U.S.S. Bagley Association Records, 1937-1999 : Finding Aid

History of U.S.S. Bagley

U.S.S. Bagley (Destroyer: DD-386), was laid down on 31 July 1935 at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Va.; launched on 3 September 1936; sponsored by Miss Bella Worth Bagley, sister of Ens. Worth Bagley; and commissioned 12 June 1937, Lieutenant Commander Earl W. Morris in command. The lead ship in her class, Bagley was designed to fire all sixteen torpedo tubes simultaneously.

After fitting out at Norfolk, the destroyer sailed north on 30 July 1937, arriving at the Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, R.I. for battle practice and training on the 31st. Departing Newport on 9 August, Bagley steamed back to Norfolk, then sailed on 27 August for a shakedown cruise off Central America, arriving at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on the 30th. After transiting the Panama Canal on 9 September, she paused briefly at Balboa, Canal Zone, before sailing for the Galapagos Islands. Anchoring off San Cristobal, the crew visited there and other nearby islands until returning to Panama on 16 September. Bagley transited the canal on 24 September, stopped at Havana, Cuba, and ended her shakedown cruise at Norfolk on 4 October.

Assigned to Destroyer Squadron 4, Bagley spent the next six months training off the Virginia capes. Ordered to the west coast, the warship sailed for Guantanamo Bay in company with U.S.S. Dunlap (Destroyer: DD-384) on 16 August 1938. After transiting the Panama Canal on 25 August, the warships spent two days moored at Balboa before steaming on to San Diego, putting in on 5 September. Reassigned to Destroyer Division 7, Bagley began training exercises off southern California. These exercises also included target ship drills for the submarines of Submarine Squadron 6.

Four days into 1939, Bagley departed San Diego for Panama and, after transiting the canal, reached Cristobal in the Canal Zone on 13 January. She operated out of Gonaives, Haiti; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and Port-au-Prince, Haiti, before getting underway on 5 February for a role in Fleet Problem XX. The destroyer operated on plane guard station before the exercise, between 6 and 11 February, and then sailed to Miami, Fla., via Gonaives, arriving there on 14 February. For the next two weeks of Fleet Problem XX, Bagley acted as a radio guard ship in the port of Miami. Departing Miami on 2 March 1939, the warship visited Gonaives in Haiti and Santiago and Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, before sailing north to Norfolk with the Fleet on 6 April. There the crew prepared for a planned fleet review in New York City on the 29th. The Fleet's visit was cut short by orders to return to the Pacific due to worries about possible Japanese aggression in the Far East. Bagley, however, entered the Norfolk Navy Yard for an overhaul not until 5 July 1939.

Ordered to the Pacific afterwards, the warship departed Norfolk on 11 July 1939 and arrived at Guantanamo Bay on the 14th, en route to San Diego, where she arrived 28 July. For the next eight months, Bagley conducted standard training off southern California.

Bagley sailed for Hawaii on 2 April 1940, arriving at Lahaina Roads on the 10th. There, she participated in Fleet Problem XXI, conducting security patrols off Honolulu and Pearl Harbor during April and May. Afterwards, a majority of the Fleet, including Bagley, was ordered to stay in Hawaii indefinitely as a show of force. Over the next five months, Bagley conducted training operations out of Pearl Harbor and Lahaina Roads, including target services for SubRon 6. The warship also continued security patrols in Hawaiian waters.

Bagley returned to San Diego briefly for liberty during the fall of 1940, arriving on 20 October. On 4 November, the destroyer sailed to San Francisco, receiving degaussing gear between 11 and 24 November, before returning to Pearl Harbor, via San Diego, on 12 December. From that port, Bagley maintained her normal routine into 1941. Following several exercises in late January, the destroyer headed back to the west coast on 2 February. After 11 days of repair work at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, the destroyer sailed for San Diego on 1 April 1941. Bagley departed San Diego on 21 April to join the escort screen of U.S.S. Enterprise (Aircraft carrier: CV-6) off San Pedro, ultimately reaching Pearl Harbor on 27 April 1941. For the next seven months, Bagley operated locally out of Pearl Harbor with DesDiv 7 and as part of carrier task force evolutions with U.S.S. Enterprise and Lexington (Aircraft carrier: CV-2). On 3 December during an antiaircraft practice at sea with DesDiv 8, Bagley's starboard side bilge keel tore loose. The destroyer moored at the Pearl Harbor the following morning, shifting berths to the starboard side of berth 22 near the naval dry docks 6 December 1941.

