Joseph L. Dionne,
USS Roche (DE 197)- 1944-46
ENLISTMENT AND TRAINING
Great Uncle Leo was the first relative that I was able to find information on so
his page is the oldest on the site. Joseph
Leo Dionne or just "Uncle Leo" as the family called him was born on
May 4, 1920 in Manchester New Hampshire. He was the third surviving son of Jule
and Eugenia Dionne’s seven children. He attended grade school for only a few
years, never attending junior high or high school. In the days of the depression
that was the norm rather than the exception. Many children had to grow up
quickly and work at an early age. Leo was no exception to that rule. He spent
most of his life in the Philadelphia Pennsylvania area. He worked at various
jobs but was at the Electric Truck Company prior to joining the Navy on August
28, 1943. Dionne attended boot camp at the Bainbridge Naval Training center in
Bainbridge, Maryland.Naval Training Station,
Bainbridge, Maryland
Leo reported to basic training at the Bainbridge Naval Training
Station in Maryland. The Naval Training Station-Bainbridge (NTSB) was constructed in 1942 as a training center for World War II Navy recruits. It provided training for the influx of recruits that joined or were drafted after Pearl Harbor. The center consisted of a Recruit Training
center (RTC) where the sailors went to Basic Training or "Boot Camp". In addition to the advanced Naval Training Center (NTC) where recruits attended schools to learn the basics of their assigned or chosen ratings. Leo left Bainbridge Maryland after basic training and transferred to Naval Training Station Norfolk, Virginia, to attend Ship's Cook (SC)
school
Naval Training Station, Norfolk, Virginia
Uncle Leo, after basic training transferred to Naval Training Station Norfolk, Virginia, to attend Ship's Cook (SC) school. After war was formally declared following Pearl Harbor, Germany began a U-boat offense, "Operation Drumbeat," against shipping along the Atlantic coast. In this early phase of the war, the U-boats had the best of it. With a peacetime mindset still prevalent, valuable ships sailed independently backlit by the lights of seaside towns.
From January through April 1942, the Eastern Sea Frontier recorded 82 sinkings by U-boats. During the same period, only eight U-boats were sunk by U.S. forces. Eventually, coastal convoys were instituted and more aircraft became available. German U-boats moved elsewhere and sinkings decreased. To move closer to their patrol areas and free up space for the training of new squadrons, NAS Norfolk-based patrol squadrons transferred their operations from
Breezy Point to Chincoteague and Elizabeth City. Norfolk's biggest contribution to the winning of World War II was in the training it provided to a wide variety of allied naval units. In December 1942, recruit training at the base was abolished since the base was now more suitably equipped for advanced training for men going directly to the fleet. With the change in the training station and the declaration of war, the mission became that of a pre-commissioning training station. Uncle Leo left Norfolk in November of 1943.
Brooklyn Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York
After Cook's school Uncle Leo transferred to the brooklyn Navy yard for fitting out (final assembly) of his next command the USS ROCHE DE 197
The Brooklyn Navy Yard was established in 1801 when the U.S. Navy purchased the property belonging to an existing set of shipyards. By 1852 the Yard was the second most important shipyard in the United States. Most active in times of war, the shipyard played a vital role during the Spanish American War, World War I and World War 2. In the Civil War, the yard was the central base for distributing supplies to the Union. During WW2 the yard was enlarged from 40 to 300 acres, had over 300 buildings and 30 miles of rail, making it the largest industrial center of the Navy and New York State. Site of construction for some of the most important ships in US history including the
Maine, Arizona, Iowa, and the Missouri,
on whose decks the second world war officially ended on 2 September 1945. The shipyard was de-accessioned by the Federal Government in 1965.The
Destroyer Escort Program
Leo's first duty station after Cook's school was the USS Roche DE-197. The Roche was fitting out at the New York Navy Yard or more popularly known as the "Brooklyn Navy Yard" The Roche was a destroyer escort or “DE”. She served in the Atlantic on Convoy Duty until VE day, as well as the Pacific during the final months of the war. Uncle Leo arrived in the fall of 1943 when the Roche was fitting out. He was present when the ship was launched and for the commissioning of the ship in January 1944
The destroyer escort was intended primarily to screen the fleet, be it battleship or fast carrier, in a trans-Pacific offensive. As war approached, it was evident that destroyers or destroyer-like
ships would also be needed for many lesser tasks, such as ocean Anti-Submarine Warfare or ASW escort. In 1937, As in 1917, the issue was whether to design a new austere or second-rate destroyer for mass production. Several new types were proposed, and several times they were abandoned, but ultimately it emerged as the destroyer escort. The program was gigantic, and as predicted, somewhat late. Thus, much of the DE story is a series of attempts to make use of specialized hulls as the production accelerated, and then drastically slowed to make way for alternative Naval projects, particularly desperately needed landing craft. It is a great tribute to the soundness of the DE design, that so many survived well over four decades after their completion.
American interest in specialized escort craft declined after World War 1 and did not revive until 1937. During the next four years, many designs were considered for destroyer escorts and for a smaller size ship which could be mass-produced. In 1942 the first destroyer escort keel was laid for the United States Navy. This provided the service with the economical destroyer type ship that it wanted which could be mass produced using less expensive material. In 1943 the cost to build a DE was $5.3 to 6.1 million. The cost to build a full sized destroyer was $10.4
million.
DE production began quite slowly. The first orders were placed on 1 November 1941 and the first keel not laid until the following February at Mare Island. By 28 February 1943 four units had appeared.
