USS Manley (DD 940)

- decommissioned -

USS MANLEY was a FORREST SHERMAN - class destroyer and the third ship in the Navy to bear the name. In the mid-1960s, the USS MANLEY was one of the eight FORREST SHERMAN - class destroyers chosen to receive an anti-submarine warfare capability upgrade which included the replacement of one of the Mk-42 5-inch guns with a Mk-16 ASROC missile launcher. The ships that underwent the conversion then formed the BARRY - class.

USS MANLEY was decommissioned after more than 26 years of service on March 4, 1983. She was stricken from the Navy list on June 1, 1990, and on June 30, 1994, the destroyer was finally sold for scrapping.

General Characteristics:	Awarded: July 30, 1954
	Keel laid: February 10, 1955
	Launched: April 12, 1956
	Commissioned: January 25, 1957
	Decommissioned: March 4, 1983
	Builder: Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine
	Propulsion system: four-1200 lb. boilers; two steam turbines; two shafts
	Propellers: two
	Length: 418.3 feet (127.5 meters)
	Beam: 45,3 feet (13.8 meters)
	Draft: 22 feet (6.7 meters)
	Displacement: approx. 4,000 tons full load
	Speed: 32+ knots
	Aircraft: none
	Armament: two Mk-42 5-inch/54 caliber guns, Mk-32 ASW torpedo tubes (two triple mounts), one Mk-16 ASROC missile launcher
	Crew: 17 officers, 287 enlisted

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Crew List:

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

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USS MANLEY Cruise Books:

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Accidents aboard USS MANLEY:

Date	Where	Events
December 12, 1957	eastern Atlantic	USS MANLEY is heavily damaged by a Winter storm in the eastern Atlantic. Two crewmembers are killed.
December 7, 1966	South Vietnam	USS MANLEY suffers an accidental shell explosion and small fire, injuring three.
March 17, 1967	off Da Nang, South Vietnam	A five-inch artillery shell accidentally explodes aboard USS MANLEY causing a fire and injuring five.
March 16, 1977	off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba	USS MANLEY suffers a flash-back in a gun mount dring gunnery exercises, injuring four. The mount is subsequently placed out of commission due to fire and water damage when a second powdercasing explodes after the mount is evacuated.
February 1979	Mayport, Fla.	Fire breaks out in the forward boiler room during preparation to get underway from Mayport, Fla. Twelve men are injured of which one later dies. Repair cost is estimated at $75 million.

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About the Ship's Name:

John Manley of Boston, born circa 1733, was selected for command of schooner LEE 24 October 1775. As Captain of LEE, on 28 November he captured one of the most valuable prizes of the Revolutionary War - British brigantine NANCY carrying much ordnance and military stores for British troops in Boston that proved invaluable to Washington’s army. For his “great vigilance and industry,” Manley was appointed commodore in January 1776 of “Washington’s fleet,” a group of small armed ships fitted out by him to harass the British and to seize supply vessels. Commissioned captain in the Continental Navy 17 April 1776, he sailed in HANCOCK until the frigate and her prize, HMS frigate FOX, were taken in July 1777. Imprisoned in New York until March 1778, he then entered privateer service to command MARLBOROUGH, CUMBERLAND, and a prize, HMS JASON, until 1782, except for two more periods of imprisonment, one for 2 years in Mill Prison, England. On 11 September 1782, he returned to the Navy with command of frigate HAGUE. On a West Indies voyage he made a spectacular escape from a superior naval force; and, in January 1783, took the last significant prize of the war, BAILLE. Regarded as one of the outstanding captains of the young Navy, he had captured 10 prizes singlehanded and participated in the seizure of five others. Captain Manley died in Boston in 1793.

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USS MANLEY History:

USS MANLEY, a FORREST SHERMAN-class destroyer, was built at Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine. Her keel was laid on February 10, 1955; she was launched on April 12, 1956, and commissioned at Boston Naval Shipyard on February 1, 1957, Commander William H. Rowan in command. Following shakedown in the Caribbean, MANLEY made a goodwill swing in early summer 1957 to Lisbon, Amsterdam, Kiel, and Copenhagen before returning to Boston on July 12 for post-shakedown work. In September-October she joined the NATO fleet exercise "Strike Back", operating north of the Arctic Circle with a U.S. carrier striking force and pausing for liberty in the Firth of Clyde before returning to the U.S. East Coast on October 24. Her first attempt to deploy with the Sixth Fleet ended in disaster: broadsided by a massive wave in the eastern Atlantic on December 12, 1957, MANLEY suffered two dead, multiple injured, and heavy flooding damage to the galley, radio, and radar spaces. She limped into Lisbon on December 13, shifted to Gibraltar on December 18 for voyage repairs, and reached Norfolk on January 15, 1958, later completing permanent repairs at Philadelphia. She resumed flagship duties for DESRON 4 in spring 1958.

Across 1958-1959, MANLEY alternated Atlantic training and midshipmen operations with foreign port calls - among them Kiel, Copenhagen, and Antwerp - while screening the carrier LAKE CHAMPLAIN (CV 39). In early 1959, she worked with the Surface Antisubmarine Development Detachment at Guantanamo Bay. On March 1, 1959, the squadron's homeport changed to Charleston, South Carolina. After upkeep she deployed to the Mediterranean for anti-submarine warfare exercises including "Long Haul" with British forces and "Boomerang" with French ships.

