Riley DE-579

Riley

(DE-579: dp. 1,780 (f.), 1. 306'; b. 37'; dr. 12'7"; s. 23.5 k.; epl. 186; a. 2 5", 4 40mm., 10 20mm., 3 21" tt., 2 dct. 8 dcp., 1 dcp (hh.); cl. Rudderow)

Riley (DE-579) was laid down 20 October 1943 by Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard, Ine. Hingham, Mass., launched 29 December 1943; sponsored bv Miss Mildred Lay. Riley sister of Lieutenanant Riley; and commissioned 13 March 1944, Lt. Comdr. H. D. Johnson in command

Following shakedown exercises off Bermuda, Riley joined CortDiv 67 at Norfolk, where until 6 June she trained prospective destroyer escort crews. On 7 June she sailed for New York whence she escorted a convoy back to Norfolk where she readied for her first transatlantic run. Departing Hampton Roads 23 June with convoy UGS 46, she crossed into the Mediterranean 10 July, fought off a German aerial attack on the 12th, and arrived off Bizerte on the 13th. She returned to the United States 9 August, conducted sonar tests in the New London area until the 29th, then, on the 30th, sailed eastward to escort another Bizerte bound convoy. back in New York 17 October, she got underway, with her division for the Pacific Theater 3 November. Steaming via Panama, she reached Bora-Bora on the 25th and continued on to l lollandia, anchoring in Humboldt Bay 11 December.

Between 19 December and 2 January 1945, Riley completed a round-trip escort run to Leyte, then on the 3d got underway to escort the Lingayen Support Group from New Guinea to Luzon. A unit of TG 78.9, she herded her charges through Surigao Strait on the 9th, protected them during a series of kamikaze attacks on the 12th, and on the 13th delivered them to the transport area off the Lingayen Gulf invasion beaches. For the next 2 days, she patrolled to the seaward of the anchorages off Yellow and Orange beaches, then turned south to escort a convoy returning to Leyte. On the 26th, she sailed north again, in the screen of the "~NIark VII" assault force. On the 29th, she took the assault force to the landing area in southern Zambales Province, Luzon, then patrollecl off the area as the forces began to move inland from the San FelipeSan Nareiso-San Antonio beachheads to seal off the Bataan Peninsula and prevent Japanese forces from escaping from Manila to duplicate General Wainwright's 1942 peninsular defense.

Retiring that night, Riley returned to Leyte, whence she conducted interisland escort runs until 20 March. Then heading southeast, she steamed to the Admiralties and the Palaus and returned to the Philippines 5 April. Into July she engaged in further escort work in the Philippines and to New Guinea. On 7 July she departed l ][ollandia on her initial Okinawan convoy. Arriving on the 23d, she sailed for the Philippines 2 days later. After the mid-August cessation of hostilities, she escorted another convoy to Okinawa, then after the formal surrender, returned to that island, whence she escorted two occupation troop convoys to Jinsen, Korea.

In mid-October Riley got underway for the United States. Steaming via Pearl Harbor she arrived at San Diego 5 November and was asiigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet. Decommissioned 15 January 1947, inactivation was completed 5 February and she joined the "mothball" fleet at San Diego. Transferred to the Cohlmbia River berthing area in 1957, Riley remained in the Reserve Fleet until transferred to the Republie of China 10 Julv 1968. As RCS Tai Yuan (I)E-27) she continues to serve in the Nationalist Chinese Navy into 1970.

Riley earned two battle stars during W orld War II.