The first 50 orders for the British Navy were followed the next January by an 
order for 250 U.S.. destroyer escorts. All 300 were to be identical pooled for issue to either Navy. By September 1943 another 420 had been ordered, for a total of 720 in the program. That October, President Roosevelt directed the Bureau of Naval Ships or BuShips to complete 26 DEs in 1943. Other orders followed which brought the total DEs ordered to 1005. In early 1944 the U.S. Navy canceled many of the orders of DEs which had been completed. Only 563 destroyer escorts were completed. Some of the remaining keels which had been laid were completed as other type ships such as
APDs. After the end of World War II, many of the destroyer escorts were decommissioned and placed in moth balls. One of the reasons for this was their relative low ratio of firepower to personnel. The exception to this was the DEs which were converted or completed as "DER". Many of these ships stayed in commission for several years. The simplicity of DE machinery as compared to that of the DD made the former preferable for Naval reserve duty. By 1950 the force of active DEs was reduced to 27 ships. During the Korean war the number of DEs in commission was increased to 52. In 1960 only 3 destroyer escorts served with fleet units. Another 28 DEs trained reservist. Mass scrapping of ships remaining in reserve began five years later. The last World War II-built DEs were stricken in 1973, leaving only DERs on the Navy list. An evaluation of the World War II DE as a ship and as an ASW escort is difficult at best. The destroyer escorts were known a heavy rollers, but also as good sea boats, at least in U.S. service. The bottom line is the Destroyer Escort provided a valuable service for the United States of America during World War ll.USS
ROCHE (DE-197)
The USS Roche DE 197 was named after David John Roche who was born in Hibbing, Minnesota on 2 December 1918. Roche, enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve as Seaman Second Class on 13 November 1939. He was appointed aviation cadet on 15 February 1940, and was designated naval aviator (heavier-than-air) on 14 October 1940. He became an ensign, USNR, on 21 October 1940. Following training at the Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., he was assigned to Torpedo Squadron 3 and reported for duty on 1 December 1940. On 4 June 1942 the plane he was piloting was shot down in the Battle of Midway. He was officially reported as missing in action. For pressing home his torpedo attack on Japanese naval units in the face of tremendous antiaircraft fire and overwhelming fighter opposition, he was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.
USS Roche (DE 197) was a Cannon Class Destroyer Escort. She was laid down on 21 October 1943 by the Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Port Newark, N.J.It was launched on 9 January 1944 sponsored by Mrs.
Carrie M. Roche, David Roche’s Mother. It was commissioned at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on 21 February 1944,
Following shakedown cruise off Bermuda, The USS Roche returned to New York on 12 April 1944. On 21 April she proceeded to Norfolk where she served as schoolship until assigned on 12 May to Task Force Sixty –Three(TF 63) as escort for convoy UGS 42, en route to the Mediterranean sea.
The large convoy of 108 ships plus 17 escorts proceeded across the South Atlantic and into the Mediterranean without a single incident. But soon this changed as it was one alert after another. German airpower was extremely active in the area. But convoy UGS 42 reached Bizerte, Libya on 2 June without having been attacked. USS Roche returned to New York on 29 June 1944. Following refresher training at Casco Bay, Maine, USS Roche departed Norfolk on 22 July with a convoy bound
once again for Bizerte, Libya. Returning from Gibraltar as escort to a Liberty ship under tow, she evaded a German U-boat and attacked her with depth charges.
USS Roche arrived at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on 9 September 1944 for a short overhaul. On 14 October she departed New York escorting a convoy which reached Plymouth, England, on 25 October. Throughout the winter and spring of 1945, she made five
more of these trips. In mid-Atlantic on 13 March 1945, while enroute to Southampton, England, Roche rescued 11 men from the water after the collision of
USAT J.W. McAndrew and the Free-French Forces aircraft carrier Bearn. The transport USAT
J.W. McAndrews was loaded with some 1,900 troops. The transport was steaming at the head of a column of ships in a large convoy. Bound for Southampton England, around 0300 in the morning about 400 miles from the Azores Islands, The Free-French aircraft carrier Bearn in an alongside column suddenly lost power and went dead in the water. The sudden loss of power caused the great ship to veer to port and slam into the
McAndrews. Approximately 125 men were sleeping in a compartment located just below the waterline. Suddenly they were awakened by the rush of the sea pouring through the huge exposed hole caused by the collision. The rush of the water combined with the sudden roll of the ship forced the men out into the ice-cold sea. Many men were sleeping in their sleeping bags, which quickly saturated with water and began to drag the men to the bottom. All of the men were required to wear their life jackets so the men that managed to get out of their sleeping bags floated to the surface. The Bearn regained her power and the two ships continued on course, as they were required to do in convoy. The men in the water sadly watched as the ships sole red
running light located on the stern of the ships go further and further away. Suddenly a light started to move towards them first circling and then drawing closer. The men soon realized that a ship was sent back to search for survivors. Unknown to the men in the water it was the USS Roche dispatched from the convoy to search for survivors while the convoy steamed on. AS the Roche pulled up to the area where the men were, they could hear men crying in the darkness. After permission was granted for the Roche to use her searchlights she managed to locate 11 men after searching all night. 3 more men were picked up by another destroyer, making the total of 14 saved out of 125. The men on the Roche were greatly saddened about not being able to locate more men. After an exhaustive search the ship returned to the convoy. The convoy arrived in Southampton two days later bringing the
desperately needed troops for the final assault on Germany. The Roche remained in the Atlantic until the end of the war.
For more information on the collision of the USAT Mcandrew and the USS Roche's
involvement click here: Collision
at Sea Newspaper Article .
For more information on the
Battle of the Atlantic Click here:
The Battle of The Atlantic
They
Served with Honor : Home Page
