USS Massey (DD-778), an , was a United States Navy ship that served between 1944 and 1973.
Construction
Massey (DD-778) was laid down on 14 January 1944 by Todd‑Pacific Shipyards, Inc., Seattle, Washington; and launched on 12 September 1944 and sponsored by Mrs. Marjorie Drake Massey, widow of Lieutenant Commander Lance E. Massey. The destroyer was commissioned on 24 November 1944, Commander Charles W. Aldrich in command.
Namesake
Lance Edward "Lem" Massey was born on 20 September 1909 in Syracuse, New York, and was the only child of Walter Griffith Massey and Florence Lance Massey. Growing up in Watertown, New York, he attended two years of high school in Watertown, and then entered Severn School in Severna Park, Maryland, in 1925. After graduating from Severn in 1926, he was accepted into the U.S. Naval Academy when he was sixteen. After graduating from the Naval Academy in 1930, he was commissioned as an ensign, and he was ordered to the battleship . After serving for a year aboard the Texas he entered flight training in Pensacola Naval Air Station in 1931 and earned his Naval Aviator wings in January 1932. He was assigned to Scouting Squadron 3 aboard the aircraft carrier for the next three years. He subsequently served a two-year tour at Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida as a flight instructor. While at Pensacola, he married Marjorie Drake Kelsey, the widow of Lieutenant (j.g.) James Kelsey, a 1931 graduate of the US Naval Academy. In June 1937, Lieutenant (jg) Massey reported to Observation Squadron 3 aboard the battleship , whose home port was Long Beach, California. In August 1937, he was promoted to lieutenant. In January 1940, Observation Squadron Three was transferred to the , where he stayed until July 1940, when he was sent to Naval Air Station, Pensacola. In October 1941, he was reassigned to the as the Executive Officer of Torpedo Squadron 6 (VT-6), the post he held at the time the United States was attacked by Japan in December 1941.
He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander in January 1942. His sole combat mission from Enterprise occurred on February 1, 1942, during the Marshalls-Gilberts raids, when he led VT-6's Second Division in the first airborne torpedo attack in U.S. Naval history. His nine TBD torpedo bombers attacked Japanese shipping at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, with Massey personally sinking the 18,000-ton Japanese transport Bordeaux Maru. For this action, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
On 14 April 1942, he took command of Torpedo Squadron Three (VT-3), a squadron then based at Kaneohe Naval Air Station. On 27 May 1942, VT-3 was transferred to USS Yorktown following the Battle of the Coral Sea, replacing that ship's own Torpedo Squadron 5 (VT-5). Yorktown sailed with VT-3 for Midway Island and entered Battle of Midway on 4 June 1942. Massey was killed while leading his squadron in a low-level attack against the Japanese aircraft carrier Hiryū. Despite being escorted by six F4F Wildcat fighters led by Lieutenant Commander John Thach, ten out of VT-3's twelve TBD's were lost. Massey was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.
History
World War II
Massey departed Bremerton, Washington, 13 February 1945 en route to her first war assignment. Screening escort carriers, she steamed to Tulagi for exercises in preparation for the Okinawa campaign. By 21 March she was at the Ulithi staging area and on 1 April she stood off Okinawa, protecting the escort carriers giving aerial support to the assault troops. For the next month she continued to operate with the carriers, switching to radar picket duty in May. Before leaving Okinawan waters on 24 June, Masseys guns had splashed nine kamikazes.
Massey then sailed to San Pedro Bay, Philippine Islands, returning to Okinawa on 16 July. She soon departed Buckner Bay to begin an antishipping sweep in the East China Sea, concentrating her efforts near the mouth of the Yangtze River. With the cessation of hostilities in mid‑August, the destroyer returned to Okinawa and was assigned to air‑sea rescue work until 22 September. She then served as courier ship between Wakayama and Yokosuka.