On 7 December 1941, as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor began to unfold, Bagley went to general quarters, firing her machine guns at the torpedo-carrying Nakajimas passing to attack the American battleships. A few minutes after the attack began, the crew lit the boilers to build up steam and, at 0829, the Commander, Destroyers, Battle Force, directed his ships to get underway. During the second phase of the attack, Bagley's crew fired on bombers attacking Ford Island and the navy yard dry docks, claiming to have splashed at least six aircraft. At 0940, the warship headed for the channel and the open sea, leaving her commanding officer, executive officer, and gunnery officer ashore. Bagley, under the temporary command of Lt. Philip W. Cann, paused only long enough to pick up the skipper of U.S.S. Patterson (Destroyer: DD-392), who was subsequently transferred to his own ship at sea. Although she served briefly in the antisubmarine screen of Task Force (TF) 8, the damage to her bilge keel forced her reassignment to the offshore patrol area near Honolulu that afternoon.

The next morning, Bagley investigated a submarine contact off Nanakuli but found only a burning sampan off Barbers Point light. On 9 December, the destroyer escorted another sampan to Honolulu harbor, turning Nisshin Maru over to the Coast Guard that evening. She turned toward Pearl Harbor the next day for repairs. On 13 December, a submarine scare in the harbor sent her out to sea, and Bagley took up a patrol station off Honolulu. She made a sound contact that afternoon, dropping three depth charges on the suspected submarine, before reentering Pearl Harbor on the 15 December 1941.

After replenishing, Bagley sortied with five other DesRon 4 destroyers on 16 December, and took up station around U.S.S. Saratoga (Aircraft carrier: CV-3) in TF 14. Joined on the 17th by U.S.S. Neches (Oiler: AO-5) and U.S.S. Tangier (Cargo ship: AV-8), the task force steamed west to relieve Wake Island. On 21 December, planes from two Japanese aircraft carriers raided Wake, shooting down the last two operational Grumman F4F Wildcats of Marine Fighter Squadron (VMF) 211. The relief attempt was subsequently cancelled, and Wake Island fell to the Japanese on 23 December 1941.

Bagley covered the arrival of TF 14 at Pearl Harbor four days after Christmas. The next day, she sailed with U.S.S. Saratoga to patrol west of Oahu, while two carrier groups escorted reinforcements to Samoa. On 11 January 1942, however, a single torpedo from Japanese submarine I-16 hit and damaged the aircraft carrier. Bagley returned to Pearl Harbor with Saratoga and had four 20-millimeter machine guns added to her antiaircraft battery.

Departing Oahu on the last day of January 1942, Bagley joined TF 11, comprising U.S.S. Lexington, four cruisers and nine destroyers, to cover transports delivering reinforcements to Christmas Island, Canton Island in the Phoenix Islands, and New Caledonia. TF 11 joined the ANZAC cruiser force; HMAS Australia, HMNZS Achilles, HMNZS Leander with U.S.S. Chicago (Heavy cruiser: CA-29) and two destroyers on 16 February. Shortly thereafter, the task force turned to the northwest and headed for Bougainville in the Solomon Islands.

Before the planned raid on Rabaul could be launched, however, Japanese reconnaissance planes spotted the task force on 20 February 1942. At 1630 that afternoon, Lexington's radar picked up an incoming air raid. Nine minutes later, the task force engaged the first of two waves of Japanese bombers. With all chance of surprise lost, TF 11 came about and sailed into the Coral Sea. After a rendezvous with U.S.S. Yorktown (Aircraft carrier: CV-5) on 6 March, the task force sailed back towards Rabaul, intending to try another air attack on that base. On the 8th, news arrived that the Japanese had landed at Lae, New Guinea, opposite Port Moresby. The carriers changed course, arrived in the Gulf of Papua on 10 March, and launched a strike across the Owen Stanley Mountains at Japanese shipping off Lae and Salamaua. Following the strike the force returned to Pearl Harbor on 26 March.

