USS Robinson (DD-562), a , was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for Captain Isaiah Robinson (died c. 1781), who served in the Continental Navy.
Operational history Robinson was laid down on 12 August 1942 by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corp., Seattle, Wash.; launched 28 August 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Howard M. Sayers; and commissioned 31 January 1944.
After shakedown out of San Diego, Robinson, departed Seattle 12 April for Hawaii. Arriving at Pearl Harbor 21 April, she trained until getting underway on 29 May with Task Force 52 (TF 52), headed for Eniwetok and the Marianas.
World War II Marianas campaign
On the morning of 15 June, Robinson opened fire in the battle of Saipan and her first salvo set off a large explosion, followed by an oil fire. She then silenced four enemy batteries which had been firing on Marines on the southernmost landing beaches, "Beach Yellow One". She then scored a direct hit on an enemy pillbox on Tinian. The destroyer joined the screen of battleship Tennessee (BB-43), at nightfall and in 2 hours fought off five enemy aircraft. She then teamed with destroyers Selfridge (DD-357) and Albert W. Grant (DD-649) in the screen of cruiser Birmingham (CL-62) off the western coast of Tinian, delivering harassing fire throughout the night.
At daybreak 16 June, Robinson resumed fire support to the Marines on the southernmost invasion beaches of Saipan. During the morning, she silenced all but one stubborn gun of an enemy artillery emplacement and her fire assisted in turning back enemy tanks. Toward noon, she began safeguarding the transports off Saipan. At nightfall, she turned to call-fire duty off "Beach Green One". Throughout the night of 16 June and into the morning of the 17th, Robinson illuminated and fired upon counterattacking Japanese tank divisions twice driving them back from the beachhead. That afternoon, she took fire support station, then spent the night and the next 5 days, protecting troop transports off Saipan.
Retiring to Eniwetok with empty transports 26 June, she returned to Saipan on 6 July in the escort screen of a reinforcement convoy.
Robinson took antisubmarine patrol station northwest of Saipan that day and closed the shore at night to provide illumination fire and send salvos into enemy troops east of Marpi Point. She shifted her fire to the west, to Tanapag Harbor the following morning and during the afternoon, rescued 17 Marines from a reef north of the harbor where they had been isolated by one of the biggest banzai attacks of the war.
Robinson served on antisubmarine patrol off Saipan, in the ocean area northwest of Maniagassa Island, until 20 July, then got underway with Overton (APD-23) to escort 11 LCTs which arrived off Guam the next morning. She resumed fire support off Saipan that evening. On 22 July Robinson shifted her fire to Tinian, hitting caves where the enemy had dug in. She bombarded the western shore of Tinian 25 and 26 July; and, after gunfire support on the 29th, she guarded the minesweepers in Asiga Bay.
Departing Tinian on 31 July, she escorted the hospital transport ship, Tryon (APH-1) to Eniwetok; then steamed independently to Nouméa, New Caledonia, where she arrived 9 August.
Peleliu
Robinson cleared Nouméa on 22 August and touched at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides Islands, to rejoin other ships of her division, then arrived at Purvis Bay of Florida, Solomon Islands on the 26th. She stood out from Purvis Bay on 6 September, with Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf's bombardment group, and arrived off Peleliu Island, on the morning of the 12th for pre-invasion bombardment. During the Battle of Peleliu, Robinson wiped out enemy machine gun emplacements and tumbled snipers out of trees as she blasted enemy troop concentrations near "White" and "Orange" beaches. At various times, she assisted in screening cruisers (CA-28) and Portland (CA-33) and battleships Idaho (BB-42) and (BB-41). She also raked the beach area during the daylight hours to cover underwater demolition teams, and she carried out call fire missions on enemy troops and gun batteries. On 22 September, she knocked out all guns in her area and disabled two groups of enemy tanks. She continued to hit emplacements, troop areas and supply dumps until the early morning of 24 September 1944 when she teamed with Heywood L. Edwards (DD-663) in destroying enemy barges attempting to land troops and supplies on the north shore. That evening she screened cruiser Louisville to Kossol Passage.
