Manley (DD 940) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 14 text:

U.S.S. MANLEY (DD-940) the fifth destroyer of the SHERMAN Class to be commissioned, is named in honor of Captain John Manley of the Continental Navy. She is the third ship of the Navy to bear his name. On 10 February 1956 the keel was laid, and MANLEY was christened by Mrs. Arleigh Burke, wife of the Chief of Naval Operations on 12 April 1956. As with the second MANLEY, MANLEY (DD-940) was built by the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine. She was delivered to the Navy at Boston on 25 January 1957. On 1 February 1957 MANLEY was commissioned in a ceremony participated in by Adm iral Arleigh Burke, Rear Admiral J. A. Snakenberg and Rear Admiral W. E. Howard held at the Boston Naval Shipyard. Following a six-week fitting out and trials period, MANLEY sailed for shakedown training at Cuan- tanamo Bay, Cuba on 1 1 April. While undergoing rigorous training, MANLEY was sent to Key West to take part in the filming of a wide angle screen movie entitled Windjammer , and on another weekend, visited Kingston, Jamaica. At the conclusion of the eight weeks of shakedown, MANLEY fueled at San Juan, Puerto Rico and sailed on her shakedown cruise, visiting Lisbon, Portugal; Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Kiel, Germany; and Copenhagen, Denmark before returning to Boston 12 July 1957. After a six-week post-shakedown shipyard availability, during which she was formally accepted by the Navy, MANLEY sailed to Norfolk, Virginia, her ne y home port. Shortly thereafter, on 4 September 1957, as part of Task Group 88, MANLEY headed north once more on the NATO fleet exercise STRIKE- BACK . Redezvousing in the Clyde Estuary, the fleet sailed north of the Arctic Circle for maneuvers, after which MANLEY and several other ships visited Southampton, England. On 12 October 1957, the fleet sailed for the U. S., arriving 24 October. Immediately after arrival, MANLEY became flagship of Destroyer Squadron FOUR. Following a short period of squadron exercises out of Norfolk, MANLEY as part of Des Div 41 sailed on 4 December for the Mediterranean and duty with the Sixth Fleet. During a stormy crossing, MANLEY was struck by a hugh wave on 12 December off the Azores. Two men were killed and several injured as a large portion of the galley, radio, and radar rooms were stove in and flooded. Diverted to Lisbon to transfer the injured, MANLEY arrived 14 December and after effecting emergency repairs, departed for Gibraltar on 17 December. While in Gibraltar ex- tensive voyage repairs were accomplished by the Royal Navy Dockyard and by the ship ' s company, and on 4 January 1958, MANLEY sailed for the U.S. After stopping for fuel in Bermuda, MANLEY arrived in Norfolk 16 January and departed for Phil- adelphia Naval Shipyard on 21 January 1958 for 3 months restricted availability to repair storm damage. After returning to Norfolk following the shipyard period, MANLEY went to Washington, D. C. for the weekend of 10-11 May for Armed Forces Day ceremonies. While in Washington, MANLEY was visited by the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Arleigh Burke and Mrs. Burke, MANLEY ' s sponsor. Following the trip to Washington, MANLEY returned to Norfolk for local operations. Following the shipyard period, MANLEY operated locally for several weeks in September and October. On 3 November, she departed from Norfolk to take part in another fleet exercise, LANT- FLEX 2-58. After spending 13-17 November in San Juan, Puerto Rico, MANLEY returned to Norfolk on 25 November where she remained through the holiday period December 1958. In January 1959 MANLEY went to Key West, Florida for two weeks evaluattion of the use of a drone helicopter launched and landed from a destroyer. Upon returning from Key West, MANLEY entered the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for her regular overhaul. Leaving the Shipyard on 16 May, MANLEY underwent refresher training at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba during the month of June. Returning to Norfolk on 3 July she participated in LANTFLEX 2-59 from 6 July to 21 July. On 23 July MANLEY departed Norfolk for Charleston, South Carolina, her new home port. Arriving on 25 July, MANLEY participated in the Destroyer Squadron FOUR grand entry into Charleston. MANLEY departed for her first Sixth Fleet Deployment on 21 September and reported for duty in the Mediterranean on 1 October. During her six months of Med duty, MANLEY visited many ports, such as Istanbul, Turkey; Athens, Greece; Naples, Italy; and Cannes, France. On 18 December, she was reviewed with the other Sixth Fleet ships by President Eisenhower. During the Med Cruise MAN- LEY participated in maneuvers with the British, French and Greek Naval Forces. Completing her Med duty on 1 April, MANLEY returned to Charleston, South Carolina on 10 April 1960. Following a tender and upkeep period during April and May, MANLEY entered Charleston Naval Shipyard in Charleston, South Carolina for her first interim availability period on J June. Upon com- pletion of the shipyard period, she conducted local operations with the exception of a Caribbean Cruise, with a stop in San Juan for Project Mercury operations.