Bagley departed from Pearl Harbor on 30 April 1942. Off Bora Bora on 9 May, she rendezvoused with U.S.S. Hunter Liggett (Transport: AP-27) and escorted her to the Fiji Islands. The destroyer then spent a week patrolling outside the harbor, before continuing on alone to Brisbane, Australia, arriving there on 30 May. Assigned to the Southwest Pacific Force (TF 44), Bagley protected convoys in the approaches to Australia, searched for submarine contacts, and conducted night battle practice and other exercises through mid-July. On 17 July 1942, she departed Brisbane for New Zealand, arriving in Auckland on 20 July to join TF 62 in preparation for the invasion of Guadalcanal. Bagley then steamed to the Fiji Islands, where she guarded transports as they conducted rehearsal landings at Koro Island. The task force then proceeded to the Solomon Islands, arriving in the transport area off Lunga Point, Guadalcanal, on 7 August. Assigned to one a picket patrol, Bagley and Patterson accompanied HMAS Australia, HMAS Canberra, and Chicago in protecting the transports south of Tulagi. That afternoon, the destroyer engaged a wave of 27 bombers and fighters heading for the ships off Guadalcanal. The following morning, Bagley and Patterson were on antisubmarine patrol off Tulagi when they engaged an assault of wave of 23 "Bettys" and 15 "Zeros" heading toward the ships off Lunga Point. After resuming patrol off Tulagi that afternoon, the southern screening force moved south and east of Savo Island to begin night patrol on 8 August. That night, seven Japanese cruisers and a destroyer under Rear Admiral Gunichi Mikawa arrived from Rabaul to attack the American transports. At the conclusion of the Battle of Savo Island, Bagley came alongside the stricken U.S.S. Astoria (Heavy cruiser: CA-34) and rescued about 400 survivors, including 185 wounded. The following day, Bagley delivered a salvage party to Astoria, an effort that ultimately failed. Bagley then withdrew to Noumea with TF 62, mooring there on 13 August.

On 19 August 1942, Bagley rendezvoused with TF 44 and joined with TF 11 two days later off the Solomon Islands, taking up station around U.S.S. Saratoga in the vicinity of TF 16. On 23 August, the Japanese carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku launched bomber and fighter aircraft toward TF 16, scoring three hits on U.S.S. Enterprise, damaging the carrier and forcing the two task forces to withdraw east and regroup. The next day, 25 August, Wasp (CV-7) arrived and, after her planes sank a destroyer and a transport, the Japanese reinforcement convoy withdrew as well. The Battle of the Eastern Solomons had turned back a major Japanese attempt to recapture Guadalcanal.

Bagley continued to operate with Saratoga northwest of Espiritu Santo. She shifted to screen U.S.S. Hornet (Aircraft carrier: CV-8) when she joined TF 61 on 29 August 1943. Two days later, after a torpedo from Japanese submarine I-26 damaged Saratoga, the destroyer received orders to rejoin TF 44 and the Southwest Pacific Force, arriving at Brisbane, Australia, on 3 September. Part of "MacArthur's Navy," Bagley first supported the Allied toehold at Milne Bay, but primarily patrolled in the Coral Sea.

On 21 September 1943, the destroyer steamed to Sydney for repairs, remaining there until 7 October, when she returned north to the Palm Islands. On the 13th, the task force sailed to cover a troop convoy carrying an Australian force to seize Goodenough Island. TF 44 then steamed south to Brisbane for training exercises in Moreton Bay. A pattern of patrols in the Coral Sea, convoy escort to the China Strait or Milne Bay, and exercises near Townsville and Brisbane lasted until late spring 1943.

On 15 March 1943, Bagley was reassigned to TF 74 as the newly created 7th Fleet readied itself for offensive operations in New Guinea. In preparation, Bagley escorted three troop transports from Townsville to Noumea, arriving on 22 May. After a brief trip to Espiritu Santo, Bagley received repairs at Noumea. Departing New Caledonia 10 June, the warship returned to Australia to participate in Operation Chronicle, the occupation of Woodlark and Kiriwina Islands in the Solomon Sea. Underway from Townsville on 27 June 1943, Bagley helped escort six LSTs carrying 2,600 Army troops and airfield equipment to Woodlark Island. The landing proceeded without Japanese interference on the night of 30 June and 1 July. Bagley safely escorted three more echelons of LSTs from Townsville to Woodlark between 9 July and 7 August. The destroyer then escorted U.S.S. Henry T. Allen (Transport: AP-30) between Milne Bay, Cairns, and Brisbane, arriving at the last port on 15 August.

