Navy ship USS Robert E Simanek named for Korean War veteran from Metro Detroit
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NOVI, Mich. – A Navy ship is going to have a very personal connection to an American hero that lives in Metro Detroit.
Robert Simanek, 90, is a veteran of the Korean War. He said he decided to go into the Marines after high school.
Simanek was the second youngest of four boys born on Detroit’s west side. All of them served their country.
“We felt it was our duty,” Simanek said.
Simanek enlisted in the Marines in 1951. After training, he was sent to Korea to serve as a rifleman and as a radioman. He was 22 years old when in April of 1952 he was asked to do a morning patrol north of Seoul and his squad was ambushed by Chinese troops.
An Oakland County man who was awarded the Marine Corps Medal of Honor for his bravery during the Korean War is getting a U.S. Navy ship named in his honor.
USS Robert E. Simanek (ESB 7)
The future Constellation-class frigate USS Chesapeake (FFG 64) will be named for one of the first six Navy frigates authorized by the Naval Act of 1794. The first USS Chesapeake served with honor against the Barbary Pirates in the early 1800. Following an at-sea battle with HMS Shannon in 1813, the ship was captured by the Royal Navy and commissioned her HMS Chesapeake. Braithwaite recently travelled to England where he retrieved a piece of the original frigate from the Chesapeake Mill in Hampshire.
“Like
Constellation, the first
Chesapeake was a mighty sailing ship that declared our nation a maritime power,” said Braithwaite. “The new USS Chesapeake, FFG-64, will proudly carry on the legacy of that name into the new era of great power competition.”
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