DD-478 - Tin Can Sailors

Hull Number: DD-478

Launch Date: 05/02/1942

Commissioned Date: 10/15/1942

Decommissioned Date: 01/15/1947

Voice Call Sign: CLINGCRAFT

Class: FLETCHER

FLETCHER Class

Data for USS Fletcher (DD-445) as of 1945

Length Overall: 376’ 5"

Beam: 39’ 7"

Draft: 13’ 9"

Standard Displacement: 2,050 tons

Full Load Displacement: 2,940 tons

Fuel capacity: 3,250 barrels

Armament:

Five 5″/38 caliber guns
Five 40mm twin anti-aircraft mounts
Two 21″ quintuple torpedo tubes

Complement:

20 Officers
309 Enlisted

Propulsion:

4 Boilers
2 General Electric Turbines: 60,000 horsepower

Highest speed on trials: 35.2 knots

Namesake: FABIUS STANLY

FABIUS STANLY

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, April 2016

Stack (DD-406) was laid down on 25 June 1937 by the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Va.; launched on 5 May 1938; sponsored by Miss Mary Teresa Stack; and commissioned on 20 November 19’39, Lt. Comdr. Isaiah Olch in command.

Following shakedown which lasted until 4 April 1940, including a cruise to the West Indies and Rio de Janeiro, Stack proceeded to the west coast and thence to Pearl Harbor where she operated with the Pacific Fleet until June 1941. She then returned to the east coast for an overhaul at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Stack began patrolling off Bermuda late in November with the Neutrality Patrol. After the United States entered World War II, Stack continued to patrol in the Caribbean until 22 December when she was assigned to escort Wasp (CV-7) from Bermuda to Norfolk.

On the 28th, she sailed from Norfolk as screen for Long Island (CVE-1), She arrived at Casco Bay, Maine, two days later. She refueled and got underway for Argentina in the screen for Long Island and Philadelphia (CL-41). Arriving in Argentina on New Year’s Day 1942, she was assigned to patrol duty. On January 15th, she picked up two survivors from SS Bay Rose which had been torpedoed the night before off Cape Race.

From 17 to 24 January, Stack escorted a convoy which was transporting the first American Expeditionary Force troops to Ireland. En route from Hvalfjordur to Reykjavik, Iceland, on 29 January, she was ordered on a submarine sweep after the U.S.C.G.C. Alexander Hamilton, operating with Task Force (TF) 15, was torpedoed. Steaming at 25 knots on a night sweep, Stack sighted a submarine close aboard. She returned to the point where it had been seen and made two depth charge attacks on sound contact. Sterett (DD-407) came to assist and also made two attacks. The submarine, U-132, suffered damage to a diesel compressor and was forced to return to France for repairs.

Stack departed Iceland on 31 January and operated out of Casco Bay until 17 March. That morning, patrolling with zero visibility, she collided with Wasp. Since her number one fireroom was completely flooded, she steamed to the Philadelphia Navy Yard and underwent repairs until May.

On 5 June, Stack joined TF 37 consisting of Wasp, Quincy (CA-39), San Juan (CL-54), Lang (DD-399), Wilson (DD-408), Buchanan (DD-484), and Farenholt (DD-491) and headed for San Diego. The force arrived there on 19 June, was redesignated TF 18, and ordered to Nukualofa, Tongatapu Island, on the 25th. Arriving on the 18th of July, the ships spent five days preparing for battle, and sailed for the invasion of Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands.

Stack covered the Guadalcanal-Tulagi landings with Destroyer Squadron (DesRon) 12 and was then assigned independent escort and patrol duty in the Guadalcanal area. On 16 January 1943, she was ordered to return to the west coast, via Pearl Harbor, for yard availability. Stack entered the Mare Island Navy Yard on 2 February. Following repair, overhaul and sea trials, she sailed on the 23d to escort SS Matsonia to Pearl Harbor and continue on to Efate, New Hebrides Islands.

