Tin Can Sailors - The National Association of Destroyer Veterans

The USS STANLY (DD‑478) was launched on 2 May 1942 and commissioned at Charleston on 15 October 1942. She was ready for war and en route to the Pacific with the light cruiser SANTE FE (CL‑60) on 5 March 1943. The new destroyer operated out of Pearl Harbor until 14 May, when she joined the screen of a westbound convoy and passed through the submarine nets into the harbor at Noumea, New Caledonia, twelve days later. Over the next three months, the STANLY escorted convoys and battleships and carriers to Australia and the New Hebrides and Wallis islands from Noumea .

One of Captain Arleigh Burke’s soon to be famous “Little Beavers” of DesRon 23, she and the CHARLES AUSBURNE (DD‑570), CLAXTON (DD‑571), and DYSON (DD‑572), headed for Fila Island in the New Hebrides, arriving on 24 August 1943. They were underway for the Solomons the next day and, by 27 August, were off Guadalcanal, patrolling the anchorage at Lengo Channel. Subsequently, The STANLY patrolled the entrance to Kula Gulf between Kolombangara and New Georgia and later sailed between Port Purvis and Tulagi. On 8 September, she escorted a convoy out of Purvis Bay and, then, headed for New Caledonia to undergo boiler repairs, exchange ammunition and torpedoes, and refuel.

Convoy duty took her back to Guadalcanal in October and for the rest of the month, she continued to guard convoys from Florida Island to various islands in the Solomons. At month’s end, the STANLY left Purvis Bay with DesDiv 45 under the command of Capt. Burke to join Rear Adm. A.S. Merrill’s Task Force 39, which consisted of four light cruisers and Cdr. B. L. Austin’s DesDiv 46, made up of the SPENCE (DD-512), CONVERSE (DD‑509), THATCHER (DD-514) , and FOOTE (DD‑511). During the following evening and night, while the task force pounded Buka Island, the STANLY and her fellow DDs fought off attacks from the air and by Japanese motor torpedo boats. The Japanese lost at least three boats during the action. Later that night, she joined the rest of the task force off the southern tip of Bougainville to shell the Shortlands as a preliminary to the landings on the beaches of Cape Torokina at the entrance to Empress Augusta Bay on 1 November.

Early on the first, the destroyers FULLAM (DD-474), GUEST (DD-472), BENNETT (DD-473), HUDSON (DD-475), ANTHONY (DD-515), WADSWORTH (DD-516), TERRY (DD-513), BRAINE (DD-630), SIGOURNEY (DD-643), CONWAY (DD-507), and RENSHAW (DD-499) successfully delivered their convoy of marine-laden transports to Empress Augusta Bay and covered their landings. By afternoon, the marines were in control of the situation on the beaches of Cape Torokina.

In the meantime, the enemy had launched a cruiser/destroyer force under Adm. Sentaro Omori to disrupt the American landings at Bougainville. The Japanese admiral was confident, with a strike force of four cruisers and six destroyers, that he’d meet little opposition from what scout planes had reported to be a small group of transports and their escorts. The U.S. Navy had no such misconceptions about the approaching enemy force. Task Force 39 was already headed north at top speed from Vella Lavella to block the entrance to Empress Augusta Bay. At 0227 on 2 November, Adm. Merrill’s cruisers made radar contact as the enemy force approached Empress Augusta Bay. The STANLY, AUSBURNE, DYSON, and CLAXTON were in the van as Merrill’s columns intercepted the oncoming Japanese.

At that moment, Omori realized what he was up against and changed the course of his formation just as the van destroyers launched a torpedo barrage. Burke’s deadly school of “guppies” swam harmlessly past their targets. Immediately, the Japanese countered with torpedoes, and the U.S. cruisers opened fire, hitting the lead cruiser SENDAI with devastating effect and disrupting the enemy columns. Confusion reigned among the Japanese ships. A pair of destroyers collided and limped out of the battle, and the cruiser MYOKO tore off the bow of the destroyer HATSUKAZE in another collision. The crippled SENDAI took a beating from the AUSBURNE’s guns, then, from torpedoes fired by the SPENCE and CONVERSE. She remained afloat, however, until 0400, when Burke’s DDs concentrated their fire to send her to the bottom. The SPENCE, STANLY, and other DDs found yet another target for their 5-inch guns, and finished off the already damaged destroyer HATSUKAZE at 0539.

By daybreak, the remainder of Omori’s force was in retreat and on its way to safer waters. He’d lost two ships, and two of his destroyers and two cruisers were damaged. As for the Americans, a torpedo had badly damaged the FOOTE, but the other casualties, the cruiser DENVER and destroyer SPENCE, suffered only minor damage.

At 0800, as the American warships left Empress Augusta Bay to rendezvous with a convoy of transports, a flight of some eighty to one hundred planes appeared on their radar. Quickly, the CLAXTON took the FOOTE in tow and, escorted by the AUSBURNE and THATCHER, steamed out of harm’s way. TF 39 beat off the raid, downing about two dozen of the enemy planes, before continuing to Tulagi.

Throughout November and December 1943, the STANLY operated between the New Hebrides, the Solomons, and among the various islands of the latter group. On 16 November, she joined the CONVERSE in shelling a Japanese submarine and, in all probability, sank it. At various times over the ensuing months with TF 39, she came under aerial attack; assisted in bombarding Massungon Island, Bougainville, and Buka; and patrolled around Buka Island, Choiseul Bay, Bougainville, and the Green Islands atol.

