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USS Dennis J. Buckley (DD 808)

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USS DENNIS J. BUCKLEY was one of the GEARING - class destroyers and the second ship in the Navy to bear the name. The first one was DE 553 but her construction was canceled on June 10, 1944, prior to launching. USS DENNIS J. BUCKLEY served as a radar picket destroyer (DDR) between March 18, 1949 and December 1, 1963. Thereafter, her designation was reverted back to DD 808. She was decommissioned on July 2, 1973, sold for scrap on April 29, 1974, and breaking up began at Richmond, California, on July 3, 1974.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS DENNIS J. BUCKLEY. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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USS BUCKLEY Cruise Books:

• WestPac Cruise Book 1957

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USS DENNIS J. BUCKLEY History:

DENNIS J. BUCKLEY was launched 20 December 1944 by Bath Iron Works Corp., Bath, Maine; sponsored by Mrs. D. J. Buckley, mother of Fireman First Class Buckley; and commissioned 2 March 1945, Commander K. C. Walpole in command. She was re-classified DDR 808, 18 March 1949.

DENNIS J. BUCKLEY sailed from Norfolk 7 November 1945 for occupation duty in the Western Pacific, arriving at Tokyo Bay 22 December. She operated in the Marianas and visited Manila, Philippine Islands, before returning to San Diego 13 April 1946. On her second tour of duty in the Far East, in 1947, she cruised off the coast of China providing services to the Fleet and joined in exercises off Okinawa. On 1 October 1948 she steamed for Tsingtao, China, where she patrolled during the evacuation of civilians from the threat of the Communist advance into northern China. She joined TARAWA (CV 40) and HAWKINS (DD 873) and sailed by way of Hong Kong and Singapore; Colombo, Ceylon; Bahrain and Jidda, Saudi Arabia; and Port Said, Egypt, to Athens, Greece where the three ships joined others for a visit to Istanbul, Turkey. She returned to New York 22 February 1949, completing a round-the-world cruise.

DENNIS J. BUCKLEY departed New York 1 March 1949 for a brief period of operations on the west coast, returning to the Canal Zone 10 May for exercises in Caribbean waters. She then operated along the eastern seaboard from Norfolk to Argentia, Newfoundland and sailed from Newport 15 April for a tour of duty in the Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet, returning to Newport 6 October for local and Caribbean operations. From April to October 1951 she cruised to northern Europe, visiting Plymouth, Liverpool, and Weymouth, England; Bremerhaven, Germany; Antwerp, Belgium; and Cork and Londonderry, Ireland.

Between 1952 and 1955, DENNIS J. BUCKLEY completed three tours of duty in the Mediterranean, and served as gunnery and engineering school ship for destroyer officers. She participated in air defense exercises in the North Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico and trained midshipmen and reservists.

DENNIS J. BUCKLEY sailed from Boston 1 May 1956 to join the Pacific Fleet. Arriving at Long Beach 28 June, she got underway 9 July for a tour of duty in the western Pacific from which she returned to Long Beach 21 October. During her second Far Eastern tour, in 1957, she screened PRINCETON (CV 37), patrolled off Taiwan briefly, and served as flagship for Commander, Destroyer Flotillas, western Pacific, during October, when she was visited by the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral A. A. Burke. Local operations engaged DENNIS J. BUCKLEY until 23 August 1958 when she again sailed for the Far East where she joined TF 72 to resupply Nationalist Chinese holding the Quemoy Islands against the threat of Communist seizure.

Returning to Long Beach 27 February 1959, she sailed again for duty in the western Pacific 15 October. She returned to Long Beach 11 March 1960 for operations until May, underwent a 3-month overhaul, and then resumed west coast duty for the remainder of the year.

In 1961, USS DENNIS J. BUCKLEY was still operating from southern California and in September she was underway north of Midway Island when she received an injured Greek seaman transferred by whaleboat from SS ATLANTIC CAPTAIN for treatment aboard. She remained in service in her radar-picket configuration into the following year, and on 28 November 1962 she was present in the western Pacific with USS BON HOMME RICHARD (CVA 31), USS ERNEST G. SMALL (DDR 838), USS TURNER JOY (DD 951), and USS BLACK (DD 666) during the carrier's change-of-command ceremony. On 1 December 1963 she reverted from DDR 808 to DD 808, reflecting the end of her formal radar-picket designation. By late 1964 she had completed a FRAM IB modernization at Puget Sound, a major overhaul that returned her to service in updated form as the Navy continued adapting its destroyer force to the demands of Cold War fleet operations.

By 1965, USS DENNIS J. BUCKLEY was operating in direct support of the expanding American naval commitment in Vietnam. During July 1965, she served on the Mekong River Delta, the Saigon River, and Ganh Rai Bay, placing her in the inland and estuarial waters south of Saigon at a time when the war was widening rapidly. Operational records from that month also show message traffic from the ship dated 9 July 1965 and 28 July 1965, confirming her active presence in that theater. She returned to the same general area from 19 December 1966 to 16 January 1967, once again operating on the Mekong River Delta, the Saigon River, and Ganh Rai Bay as U.S. naval forces continued their riverine and coastal support efforts in South Vietnam.

USS DENNIS J. BUCKLEY continued to make western Pacific deployment cycles in the years that followed. Cruise books are known for 1968 and for the 1969–1970 period, showing that she remained engaged in the regular pattern of Pacific Fleet operations during those years. One specifically documented event from that later Vietnam period occurred on 15 December 1969, when she docked at a pier in Da Nang Harbor to deliver a drone. By 9 June 1970 she was photographed underway off San Diego, indicating that she had returned to the U.S. west coast after that deployment cycle. On 11 February 1971 she was again photographed underway in the Pacific, and official Vietnam-service summaries place her on the Mekong River Delta during June 1971, showing that she continued to operate in South Vietnamese waters even in the later phase of the war. Later that summer, on 29 July 1971, she was at Pearl Harbor during the return passage from western Pacific service, and the ship arrived in San Diego on 4 August 1971.

USS DENNIS J. BUCKLEY was still in active service in 1972 during one of the final major phases of American naval combat operations off Vietnam. By 19 May 1972, during the period of heightened U.S. naval activity associated with the North Vietnamese Easter Offensive, Redeye missile teams had been assigned to several ships in the Tonkin Gulf, including USS DENNIS J. BUCKLEY, after the teams reached Subic Bay. Later that year, on 10 September 1972, USS HEPBURN (DE 1055) was relieved by USS DENNIS J. BUCKLEY, confirming that she remained operationally employed in the western Pacific late in the campaign year. Her active career came to an end the following summer. She was decommissioned on 2 July 1973, sold for scrap on 29 April 1974, and breaking up began at Richmond, California, on 3 July 1974.

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About the Ship's Name:

Born 22 April 1920 in Holyoke, Mass., Dennis Joseph Buckley, Jr., enlisted in the Navy 30 September 1940. Fireman First Class Buckley was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for displaying exceptional courage in attempting to board and salvage a blockade runner which had been intercepted by his ship EBERLE (DD 430) on 10 March 1943. The explosion of demolition charges planted by the blockade runner's crew took his life.

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USS DENNIS J. BUCKLEY Image Gallery:

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