Stack operated out of Efate from 20 April until late May. During this time, she made several patrols off Guadalcanal. She then screened Maryland (BB-46) covering the southern supply routes. Assigned to TF 31 in July and August, she had her first opportunity to “slug it out” with the enemy. Stack was under attack by Japanese aircraft on 17 and 18 July near New Georgia Island. On the night of 6 and 7 August, in what would be known as the Battle of Vella Gulf, Stack, with other units of Task Group (TG) 31.2, was searching for enemy traffic along Gizo and Kolombangara Islands. At 2335, Dunlap (DD-384) reported that she had made radar contact at 19,000 yards. The group tracked the enemy and identified them as four ships in column. The American ships opened the battle with a successful torpedo attack, followed by gunfire and more torpedoes. This resulted in the sinking of three Japanese destroyers, Arashi, Hagikaze, and Kawakaze, and damage to the fourth. The destroyers were loaded with troops who were to have been landed at Kolombangara as reinforcements for the Japanese garrison there. There were no American losses, and the task group retired to Tulagi.

Stack joined TF 38 to participate in raids against Rabaul during November. On the 11th, two carrier attacks had already been launched when radar picked up a flight of incoming bogies. The actual attack began at 1355 when Stack commenced firing on a group of 20 “Vals” coming in on her starboard bow. Thereafter, antiaircraft fire was continuous from the task force against all types of Japanese planes. The attacking force numbered about 90 planes. Stack splashed one and had two more probable kills.

Stack then operated with TG 50.4 during the assault and landings on Tarawa and Makin Island in the Gilberts. She was a unit of the group screening the carriers which were providing fighter cover to the landing forces, when it was attacked by enemy bombers on 20 November, the day of the landings.

Stack then steamed west of the Gilberts to participate in the combined aerial and shore bombardment of Nauru Island on 8 December 1943.

In late January and early February 1944, Stack, as part of TF 58, participated in the bombardment and assault on Kwajalein and Majuro Atolls in the Marshalls. She was one of five destroyers in the Bombardment Support Group, which included three battleships, that shelled Roi-Namur and adjacent islands. On 17 and 18 February, the task force, now including nine carriers, carried out raids against the Japanese bastion at Truk and, on the 20th, against Jaluit Atoll.

Stack then departed the Central Pacific for Pearl Harbor and for the west coast of the United States. She was overhauled and held sea trials from 11 March to 22 June when she weighed anchor for Pearl Harbor and Milne Bay.

Stack arrived at Milne Bay on 15 July and began operations as a unit of TG 76.7. She laid a mine field off Wewak, New Guinea, and, on the night of 31 August and 1 September, shelled Kairiru Island in the Wewak area. Stack was part of the assault force that landed troops on Morotai, North Moluccas, on 15 September.

Stack was attached to TG 78.4 which entered Leyte Gulf on 17 October. She spent the next two days performing pin-point fire support in the Dinagat Island landing area. On the 20th, she, in company with Lang and five YM’s, performed mine sweeping operations and provided antiaircraft support for landings in the Philippines on Pinaon Island.

Stack, with TG 78.5, sortied from Sansapor, New Guinea, on 30 December 1944 bound for Lingayen Gulf to support the assault and landing at “Blue Beach,” Luzon. During the period from 5 to 12 January 1945, she provided antisubmarine and antiaircraft cover for various units and call fire on the beaches. Stack spent the next three weeks escorting convoys between Leyte and Lingayen Gulfs.

On 8 February, Stack departed San Pedro for the Solomon Islands and a period of upkeep, training, logistics, and exercises which were to last until mid-March. She sailed from Purvis Bay on the 15th; moored at Ulithi for a week; and, on 27 March, steamed for the Ryukyus with TF 53. Stack arrived off Okinawa on 1 April, -L-Day,- and began her assigned duties as an antisubmarine and antiaircraft patrol ship. There were numerous enemy planes the next two days, and she fired on several. On the 5th, she was ordered to Saipan and thence to Ulithi where she joined TU 94.18.12 on 13 April for the return voyage to Okinawa.

Arriving at Hagushi on the 21st, Stack was assigned to patrol duty west of Zampa Misaki for the remainder of the month. She then patrolled southeast of Okinawa to cover the Sakashima Group during May and early June.

Stack reported to Louisville (CA-28) on 15 June and was directed to screen that vessel to Pearl Harbor. Stack had boiler trouble en route which forced her to undergo tender availability at Pearl Harbor until late July. She stood out of Pearl on the 27th underway for Eniwetok, Saipan, Okinawa, and Guam. On 28 August, she was en route from Guam to Truk Atoll with Brigadier General L. D. Hermle, USMC, and various other Navy and Marine Corps officers on board for a preliminary conference with Japanese military authorities regarding the surrender of their forces. The conference was held on 30 August, and Stack transported the Japanese officers and civilians to Guam who were to take part in the surrender. She remained in the Marianas until ordered to Two Jima on 16 September. Stack relieved Cummings (DD-365) on 19 September, at Haha Jima, as Commander, Naval Occupation Forces. She returned to the Marianas and remained in the area until 15 December when she weighed anchor for Pearl Harbor and the west coast.

