USS Saufley

History
United States
Name	Saufley
Namesake	Lieutenant, junior grade, Richard C. Saufley (1884-1916), U.S. Navy aviation pioneer
Builder	Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Kearny, New Jersey
Laid down	27 January 1942
Launched	19 July 1942
Commissioned	29 August 1942
Decommissioned	29 January 1965
Stricken	1 September 1966
Fate	Sunk as target, 20 February 1968
General characteristics
Class and type	Fletcher-class destroyer
Displacement	2,050 tons
Length	376 ft 6 in (114.7 m)
Beam	39 ft 8 in (12.1 m)
Draft	17 ft 9 in (5.4 m)
Propulsion	60,000 shp (45 MW); 2 propellers
Speed	35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Range	6500 nmi. (12,000 km) at 15 kt
Complement	329
Armament	5 × single 5 in (127 mm)/38 guns 5 × twin AA guns 7 × single 20 mm (0.8 in) AA guns 2 × quintuple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes 6 × single depth charge throwers 2 × depth charge racks

USS Saufley (DD/DDE/EDDE-465), a

Initially assigned to escort reinforcements from Espiritu Santo to Lunga Point, Saufley soon undertook anti-shipping sweeps in the waters north and west of Guadalcanal and conducted shore bombardment missions against enemy positions on the island. During the Japanese evacuation of Guadalcanal in late January and early February 1943, Saufley operated with Task Force 11 (TF11). On 19 February, she sailed to join other units staging for Operation Cleanslate, the occupation of the Russell Islands.

During that operation, Saufley transported troops, towed landing craft to the target islands, and provided

In March, Saufley resumed escort and antisubmarine duties in the southern Solomons-New Caledonia-New Hebrides area. Following an abbreviated availability at Sydney, Australia, she returned to Nouméa and resumed escort work until the end of June. On 30 June, as Allied forces moved toward Rendova, where Saufley bombarded Japanese shore installations.

July and August found Saufley engaged in assault operations against New Georgia and escort missions to the New Hebrides and Vella Lavella. On 31 August, she received minor damage, but no casualties, from near misses by shore batteries in "the Slot".

At 10:11 on 15 September, while Saufley was en route to Espiritu Santo in company with Montgomery and two merchantmen, a torpedo wake was sighted. As Montgomery's sound gear was inoperative, Saufley initiated a search down the track of the torpedo wake. Over the period of the next three and one-half hours, she delivered five separate depth charge attacks against the submarine. At 14:43, Japanese submarine Ro-101, surfaced.

Saufley's five-inch (127 mm) batteries and machine guns opened up on the

During the remainder of September and well into October, Saufley was engaged in night anti-barge patrols between Kolombangara and Choiseul. She sank four barges during this period but sustained damage from Japanese aerial bombs on the night of 1 October which resulted in the death of two and the wounding of 11 crew members.

1944

The months of November and December 1943 and January 1944 found Saufley performing escort duties for the reinforcement of

Remaining in the Marianas until 12 August, the destroyer then sailed for California, arriving at San Francisco with her squadron, Destroyer Squadron 22 (DesRon 22), at the end of the month. Overhaul took her into October. On 26 October, she again steamed west.

On 17 November, she arrived at

Returning to Leyte Gulf, Saufley lost one man and suffered considerable hull damage in an engagement with a kamikaze attack on 29 November.^[2]: 585

1945

Following repairs at the Admiralties, she proceeded to a 2 January 1945 rendezvous with the Lingayen attack force. Moving into the Sulu Sea on the 7th, Saufley shot down an attacking Japanese aircraft at dusk on the 8th. On the morning of 9 January, the formation stood into Lingayen Gulf. Saufley provided screening services as the assault waves landed in the Lingayen area. On the morning of 10 January, Saufley claimed a Val attempting to crash into the destroyer. Saufley got underway on 12 January to return to Leyte Gulf. From Leyte Gulf, she escorted a convoy to Morotai and returned on 26 January. Sailing for Luzon, Saufley arrived off Nasugbu to support the landing there on 31 January. On 1 February, she sank an attacking Japanese boat. She then commenced call fire support which continued for four days. Saufley then set a course for Subic Bay.

The balance of February and most of March was spent in support operations in the areas of Manila Bay and Mindoro. Saufley participated in amphibious operations at Sanga-Sanga (31 March to 4 April) and Jolo (8 to 11 April) where she served as flagship, screening vessel, and call fire support ship.

The next two months found Saufley engaged in escort duties. She participated in the assault against Balikpapan, Borneo, on 1 July. The destroyer returned to Morotai on 22 July. She engaged in escort work between Leyte Gulf and Ulithi until the end of hostilities in mid-August.

In early September 1945, Saufley moved up to the

Decommissioned on 12 June 1946, Saufley remained in the

On 1 July 1962, Saufley was redesignated a general-purpose destroyer and regained her original designation of DD-465. At the end of that month, she participated in the filming of the movie PT 109. In September, she resumed test and evaluation work. In late October, she was placed on standby, and, after the proclamation of the Cuban Quarantine in the Cuban Missile Crisis, she commenced patrols off the coast of Florida. She continued that duty until 20 November, then returned to NAVSTA Key West. On 26 November, she participated in a review of the Quarantine Force by President John F. Kennedy.[1] Archived 2016-01-26 at the Wayback Machine

For the next two years, Saufley continued her experimental projects, interrupting those operations only for scheduled exercises, sonar school ship duties; and, in the spring of 1963, assistance in the search for the nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Thresher.

Ordered back to Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia in the fall of 1964, Saufley was decommissioned on 29 January 1965 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 September 1966. Her use as an experimental ship, however, continued. In 1967, instruments and gauges to register strain and stress of successive explosions were installed, and, on 20 February 1968, as a result of tests, she was sunk off Key West at 24°26.942′N 81°34.974′W / 24.449033°N 81.582900°W / 24.449033; -81.582900.^[4]

Saufley earned 16

References