page_title: USS Wadleigh
section_title: 1951 – 1962
hierarchical_section_title: USS Wadleigh / 1951 – 1962
caption_attribution_description: English: The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Wadleigh (DD-689) in the Suez Canal, in 1954, en route to Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island (USA).
context_page_description: USS Wadleigh was a Fletcher-class destroyer of the United States Navy, named for Rear Admiral George H. Wadleigh.
  Wadleigh was laid down on 5 April 1943 at Bath, Maine, by the Bath Iron Works; launched on 7 August 1943; sponsored by Miss Clara F. Wadleigh, daughter of RAdm. Wadleigh; and commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard on 19 October 1943, Lieutenant Commander Walter C. Winn in command.
context_section_description: Wadleigh remained in reserve until she was reactivated during the Korean War. On 3 October 1951, Wadleigh was recommissioned at San Diego, Comdr. R. H. Pauli in command.
  She departed San Diego on 4 January 1952, bound for duty with the Atlantic Fleet. She transited the Panama Canal on 14 January—in company with Hazelwood, Heermann, Cassin Young, and Cowell—and, upon arrival at her new home port of Newport, Rhode Island, became flagship for Destroyer Division 342.
  After participating in various Fleet exercises, Wadleigh arrived at Pensacola, Florida, on 17 August, to commence four weeks of plane-guard duty for Cabot. She rescued three downed aviators from the Gulf of Mexico during this tour. Next, the destroyer sailed north for an overhaul at the Boston Naval Shipyard—during which time the ship received a battery of 3 inch guns—replacing the older 40-millimeter mounts.
  On 3 May 1954, Wadleigh departed Newport, bound via the Panama Canal, Pearl Harbor, Midway, and Guam for the Western Pacific (WestPac), and arrived at Yokosuka, Japan, on 7 June 1954. After initially operating in the Philippine Islands, the destroyer shifted to the waters off the east coast of Korea, assisting in monitoring the Armistice Agreement reached at Panmunjom the year before.
  While in Subic Bay, Wadleigh was put on alert and ordered to rendezvous with Task Group 70.2 (TG 70.2). Once she joined with the group, TG 70.2 proceeded to the southern coast of Formosa in a precautionary move by the United States to forestall possible Chinese communist intentions towards the American-supported Nationalist Chinese regime on the island. While en route to Formosa, the ship struck an underwater object which inflicted minor damage to both screws. Returning to Subic Bay, the ship repaired the damage and sailed to rejoin the group. Once back on station, she spent 20 tense but uneventful days on patrol off Formosa and, soon thereafter, proceeded back to Sasebo, Japan, to prepare to return to the United States.
  Wadleigh returned to Newport—via Hong Kong, Singapore, Colombo, and various Mediterranean ports— and arrived at her home port on 28 November 1954. Shifting to the Caribbean, she operated both in these waters and off the east coast, on antisubmarine warfare (ASW) exercises and local operations, through the end of 1955. She then deployed three times to the Mediterranean.
  During the third of these deployments, in July 1958, tensions flared in Lebanon, and civil strife threatened American lives and property. Accordingly, the United States landed troops to restore order. Wadleigh was among the first American ships to arrive on the scene, with another much-decorated Fletcher-class destroyer, The Sullivans, arriving simultaneously. During the Lebanese crisis, she conducted eastern Mediterranean patrols as a unit of TF 61.
  She returned to the east coast soon thereafter to operate along the Atlantic seaboard and into the Caribbean through the fall of 1958 before deploying to the Mediterranean for a fourth time in June 1959. While homeward-bound to Newport in September of that year, she served as one of the chain of ships beneath the aerial route of president Dwight D. Eisenhower's return to the United States after his summit conferences in Europe.
  During the period in which the ship continued to be based out of Newport, she conducted ASW exercises and local operations through the end of the year and into 1960. On 19 March 1960, Wadleigh sped to the scene of a collision between Darby and a Swedish tanker off Cape Henry. Commander, Destroyer Squadron 20 (DesRon 20), embarked in Wadleigh, was on-scene commander and directed the successful effort to take Darby under tow.
  Returning to a schedule of local operations, Wadleigh conducted a midshipman's training cruise, ASW patrols, and exercises. During a deployment to European waters in the fall of 1960, she conducted NATO fall exercises in the North Sea and across the Arctic Circle.
  Deploying to the Mediterranean for the fifth time, Wadleigh transited the Suez Canal and participated in CENTO Exercise Midlink III, in which th
caption: Wadleigh crossing the Suez Canal. Photograph by John Berwick
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