USS Manley (DD-940), named for Captain John Manley

John Manley (naval officer)

John Manley was an officer in the Continental Navy and the United States Navy.-Early life:Tradition holds that John Manley was born in 1733 near Torquay, Devonshire, in south west England. As a young man, he settled in Marblehead, Massachusetts, eventually becoming the captain of a merchant...

 (c.1733–1793), was a Forrest Sherman class destroyer

Forrest Sherman class destroyer

The 18 Forrest Sherman-class destroyers were the first US post-war destroyers . and later ships were equipped with B&W Bailey Meter Company's new automatic boiler combustion control system, and a modified hurricane bow/anchor configuration...

 built by the Bath Iron Works

Bath Iron Works

Bath Iron Works is a major American shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, United States. Since its founding in 1884 , BIW has built private, commercial and military vessels, most of which have been ordered by the United States Navy...

 Corporation at Bath

Bath, Maine

Bath is a city in Sagadahoc County, Maine, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 9,266. It is the county seat of Sagadahoc County. Located on the Kennebec River, Bath is a port of entry with a good harbor. The city is popular with tourists, many drawn by its...

 in Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

. The keel was laid down on February 10, 1955. Manley was commissioned on February 1, 1957 and sponsored by Mrs. Arleigh A. Burke, wife of then Chief of Naval Operations, the principal speaker at the commissioning ceremonies, and with Commander William H. Rowan in command.

History

Manley departed Newport, Rhode Island

Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...

 on April 11 for shakedown in the Caribbean. On June 7, Manley got underway from San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan, Puerto Rico

San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...

 for a goodwill tour that took her to Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

, Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

, Kiel

Kiel

Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...

, and Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

. The destroyer returned to the Boston Naval Shipyard on July 12 for repairs and alterations.

Manley left Boston on August 22, 1957 and sortied with an attack carrier strike force destined for a large scale NATO Fleet Exercise "Strike Back." She arrived in the Firth of Clyde

Firth of Clyde

The Firth of Clyde forms a large area of coastal water, sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the Kintyre peninsula which encloses the outer firth in Argyll and Ayrshire, Scotland. The Kilbrannan Sound is a large arm of the Firth of Clyde, separating the Kintyre Peninsula from the Isle of Arran.At...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 on September 14 for a liberty stop. Three days later, she was underway conducting simulated war tactics as it steamed off the coast of Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 north of the Arctic Circle

Arctic Circle

The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For Epoch 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs north of the Equator....

. After exercises with the carrier force, Manley returned to Norfolk on October 24, 1957. Later, assigned to DesDiv 41, she became the flagship for DesRon 4.

On December 4, 1957, Manley set sail for a tour with the Sixth Fleet accompanied by the Gearing, McCard, and Vogelsang. Manley practiced simulated antisubmarine warfare attacks with the squadron while en route but was diverted on December 11 through heavy seas toward the Azores where an aircraft had been reported down, Manley took her position in a futile search. In the early morning hours of December 12, the destroyer was broadsided by a tremendous wave, killing two, injuring several others, and impacting heavy damage to the galley, radio and radar rooms when she suffered flooding. Enduring northwesterly gusts up to 80 knots, Manley battled through heavy rain squalls and mountainous seas toward Lisbon to arrive at night on December 13 for emergency treatment of the injured and repairs to the vessel. She moved to Gibraltar

Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...

 on the 18th and underwent voyage repairs in the Royal Dockyard of Gibraltar until January 4, 1958, then headed via Bermuda

Bermuda

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

 for Norfolk arriving on the 15th. Eventually, she entered the Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia for more permanent repairs. Four months later on April 29, Manley returned to Norfolk and resumed her role as the flagship of DesRon 4.

On June 6, 1958, Manley set sail with the squadron for an Atlantic Fleet operation that included midshipmen training, implementation of the President's people-to-people programs, and visits to foreign ports of call. She visited among other ports, Kiel, Germany and Copenhagen, Denmark, and Antwerp, Belgium while escorting the aircraft carrier USS Lake Champlain (CV-39).

Returning to Norfolk on October 2, she was soon underway with the USS Intrepid (CVA-11) to join the Second Fleet in maneuvers off the coast of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Following those operations, she took her position as plane guard for the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA-42) during operations up the eastern seaboard to the Virginia Capes.

The first half of 1959 saw Manley with the Surface Antisubmarine Development Detachment at Guantanamo Bay

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is located on of land and water at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba which the United States leased for use as a coaling station following the Cuban-American Treaty of 1903. The base is located on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the oldest overseas...

. On March 1, Manleys and DesRon's Four homeport was officially changed to Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...

. After six months of upkeep and maintenance, the squadron was underway for the Mediterranean and anti-submarine deployment. She participated alongside her British counterparts in "Long Haul," and with the French in operation "Boomerang."

