| Navy | The US Navy |
| Type | Destroyer |
| Class | Wickes |
| Pennant | DD 147 |
| Built by | William Cramp and Sons (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.) |
| Ordered | |
| Laid down | 19 Mar, 1918 |
| Launched | 17 Aug, 1918 |
| Commissioned | 15 Feb, 1919 |
| End service | 15 Sep, 1945 |
| Loss position | |
| History | Decommissioned at San Diego, California on 14 December 1922 Recommissioned on 18 March 1930 Reclassified High Speed Transport APD-20 on 20 October 1943 Roper was hit by a Kamikaze and returned to the Mare Island Navy Yard at Vallejo, California for repairs but with the cessation of hostilities repair work was halted She was decommissioned on 15 September 1945 Stricken 11 October 1945 Sold on 31 March 1946 and broken up for scrap. |
| Noteable events involving Roper include: 23 Mar, 1942 31 Mar, 1942 14 Apr, 1942 U-85 was the first U-boat to be sunk off the North American coast after the start of the Operation Drumbeat (Paukenschlag) on 13 January 1942. On the day that she was sunk U-85 stayed on the surface through the engagement. After repeated gunfire hits on the boat, fatally damaging her, the order to abandon ship was given and maybe half of the crew got into the water and then U-85 started to sink again fast. USS Roper then dropped 11 depth charges onto the already sinking U-boat and its 2 dozen survivors and in the process killed everyone in the water. The wreck of U-85 is now a popular dive site. (see map) 23 Apr, 1942 |