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USS Henley (DD-39) 

Please see below for item level images and donated collections containing photographs of USS Henley (DD-39) 

USS Henley (DD-39) was laid down on 17 July 1911 at Quincy, Mass., by the Fore River Ship Building Co.; launched on 3 April 1912; sponsored by Miss Constance Henley Kane, great-grandniece of Robert Henley; and commissioned at Boston on 6 December 1912, Lt. Cmdr. William L. Littlefield in command.

After training and shakedown, USS Henley (DD-39) joined the Torpedo Flotilla, U.S. Atlantic Fleet at Newport, R.I. During the course of that assignment, she routinely conducted tactical exercises and training maneuvers along the coast from the Caribbean to the North Atlantic. When America entered the war on 6 April 1917, USS Henley (DD-39), attached to the Patrol Force, Squadron Two, operated from Staten Island, N.Y. She then began to patrol and scout off New York and the New England coast hunting for German surface raiders and investigating various merchant ships.

After repair trials and a short period of sea duty, USS Henley (DD-39) moved to the Navy Yard at Norfolk, Va. for temporary repairs to her stern that lasted until 13 July 1918. While underway the next day, 14 July, Henley damaged her bow when she collided with the steamship USS Edward L. Doheny, a mishap that required a return to Norfolk for repairs that lasted until September. On 24 October, she resumed her duties conducting anti-submarine patrols in conjunction with subchasers until the end of hostilities on 11 November. With the Armistice, USS Henley (DD-39) put in at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 22 December 1918 and was decommissioned there on 12 December 1919.

Designated as CG-12, USS Henley (CG-12) was commissioned on 14 November 1924 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, the first of the newly-acquired destroyers to be commissioned into the Coast Guard. On 14 April 1929, USS Henley (CG-12) left New London for target practice at Charleston, S.C. and arrived three days later on 17 April. After completing target practice on 4 May, where she stood eighteenth out of a total of 24 Coast Guard destroyers, she returned to New London on 7 May. She later departed New York for the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 14 October 1930. Arriving two days later on 16 October, the ship was detached from the Destroyer Force and placed under Cmdr. Gordon T. Finlay, the Coast Guard representative at the Navy Yard. On 30 January 1931, the Coast Guard placed USS Henley (CG-12) out of commission at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and she returned to the Navy on 8 May 1931. The ship was stricken from the Navy List on 5 July 1934. 

For a complete history of USS Henley (DD-39) please see its DANFS page.