After an extensive overhaul in the Charleston shipyard, Manley was again underway on July 21, 1960 for firing exercises off Culebra Island in the Caribbean. On July 27 she took her position at station number five on the Atlantic Missile Range for the test firing of a Mercury space capsule. Then, she headed eastward to Cardiff

Cardiff

Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 and participated in experimental antisubmarine warfare patrols and attack team exercises en route to stateside. After completing a short stint of operations off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

, Manley turned for Pollensa Bay, Majorca. Joining the USS Forrestal (CVA-59)

USS Forrestal (CVA-59)

The USS Forrestal , formerly AVT-59 and CVA-59, is a supercarrier that was named after former Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal and was the lead ship of her class of aircraft carriers. The other carriers of her class were the , and...

 task force at Beirut

Beirut

Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...

, Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

, she joined in Sixth Fleet maneuvers.

In November, she rendezvoused with the Franklin D. Roosevelt to take part in patrols south of Hispaniola. Early in 1962, the destroyer spent a fortnight on Project Mercury

Project Mercury

In January 1960 NASA awarded Western Electric Company a contract for the Mercury tracking network. The value of the contract was over $33 million. Also in January, McDonnell delivered the first production-type Mercury spacecraft, less than a year after award of the formal contract. On February 12,...

 operations followed up a week later underway in support of the Independence in night operations in the North Atlantic. Twice within three days her crew rescued downed pilots at night. One of those pilots, now retired Captain Bill Brandel of Fairfax, Virginia

Fairfax, Virginia

The City of Fairfax is an independent city forming an enclave within the confines of Fairfax County, in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Although politically independent of the surrounding county, the City is nevertheless the county seat....

, appeared at the Capitol 2001 Reunion on Sunday, October 28, 2001, nearly thirty years later, to extend his gratitude to several of those who participated in his rescue.

On September 28, 1962, Manley headed for Guantanamo Bay for refresher training and rescued a downed helicopter pilot. She spent most of October and November operating in the waters of Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

 during the Cuban Missile Crisis

Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...

. While returning home, the destroyer again came to the rescue of three men of yacht, Avian, adrift in the Atlantic.

Late in January 1963, she sailed to the Caribbean for operation "Springboard '63." After ASW exercises with the USS Essex (CVS-9), joint Canadian-American ASW exercises took her to Halifax, Nova Scotia

City of Halifax

Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...

. In October, Manley again departed for a Mediterranean deployment. She was honored to be selected as SIXTH Fleet's flagship during a three day visit to Tunis. In December, she saw operations with the Middle East Force. On January 13, 1964, Manley dispatched her then Executive Officer, Lieutenant Commander Joseph E. Murray, Jr. to negotiate with armed rebels in Zanzibar

Zanzibar

Zanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...

. Along with a small band of sailors, Murray successfully walked away with 91 American citizens held hostages by the guerrillas.

Following routine upkeep in Charleston, she resumed operations off the Atlantic coast in May and on January 6, 1965 returned to the Mediterranean, representing the United States during the tenth anniversary celebrations of CENTO in Iskenderum, Turkey. During her homeward voyage, Manley spotted the collision of Kaskaskia and the Liberian tanker SS World Bond near St. Helena. Manley rescued 23 World Bond passengers and crew from the murky waters. Her emergency teams fought on board fires and flooding and saved the ship.

On August 9, Manley took her recovery station for the space flight of Gemini V. For the next year, she operated in various combat scenarios off the Carolina coasts in preparation for then unknown operations in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

. Departing Charleston on October 5, 1966, she joined DesRon 20 at Gitmo, and soon afterwards set her bow for Vietnam. En route, she assisted the ill captain of the Greek merchant ship, Marcetta. On November 21, Manley relieved USS Hull (DD-945)

USS Hull (DD-945)

USS Hull , named for Commodore Isaac Hull USN , was a Forrest Sherman class destroyer built by the Bath Iron Works Corporation at Bath in Maine. Laid down on 12 September 1956 and launched 10 August 1957, by Mrs. Albert G...

 in Da Nang

Da Nang

Đà Nẵng , occasionally Danang, is a major port city in the South Central Coast of Vietnam, on the coast of the South China Sea at the mouth of the Han River. It is the commercial and educational center of Central Vietnam; its well-sheltered, easily accessible port and its location on the path of...

 as a unit of TU 70.8.9, a gunfire support group of the Seventh Fleet. Manley provided distinguished support of the ground forces until December 7 when a powder case ignited in the breech of mount 51, her forward gun mount. The resulting fire and explosion tore the mount apart and endangered the magazines. Damage control snuffed out the blaze before extensive damage occurred. The casualties were evacuated by helicopter and the destroyer steamed to Da Nang to disembark the visiting Senator Henry M. Jackson

Henry M. Jackson

Henry Martin "Scoop" Jackson was a U.S. Congressman and Senator from the state of Washington from 1941 until his death...