Stack arrived at San Diego on 30 December for stripping and reduction of her personnel. She sailed two weeks later for Pearl Harbor and ultimate disposal. She was assigned to Joint Task Force 1 as a target for Operation “Crossroads,” the atomic bomb tests to be held in the Marshall Islands. Stack arrived at Bikini on 29 May. She survived the bomb tests of July and August and was decommissioned in the Marshalls on 29 August. Stack was sunk by gunfire near Kwajalein on 24 April 1948 and struck from the Navy list on 28 May.

Stack received 12 battle stars for World War II service.

Disposition:

Sold on 12/16/1971 to Chou`s Iron and Steel Co., LTD., Taipei, Taiwan for $130,940.00. Scrapped.

TCS Ship History

A Tin Can Sailors Destroyer History

USS STANLY DD-478

The Tin Can Sailor, January 2005

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.

TCS Ship History

A Tin Can Sailors Destroyer History

USS STANLY DD-478

The Tin Can Sailor, April 2016

The Fletcher-class destroyer STANLY (DD-478) was commissioned on 15 October 1942 at the Navy Yard in Charleston, South Carolina. By May 1943, she was bound for the Western Pacific. Operating out of Noumea, New Caledonia, she escorted convoys and screened battleships and carriers throughout the Pacific. Upon her return to Noumea, she traveled with the destroyers CHARLES AUSBURNE (DD-570), CLAXTON (DD-571), and DYSON (DD-572) to the Solomons Islands.

She and the others operated with Task Force 39 in the Solomons through October when she participated in the bombardment of Buka Island. During that operation, she fought off Japanese torpedo boats, claiming at least three of them. The STANLY then went on with the task force to support the landings at Empress Augusta Bay.

At 0230 on 2 November, the task force made radar contact with the Japanese force bound for an attack on Empress Augusta Bay. The STANLY and her companions, a unit of the destroyer force known as Capt. Arleigh Burke’s “Little Beavers”, opened the battle with a deadly torpedo attack. They finished off the damaged destroyer Hatsukaze and went on to pummel the enemy force with a hail of 5-inch shells. The Battle of Empress Augusta Bay not only resulted in the enemy’s loss of the Hatsukaze, and the cruiser, Sendai, but, more importantly, prevented Japan’s Admiral Omori from landing reinforcements at Cape Torokina. When TF 39 was finally underway for Tulagi, they were attacked but successfully beat off a 100-plane raid from Rabaul.

The STANLY continued to operate in the Solomons where, on 16 November, she and the Converse (DD-509) attacked and probably sank a Japanese submarine. The STANLY ended the year bombarding Massungon Island. In the opening months of 1944, she participated in the bombardment of Bougainville and Buka; the landings on Green Islan; and operations in the Bismarcks where she sank an enemy tug and helped sink a destroyer-minelayer. With TF 39, the STANLY conducted anti-shipping sweeps of the Kavieng-Rabaul sea lanes, bombarded various enemy positions in the Bismarcks, and escorted convoys supplying the Solomon Islands.

By late March, with the shift of operations from the South to the Central Pacific, the STANLY joined 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 with Task Group 58.4 for strikes against Palau and Yap. In June, following repairs and operations around Majuro, the STANLY joined the screen of TF 58 during its air assault on the Marianas and, in mid June, escorted Task Group 58.4 for the air attack on Iwo Jima and Chi Chi Jima. Later that month, she participated in the bombardment of Guam and Rota and supported the American forces on Saipan. July found the STANLY screening carriers in the Marianas until the 31st, when she was ordered back to the United States.

Following an overhaul she returned to the Western Pacific in November. In early December, she escorted the SS Boulder Victory and SS Elmira Victory to the Palaus, then went on to the Philippines, where she remained for the rest of 1944. On 4 January 1945, with the CHARLES AUSBURNE (DD-570), FOOTE (DD-511), CONVERSE (DD-509), and STERETT (DD-407), the STANLY escorted the landing forces to northern Luzon. She was patrolling transport areas and standing radar picket duty when the Japanese launched their first major kamikaze attack of the war.

