Comments/Citation:
Robert Walker Allen was born April 18, 1919 in Edgewood, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, son of Kenneth Pratt and Isabel Louise (Robinson) Allen. He had two brothers and one sister. His brother Kenneth would serve in the Navy during WWII; brother Donald served with the Army Air Corps. His famil lived in Akron in Summit county Ohio in 1920. By 1930 they were living in Wilkinsburg, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, where his father worked as a power salesman and later as an industrial engineer for Duquesne Light Company.
Robert graduated from Wilkinsburg High School and from the Pennsylvania State Nautical School in Philadelphia. Following his graduation, he served a year as third officer with the Merchant Marines on the American Export Lines ship, Exilana. A member of the Naval Reserves, he was called to active duty, and was commissioned as an Ensign in the US Navy on July 8, 1940. He served aboard USS Arkansas (BB-33) when it collided with the steamer, Melrose, in December 1940.
His father stated that “intricacies of submarine operation appealed to him [Robert] and he applied for transfer…He had a brilliant technical mind, and he enjoyed the mechanical devices aboard a sub.” On March 20, 1942 he married Dorothy Danton in Oakmont, Pennsylvania.
Robert graduated from Submarine School in New London, Connecticut in June 1942 and spent a week at home on leave. In July 1942 he reported aboard USS Argonaut (APS-1, SS-166) as a Lieutenant. Argonaut’s second war patrol was conducted following a complete modernization, at Mare Island. Her mission on this one had been to cooperate with Nautilus in transporting 252 Marine officers and men to Makin Island for a diversionary raid against enemy shore installations. In the early morning of 17 August 1942, the raiders were debarked in boats. After nearly two days ashore, the Marines returned, and the submarines transported them back to Pearl Harbor, Argonaut arriving on August 26.
While operating in the area southeast of New Britain in the Solomon Sea off Papau, New Guinea during her third patrol, Argonaut intercepted a Japanese convoy returning to Rabaul from Lae on January 10, 1943. A U. S. Army plane which was out of bombs saw one destroyer hit by a torpedo, saw the explosion of two other destroyers, and reported that there were five other vessels in the group. On the basis of the report given by the Army flier who witnessed the attack in which Argonaut perished, this ship was credited with having damaged one Japanese destroyer on her last patrol.
Argonaut was sunk by Japanese aircraft and destroyers Isokaze and Maikaze during this encounter on January 10, 1943. Lt. Robert W. Allen was among the 8 officers and 94 crew members lost. Later issued letters of commendation indicate “as a result of a severe counterattack the Argonaut was forced to break surface but with no regard to personal safety and in the face of imminent death, the officers and crew accepted destruction rather than surrender.”
Robert W. Allen’s name appears on the Tablets of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Manila, Philippines.
References:
1920; Census Place: Akron Ward 8, Summit, Ohio; Page: 10A; Enumeration District: 225
1930; Census Place: Wilkinsburg, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Page: 12A; Enumeration District: 0863
Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, U.S., Marriages, 1852-1968
Ancestry.com. Pennsylvania, U.S., Veteran Compensation Application Files, WWII, 1950-1966
https://www.oneternalpatrol.com/allen-r-w.htm
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56766569/robert-walker-allen
Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, Pittsburgh, PA: April 4, 1942, p.5; Feb. 22, 1943, p.3
The Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA: Feb. 22, 1943, p.2
https://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08166.htm
Naval History and Heritage Command - USS Argonaut
https://www.oneternalpatrol.com/uss-argonaut-166-loss.html
Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Navy Muster Rolls, 1938-1949
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