USS Roe (DD-418) was a World War II-era Sims-class destroyer in the service of the United States Navy, named after Rear Admiral Francis Asbury Roe. Roe was laid down on 23 April 1938 by the Charleston Navy Yard; launched on 21 June 1939; sponsored by Mrs. Eleanor Roe Hilton; and commissioned on 5 January 1940, Lieutenant Commander R. M. Scruggs in command. Service history Inter-War Period Following shakedown, Roe conducted exercises along the east coast and in the Pacific. In the spring of 1941, she returned to the east coast and, during the summer remained primarily in the mid-Atlantic seaboard area. In the fall, she moved northward, to Naval Station Argentia, to escort merchant convoys between Newfoundland and Iceland. World War II On that duty when the United States entered World War II, Roe headed south in January 1942, patrolled the approaches to Bermuda and to Norfolk, Virginia, and in mid-February entered New York harbor, where she resumed North Atlantic convoy runs. Arriving off Iceland on 3 March, she remained until midmonth, in port and on patrol off that island and in the Denmark Strait. Toward the end of the month, Roe returned to New York. In April, she escorted ships to Panama, then spent May in New England waters. In June, she completed another North Atlantic run, this time to the United Kingdom, and in July, she screened larger ships in coastal and Caribbean Sea training operations. In mid-August the destroyer again pointed her bow south. Into October she operated between Trinidad and ports in Brazil, then returned to Norfolk to prepare for Operation Torch, the landings in North Africa. Assigned to the Northern Attack Group, Roe screened the transports to Mehedia, then provided gunfire support for the troops as they pushed to take Port Lyautey in the Sebou River and the Salé airfield. She arrived off the assault area on the night of 7/8 November, ahead of the main group, and with her SG radar, attempted to locate the beacon submarine, . Unsuccessful, she fixed her own position relative to the jetties and beaches of the landing area, and returned to the main force to help guide it to the transport area. During the early morning landings, she acted as control destroyer off Blue and Yellow beaches, then shifted to gunfire support duties. Shortly after sunrise she assisted in temporarily silencing hostile fire from the Kasba, an old