USS Charles H. Roan (DD-853) - 1950s

1950s

On her first overseas deployment, Charles H. Roan sailed from Newport 9 February 1948 for a cruise which took her to the Mediterranean and service with the 6th Fleet, then into the Persian Gulf. She returned to Newport 26 June, and took up the training schedule necessary to prepare her for a 1949 Mediterranean tour. In 1950 her armament was extensively altered, and her next lengthy cruise came in summer 1953, when she carried midshipmen to South American ports.

On 2 August 1954, the Charles H. Roan stood down Narragansett with her division on the first leg of a round the world voyage. She sailed on to the western Pacific for 5 months of operations with the 7th Fleet, on patrol in the Taiwan Straits, and in carrier and amphibious exercises off Japan, Okinawa, and the Philippines. The division took departure from Subic Bay, 20 January 1955, and continued westward to call at Persian Gulf ports, transit the Suez Canal, and visit in the Mediterranean before returning to Newport 14 March. She resumed her training operations until 7 Julv, when she was ordered north to take station as a picket off Iceland and Greenland during the flight of President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the Geneva Summit.

Charles H. Roan's next Mediterranean cruise began with her sailing from Newport 14 September 1956 to join the 6th Fleet. With the eruption of the Suez crisis that fall, she patrolled in the eastern Mediterranean. Since the Suez Canal was now blocked, December found Charles H. Roan bound for the Cape of Good Hope, rounding the African continent for 2 months of duty with the Middle East Force. Between 20 and 27 January 1957, she served as flagship for the Force Commander in a passage up the Shatt-al-Arab to visit Basra, Iraq. Her return passage to Newport found her rounding the Cape of Good Hope once more, and she reached home 3 April, in good time to take part in the International Naval Review in Hampton Roads in June. Late summer saw her crossing the Atlantic once more for visits to Plymouth, England, and Copenhagen, Denmark, while participating in North Atlantic Treaty Organization Operation "Strikeback."

Arriving at Annapolis on 12 July 1958 to take the midshipmen on board, Charles H. Roan got underway on what was to be a brief cruise. But plans swiftly changed upon the outbreak of the trouble in the Middle East which led to the landing of Marines by the fleet in Lebanon. First, Charles H. Roan proceeded to Norfolk, Virginia, to take on board additional stores and ammunition necessary for a lengthy deployment, then sailed south to escort an amphibious group to training operations designed as preparation for any extension of the Middle Eastern trouble. She proceeded on across the Atlantic, arriving at Naples 14 August to transfer the midshipmen to other ships. Thus released, she sailed on to the coast of Lebanon, where she and Forrest Royal (DD-872) patrolled in support of the forces ashore. Now trouble flared up in the Far East, as the Chinese Communists resumed the bombardment of the Chinese Nationalist-held offshore islands. Charles H. Roan and Forrest Royal joined the Essex (CVA-9) group, augmenting the screen of two destroyers already accompanying the carrier. The group passed through the Suez Canal on 29 August 1958, and until 27 September 1958, she patrolled off Taiwan. Her return passage to Newport took her around the Cape of Good Hope. She arrived home on 18 November 1958 to a welcome in Narragansett Bay.