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"The first USS
Schley (DD-103) was a Wickes-class destroyer
in the United States Navy during World War I
and later designated, APD-14 in the World
War II. She was named in honor of Winfield
Scott Schley.
Schley was laid down on 29 October 1917 by
Union Iron Works, San Francisco, California;
launched on 28 March 1918; sponsored by Miss
Eleanor Martin; and commissioned on 20
September 1918, Comdr. R. C. Giffin in
command.
World War I
Schley sailed from San Diego on 10 October
1918 for the east coast and, on 12 November,
departed New York for the Mediterranean. On
24 January 1919 at Taranto, Italy, she
embarked Rear Admiral Mark L. Bristol,
Senior American Naval Officer in Turkey, and
transported him to Constantinople. Schley
next assumed duty in the Adriatic, acting as
station ship at Pola, Italy, from 17
February to 15 April, and then visiting
Italian and Yugoslav ports on the Adriatic
until heading for the United States on 2
July. Schley returned to San Diego on 8
September 1919 and, except for trips to San
Francisco for repairs, remained there until
she was placed out of commission, in
reserve, on 1 June 1922.
World War II
With Europe again at war and war threatening
in the Pacific, Schley was recommissioned at
San Diego on 3 October 1940. She arrived at
Pearl Harbor on 17 December for patrols and
exercises there the next year. When Japanese
planes attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December
1941, the destroyer was moored in a nest of
ships undergoing overhaul and, as her guns
were dismantled, was able to do little
besides reply with small arms fire. Her
overhaul was rushed to completion; and, on
20 December, she took up a patrol station
off the channel approaching Pearl Harbor.
She operated there and off Honolulu for
almost a year. On 13 December 1942, she
departed Hawaiian waters for conversion into
a fast transport at the Puget Sound Navy
Yard. Schley was reclassified 'APD-14
effective 6 February 1943.
Schley returned to Pearl Harbor on 22
February and proceeded to the New Hebrides,
arriving at Espiritu Santo on 24 March. In
the South Pacific, she trained intensively
with Marine raiders and other troops, acted
as a patrol and escort vessel, and operated
as a transport between the Solomons, the New
Hebrides, American Samoa, and New Zealand.
Schley first participated in a landing under
combat conditions on 30 June at New Georgia.
With two other APD's and some smaller ships,
she put troops ashore at Wickham Anchorage
at the southwest end of Vangunu. On 5 July,
she landed a second group of troops at Rice
Anchorage, New Georgia. During this
operation, a Japanese reinforcement group
belatedly arrived on the scene and, in
retiring, sank destroyer, Strong, with a
long-range torpedo shot. After another trip
to Rice Anchorage with supplies and
ammunition, Schley sailed from Espiritu
Santo on 1 August for overhaul at Mare
Island.
1944
Schley left the west coast for Pearl Harbor
on 7 October, but engine repairs at Pearl
Harbor took most of the rest of the year. On
30 December 1943, she arrived at San Diego
to join the task force training for the
invasion of the Marshall Islands. The force
sailed from the west coast on 13 January
1944 and arrived off Kwajalein on 31
January. Schley landed her troops that day
and then performed antisubmarine patrol duty
until she reembarked her troops on 7
February.
She sailed for Eniwetok a week later. Her
activities there showed the versatility of
the small, fast transports. She arrived on
17 February and, that night, put her troops
ashore on Bpgon Island to prevent enemy
infiltration from Engebi, which American
troops had invaded earlier in the day. The
next morning, she began seizing the
remaining islands west of the main island of
Eniwetok. That day, her troops captured five
islands and helped to secure Engebi and
Bogon.
On 24 February, after transferring her
troops to other transports, she got underway
for Kwajalein to escort two transports from
that atoll to her new area of operations,
New Guinea.
Schley arrived off New Guinea on 12 March
and conducted convoy operations for the next
month. On 22 April, she participated in the
landings at Aitape, putting troops ashore
and providing gunfire support. The next day
at Tumleo Island, her boats landed troops
from a larger transport while Schley again
provided gunfire support. After repairs to a
damaged propeller, Schley landed a company
of troops on Niroemoar Island to set up a
radar unit on 19 May. The next day, she
rescued the crew of a wrecked American
gasoline barge off Wakde Island and then
sank two Japanese barges and silenced an
enemy shore battery. The busy ship landed
troops on Biak on 27 May and at Cape
Sansapor at the western end of New Guinea on
30 July. She then proceeded to Australia for
repairs.
Schley next participated in two important
preliminaries for the reconquest of the
Philippines. She landed troops on Morotai on
9 September, and, on 17 October, formed part
of the APD group that occupied the small
islands at the mouth of Leyte Gulf, clearing
the way for the invasion of Leyte three days
later.
After a month of convoy operations, Schley
joined the task group which carried out
landings in Ormoc Bay on 7 December. The
group came under intense kamikaze attack;
but—although her sister ship, Ward, was
sunk-Schley escaped damage. She then
participated in the landings at Mindoro on
15 December 1944 and at Lingayen on 9
January 1945; and, during each operation,
evaded an attacking kamikaze. At Mindoro,
American planes shot down the suicide craft
a scant thousand yards from Schley. At
Lingayen, the kamikaze veered off at the
last minute to attack another ship but
missed. Schley remained on patrol off
Lingayen until the 18th.
1945-1946
On 15 February, she landed troops at
Mariveles Harbor in order to cut off
Japanese escape routes during the assault on
Manila Bay and, two days later, put troops
ashore under enemy fire on Corregidor,
climaxing and completing her operations in
the Philippines.
Schley departed Manila Bay on the 19th and
left the Philippines for Ulithi on 25
February. She then escorted convoys in the
western Pacific, and was briefly at Okinawa
with one from 26 to 28 April. On 29 May,
Schley arrived at San Diego for repairs, and
was redesignated DD-103 effective 5 July
“for duty as rear-area escort and training
vessel” as she was then too worn out for
further front-line service. She was still
under overhaul when the war ended, and after
being made seaworthy, sailed on 17 September
1945 for inactivation at Philadelphia.
Schley was decommissioned on 9 November 1945
and struck from the Navy list on 5 December
1945. Scrapping was completed by the
Philadelphia Navy Yard on 29 March 1946.
Schley received 11 battle stars for her duty
in World War II."
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