USS MASSEY DD-778

A Tin Can Sailors Destroyer History

USS MASSEY DD-778

The Tin Can Sailor, October 2001

Commissioned on 24 November 1944 at Seattle, Washington, the MASSEY (DD-778) was en route to the war zone and the Okinawa campaign the following spring. On 1 April, she screened escort carriers during the initial landings on Okinawa. The destroyer switched to picket duty in May and by the time she left Okinawan waters, her gunners had splashed nine kamikazes, five in one evening engagement. From Okinawa, she went on to join in an antishipping sweep in the East China Sea in July. With the end of hostilities, the MASSEY returned to Okinawa for air-sea rescue work until 22 September when she began courier operations between U.S. occupied ports in Japan.

At year’s end, DD-778 headed home for duty with the Atlantic Fleet. Operations along the East Coast, a visit to Chile, hunter-killer exercises, and two Mediterranean deployments occupied her until September 1950 and the war in Korea. On 14 October 1950 the MASSEY covered minesweeping operations at Wonsan, Hungnam, and Songjin and later participated in blockade and fire support missions off Korea’s northeast coast. In December she bombarded enemy troop and transportation concentrations around Hungnam until the evacuation of U.N. forces was complete. She then turned her guns on the port facilities, leaving nothing useful for the enemy.

In February 1951, the MASSEY escorted the carrier BATAAN (CVL-29) and steamed along the east and west coasts on blockade and shore bombardment missions off North and South Korea. July 1951 found her back in Norfolk for operations along the East Coast and in the Caribbean, Northern Europe, and the Mediterranean. While with the Sixth Fleet in 1953, she and the FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT (CVA-42) provided medical aid and supplies to victims of an earthquake on the Greek island of Cephalonia.

Over the next six years the MASSEY operated out of Norfolk with the Atlantic Fleet, participating in various exercises off the East Coast and in the Caribbean in addition to regular deployments with the Sixth Fleet and with NATO forces in Northern Europe and the North Sea. In December 1959 she underwent Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization (FRAM II) conversion at Norfolk. During her 1960 Mediterranean deployment the destroyer recorded the first landing of a manned helicopter on the flight deck of a Sixth Fleet destroyer. She returned home to Mayport, Florida, in March 1961, and in January 1962 was reassigned to Newport, Rhode Island, her base of operations for the next four years.

The MASSEY returned to the Pacific in January 1966 and arrived on Yankee Station in the Tonkin Gulf on 10 March to serve as plane guard for the KITTY HAWK (CVA-63) during round the clock air strikes against North Vietnam. Her second assignment with the KITTYHAWK was in early April as the carrier’s planes struck Vietcong targets in South Vietnam. On 7 April she was on the gun line in the IV Corps area and on 10 April fired 174 rounds, hitting a boat dock, a shipping area, a building, and an enemy sampan. She moved on to the I Corps area and from 12 to 14 April, fired 259 rounds destroying Vietcong positions, gun emplacements, storage areas, and boats. Back on Yankee Station in May, she screened the KITTY HAWK and ENTERPRISE (CVA(N)-65) and participated in ASW training with the POMFRET (SS-391) and PORTERFIELD (DD-682). Following picket duty at Point Springfield, the MASSEY joined the CONSTELLATION (CVA-64) on Yankee Station as the carrier’s aircraft bombed fuel depots in the Hanoi and Haiphong areas. On 2 July 1966 she left the Tonkin Gulf for home via the Suez Canal, arriving in Newport on 17 August. She resumed East Coast operations interspersed with deployments with the Sixth Fleet.

While in the Eastern Mediterranean in the spring of 1967, she relieved the destroyer DYESS (DD-880) in towing the sloop ATLANTIS to Rhodes following its collision with a merchant tanker. On June 9, during the Arab-Israeli war, Israeli gunboats and aircraft attacked the technical research ship LIBERTY (AGTR-5). The MASSEY and the DAVIS (DD-937) picked up doctors, corpsmen, and emergency medical supplies from the carrier AMERICA (CVA-66) and sped to the aid of the stricken ship. The next afternoon, the DAVIS accompanied the LIBERTY to Malta, and the MASSEY screened the AMERICA as it proceeded through the troubled waters of the eastern Mediterranean. She returned to more routine operations when the war ended in mid-June and headed for home in September.

During the spring of 1968, she operated out of Newport, in Florida waters, and the Caribbean. Off the coast of Spain with the NEWMAN K. PERRY (DD-883), ZELLARS (DD-777), GEARING (DD-710), MOALE (DD-693), and JOSEPH P. KENNEDY, JR. (DD-850) on 11 April, she found and rescued a seaman lost overboard from the MOALE 1,000 miles west of Gibraltar. When she picked him up, he had been in the water twelve hours and twenty-five minutes. The MASSEY went on to the Mediterranean for NATO exercises and operations with the Sixth Fleet. Intelligence gathering was one of her missions and before returning to Newport in late September 1968, she observed and photographed several Soviet naval vessels. Operating out of Key West in November, she picked up Cuban refugees on a small raft and transferred them to a Coast Guard vessel.

In the Mediterranean in July 1969, she again rescued a man overboard, this time from the NEWMAN K. PERRY. Returning to the states, she shifted home ports from Newport to Fort Schuyler in Brooklyn, New York, in January 1970. There, she operated as a reserve training ship until she was decommissioned on 17 September 1973. The MASSEY was sold for scrap in December 1974.

USS MASSEY DD-778 Ship History

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, April 2016

Massey (DD‑778) was laid down 14 January 1944 by Todd‑Pacific Shipyards, Inc., Seattle, Wash.; launched 12 September 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Lance E. Massey, widow of Lieutenant Commander Massey; and commissioned 24 November 1944, Comdr. Charles W. Aldrich in command.

