USS Smalley

	USS Smalley (DD-565), underway, c. the mid-1950s
History
United States
Namesake	Anthony A. Smalley
Builder	Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation
Laid down	14 February 1943
Launched	27 October 1943
Commissioned	31 March 1944
Decommissioned	30 September 1957
Stricken	1 April 1965
Fate	Sold for scrap, 4 January 1966
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	38 knots (70 km/h; 44 mph)
Range	6,500 nmi. (12,000 km); at 15 kt;
Complement	319
Armament	5 × 5 in (130 mm),; 10 × 40 mm AA guns,; 7 × 20 mm AA guns,; 10 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes,; 6 × depth charge projectors,; 2 × depth charge tracks;

USS Smalley (DD-565), was a Fletcher-class destroyer of the United States Navy.

Namesake

Anthony A. Smalley was born in

North Atlantic Blockading Squadron on board USS Pequot and distinguished himself during the Second Battle of Fort Fisher

. In the attack, Smalley was in command of an 18-man detachment from the Pequot which was responsible for digging trenches for the assault on the fort. He and his men also participated in the charge on the fort. Letters of commendation from his commanding officer praised his bravery and coolness while building the trenches under fire and while leading his men in the charge. Smalley was honorably discharged from the Navy on 3 August 1865. He died in Boston, Massachusetts on 24 January 1894.

Construction and commissioning

Smalley was laid down on 14 February 1943 by the

launched on 27 October 1943, sponsored by Miss Lina A. Mayo; and commissioned

on 31 March 1944.

History

Following shakedown, the ship and one destroyer got underway on 7 June 1944 to escort three troop transports to Hawaii. The convoy arrived at Pearl Harbor on 11 July 1944. On the 28th, the ship's complement manned the rail for President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he steamed into Pearl Harbor on board the cruiser USS Baltimore (CA-68).

On 8 August, Smalley sailed for the

Kurils. In the bombardment, she fired 466 rounds. She later made three more similar bombardment missions during her Aleutian tour. On 18 April 1945, Smalley received orders back to Hawaii

.

On 11 May, she joined

torpedo plane

.

On 4 June 1945, Smalley arrived off

Chichi-jima

.

Smalley returned to the United States in October 1945; and, a little over two years later, in January 1947, she was decommissioned. The ship was placed in the United States

Atlantic Reserve Fleet at the Charleston Naval Shipyard

.

The

homeport on 10 December 1951. Smalley spent all of 1952 on additional training coupled with maintenance and calibration of equipment; and, after a yard period in Boston in the spring of 1953, she sailed on 19 May for Korea. On 2 July, Smalley entered the Korean Combat Zone acting as plane guard for USS Princeton (CV-37). Smalley continued operating with TF 77 as the carriers of the force carried out the famous "Cherokee

" strikes until the signing of the armistice on 27 July 1953.

Smalley remained in the former combat zone until early November. She performed such diverse tasks as ferrying 110

Pusan, Korea, and assisting a South Korean

fishing vessel in distress. In the latter case, she took on board the vessel's 29 men.

Smalley departed the Far East in November 1953 and returned to Newport on 15 January 1954. Her route homeward included calls at

Ceylon, Saudi Arabia, Aden, Port Said, Piraeus, Cannes, and Gibraltar

.

Smalley remained home ported in Newport, Rhode Island, until July 1955 when she got under-way for a northern

Mediterranean cruise. She visited England, Denmark, Finland, Scotland, Spain, France, and Turkey and worked with units of both the Danish and the British Fleets

. Smalley sailed for home on 15 November and arrived in Newport on the 28th.

The year 1956 saw a cruise in

Navy list on 1 April 1965 and sold to the Norfolk Shipbuilding

and Drydock Corporation.

Smalley was awarded three

battle stars for her World War II operations and one star for her Korean War

service.

References

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 Smalley
hazegray.org: USS Smalley
USS Smalley DD-565 Association website Archived 7 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine