force operations. She has operated on numerous oc- casions with ships of NATO and other allied nations, serving in Baltic, Mediterranean, Indian and At- lantic waters. OWENS has also proven popular as a flagship for numerous Commanders. Commander Destroyer Squadron 28 maintained his flag in the OWENS until early 1959. As flagship, OWENS was called upon in March of 1958 to become a part of Task Group ALFA, a special group formed to study existing anti-submarine warfare techniques and to propose modifications and alterations to existing policies and procedures. The work of this task group in stream- lining and integrating air, surface, and sub-surface anti-submarine operations into a smoothly coordi- nated effort in 1958 was in no small way responsible for updating and modernizing the anti-submarine policies of the Navy. In late 1959, the ship served for a short time as the Flagship for Commander, Destroyer Flotilla TWO in operations off the east coast. OWENS be- came the permanent fiagship for Commander, Des- troyer Squadron 36 and participated in operation SPRINGBOARD, in 1960, the annual Carribean training exercise and in project MERCURY. In February 1961, OWENS and Destroyer Squadron 36 became part of Task Group BRAVO. In this assignment OWENS continued to assist in the development of advanced anti-submarine warfare tactics, emphasizing the coordinated efforts between destroyers and aircraft. During the summer months of 1961, OWENS made her fifth deployment to the Mediterranean with other elements of Task Group BRAVO. She returned to the east coast in the fall and resumed her normal anti-submarine patrols. Project MER- CURY called upon OWENS and Destroyer Squadron 36 frequently for services. OWENS was one of the ships standing by to assist in Colonel John Glenn's recovery after his historic space capsule fiight on 20 February 1962. After completing this assignment, the ship op- erated for four months in the Eastern Atlantic and Baltic areas as part of the largest U.S. Task Group since World War II to enter the Northern European area. During this cruise, OWENS visited England, Ireland, the Netherlands, West Germany, Norway and Iceland. During the fall of 1962, OWENS took an active part in the Cuban Quarantine operation, remaining on station for the duration of the crisis while per- forming both anti-submarine patrol and surface shipping surveillance missions, In the spring of 1963, the ship returned to Caribbean waters on a surveillance mission and upon completion of this task, preparations were made to outfit the ship for its sixth and latest Mediterranean deployment. OWENS departed Norfolk on 4 June 1963 for service with the Sixth Fleet in the Medi- terranean. While in the Mediterranean, OWENS was calld upon often to act as a good will representative to the people of Italy, Greece, France, Spain and other nations in the Near East and Southern Euro- pean areas. The ship also had an opportunity to rep- resent the U.S. in the Indian Ocean by departing the Mediterranean and steaming through the Red Sea to Colombo, Ceylon in the Indian Ocean. Upon her return to the States in December 1963, OWENS entered the Norfolk Naval Shipyard at Portsmouth, Virginia for a FRAM MK1 overhaul. During this yard period, the last of her World War I1 weaponry was removed and replaced with modern anti-submarine weapon systems. OWENS left the shipyard in November 1964 and since then has PTO- vided services to the ASW School in Key West, F101 ida and has completed seven weeks post-overhaul training in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. OWENS, Qpef' ating with Destroyer Squadron TWO, as a unit Of the Blue and Gold forces, U.S. Second Fleet, served with the recovery forces for GT-3 and GT-4 space projects and has trained intensively 111 anti' submarine warfare tactics. The ship departed for operations with the U.S. Sixth Fleet on 27 N0Vem' ber 1965. Printed 8: Published By Liskey Lithograph Corp Norfolk Virginia ' . ' 0 , 9.5 , ' I it 0 I I I 'up 'iff' - i'5'5 6f'i ff. f'3'l.5'1 ' . -A Qfi3,,'gg'ii5' w fi fl t e,.?:- - .F -syn -. ' it
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