From 8 February until mid March, the STANLY patrolled off Saipan and Iwo Jima, then she returned to Ulithi for repairs. She was back on radar picket duty off Okinawa on 12 April, when Japan’s suicidal “Divine Wind” struck her station north of the island, severely damaging the CASSIN YOUNG (DD-793). The STANLY was steaming to the YOUNG’s aid when she was attacked by enemy planes. As she dodged their attacks, her fighter-director team guided the destroyers’ combat air patrol in splashing six enemy Vals in rapid succession.

As American fighters and kamikazes fought overhead, the STANLY became the target of a baka bomb that plunged toward her at 500-knots, a speed that made countermeasures impossible. The bomb plunged into her starboard bow five feet above the waterline. Its warhead continued through the ship and passed out her port side, exploding in the water close aboard. Within minutes, another baka passed over the ship, ripping her ensign from its gaff in passing, then skipped across the water like a flat stone and disintegrated.

After making underway repairs, the STANLY continued on to cover the transports at Hagushi. There, she had her third near-fatal encounter of the day when she was targeted by a Zeke determined to bomb and crash into her in a single pass. Her luck held. The bomb fell short and the plane overshot. In the day’s final accounting, the STANLY came through the action with only three wounded sailors. Late that night, she entered “Busted Ship Bay” at Kerama Retto for quick repair of her bomb damage, then, returned to Okinawa for radar picket duty.

Early May found the STANLY bound for Ulithi and further repairs, after which she suffered her only mortal casualties of the war when her No. 5 gun barrel blew off during gunnery exercises and killed two coxswains. She was in Guam for repair of the gun mount when hostilities ended on 15 August 1945. Back in the states in September, she entered the Mare Island Shipyard for overhaul and assignment to the Pacific Reserve Fleet. The STANLY was decommissioned in October 1946 at Long Beach. On 1 December 1970, her name was struck from the Navy list and in February 1972, her hulk was sold to Chou’s Iron & Steel Company for scrapping.

Ship History

USS STANLY DD-478 Ship History

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, April 2016

Stanly (DD-478) was laid down on 15 September 1941 at the Charleston Navy Yard, Charleston, S.C.; launched on 2 May 1942; sponsored by Mrs. Elizabeth Stanley Boss; and commissioned on 15 October 1942, Lt. Comdr. James M. Robinson in command.

Stanly remained in Charleston fitting-out and undergoing dock trials until 30 December. During that time, her seaplane catapult was removed to make room for additional 5-inch guns. On the 30th, she passed Fort Sumter on her way to shakedown training off the coast of Cuba. Stanly returned to Charleston on 7 January 1943 and operated on the east coast and in Guantanamo Bay until 28 February when she rounded Cape Charles and headed for Delaware Bay, where she joined Sante Fe (CL-60) and sailed with the light cruiser for Panama.

The two warships transited the canal on 5 March, fueled at Balboa the next day, and steamed for Long Beach. They stayed at San Pedro Harbor from the 12th to the 16th, when they headed for Hawaii. After entering Pearl Harbor on 22 March, Stanly operated out of that naval base until May, hunting submarines, participating in drills, and screening convoys on the last leg of their voyages to Oahu. Finally, on 14 May, she departed Pearl Harbor in the screen of a westward-bound convoy. Twelve days later, Stanly and her convoy passed through the submarine nets into the harbor at Noumea, New Caledonia.

Over the next three months, Stanly was in and out of Noumea, escorting convoys and screening battleships and carriers. She made trips as far west as the coast of Australia and as far north and east as the New Hebrides and Wallis islands. Upon her return to Noumea from Wallis Island on 7 August, Stanly was ordered to Espiritu Santo with a convoy. Entering Segond Channel on the 11th, she underwent 13 days availability before exiting the channel for Fila Island, also in the New Hebrides. On this passage, she was accompanied by destroyers Charles Ausburne (DD-570), Claxton (DD-571), and Dyson (DD-572). The four destroyers arrived at Pila on the 24th and stood out again the next day, bound for the Solomons.

By 27 August, Stanly and the other three destroyers were off Guadalcanal, patrolling the anchorage at Lengo Channel. The Solomons-Bismarcks area was to be her theater of operations until late February 1944. On 28 August, she stopped at Tulagi; then, steamed on to patrol the entrance to Kula Gulf, between Kolombangara and New Georgia, and returned the next day to Florida Island. During the first week in September, Stanly sailed between Port Purvis and Tulagi; then, on the 8th, escorted a convoy out of Purvis Bay. The destroyer parted company with the convoy on 10 September and headed on to New Caledonia. Arriving in Noumea on the 13th, she underwent boiler repairs, exchanged ammunition and torpedoes, fueled, and departed on 29 September.