Page 13 text:

A hero Victor Emanuel Beautiful architecture ■ A fountain

Page 15 text:

On 6 September 1960, MANLEY departed Charleston for an extended period of NATO exercises in the North Atlantic. After 28 days at sea, during which time she participated in exercises Sword Thrust and Sea Spray, crossing the Arctic Circle in the process, MANLEY made port in Cardiff, Wales. The people of Cardiff gave MANLEY an entusiastic welcome and MANLEY responded with equal en- thusiasm. Seven days later MANLEY left Cardiff and participated in operations Pipedown One and Two before returning to Charleston on 20 October 1960. Another short exercise in November and the annual winter Atlantic Fleet exercise in January, during which MANLEY acted as an anti-submarine and anti-radar unit, preceded another Project Mercury operation and the period of preparation for overseas deployment. Early in 1961 MANLEY was once again at sea participating in Atlantic Fleet and Mercury Capsule Recovery exercises. With the forthcoming of March MANLEY was deployed to the Sixth Fleet for the second time. During her seven months in Mediterranean waters, MANLEY steamed over 47,000 miles from Beirut, Lebanon to Rota, Spain and won her first competitive E ' s . MANLEY was visited by such distinguished visitors as Under Secretary of the Navy the honorable Paul B. Fay, Jr., Chief of Naval Operations, Commander Destroyer Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet and Commander, Sixth Fleet. MANLEY returned to CONUS early in October only to be redeployed in November to the Carib- bean Sea during the Dominican Republic crisis. On that occasion MANLEY set sail with four hours notice having successfully recalled 72% of her crew. In March of 1962 MANLEY entered the Charles- ton Naval Shipyard dry docks for a 3 month overhaul. In July 1962, MANLEY received her first battle efficiency award with departmental excellence awards in Operations and Engineering (second award). MANLEY finished her shipyard overhaul in September and on 28 September sailed for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for refresher training. After spending only a short time in refersher training MANLEY once again proved to be an angel of mercy as she was on the spot and rescued a downed helicopter from the shark-infested tropical waters. On hand and ready MANLEY was called to participate in the quarantine of Cuba and spent most of October and November patrolling the waters near Gunatanamo Bay. On her return voyage home after the Cuban quarantine MANLEY stopped long enough to rescue the three man crew of the yacht AVIAN of Annapolis, Maryland. Sails gone and no operating engines had put the AVIAN at the mercy of gale force winds in the cold Atlantic. A winter respite in Charleston was a welcome period for MANLEY. In late January she left for the Caribbean and five weeks of participation in Operation Springboard 1963. During Springboard MANLEY visited San Juan, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. MANLEY conducted many gunnery and ASW exercises and qualified as a gunfire support ship at Culebra. During March and April MANLEY operated in the Atlantic on ASW maneuvers with the USS ESSEX (CVS-9). May and June found MANLEY participating in joint Canadian-American ASW exercises. MAN- LEY visited Halifax, Nova Scotia and returned for upkeep to Charleston. MANLEY won the Supply Department Excellence Award in July. August was highlighted by a de- pendents cruise and by a group of Boy Scouts who participated in two weeks of local operations. October found MANLEY underway for a Med deployment where Commander, U. S. Sixth Fleet made her first flagship for a three day visit to Tunis, Tunisia. In December she transited the Suez Canal for a tour of duty under Commander, Middle East Force. After several weeks in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, visiting Jidda, Aden, Kuwait, Ras Tanura and Bahrain, MANLEY crossed the equator for the first time on 8 January 1964. She proved a welcome sight to the 91 American citizens and foreign nationals she evacuated on 13 January from the revolution-torn island of Zanaibar. This evac- uation was carried out without incidentafter negotiations conducted with the rebel for ces. The remainder of her deployment was spent patrolling this troubled area, and for her outstanding performance, vigi- lance and prompt and correct reactions to unusual conditions, MANLEY received commendations from Joint Chiefs of Staff, Commander in Chief, U.S. Naval Forces Europe, Chief of Naval Operations, and Commander, Middle East Force. Upon her return to Charleston in early March, MANLEY entered the shipyard for a one month restricted availability and departed again in early April under the operation control of Commander, Anti-Submarine Warfare Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet. MANLEY ' s contribution to the war effort is apprized as thus: fhe outstanding captain for the time he was willing to confine his talents to Washington ' s Navy. In that period he took ten prizes singlehanded, and participated in capturing five more .