On 13 February 1944, the STANLY left Purvis Bay, feinted toward Espiritu Santo, then, under the cover of darkness, turned north to support the landings in the Green Islands on 14 and 15 February. At dawn on 18 February, Burke’s Little Beaver Squadron, which now included the AUSBURNE, DYSON, STANLY, CONVERSE, AND SPENCE, bombarded enemy installations in the harbor at Kavieng, expending 6, 681 shells in the process. After replenishing ammunition and refueling, Squadron 23 returned to shelling Kavieng. On the 22^nd the STANLY sank a sea‑going tug and helped sink the NAGAMI, a small destroyer‑minelayer. On the night of 22-23 February, she joined the AUSBURNE and DYSON in bombarding Duke of York Island and New Ireland.

For the next month, the STANLY continued to operate with TF 39, conducting anti-shipping sweeps of the Kavieng‑Rabaul sea lanes and bombarding various enemy positions in the Bismarcks. She also returned periodically to escort supply echelons among the several islands in the Solomons group.

As the emphasis shifted from the South to the Central Pacific in early 1944, so, too, did the need for destroyers. Among those who made the move were the Little Beavers of Squadron 23. On 24 March, the STANLY left Purvis Bay and, by the 30th, was cruising in the screen of Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher’s Fast Carrier Task Force 58 as it launched planes against the Palau Islands. The next day, she sailed north of Palau with Task Group 58.4 during strikes against both Palau and Yap. The carriers’ planes hit Woleai on 1 April, and the ships then retired to Majuro. The STANLY reached Majuro on the 6th and remained for repairs and operations through May.

From 3 to 8 June, with INDIANAPOLIS (CA‑35), she made the circuit from Majuro to Kwajalein to Eniwetok, leaving the latter atoll on the 8th to rejoin TF 58. She continued screening duties with the fast carrier task force during the air assault on the Marianas on 11 June, sending sorties against Guam, Rota, Tinian, Saipan, and Pagan islands. On 15 and 16 June, she escorted Task Group 58.4 while its planes attacked Iwo Jima and Chi Chi Jima. She, then, rejoined TF 58 on the 18^th, the eve of the Battle of the Philippine Sea, in which TF 58 dealt Japanese air and sea power a crushing blow in the so-called “Marianas turkey shoot.”

On 20 June, the STANLY participated in the bombardment of Guam and Rota and, two days later, moved on to support the American forces on Saipan. She continued patrols and periodic bombardments around Saipan until 3 July, when she retired with TG 58.4 to Eniwetok. The destroyer returned to the Marianas to screen the carriers until the 31st, when she was ordered back to the United States, where she entered Bethlehem Steel’s shipyard at San Francisco for an overhaul on 17 August 1944.

She was back in the western Pacific by mid-November. On 8 December, she escorted the SS BOULDER VICTORY and SS ELMIRA VICTORY to the Palaus and, then, headed for the Philippines, arriving in the Leyte Gulf on 11 December. With the AUSBURNE , FOOTE, CONVERSE, and STERETT (DD‑407), the STANLY sortied from San Pedro Bay on 4 January 1945 and escorted the landing forces to the San Fabian and Lingayen areas of northern Luzon. Until the 27th, she patrolled the transport areas and stood radar picket duty for the assault forces and fought her way through Japan’s first major kamikaze onslaught of the war.

Over the next two months, she patrolled off Saipan and Iwo Jima and, then, steamed for Okinawa. For the first 11 days of April, the STANLY stood radar picket duty at several stations around Okinawa . On the 12th, she was on station north of the island, when, at noon, some 200 kamikazes attacked hitting several destroyers. The STANLY maneuvered to avoid being hit herself as she sped to assist the CASSIN YOUNG (DD‑793), which had just been hit by a kamikaze. At the same time, the STANLY’s fighter director team took charge of the CASSIN YOUNG’s combat air patrol. Under their direction, the U.S. fighter planes splashed six Vals in rapid succession.

It seemed like all of the action was taking place overhead when, suddenly, out of the maelstrom, a baka bomb plunged toward the STANLY at a speed in excess of 500 knots. At that speed, countermeasures were impossible, and she was rocked by the baka’s impact when it plowed into her starboard bow, five feet above the waterline. The bomb’s warhead continued through the ship, passing out her port side and exploding in the water close aboard. Within minutes of the first attack, another baka flew over the ship taking her ensign from its gaff as it passed and went careening into the water.

Her only casualties were three wounded sailors and the bomb’s damage was not sufficient to put her out of action. Shortly after the second baka’s pass, the STANLY was ordered to Hagushi to screen transports. En route, she experienced her third near‑fatal encounter of the day when a Zeke tried to bomb and crash her in a single pass. Her luck held as the bomb fell short and the plane overshot her. Late that night, she entered “Busted Ship Bay” at Kerama Retto for ten days in repair. She returned to Okinawa for radar picket duty, after which she escorted a convoy to Ulithi on 5 May. The destroyer underwent further repairs until 28 May when she left for gunnery exercises. During the drills, the barrel of her number 5 gun exploded and killed two of her crew, the only fatal casualties suffered by the STANLY in the war.

The destroyer moved on to Apra Harbor, Guam, in early June to repair the damaged gun mount, and she was still there when hostilities ended on 15 August 1945. Five days later, she was headed stateside, where she was decommissioned in October 1946 and moved to Long Beach in January 1947. The STANLY remained in the Pacific Reserve Fleet until 1 December 1970 when her name was struck from the Navy list. Her hulk was sold in February 1972 for scrapping.

Information for this history was taken from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships and Theodore Roscoe’s Destroyer Operations in World War II.