.

After Subic Bay

Subic Bay

Subic Bay is a bay forming part of Luzon Sea on the west coast of the island of Luzon in Zambales, Philippines, about 100 kilometers northwest of Manila Bay. Its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility named U.S...

 repairs, Manley joined up with Enterprise (CVAN-65) and Bainbridge (DLGN-25) in the Gulf of Tonkin

Gulf of Tonkin

The Gulf of Tonkin is an arm of the South China Sea, lying off the coast of northeastern Vietnam.-Etymology:The name Tonkin, written "東京" in Hán tự and Đông Kinh in romanised Vietnamese, means "Eastern Capital", and is the former toponym for Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam...

 and operated there until assigned to TG 77.4 for ASW work with Bennington (CVS-20). Awarded the Navy Unit Commendation for sustained meritorious service in operations against the enemy during her deployment in Southeast Asia, Manley returned to an open-armed reception in Charleston in May 1967.

After a brief stay in her homeport, Manley again departed for the Western Pacific and combat duty in September. Her second Vietnam engagement was to last eight and one-half months until she returned to Charleston in June 1968.

The destroyer was decommissioned on January 31, 1970 to undergo prolong antisubmarine warfare modernization at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Extensive improvements to sensors, weaponry, communications, and crew habitability were accomplished and on April 19, 1971, she was recommissioned and joined CruDesFlot 4 in Norfolk. Following her shakedown deployment in Guantanamo in the spring of '72, Manley joined DesRon 12 and took part in the program to forward deploy ships in overseas homeports. DesRon 12 and Manley entered their new homeport, Athens, Greece, on September 1, 1971. During the next thirty months, she was called upon frequently to participate in speed contingency exercises: the October 1973 Arab-Israeli

Yom Kippur War

The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...

 and Cyprus crisis of 1974

Turkish invasion of Cyprus

The Turkish invasion of Cyprus, launched on 20 July 1974, was a Turkish military invasion in response to a Greek military junta backed coup in Cyprus...

. Manley became the first United States warship to visit Izmir

Izmir

Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...

, Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 in December 1973. On July 22, 1975, the destroyer headed for a scheduled upkeep and maintenance in Philadelphia and in December 1976, was home ported to Mayport, Florida.

After finishing refresher training in March 1977, she commenced operations as a unit of the Second Fleet followed by a Sixth Fleet deployment from November 1977 until July 1978. Her operating cycle was continued with another Med and Northern Europe run. On October 1, 1979, the crew became designated "Blue Noses" when they crossed the Arctic Circle.

With an increasing naval presence in the Caribbean Sea, the destroyer operated throughout the area visiting Curaçao

Curaçao

Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...

, Antilles

Antilles

The Antilles islands form the greater part of the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. The Antilles are divided into two major groups: the "Greater Antilles" to the north and west, including the larger islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico; and the smaller "Lesser Antilles" on the...

, Limón

Limón

Puerto Limón, commonly known as Limón , is the capital city and main hub of Limón province, as well as of the cantón of Limón in Costa Rica. It has a population of about 60,000 , and is home to a thriving Afro-Caribbean community...

, Costa Rica

Costa Rica

Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....

, and Santo Tomas de Castilla

Santo Tomás de Castilla

Santo Tomás de Castilla, also known as Matías de Gálvez is a port city in the Izabal Department, Guatemala. It is located at around . It lies at Amatique Bay off the Gulf of Honduras and is administratively a part of Puerto Barrios.-Belgian colony:...

. In 1980, she departed Mayport for overhaul in Boston. Following a successful refit and sea trials, Manley was assigned to Newport, Rhode Island and conducted workup ops in the Narragansett area preparing for REFTRA in Gitmo.

Fate

From April 3 to May 3, she conducted FEDEX operations in and around Puerto Rico. On June 8, 1982, the USS Manley departed for what was to be her last cruise. She visited all of the Med ports, assisted in evacuation of civilians from Beirut, Lebanon during terrorist activities, and transited the Indian Ocean arriving after fifty days at sea in Karachi, Pakistan. From October 16 until November 24, she joined in MidEastFor exercises. At long last, the Lady headed home arriving on December 22 in Newport to commence decommissioning. On March 4, 1983, the USS Manley (DD-940) was struck for the Navy's active rolls.

When the Fore River Shipyard

Fore River Shipyard

The Fore River Shipyard of Quincy, Massachusetts, more formally known as the Fore River Ship and Engine Building Company, was a shipyard in the United States from 1883 until 1986. Located on the Weymouth Fore River, the yard began operations in 1883 in Braintree, Massachusetts before being moved...

 went bankrupt in the early nineties she was resold to N. R. Acquisition Incorporated of New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 by the Massachusetts Bankruptcy Court and scrapped by Wilmington Resources of Wilmington

Wilmington, North Carolina

Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...

 in North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

.