USS Wiley

	USS Wiley (DD-597) 1945
History
United States
Namesake	William Wiley
Builder	Puget Sound Navy Yard
Laid down	10 August 1943
Launched	25 September 1944
Commissioned	22 February 1945
Decommissioned	15 May 1946
Stricken	1 May 1968
Fate	Sold for scrap, 2 April 1970
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 × 5 in (130 mm) guns; 4 × 40 mm AA guns; 4 × 20 mm AA guns; 10 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes; 6 × depth charge projectors; 2 × depth charge tracks;

USS Wiley (DD-597), was a Fletcher-class destroyer of the United States Navy.

Namesake

William Wiley was a sailor who served in the

Stephen Decatur, Jr., in the ketch USS Intrepid at Tripoli harbor on 16 February 1804, destroying the frigate USS Philadelphia which had been captured by the Tripolitean pirates. Quartermaster Wiley was transferred to the brig USS Scourge

soon thereafter, and this is where his documentary trail ends.

Construction and commissioning

Wiley (DD-597) was laid down on 10 August 1943 at

launched on 25 September 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Herbert V. Wiley, wife of Vice Admiral Herbert V. Wiley

, USN (Ret.); and commissioned there on 22 February 1945.

History

The destroyer conducted shakedown out of San Diego, Calif., through the end of April 1945; underwent post-shakedown availability at Puget Sound; and then sailed for the Hawaiian Islands, departing Port Angeles on 19 May and arriving at Pearl Harbor on the 26th. She trained in the vicinity of Oahu for three weeks before getting underway on 13 June to escort the escort carrier USS Cape Gloucester to the Philippines.

Arriving at

Ryukyus. Within a week, Japan

capitulated, ending the war in the Pacific.

Wiley subsequently joined the North China force in operations off the coast of

Jinsen, Korea

.

Detached from this duty with the cruisers, Wiley joined a fast

Gulf of Bohai. During the latter part of October, the destroyer served in the screen for the aircraft carriers USS Antietam and USS Boxer and served as plane guard for the carriers while they conducted routine flight operations over the Yellow Sea. Detached from this duty on 18 November, Wiley joined USS San Francisco at anchor off Taku. Four days later, Wiley shifted to Jinsen, took on board passengers and mail, and proceeded to Shanghai

, Qingdao, and Taku, disembarking some of her passengers at each port before returning to Jinsen on 30 November.

Wiley remained in the Far East into December and then sailed, via

Eniwetok, and Pearl Harbor, for the United States. After arriving at San Francisco

, Calif., on 3 January 1946, Wiley received her inactivation orders on 11 March and put into San Diego the next day.