She escorted another convoy from New Caledonia to Guadalcanal in October, leaving it off Lunga Point on the 5th. After stopping at Espiritu Santo on 8 October, Stanly returned to Post Purvis to fuel and pick up another convoy. For the rest of October, she continued to guard the convoys from Florida Island to various islands in the Solomons. On the last day of the month, she stood out of Purvis Bay and joined Task Force (TF) 39. During the following evening and night, Stanly fought off an attack by Japanese motor torpedo boats while the task force pounded Buka Island. The Japanese lost at least three boats during the action. Later that night, Stanly joined the rest of the task force in shelling the Shortlands, located just off the southern tip of Bougainville, in support of the landings farther north at Empress Augusta Bay.

Late on 1 November, TF 39 sighted an enemy surface force, but was unable to engage it until early the next morning when it sallied forth to harass the landing area at Empress Augusta Bay. Radar contact was made at 0230 on 2 November; and Stanly, along with the other three destroyers in the van, opened the battle with a torpedo attack. Though the cruisers of Rear Admiral Merrill’s TF 39 were the star of the ensuing battle, Capt. Arleigh Burke’s -Little Beavers,- Stanly included, contributed by finishing off the destroyer Hatsukaze and by showering a hail of 5-inch shells on the enemy. The Battle of Empress Augusta Bay claimed one enemy cruiser, Sendai, and the destroyer already mentioned, but, more importantly. Admiral Omori retired northward without accomplishing his mission, the landing of reinforcements at Cape Torokina. As dawn broke, the American warships steamed off toward a rendezvous with some transports. On the way, TF 39 beat off a 100-plane raid from Rabaul and, by the next day, was in port in Tulagi.

Throughout November and December 1943, Stanly operated between the New Hebrides, the Solomons, and among the various islands of the latter group. On 16 November, she joined Converse (DD-509) in shelling a Japanese submarine and, in all probability, sank it. At various times during this period, she came under aerial attack; on Christmas Eve she bombarded Massungon Island. Stanly put in at Port Purvis on the day after Christmas for logistics and, eight days later, departed for Espiritu Santo and availability and exercises. On 29 January 1944, she completed underway exercises and reentered Port Purvis. She stood out again the next day; patrolled around Buka Island, Choiseul Bay, Bougainville, and Green Island; and bombarded the west coast of Bougainville, the east coast of Buka, and the east coast of Bougainville, before retiring to Florida Island. Stanly entered Purvis Bay on 11 February and departed again on the 13th. She feinted toward Espiritu Santo; then, under the cover of darkness, turned north and headed for Green Island, where she supported the landings on 14 and 15 February.

By the 22nd, she was cruising the Kavieng-New Hanover area of the “Bismarcks Barrier.” On that day, she sank a sea-going tug and helped sink Nagami, a small destroyer-minelayer. For the next month, Stanly continued to operate with TF 39, conducting antishipping 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 Pacific to the Central Pacific in early 1944, so too, did the need for destroyers. On 24 March, Stanly exited Purvis Bay and, by the 30th, was cruising in the screen of Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher’s Fast Carrier Task Force as it launched planes against the Palau Islands. On the next day, she sailed north of Palau as Task Group 58.4 sent strikes against both Palau and Yap. The carriers’ planes hit Woleai on 1 April and began retiring to Majuro. Stanly arrived in Majuro lagoon on the 6th and underwent repairs until the 30th. She spent the month of May in operations and exercises around Majuro. From 3 to 8 June, in company with Indianapolis (CA-35), the destroyer made the circuit from Majuro to Kwajalein to Eniwetok, leaving the latter atoll on the 8th to rejoin TF 58.

The Fast Carrier Task Force, with Stanly in its screen, opened the air assault on the Marianas on 11 June, sending sorties to bomb and strafe Guam, Rota, Tinian, and Saipan. The pilots of TF 58 added Pagan Island to their itinerary on the 12th and again on the 13th. On 15 and 16 June, Stanly escorted Task Group 58.4 while its planes attacked Iwo Jima and Chi Chi Jima in the Bonins. On the 18th, the task group rejoined TF 58 just in time to witness the Battle of the Philippine Sea, in which the United States Navy broke Japanese naval airpower. On 20 June, Stanly participated in the bombardment of Guam and Rota and, two days later, moved off to defend and 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 on 18 July and screened the carriers until the 31st, when she was ordered back to the United States.

