USS Roper ( DD - 147 ) USS " Roper " ( DD - 147 ) was a " Wickes " - class destroyer in the United States Navy , later converted to a high - speed transport and redesignated APD - 20 . She was named for Lieutenant Commander Jesse M . Roper , commanding officer of , who died during the Spanish - American War while rescuing his crew . Her keel was laid down on 19 March 1918 by William Cramp & Sons , in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . She was launched on 17 August 1918 sponsored by Mrs . Jesse M . Roper , widow of Lieutenant Commander Roper , and commissioned on 15 February 1919 with Commander Abram Claude in command . " Roper " was the first United States Navy warship to sink a German submarine during World War II . Service history . Inter - War Period . Following shakedown off the New England coast , " Roper " sailed east in mid - June 1919 and , after stops at Ponta Delgada , Gibraltar , and Malta , anchored in the Bosporus on 5 July . For the next month she supported Peace Commission and Relief Committee work in the Black Sea area , carrying mail and passengers to and from Constantinople , Novorossisk , Batum , Samsun , and Trebizond . On 20 August the destroyer returned to the United States , at New York City , only to sail again six days later . At the end of the month she transited the Panama Canal and moved north to San Diego . " Roper " remained on the West Coast until July 1921 . On 23 July , she departed San Francisco , for duty on the Asiatic Station . Arriving at Cavite , Philippine Islands , on 24 August , she remained in the Philippines into December . She then moved into Chinese waters and , into the summer , operated primarily from Hong Kong and Chefoo . On 25 August 1922 , she headed back to California . Routed via Nagasaki , Midway , and Pearl Harbor she arrived at San Francisco on 13 October . Two days later she shifted to San Pedro , California , thence proceeded to San Diego , where she was decommissioned on 14 December 1922 and berthed with the Pacific Reserve Fleet . Recommissioned on 18 March 1930 , " Roper " resumed operations in the Pacific . Operating primarily in the southern California area , in active and rotating reserve squadrons , for the next seven years , she deployed to Panama , to Hawaii and to the Caribbean Sea for fleet problems and maneuvers in 1931 , 1933 , 1935 , and 1936 . During 1933 , Lieutenant , junior grade Robert A . Heinlein transferred aboard " Roper " . In 1934 he was promoted to Lieutenant , then " invalided out , " permanently disabled from tuberculosis . During January and February 1936 , " Roper " moved north for operations in Alaskan waters . In February 1937 , " Roper " departed California and , after transiting the Panama Canal , joined the Atlantic Fleet . For the remainder of the year , through 1938 , and into 1939 , she conducted exercises primarily off the mid - Atlantic seaboard and , during part of each year , in the Caribbean . In November 1939 , after the outbreak of World War II in Europe , she shifted from Norfolk , Virginia , to Key West , Florida , whence she patrolled the Yucatan Channel and the Florida Straits . In December , she returned to Norfolk . In January 1940 , she moved south again , to Charleston , South Carolina , and in March she headed north for duty on the New England Patrol . World War II . Through the prewar Neutrality Patrol period , " Roper " continued to range the waters off the East and Gulf Coasts . Off Cape Cod on 7 December 1941 , she returned to Norfolk for an abbreviated availability at midmonth , and then steamed to NS Argentia , Newfoundland . In early February 1942 , she completed a convoy escort run to Londonderry Port , then , in March , returned to the Norfolk area for patrol and escort duty . A month later , on the night of 13 / 14 April , she made contact with a surfaced U - boat off the coast of North Carolina . The ensuing chase ended with the sinking by artillery fire of , a unit of the 7th U - boat Flotilla . Former commander of German U - boat U - 802 and author Helmut Schmoeckel suggested in a 2002 book that the failure of " Roper " to rescue the " U - 85 " crew after they abandoned the submarine and " Roper " s subsequent depth charging of " U - 85 " constituted a war crime . According to the after action report , the attack occurred after midnight local time after " Roper " closed to identify an unknown contact ( " U - 85 " ) and was narrowly missed by a torpedo prior to opening fire . The commanding officer delayed rescue operations until daybreak and after the arrival of air support from a PBY Catalina and an airship due to concern of an attack by a second u - boat . No charges were filed against the crew of " Roper " and 29 sailors of " U - 85 " were buried with military honors at Hampton National Cemetery . Commanding officer , Lieutenant Commander Hamilton W . Howe received the Navy Cross for the engagement of the submarine and retired in 1956 with the rank of Rear Admiral . On 29 April , " Roper " rescued fourteen survivors from the British merchantman , which had been torpedoed and sunk by five days earlier . On 1 May , she rescued another thirteen survivors from " Empire Drum " . They were landed at Norfolk , Virginia , that day . At the end of May , " Roper " began a series of coastwise escort runs , from Key West to New York , which took her into 1943 . In February of that year , she shifted to Caribbean Sea - Mediterranean Sea convoy work and remained on that duty until October when she entered the Charleston Navy Yard for conversion to a high speed transport . Auxiliary service . Reclassified and given hull classification symbol APD - 20 on 20 October 1943 , " Roper " departed Charleston in late November and trained in the Chesapeake Bay area and off the Florida coast into the new year , 1944 . On 13 April , she steamed east and at the end of the month joined the 8th Fleet at Oran , Algeria . A unit of Transport Division 13 , assigned to support the offensive in Italy , " Roper " landed units of the French Army on Pianosa on 17 June and , into July , plied between Oran and Naples and operated along the western coast of the embattled peninsula . In August , she shifted her attention to southern France . On 15 August , she arrived off that coast as part of the " Sitka " Force and landed troops on Levant Island . On 5 September she returned to Italy ; resumed runs between Naples and Oran , and , in early December departed the latter port for Hampton Roads . Arriving at Norfolk on 21 December , " Roper " sailed again on 29 January 1945 . On transiting the Panama Canal , she reported to the Pacific Fleet , and , after stops in California and Hawaii , moved into the Mariana Islands . On 11 May , she departed Guam for the Ryukyu Islands . Arriving in Nakagusuku Wan on 22 May , she circled to the Hagushi anchorage the same day . Three days later , while on screening station off that transport area she was hit by a " kamikaze " . Ordered back to the United States to complete repairs , she departed the Ryukyus on 6 June and reached San Pedro a month later . In August , she shifted to Mare Island , but with the cessation of hostilities repair work was halted . Decommissioned on 15 September 1945 , " Roper " s name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 11 October 1945 , and her hulk was sold to the Lerner Company , Oakland , California . Removed in June 1946 , it was scrapped the following December . Awards . " Roper " earned four battle star s during World War II . As of 2004 , no other ships in the United States Navy have borne this name .