She spent the night of 26 September providing illumination and harassing fire on the north end of Angaur Island. She gave the same treatment to Ngesebus Island the next night and bombarded the beaches south of Ngesebus airfields during the day of the 28th. She spent the night of 28–29 September delivering night illumination fire on the northwest corner of Angaur and entered Seeadler Harbor, Manus, Admiralty Islands, 1 October.
Philippines campaign
Robinson cleared Seeadler Harbor on the 12th, and headed for the Philippine Islands. On 17 October 1944, she joined the Dinagat Attack Group. With light cruisers Denver (CL-58) and Columbia (CL-56), and three other destroyers, Robinson supported the Dinagat Attack Group and set course for Dinagat and the three smaller islands, Calicoan, Suluan, and Homonhon, which divided the two entrances to Leyte Gulf and were suspected of harboring enemy search radar. To put these enemy warning stations out of action, the attack group arrived off the islands at daybreak of 17 October. Cruiser Denver had the honor of firing the opening gun for the liberation of Leyte at 08:00 and Company D of the 6th Rangers was landed on Suluan Island some 20 minutes later—the first Americans to "return" to the Philippines. Robinson escorted the Ranger unit to Dinagat Island where they made an unopposed landing. She then covered minesweepers in Leyte Gulf until their retirement on the morning of 19 October. Her guns raked the invasion beaches ahead of the troops landing on Leyte, 20 October 1944, and she delivered illumination fire over the eastern shore of Leyte throughout the night. On 22 October, she rescued a downed American fighter pilot. On 24 October Robinson destroyed enemy installations on the slope of Catmon Hill, Leyte.
At 17:10 on 24 October, Robinson was relieved from fire support duties and joined a screen for five cruisers on the left flank of the northern entrance to Surigao Strait. The destroyers were divided into three attack sections (of which Robinson was in Destroyer Squadron 56) and severely mauled the attacking Japanese (see: Battle of Surigao Strait). By early morning 25 October, the enemy was limping off in retreat, having lost two battleships, two destroyers and a cruiser. Robinson made rendezvous with the destroyers of section 3 to the north of Hibuson Island after her torpedo attack, and vainly attempted to rescue the many Japanese survivors who refused all efforts to save them. At 07:58, 25 October, Robinson joined other destroyers and cruisers in anticipation of meeting enemy surface and air units retiring from the fierce action with the escort carriers off the east coast of Samar. She cruised east of Leyte until 29 October to cover shipping in and near Leyte Gulf. She assisted in fighting off enemy air raids and escorted the bomb-damaged Killen (DD-593) to her anchorage in San Pedro Bay on 1 November. She was temporarily detached from the task group on 4 November for picket duty in Surigao Strait and rejoined the bombardment group on 13 November as it set course for Manus. She teamed with Bryant (DD-665) to shoot down an enemy plane which approached the formation on the 16th, and entered Seeadler Harbor on the 21st.
Robinson stood out of Seeadler Harbor on 28 November for Leyte Gulf where on 1 December she was detached from Destroyer Division 112 (DesDiv 112) of Destroyer Squadron 56 (DesRon 56) and reported to Destroyer Squadron 22 for duty. The next day she got underway in the screen of battleships and cruisers for Kossol Passage, where she teamed with 14 other destroyers in the screen of six escort carriers, seven cruisers, and three battleships, acting as distant cover for troop convoys bound for the assault on Mindoro, Philippine Islands. She assisted in driving off enemy aircraft as she guarded the escort carriers from 13 to 15 December. The troops hit the beach at Mindoro on the 15th and Robinson returned to Seeadler Harbor with the task group on the 23d.
On 31 December Robinson and the five other destroyers of DesRon 22 sailed from Seeadler Harbor in the screen for Transport Group "Able" of the Lingayen Attack Force, carrying the 27th Infantry Division for the initial landings at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, in the Philippines. Robinson screened northwest of the transport area on the morning of 9 January 1945 as the first waves of amphibious assault troops landed. She anchored in the transport area that night and survived a pre-dawn attack by a Japanese suicide boat. The underwater explosions temporarily put her sonar equipment out of commission but did no other serious damage. At daybreak, Robinson'''s gunners fought off a diving kamikaze suicide plane and knocked it down in a spinning ball of flame. At dusk she opened fire on another suicide plane diving at a highspeed transport. That enemy missed its target and crashed into the sea. Robinson returned to Leyte Gulf with the empty transports on the 15th.