USS Massey

	USS Massey in 1971
History
United States
Name	Massey
Namesake	Lance Edward Massey
Builder	Todd Pacific Shipyards, Seattle
Laid down	14 January 1944
Launched	12 September 1944
Commissioned	24 November 1944
Decommissioned	c.1969
Stricken	17 September 1973
Identification	NTSS (radio call sign)
Fate	Sold 13 November 1974 and broken up for scrap
General characteristics
Class and type	Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer
Displacement	2,200 tons
Length	376 ft 6 in (114.76 m)
Beam	40 ft (12 m)
Draft	15 ft 8 in (4.78 m)
Propulsion	60,000 shp (45,000 kW);; 2 propellers;
Speed	34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph)
Range	6,500 nmi (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	336
Armament	6 × 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal. guns; 12 × 40 mm guns; 11 × 20 mm cannons; 10 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes; 6 × depth charge tracks; 4 × depth charge projectors;

USS Massey (DD-778), an Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer, was a United States Navy ship that served between 1944 and 1973.

Construction

Massey (DD-778) was

launched on 12 September 1944 and sponsored by Mrs. Marjorie Drake Massey, widow of Lieutenant Commander Lance E. Massey. The destroyer was commissioned on 24 November 1944, Commander Charles W. Aldrich

in command.

Namesake

attacked by Japan

in December 1941.

Marshalls-Gilberts raids

.

He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander in January 1942. His sole combat mission from Enterprise occurred on February 1, 1942, during the

Marshalls-Gilberts raids, when he led VT-6's Second Division in the first airborne torpedo attack in U.S. Naval history. His nine TBD torpedo bombers attacked Japanese shipping at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, with Massey personally sinking the 18,000-ton Japanese transport Bordeaux Maru. For this action, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross

.

On 14 April 1942, he took command of

F4F Wildcat fighters led by Lieutenant Commander John Thach,^[1] ten out of VT-3's twelve TBD's were lost. Massey was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.^[2]

History

World War II

Massey departed

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 on 24 June, Massey's guns had splashed nine kamikazes

.

Massey then sailed to

Yokosuka

.

Korea

In December 1945, Massey departed for the United States, arriving at

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 6 September and arrived in Yokosuka a month later. On 14 October she joined the Advance Force,

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 15 December through the completion of the operation on 24 December. 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 enemy 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

Ionian islands. She returned to the United States in October 1953 and was briefly assigned to Pensacola, Florida, for plane guard duties. She reentered Hampton Roads

in time for Christmas and resumed antisubmarine activities.

Massey spent the next six 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 (FRAM). 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.

Vietnam

Massey was ordered to the Pacific for the second time, in January 1966. Departing

Tonkin Gulf

on 3 July 1966 for Subic Bay, Philippine Islands. From the Philippines, she steamed for home via the Suez Canal. She arrived at Newport, Rhode Island, on 17 August 1966, 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 on 2 May for the Mediterranean. The destroyer reached Gibraltar on 11 May and operated with the 6th Fleet for the next four months. Steaming to the eastern Mediterranean she relieved destroyer Dyess in towing Atlantis to Rhodes after the sloop had been damaged in a collision with a merchant tanker.

USS Liberty incident

Arab-Israeli tensions 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. Massey and Davis were ordered to steam toward the stricken ship at flank speed. En route doctors, corpsmen, and emergency medical supplies were transferred from the aircraft carrier America 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, the destroyer steamed to Crete, arriving in Suda Bay on 15 June. Massey continued operations with the 6th Fleet until departing Rota, Spain, 12 September for home, arriving in Newport on 21 September 1967.

References

^ Flying into a Beehive: Fighting Three at Midway, U.S. Naval Institute, June 2007, retrieved 20 Apr 2016
^ Valor awards for Lance Edward Massey, Military Times Hall of Valor, retrieved 20 Apr 2016

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links

navsource.org: USS Massey
hazegray.org: USS Massey
Tin Can Sailors Call Sign List Archived 2017-06-18 at the Wayback Machine

[Flying_into_a_Beehive:_Fighting_Three_at_Midway-1] Flying into a Beehive: Fighting Three at Midway, U.S. Naval Institute, June 2007, retrieved 20 Apr 2016

[Valor_awards_for_Lance_Edward_Massey-2] Valor awards for Lance Edward Massey, Military Times Hall of Valor, retrieved 20 Apr 2016

[1]

[2]