USS Saufley ( DD - 465 ) USS " Saufley " ( DD / DDE / EDDE - 465 ) , a " Fletcher " - class destroyer , was a warship of the United States Navy named for pioneering Naval Aviator , Lieutenant Richard Saufley , USN . " Saufley " was laid down on 27 January 1942 by the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co . , Kearny , New Jersey ; launched on 19 July 1942 ; sponsored by Saufley ' s widow , Mrs . Helen O ' R . Scruggs ; and commissioned on 29 August 1942 , Lieutenant Commander Bert F . Brown in command . World War II . Following shakedown off northern New England , " Saufley " made several coastal escort runs and then prepared for duty in the South Pacific . She departed Norfolk on 9 September . Arriving at Nouméa , New Caledonia , on 2 December , " Saufley " commenced participation in the Guadalcanal campaign three days later . 1943 . Initially assigned to escort reinforcements from Espiritu Santo to Lunga Point , " Saufley " soon undertook antishipping sweeps in the waters north and west of Guadalcanal and conducted shore bombardment missions against enemy positions on the island . During the Japanese evacuation of Guadalcanal in late January and early February 1943 , " Saufley " operated with Task Force 11 ( TF11 ) . On 19 February , she sailed for Lunga Roads to join with other units staging for Operation Cleanslate , the occupation of the Russell Islands . During that operation , " Saufley " transported troops , towed landing craft to the target islands , and provided shore bombardment in support of the troops as they landed on Pavuvu and Banika islands on 21 February . From these islands , planes would be able to cover operations against Rendova . In March , " Saufley " resumed escort and antisubmarine duties in the southern Solomons - New Caledonia - New Hebrides area . Following an abbreviated availability at Sydney , Australia , she returned to Nouméa and resumed escort work until the end of June . On 30 June , as Allied forces moved toward Rendova , " Saufley " bombarded Japanese shore installations there . July and August found " Saufley " engaged in assault operations against New Georgia and escort missions to the New Hebrides and Vella Lavella . On 31 August , she received minor damage , but no casualties , from near misses by shore batteries in " the Slot " . At 10 : 11 on 15 September , while " Saufley " was en route to Espiritu Santo in company with and two merchantmen , a torpedo wake was sighted . As " Montgomery " ' s sound gear was inoperative , " Saufley " initiated a search down the track of the torpedo wake . Over the period of the next three and one - half hours , she delivered five separate depth charge attacks against the submarine . At 14 : 43 , the Japanese submarine , surfaced . " Saufley " ' s five - inch ( 127 mm ) batteries and machine guns opened up on the conning tower of the submarine . A PBY flying boat moved in and dropped two depth charges . The first charge missed the target by about 40 feet ( 12 m ) , but the second one hit it . When the splash subsided , the submarine was gone . An underwater explosion was heard and , by 17 : 35 , diesel oil , covering an area of approximately one square mile ( 2 . 6 km² ) , marked the grave of " RO - 101 " . During the remainder of September and well into October , " Saufley " was engaged in night antibarge patrols between Kolombangara and Choiseul . She sank four barges during this period but sustained damage from Japanese aerial bombs on the night of 1 October which resulted in the death of two crew members and the wounding of 11 others . 1944 . The months of November and December 1943 and January 1944 found " Saufley " performing escort duties for the reinforcement of Bougainville . In February , " Saufley " was engaged in the assault on the Green Islands which broke the Japanese Rabaul - Buka supply line and provided the Allies with another airfield near Rabaul . Antisubmarine patrols were followed by call fire support missions during the occupation of Emirau Island . This action , which completed the " ring around Rabaul " , took " Saufley " into April . She had returned to the Emirau - Massau area when , on the morning of 7 April , she gained contact on a submerged submarine . Forty - five minutes and 18 depth charges later , two underwater explosions were heard . Within hours , oil covered the area . Postwar review of Japanese records identified the sunken submarine as . Following escort duties to the Admiralties , " Saufley " returned to Purvis Bay on 18 April whence she conducted exercises with TF 38 into May . On 4 May , the destroyer sailed for Pearl Harbor . Arriving on 12 May , she sailed west again on 1 June as a unit of Task Group 51 . 18 ( TG 51 . 