Ships
- USS Rowe (DD-564) Captain from 13 March 1944
Andrew Lee Young was born in Washington, D.C., on 11 January 1908, the son of Andrew L. Young and Emmeline E. Williams Young. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy with the class of 1931 and was commissioned in the Navy. On 1 July 1939 he was promoted to lieutenant. When Japanese aircraft attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, he was serving in the destroyer Preble.
He remained in Preble until March 1942, when he transferred to the destroyer Farragut. The Navy advanced him to temporary lieutenant commander on 15 June 1942 and to temporary commander on 1 November 1942. On 11 February 1943 he took command of the destroyer Hull. Through December of that year Hull operated first in the Aleutians and later in the Central Pacific during the Gilbert and Marshall Islands operations. His tour ended in December 1943.
In January and February 1944 Young attended the sonar school and the combat intelligence school in San Diego. He then became the first commanding officer of Rowe, a new Fletcher-class destroyer built in Seattle by the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Company. The ship had been laid down on 7 December 1942 and launched on 30 September 1943. Rowe (DD-564) was commissioned on 13 March 1944, and Young, a commander, assumed command that day.
Rowe completed shakedown off San Diego and sailed for Pearl Harbor on 24 May 1944. After two more weeks of training in Hawaiian waters, she made an escort run to Eniwetok and back from 16 June to 2 July. On 3 August she left for Adak, Alaska, as flagship of Destroyer Squadron 57, to report to the Ninth Fleet. From Aleutian waters Young took her on three strikes against the Kuril Islands: Matsuwa on 21 November 1944, Suribati Wan on 3 January 1945, and Kurabu Zaki on Paramushiro on 18 February 1945. In a North Pacific storm that January, with winds near ninety miles an hour, Rowe and a second destroyer came through with only minor damage, and the Navy later credited Young’s seamanship with bringing them through.
On 18 April 1945 Destroyer Division 113, Rowe included, was detached from the North Pacific Force and sailed for Pearl Harbor. After repairs and training, Young took the ship to sea again on 11 May with the carrier Ticonderoga and the division. They reached Ulithi on 22 May. Rowe joined the Fifth Fleet and about a week later left Ulithi in convoy for Okinawa, arriving in the Ryukyus on 2 June. She took up radar picket duty while Japanese suicide planes were still attacking the area. About fifteen days later the division escorted the battleship Mississippi out of the Hagushi anchorage and entered San Pedro Bay, in Leyte Gulf, on 20 June. On 1 July Rowe sailed from Leyte to join Task Force 38, screening the fast carriers and serving as a plane guard during strikes on Honshu, Shikoku, and Hokkaido. On 6 July the battleship Iowa refueled her at sea. During that same summer she also bombarded shore targets in the Ogasawara Islands, the Bonins.
Young was still in command when the fighting ended. He remained in Rowe until 19 January 1946, when he was relieved. For his service from 13 March 1944 to 20 October 1945 he received the Legion of Merit with Combat V. The award covered the Kuril bombardments and sweeps in severe Aleutian winter weather, radar picket duty off Okinawa during suicide attacks, the bombardment of the Ogasawara Islands, and screening and picket duty with Task Force 38 in Japanese waters. He also received the Bronze Star Medal with Combat V for duty from 2 June to 2 September 1945, when Rowe stood radar picket at Okinawa, bombarded the Ogasawara group, and screened a task force off the Japanese home islands. The Commander, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet, added a letter of commendation. Young continued in the Navy after leaving Rowe. On 1 July 1950 he was promoted to captain. He died on 6 June 1985.