USS Henley (DD-39)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Henley.

USS Henley (DD-39), port bow, camouflaged, 1918 at Queenstown, Ireland.
History
United States
Name	Henley
Namesake	Captain Robert Henley, awarded Congressional Gold Medal
Builder	Fore River Shipbuilding Company, Quincy, Massachusetts
Cost	$667,235.52[1]
Laid down	17 July 1911
Launched	3 April 1912
Sponsored by	Miss Constance Henley Kane
Commissioned	6 December 1912
Decommissioned	12 December 1919
Stricken	5 July 1934
Identification	Hull symbol:DD-39 Code letters:NHA
Fate	transferred to the United States Coast Guard, 16 May 1924
United States
Name	Henley
Acquired	16 May 1924[2]
Commissioned	14 November 1924[2]
Decommissioned	30 January 1931[2]
Identification	Hull symbol:CG-12
Fate	returned to the US Navy, 30 January 1931[2] Sold for scrapping August 22, 1934
General characteristics [3]
Class and type	Paulding-class destroyer
Displacement	742 long tons (754 t) normal 887 long tons (901 t) full load
Length	293 ft 10 in (89.56 m)
Beam	27 ft (8.2 m)
Draft	8 ft 4 in (2.54 m) (mean)[4]
Installed power	12,000 ihp (8,900 kW)
Propulsion	4 × boilers 2 × Parsons Direct Drive Turbines 2 × shafts
Speed	29.5 kn (33.9 mph; 54.6 km/h) 30.32 kn (34.89 mph; 56.15 km/h) (Speed on Trial)[4]
Complement	4 officers 87 enlisted[5]
Armament	5 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber guns 6 × 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes (3 × 2)

The first USS Henley (DD-39) was a modified Paulding-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I and later in the United States Coast Guard, designated as CG-12. She was named for Robert Henley.

Henley was launched on 3 April 1912 by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, in Quincy, Massachusetts; sponsored by Miss Constance Henley Kane, great-grandniece or Robert Henley; and commissioned at Boston, Massachusetts, on 6 December 1912.

Pre-World War I

After training and shakedown, Henley joined the US Atlantic Torpedo Fleet at Newport, Rhode Island, for a peacetime career of tactical exercises and training maneuvers along the coast from the Caribbean to the North Atlantic. On 22 April 1914, she joined the fleet off Tampico, Mexico, to protect American citizens and property in the face of revolution in that country. During this period, Henley also saw duty transporting refugees and supplies. With war in Europe that fall, she began Neutrality Patrol along the coast and checked belligerent vessels in American ports.

World War I

When America entered World War I in April 1917, Henley continued patrol along the coast and also escorted fuel ships to the destroyers guarding America's first troop convoy on 13 June. For the remainder of the war, Henley performed convoy duty along the coast and carried out anti-submarine patrol off New York Harbor. Henley put in at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 22 December 1918 and decommissioned there on 12 December 1919.

Inter-war period

Transferred to the Coast Guard on 16 May 1924, she served in the Rum Patrol. She was originally stationed at Stapleton, New York and then transferred to New London, Connecticut.

She returned to the Navy on 8 May 1931 and was sold for scrap to Michael Flynn Inc of Brooklyn, New York on 22 August 1934.

References

1. "Table 21 - Ships on Navy List June 30, 1919". Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office: 762. 1921.
2. Record of Movements Vessels of the United States Coast Guard 1790 -December 31, 1933 (PDF). Washington: TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 1989. p. 34.
3. "USS Henley (DD-39)". Navsource.org. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
4. "Table 10 - Ships on Navy List June 30, 1919". Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office: 714. 1921.
5. "Table 16 - Ships on Navy List June 30, 1919". Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office: 749. 1921.

•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links

• Photo gallery of USS Henley at NavSource Naval History