It is the deepest shipwreck ever found.
The Samuel B Roberts Small World
War Two destroyer escort sunk
during an epic battle in the
Philippines 78 years ago today.
Its recent discovery has spurred
long told stories of bravery,
patriotism and the underdog.
It's a story about a local
captain who knew the odds and
knew he didn't have a choice.
It seems only fitting that in a town
known for its historic naval and
maritime heritage, I'm Jim Ritchie.
They've gathered here. You
guys knew me as Dave Wendell on the ship,
former shipmates. I got out in 84
talking about their bond.
This six years I spent with this
family was probably some of the
greatest six years I've ever had.
It's a brotherhood not only
with each other, but with a group of men
who served aboard a different ship decades
before them that they had.
The mentality. You know,
we were not surrender a ship.
It's such a famous ship,
at least to me, it was.
The ship was the USS Samuel B Roberts,
affectionately called the Sammy B.
Her one and only Captain was a junior
officer in the Navy Reserve from Tacoma,
whose love of the Navy at a young age
set the stage for 30 years of service
to his country. Robert W Copeland would
first graduate from Lincoln High School,
then get his undergraduate degree from the
College of Puget Sound before attending.
Law school at the University of Washington,
where he also earned a naval
Commission through ROTC. So
we have Rear Admiral Robert
Copeland from the class of
1935, the CEO
of the Samuel B Roberts.
His picture is displayed
prominently on its wall of fame.
The tattered flag from his famous ship
evokes curiosity. When the students
walk through these hallways,
they can see a piece of history,
and they can tie it to
something real and tangible. In
late October of 1944, the Japanese
launched a series of attacks against U.S.
Navy ships protecting the Philippines,
trying to regain a strategic
foothold in the Pacific it loss to the US.
The four day endeavor,
called the Battle of Leyte Gulf,
was arguably the largest
naval battle in history.
On the morning of the 25th,
a small fleet of US ships known as Taffy
3 found itself under surprise attack by
the center force of the Japanese Navy,
with nearly twice the ships which
were not only bigger and faster,
but had far superior firepower,
including the battleship Yamato,
the largest ever built Wayne more
than all of Taffy 3 ships combined.
What they were up against
in this Japanese battleship
force, the odds were greatly
against them the first contact.
At about 6:50 AM, as recounted by Copeland
during a recorded interview, Kapama.
Surface radar reports they have
a contact, Sir, very about 330,
about 30-40 miles away. Moments later,
the object on the horizon, Sir.
By that time, he said,
it looks like the mass of a ship
of the ensuing sea battle.
Navy historian and Pulitzer Prize
winning author Samuel Eliot Morrison
wrote quote in no engagement in its
entire history has the United States
Navy shown more gallantry, guts,
and gumption than in the two morning
hours between 7:30 and 9:30 off Samar,
the now declassified Action
report tells the story.
the US ships could not outrun the Japanese,
so they would turn and fight.
At 7:35. The order was
given for a torpedo attack.
Roberts scored one hit,
heavily damaging 1 Japanese heavy cruiser.
Over the next hour she'd fire
608 rounds from her 2/5 inch
guns without taking any damage.
At 9:00 AM, a tremendous explosion and a 910.
The word was given to abandon ship.
She very slowly sank at 10:05.
Yeah, we found it. We found her.
I see a 20 millimeter gun mount.
Earlier this year, Ocean Explorer Victor
Vescovo went in search of the Roberts
final resting place in the Philippines.
22,621 feet below the surface,
we have found the deepest wreck in history.
306 feet of mangled metal. Scars of a
battle she had no business being in.
Sailors aboard that day earned high
praise and high honors for their effort
in fending off the Japanese fleet.
Commander Copeland was awarded the Navy Cross
for his valor among other unit citations.
He returned to Tacoma where he
served in the Navy Reserve until
retiring in 1965 as a Rear Admiral.
In 1980, years after his death,
the Navy launched a ship bearing his name.
That's my grandmom christening the hull.
I had a front row seat as she was
put to sea for the very first time.
It was an occasion an 8 year old
boy didn't fully grasp the enormity
of to know your grandfather.
Was a hero.
And that brings us back to Bremerton,
where the crew of the Copeland is not only
reminiscing about their time on board
your grandfather, right? Yeah,
but honoring their ship's namesake,
face down and battleship,
honoring his heroic actions with
the destroyer. You don't do that.
His leadership and the tone
he set aboard the Sammy B
that was also embraced on their ship.
We had people wanted to come
on the Copeland, the circus.
We had a reputation on the waterfront.
Reputation for high standards on the
high seas, inspired by a young Navy
reservist from Tacoma so many years ago.
First off, thank you to photojournalist
Eric Derosiers for your massive
effort to make that story happen
on my grandfather passed away
just before my second birthday,
so I didn't really get to know him,
but continue to learn more about
him and his career all the time.
In fact, got an e-mail from a retired
Navy captain just today a few hours ago,
who told me he remembers my
grandfather swearing him in back
in 1966 regarding the Roberts.
Her last surviving crew member
actually passed away earlier this year,
just a couple months before she was found.
Now I was it was a.
I should say 40 years ago this week
that the USS Copeland came to Tacoma.
That was a shot of me at 11:00 with
my dad and brother, my brother,
climbing aboard the ship right
there for the first time,
taking it out for a spin.
One more pictures.
We left the dock and actually headed
underneath the Narrows Bridge.
Still remember that memory lots that
I had to sort through for this,
but it was a lot of fun to tell.
And if you know, Greg, which many of you do,
we know that you are a history buff.
So what was it like to make all of
these connections with your grandfather?
It's funny, when I was a kid,
obviously I didn't.
It just didn't resonate as much.
As I got older,
it started to resonate more.
And of course I have these collections
of things from my from my grandmother
and things of my dad's dad has passed me,
so I have all the pictures.
But to go through it again and start
making even more connections and
understand it constantly learning.
But yeah, you must be so proud.
It was it was a lot of fun to put together.