Saufley (DD 465) - Naval Cruise Book

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yards long by 1600 yards wide. Arriving at Saipan on June 16th, the SAUFLEY covered the landing of rein- forcements. During the period from June 17th to August 8th, this ship engaged in 23 shore bombardments and 10 starshell missions on Saipan and Tinian. The total am- munition expenditure was 4,000 rounds of five inch 38 caliber shell, 400 starshells, and many rounds of 40 millimeter and 20 millimeter as well. The number of assignments alone shows how effective the firing was. Neutralization of enemy troop concentrations, destruc- tion of a co-rvette and several small craft in Tinian Town, one plane, the runway and several buildings of an air- field, an ammunition dump, gun emplacements, caves, blockhouses, and other installations, harrassment of Tinian Town and several groups of enemy troops, and starshell missions to prevent iniiltrations of our lines were all effectively accomplished. As an example of the extreme strain and hardship imposed by this campaign, Lieutenant James W. Beebe, USNR, of 1060 Roanoke Road, San Marino, California, the plotting room oflicer, lost twenty pounds during this period. His well trained and efficiently o-rganized crew showed the results of his careful, intelligent, untiring supervision. ' The SAUFLEY also engaged enemy aircraft sev- eral times during this operation. On the afternoon of the 17th, the machine guns opened fire on two Tonys retiring over this ship from a strafing attack on the beachhead. No hits were observed and no damage was sustained. The next evening, the main battery and ma- chine guns took 3 Tonys of a group of more than 12 under fire, chasing them into several Hellcats, who shot 13

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Namatanai Air Field, during the night of February 29 and morning of March lst. .Several shore batteries were silenced off Manarou Island, after this ship received some near misses. During the period from March llth to March 16th, this ship participated in bombardment of Japanese posi- tions and joint activities with PT boats in Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville. The SAUFLEY served as a hospital evacuation ship after the landing at Emirau Island by taking 8 injured personnel back to Purvis Bay. She then returned to Emirau as part of a covering force which patrolled in the area most of April. A The SAUFLEY established a sound contact on April 7th and dropped depth charges. After the second nine- charge pattern was dropped, two underwater explos- ions were heard and felt. Four hours later about 4 miles upwind from the last contact, a diesel oil slick appeared on the surface of the water. By sunset this slick was measured and found to be 14 miles long and 3X4 of a mile wide. The assessment was that there was uinsufficient evidence . However, upon the cessation of hostilities, this command was notified that the assess- ment had been changed to a uClass B Assessment , there- by enabling the personnel attached to the ship at that time to wear a bronze star on the Asiatic-Pacific Cam- paign Ribbon. On June l, l944, the SAUFLEY left Pearl Harbor with the Northern Attack Force for the Saipan Opera- tion. Enroute, outside of Kwajalein, on J une llth, this ship conducted an anti-submarine attack until relieved by the USS FRANKS. Result was an oil slick of 3,000 12

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down at least six planes. On June 19th, o-ne Zero took off from Tinian and proceeded to make a surprise at- tack on this ship. Machine gun fire soon dissuaded him, and shortly afterwards a Hellcat accounted for him. On June 26th, the main battery, using full radar con- trol, set fire to a Betty. Whether the plane was downed was not definitely ascertained. The SAUFLEY departed from Saipan on August 12, 1944, for Pearl Harbor and ultimately San Francisco. She arrived at the Bethlehem Shipbuilding and Dry- dock Company, San Francisco, California, on August 31st, after having been underway, except for rearming, refueling and provisioning, for 92 days. This ship had Navy Yard availability for the next six weeks. The .SAUFLEY left San Francisco on 19 October 1944. After participating in training exercises both at San Diego and Pearl Harbor, the SAUFLEY reported to Commander Seventh Fleet whose forces she joined at Leyte Gulf on 20 November. For the next eleven days, the SAUFLEY operated both with the main body of the covering fo-rce and on patrol stations. Many red alerts combined with a neg- ligible fighter cover of several P-38's a few hours a day gave ships an excellent opportunity to destroy enemy planes. On the 22nd and 24th enemy planes were taken under fire without results. Shortly before noon on the 27th the main covering force was attacked by about 15 planes. While the main battery shot down a dive-bomber on the port bow at which several ships were firing, the machine guns shot down a dive-bomber on the starboard bow, a sure kill. Shortly thereafter, the main battery tracked a torpedo plane coming in with target angle zero and opened fire 14