Ships
- USS Kidd (DD-661) Captain, 23 April 1943 – 28 August 1944
Allan Barkhurst Roby was born in New Haven, Kentucky, on 9 December 1907. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy with the class of 1930 and was commissioned in the Navy that June. He was a lieutenant by the end of June 1938. Promotion came quickly once the war was on: lieutenant commander in June 1942, and commander that October.
On 23 April 1943 he took command of the new Fletcher-class destroyer Kidd (DD-661), the day she was commissioned. Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company at Kearny, New Jersey, had launched her on 28 February. The ship honored Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, killed aboard Arizona in the attack on Pearl Harbor. Under Roby the crew gave her a pirate identity as well. They flew a Jolly Roger from the foremast while crossing New York Harbor and painted a pirate figure on the forward stack. Isaac Kidd’s widow approved the gesture. Her husband had been called Cap, for Captain Kidd, since his own days at the Academy.
In June 1943 Kidd worked up from Casco Bay, Maine. Through the early summer she escorted major warships in the Atlantic and the Caribbean. In August she sailed for the Pacific in company with the battleships Alabama and South Dakota. Late in September she left Pearl Harbor screening carriers. Those ships struck Wake Island on 5 and 6 October, and Kidd returned to Pearl Harbor on 11 October.
In mid-October she joined a task force sent against Rabaul and in support of the Bougainville landings. On the morning of 11 November 1943, south of Rabaul, the force launched its strike. Kidd dropped astern to recover the crew of an Essex plane that had come down in the water. While she was separated from the formation, Japanese aircraft attacked her. She kept the rescue going, maneuvered clear of bombs and torpedoes, and shot down three of the attackers. The destroyer reached Espiritu Santo on 13 November.
Roby then took her into the Gilbert Islands operation. From 19 to 23 November Kidd screened carriers striking Tarawa. On 24 November her lookouts spotted a low formation of Japanese bombers heading for the heavier ships. She passed the warning and shot down two Aichi dive bombers. For the Rabaul fight of 11 November and the Gilberts operation from 18 to 26 November, he received the Silver Star. The award recognized his handling of the ship through repeated heavy air attacks within reach of Japanese bases, the protection he gave the task group, and the fact that he brought Kidd through those days undamaged.
He remained in command through the summer of 1944. In June Kidd was operating off Roi in the Marshall Islands. On 28 August 1944 his tour ended and Harry Grimshaw Moore took command. Under Moore the destroyer went back into action for the Philippines landings that autumn, screening the assault forces and giving fire support off Leyte.
Before the war his sea duty included the battleships Idaho and Maryland. After Kidd his assignments included the attack transport Saratoga, the Military Assistance Advisory Group in Denmark, and the heavy cruiser Salem. Along with the Silver Star he received the Bronze Star Medal with Combat V, the American Defense Service Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the Navy Occupation Service Medal. He retired in November 1959 as a rear admiral. He died on 24 December 1997.