Following overhaul in 1960, she conducted gunnery off Culebra (July 21, 1960), then took station on the Atlantic Missile Range (July 27) in support of early Mercury program testing before crossing to Cardiff for experimental ASW patrols and attack-team drills, and rejoining Sixth Fleet activity at Beirut with the FORRESTAL (CVA 59) task force.

Through 1961-1962, she operated with FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT (CVA 42) in the Caribbean and supported Project Mercury tracking and recovery contingencies in the North Atlantic, twice rescuing downed aviators at night. After refresher at Guantanamo beginning September 28, 1962, MANLEY enforced the Cuban "quarantine" during the October-November 1962 missile crisis and, homeward bound, rescued three men from the disabled yacht Avian. Early 1963 found her in Operation Springboard and then Canadian-U.S. ASW exercises out of Halifax. In October 1963, she deployed again to the Med, briefly serving as Sixth Fleet flagship during a three-day visit to Tunis, then transited the Suez Canal for Middle East Force duties. On January 13, 1964, while off revolution-torn Zanzibar, her executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Joseph E. Murray Jr., negotiated the release and evacuation of 91 U.S. citizens. MANLEY continued regional patrols before returning to Charleston in March. Yard work at Norfolk Naval Shipyard began April 17. She resumed Atlantic operations in May.

MANLEY sailed for the Mediterranean on January 6, 1965, representing the United States at the tenth anniversary events for CENTO at Iskenderun, Turkey, on February 26. During the mid-watch on May 7, 1965, she sighted the collision of fleet oiler KASKASKIA (AO 27) with the Liberian tanker WORLD BOND near St. Helena. MANLEY rescued 23 passengers and, with embarked teams, fought fires and flooding aboard WORLD BOND, contributing to saving the ship, then returned to Charleston on June 7. On August 9, she headed to a designated Atlantic station as part of the recovery force for the GEMINI 5 mission. The capsule itself was recovered on August 29 by LAKE CHAMPLAIN, after which MANLEY turned for the Canaries and home. For the next year she trained intensively off the Carolinas for possible Southeast Asia tasking.

Departing Charleston on October 5, 1966, MANLEY joined DESRON 20 at Guantanamo, transited the Panama Canal, staged via Pearl Harbor on October 25 and Yokosuka on November 10, and sailed for Vietnam on November 14. En route she medically assisted the gravely ill master of the Greek merchantman MARCETTA on November 17. On November 21, 1966, she relieved HULL (DD 945) off Da Nang as a unit of TU 70.8.9 (gunfire support). On December 7 a powder case ignited before full ramming in MOUNT 51, causing a violent fire and explosion that wrecked the forward mount and threatened the magazines. Rapid damage control contained the blaze, casualties were evacuated by helicopter, and the ship put into Da Nang to disembark visiting Senator Henry M. Jackson before repairing at Subic Bay. Returning to station on December 19, MANLEY joined ENTERPRISE (CVAN 65) and BAINBRIDGE (DLGN 25) in the Gulf of Tonkin, then shifted on December 30 to TG 77.4 for ASW operations with BENNINGTON (CVS 20). In early 1967, she resumed gunline work until March 22, earning a Navy Unit Commendation for sustained meritorious service, and returned to Charleston in May 1967.

A second Western Pacific/Vietnam tour began in September 1967 and lasted roughly eight and a half months, concluding with her return to Charleston in June 1968. During this period, MANLEY alternated carrier-screen and ASW duties with heavy naval gunfire near I Corps, and by spring 1968 she had fired over 26,000 rounds in support of U.S. and allied ground forces - an exceptionally high figure for a single deployment - before rotating home.

MANLEY decommissioned on January 31, 1970, for the SCB-251 anti-submarine warfare modernization at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, receiving an eight-cell ASROC launcher in place of her after 5-inch mount, upgraded sonar and sensors, and communications and habitability improvements. She recommissioned on April 19, 1971, joined CRUDESFLOT 4 at Norfolk, and after a 1972 Guantanamo shakedown entered the forward-deployed program with DESRON 12, shifting homeport to Athens, Greece, on September 1, 1972. Over the next thirty months she stood frequent contingency watches during the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the 1974 Cyprus crisis, and in December 1973 she became the first U.S. warship to visit Izmir, Turkey. On July 22, 1975, she headed stateside for scheduled upkeep at Philadelphia. In December 1976, her homeport changed to Mayport, Florida.

After refresher training in March 1977, MANLEY resumed Second Fleet operations and then deployed with the Sixth Fleet from November 1977 to July 1978, followed by a further Mediterranean/Northern Europe run. On April 8, 1979, while preparing to get underway at Mayport, a fuel-line rupture in the forward boiler room caused a severe fire. Twelve sailors were injured and one officer later died from burns. Nearby units - including TATTNALL (DDG 19) - assisted in bringing the blaze under control. Following repairs, MANLEY crossed the Arctic Circle on October 1, 1979, earning "Blue Nose" status. She underwent overhaul at Boston in 1980, then shifted to Newport, Rhode Island, for workups and REFTRA preparations.

In 1982, MANLEY conducted Caribbean training in spring and departed on June 8 for her final extended deployment. She operated across the Mediterranean with standard port visits and period tasking, assisted in the evacuation of civilians from Beirut amid the Lebanese crisis, transited the Suez Canal to the Indian Ocean, and - after a fifty-day stretch at sea - made Karachi, Pakistan. From October 16 to November 24 she participated in Middle East Force exercises before returning to Newport on December 22. MANLEY decommissioned on March 4, 1983, entered reserve, was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on June 1, 1990, and was ultimately sold for scrapping and broken up at Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1994.

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