Massey departed Bremerton, Wash., 13 February 1945 en route to her first war assignment. Screening escort carriers, she steamed to Tulagi for exercises in preparation for the Okinawa campaign. By 21 March she was at the Ulithi staging area and on 1 April she stood off Okinawa, protecting the escort carriers giving aerial support to the assault troops. For the next month she continued to operate with the carriers, switching to radar picket duty in May. Before leaving Okinawan waters 24 June, Massey’s guns had splashed nine kamikazes.

Massey then sailed to San Pedro Bay, Philippine Islands, returning to Okinawa 16 July. She soon departed Buckner Bay to begin an antishipping sweep in the East China Sea, concentrating her efforts near the mouth of the Yangtze River. With the cessation of hostilities in mid‑August, the destroyer returned to Okinawa and was assigned to air‑sea rescue work until 22 September. She then served as courier ship between Wakayama and Yokosuka.

In December Massey departed for the United States, arriving San Diego 21 December. Reassigned to the Atlantic Fleet, she proceeded to the east coast, arriving New York 16 January 1946. Until the outbreak of hostilities in Korea, 25 June 1950, Massey operated primarily in the Atlantic. Her assignments included midshipmen summer training cruises, her 1946 summer cruise being followed by an official visit to Chile, and hunter‑killer team exercises for the Operational Development Force. Twice during this period, 21 July to 19 November 1947 and 1 June to 3 October 1948, she deployed with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean.

In September 1950, Massey was again ordered to the Pacific. She departed the east coast on the 6th, arriving Yokosuka a month later. On 14 October she joined the Advanced Force, U.N. Fleet, then engaged in minesweeping operations off the northeast coast of Korea. Massey patrolled the area in blockade and fire support activities, returning regularly to Wonsan, Hungnam, and Songjin, for most of her Korean tour. In December she bombarded enemy troop and transportation concentrations in the Hungnam area while U.N. forces were evacuating that port. She kept up her protective cover from the 15th through the completion of the operation on the 24th. She then turned her guns on the port facilities, thoroughly demolishing them.

In February 1951 the destroyer sailed to the west coast of Korea for blockade and bombardment in support of U.N. troops in the Inchon‑Seoul area. On 11 March she returned to the east coast and once again patrolled the North Korean coast, training her guns on personnel and communications centers.

Massey returned to her home port, Norfolk, 2 July 1951 and resumed operations in the Atlantic. In April 1953 she departed for the Joint Antisubmarine School at Londonderry, Northern Ireland, and, following ASW operations with Royal Navy units, continued on to the Mediterranean for a 6‑month deployment with the 6th Fleet. During this deployment she joined the carrier Franklin D. Roosevelt in providing medical and material aid to earthquake victims on Cephalonia, one of the Greek Ionian islands. She returned to the United States in October and was briefly assigned to Pensacola, Fla., for plane guard duties. She reentered Hampton Roads in time for Christmas and resumed antisubmarine activities.

Massey spent the next 6 years operating with the Atlantic Fleet. She conducted various exercises and type training off the east coast and in the Caribbean, and made annual deployments to the Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet and NATO forces. In 1957 she sailed to northern Europe and the North Sea for operations with NATO, in lieu of a Mediterranean cruise.

In December 1959, after 15 years of destroyer service, she entered the Norfolk Naval Shipyard where she underwent modernization. Four years later, in April 1963, she put into Boston for further modernization, receiving this time a Drone Antisubmarine Helicopter deck. Following these yard periods she resumed her hunter‑killer exercises in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

Massey was ordered to the Pacific to support anti-Communist activities for the second time, in January 1966. Departing Newport, R.I., on the 19th, she transited the Panama Canal and headed into the Pacific. On 28 February she arrived at Kaosiung, Taiwan, commencing operations in the South China Sea the following week. The destroyer cruised off the coast of Vietnam, providing gunfire support for ground forces and rescue service for carriers, as well as performing picket duty assignments, until departing Tonkin Gulf 3 July for Subic Bay, Philippine Islands. From the Philippines, she steamed for home via the Suez Canal. She arrived at Newport 17 August having circumnavigated the world. On 28 September she entered the Naval Shipyard at Boston for repairs.

Back in top shape early in 1967, Massey operated along the east coast and in the Caribbean, until departing Newport 2 May for the Mediterranean. The destroyer reached Gibraltar on the 11th and operated with the 6th Fleet for the next 4 months. Steaming to the eastern Mediterranean she relieved destroyer Dyess (DD‑880) in towing Atlantis to Rhodes after the sloop had been damaged in a collision with a merchant tanker.

Arab‑Israeli tension had then become explosive. After fighting had erupted, word arrived 8 June that Israeli gunboats and aircraft had attacked and damaged technical research ship Liberty (AGTR‑5). Massey and Davis (DD‑937) immediately headed toward the stricken ship at flank speed. En route doctors, corpsmen, and emergency medical supplies were transferred from aircraft carrier America (CVA‑66) to the two destroyers. Early the next morning they went alongside Liberty to render aid. That afternoon, as Davis accompanied Liberty to Malta, Massey screened America as TG 60.1 steamed through the troubled waters of the eastern Mediterranean.

As the situation in the Middle East eased and open war between Israel and the Arab States ceased, the destroyer steamed to Crete, arriving Suda Bay 15 June. Massey continued operations with the 6th Fleet until departing Rota, Spain, 12 September for home, arriving Newport on the 21st.

The destroyer operated along the Atlantic coast until returning to the Mediterranean in April 1968. Operating with the 6th Fleet until September, Massey arrived back at Newport and operated off the east coast into 1969.

Massey received two battle stars for World War II service and four battle stars for Korean service.