18 ) , the reserve force for Operation Forager , the conquest of the Marianas . On D - Day plus 1 , 16 June , " Saufley " and the other escorts shepherded their charges into the transport unloading area west of Saipan . " Saufley " was then reassigned to call fire support duties . For the next month , she continued call fire support , screening , and shore bombardment operations in the Saipan - Tinian area . On 20 July , " Saufley " moved south for the invasion of Guam . Here , the destroyer provided call fire support for the assault troops . She returned to Tinian on the 23d and supported the landings there on 24 July . For the next week , she provided gunfire support and served on radar picket duty . Remaining in the Marianas until 12 August , the destroyer then sailed for California , arriving at San Francisco with her squadron , Destroyer Squadron 22 ( DesRon 22 ) , at the end of the month . Overhaul took her into October . On 26 October , she again steamed west . On 17 November , she arrived at Ulithi Atoll . Proceeding to Leyte Gulf , " Saufley " soon found herself engaged in antisubmarine action after moving into the Camotes Sea to search for a submarine reported to be in the area . Shortly after entering the area on 28 November , Japanese submarine was located on the surface off Pilar Point , Ponson Island . In a multi - destroyer gun action involving " Saufley " , , , and , the submarine was sunk 45 minutes later . On 29 November , " Saufley " was damaged in a kamikaze attack in Leyte Gulf . 1945 . Returning to Leyte Gulf , " Saufley " lost one man and suffered considerable hull damage in an engagement with enemy planes on 29 November . Following repairs at the Admiralties , she proceeded to a 2 January 1945 rendezvous with the Lingayen attack force . Moving into the Sulu Sea on the 7th , " Saufley " shot down an attacking Japanese aircraft at dusk on the 8th . On the morning of 9 January , the formation stood into Lingayen Gulf . " Saufley " provided screening services as the assault waves landed in the Lingayen area . On the morning of 10 January , " Saufley " splashed another aircraft , this time a Val attempting to crash the destroyer . " Saufley " got underway on 12 January to return to Leyte Gulf . From Leyte Gulf , she escorted a convoy to Morotai and returned on 26 January . Sailing for Luzon , " Saufley " arrived off Nasugbu to support the landing there on 31 January . On 1 February , she sank an attacking Japanese boat . She then commenced call fire support which continued for four days . " Saufley " then set a course for Subic Bay . The balance of February and most of March was spent in support operations in the areas of Manila Bay and Mindoro . " Saufley " participated in amphibious operations at Sanga - Sanga ( 31 March to 4 April ) and Jolo ( 8 to 11 April ) where she served as flagship , screening vessel , and call fire support ship . The next two months found " Saufley " engaged in escort duties . She participated in the assault against Balikpapan , Borneo , on 1 July . The destroyer returned to Morotai on 22 July . She engaged in escort work between Leyte Gulf and Ulithi until the end of hostilities in mid - August . In early September 1945 , " Saufley " moved up to the Ryukyu Islands and then proceeded to the China coast . She assisted in minesweeping operations in the Yangtze delta area . The destroyer remained off the coast of China until she departed for home on 12 November . Arriving at San Diego at the end of the year , " Saufley " continued on to the east coast in mid - January 1946 . During February , she underwent repairs at the New York Naval Shipyard . In early March , " Saufley " headed south to Charleston for inactivation . Post - war service . Decommissioned on 12 June 1946 , " Saufley " remained in the Reserve Fleet for just over three years . Redesignated DDE - 465 on 15 March 1949 , she was recommissioned on 15 December 1949 and assigned to Escort Destroyer Squadron ( CortDesRon ) 2 , Atlantic Fleet . Within a year , she had participated in two search and rescue operations . The first , in June 1950 , was the rescue of 36 passengers from a downed commercial airliner on a Puerto Rico - New York run . The second , in October , was the rescue of a Navy TBM pilot assigned to the escort aircraft carrier , USS . On 1 January 1951 , the escort destroyer was reclassified an Experimental Escort Destroyer , EDDE - 465 , and assigned to experimental work under the control of Commander , Operational Development Force . A unit of Destroyer Division 601 ( DesDiv 601 ) , she was home ported at Naval Station Key West , Florida . For the next twelve years , was primarily engaged in testing and evaluating sonar equipment and antisubmarine warfare weapons . On 1 July 1962 , " Saufley " was redesignated a general purpose destroyer and regained her original designation of DD - 465 . At the end of that month , she participated in the filming of the movie " PT 109 " . In September , she resumed test and evaluation work . In late October , she was placed on standby , and , after the proclamation of the Cuban Quarantine in the Cuban Missile Crisis , she commenced patrols off the coast of Florida . She continued that duty until 20 November , then returned to NAVSTA Key West . On 26 November , she participated in a review of the Quarantine Force by President John F . Kennedy . For the next two years , " Saufley " continued her experimental projects , interrupting those operations only for scheduled exercises , sonar school ship duties ; and , in the spring of 1963 , assistance in the search for the nuclear powered attack submarine USS . Ordered back to Naval Station Norfolk , Virginia in the fall of 1964 , " Saufley " was decommissioned on 29 January 1965 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 September 1966 . Her use as an experimental ship , however , continued . In 1967 , instruments and gauges to register strain and stress of successive explosions were installed , and , on 20 February 1968 , as a result of tests , she was sunk off Key West . " Saufley " earned 16 battle star s during World War II , placing her among the highest decorated US ships of the Second World War .