Stopping at Eniwetok from 1 to 3 August and at Pearl Harbor overnight on 10 and 11 August, Stanly entered the Bethlehem Steel Co. shipyard at San Francisco on the 17th. She spent the month of September in overhaul and early October in trials. By 18 October, she was back in Pearl Harbor preparing to return to the western Pacific. Finally, on 10 November, she stood out of Pearl Harbor and, 11 days later, entered Ulithi lagoon. Stanly remained in Ulithi for the rest of November and for the first week in December. On 8 December, she escorted SS Boulder Victory and SS Elmira Victory to Kossol Passage in the Palaus.

After fueling, she sailed for the Philippines and arrived in Leyte Gulf on 11 December. The destroyer operated out of San Pedro Bay for the remainder of 1944.

Stanly, in company with Charles Ausburne (DD-570), Foote (DD-511), Converse (DD-509), and Sterett (DD-407), sortied from San Pedro Bay on 4 January 1945 and escorted the landing forces to the San Fabian and Lingayen areas of northen Luzon. Until the 27th, she patrolled the transport areas and stood radar picket duty for the assault forces while the Japanese launched the first major kamikaze onslaught of the war. By 31 January, she was back off Leyte and, four days later, entered Ulithi. On 8 February, she stood out for Saipan and arrived on the 10th. Stanly patrolled off Saipan for six days; then off Iwo Jima from 16 February until 13 March. She returned to Saipan for logistics on 15 March and weighed anchor on the 17th. She put in at Ulithi the next day and stayed until 27 March, undergoing repairs. At the completion of repairs, she headed for Okinawa, where she arrived late on the 31st.

For the first 11 days of April, Stanly moved from station to station around Okinawa on radar picket duty. On the 12th, as the “Divine Wind” again rose to gale force, she was on station north of the island. Cassin Young (DD-793) had just been crashed by a kamikaze, and Stanly was speeding to her station. Soon enemy planes were swarming around her like angry bees, and she maneuvered radically to avoid their deadly sting. In the meantime, Stanly’s fighter director team took charge of the stricken destroyer’s combat air patrol. Under their direction, the friendly fighters whittled away at the attackers, splashing six “Vals” in rapid succession.

American fighters and kamikazes swirled above Stanly in a grand melee. Suddenly, out of the maelstrom of planes, a baka bomb plunged toward her at a speed in excess of 500 knots. Her assailant’s great speed made countermeasures impossible; and so, Stanly absorbed the baka’s impact on the starboard side of her bow, five feet above the waterline. Fortunately, the warhead continued through Stanly, passed out her port side, and exploded in the water close aboard. Within minutes of the first attack, another baka whisked over the ship and snatched her ensign from its gaff in passing. It skipped across the water like a flat stone, then disintegrated.

Soon after the second baka’s pass, Stanly was ordered to close the transports at Hagushi. On her way, she experienced her third near-fatal encounter of the day when a “Zeke” tried to bomb and crash her in a single pass. Stanly’s luck held as the bomb fell short and the plane overshot. Miraculously, her total casualties for all the day’s action amounted to only three wounded Sailors. Late that night, she entered “Busted Ship Bay” at Kerama Retto for repairs.

After 10 days at Kerama, she returned to Okinawa for an anticlimactic period of radar picket duty. She departed with a Ulithi-bound convoy on 5 May and arrived in the lagoon four days later. The destroyer underwent further repairs and exited the lagoon on the 28th for gunnery exercises. During these drills, the barrel blew off her number 5 gun, killing two coxswains. Ironically, Stanly’s only mortal casualties of the war occurred during training.

The destroyer moved on to Apra Harbor, Guam, to repair the damaged gun mount. She arrived on 3 June and remained for over two and one-half months undergoing extended availability. She was still there when hostilities ended on 15 August.

On the 20th, Stanly weighed anchor, stopped at Eniwetok and at Pearl Harbor, and entered Mare Island Naval Shipyard on the 30th. On 22 September, while still undergoing overhaul, Stanly was assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet.

At the completion of overhaul, she steamed down the coast to San Diego to enter the Reserve Fleet, still in commission. Stanly was decommissioned in October 1946 and shifted her berth to Long Beach, Calif., in January 1947. She 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 to Chou’s Iron & Steel Co., Ltd., for scrapping.

Stanly earned nine battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation for World War II service.