Returning to Milne Bay on 19 August 1943, Bagley patrolled off Buna, Monrobe, and Goodenough Island in support of the landings at Lae planned for 4 September. On the 6th, after the Australian 9th Division landed in Huon Gulf, Bagley escorted the invasion convoy back to Sydney, arriving there on 11 September. The destroyer spent the next two weeks supporting HMAS Australia at Palm Island. Bagley steamed back to New Guinea late in the month, delivering convoys to Milne Bay until 29 October. After moving to Buna on 8 November, Bagley helped escort a convoy of three LSTs to Finschhafen, delivering supplies to the Australian 20th Brigade on the 11th. Over the next four weeks, the destroyer escorted six more reinforcement convoys out of Buna; three to Finschhafen, one to Lae, one to Woodlark Island, and the last to Cape Cretin on 12 December.

In order to control the Vitiaz and Dampier Straits, landings were planned in western New Britain to neutralize Japanese airfields on Cape Gloucester. On 14 December 1943, Bagley departed Buna with HMAS Westralia, Carter Hall (Dock landing ship: LSD-3), and two fast transports. The convoy arrived off Arawe, New Britain, on the 15th, landed the 112th Cavalry Regiment and returned to Milne Bay. After steaming to Buna on 23 December, Bagley joined TU 76.1.41, which was carrying the 7th echelon of 1st Marine Division's engineers, artillery, and stores for the Cape Gloucester operation. On 26 December, Bagley screened the LSTs as they landed troops and equipment. That afternoon a Japanese air raid attacked the task force, sinking U.S.S. Brownson (Destroyer: DD-518) and damaging Shaw (Destroyer: DD-373).

Returning to Buna on 28 December, Bagley helped leapfrog elements of the 32d Infantry Division to Saidor, New Guinea, landing troops and equipment without incident on 2 January 1944. Over the next week, the destroyer escorted one reinforcement convoy to Finschhafen and two more to Saidor, before turning south for Australia, arriving at Sydney on 15 January. Sailing north on the 24 January, Bagley headed for Milne Bay following exercises, arriving there the last day of the month.

Bagley delivered a convoy of LSTs to Saidor on 5 February 1944 and the next day, steamed in convoy for Cape Gloucester. After dropping the LSTs off in Borgen Bay on the 7th, the destroyer returned to Milne Bay. No longer needed in the southwest Pacific, she departed the region on 10 February, steaming east for the west coast of the United States. Arriving in San Francisco on 27 February, Bagley entered the Mare Island Navy Yard for a major overhaul. Over the next eight weeks, she added two more 20-millimeter guns (for a total of six) and an improved fire control radar while a twin 40-millimeter gun tub was placed forward of the two after 5-inch guns.

Underway for Hawaii on 5 May 1944, Bagley began training for Operation Forager, the planned invasion of the Marianas. Arriving at Pearl Harbor on the 10th, the destroyer conducted drills before sailing for the Marshall Islands on 29 May. Anchoring in Majuro Atoll on 3 June, Bagley joined U.S.S. Bunker Hill (Aircraft carrier: CV-17) and TG 58.2 on the 8th.

On 11 June 1944, air strikes from the 15 American carriers attacked enemy bases on Saipan and Tinian. After screening air strikes on the 12th, the destroyer joined the battleships of TG 58.7 for two days of bombardments. The destroyer then moved to the transport area on 15 June, screening the initial landings on Saipan before returning to the bombardment group on the 17th. From that screening position, Bagley participated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, firing on three planes during antiaircraft operations. In the following days, the destroyer continued to screen the battleships as they chased the retreating Japanese in vain.

On 25 June 1944, the Bagley returned to the Marianas for two weeks in support of Marine Corps operations, firing over 700 rounds into the final pocket of Japanese resistance at the north end of Saipan. On 6 July, after receiving more ammunition, she closed shore and fired on caves and crevasses near water's edge on Saipan. Rejoining the transport screen the following day, Bagley guarded cargo ships from air attack, until closing Tinian on the 25 July, where she fired 200 shells during a night harassment mission.

Following refueling at Saipan, Bagley got underway for Eniwetok on the 12 August 1944. The destroyer spent the next two weeks receiving minor repairs and provisioning in preparation for the invasion of the Philippines. On 28 August, in company with TG 38.4 consisting of U.S.S. Franklin (Aircraft carrier: CV-13), Enterprise, San Jacinto (Light aircraft carrier: CVL-30), two cruisers, and eleven other destroyers, Bagley steamed west for a diversionary raid on Iwo Jima. Returning to Saipan on 4 September to refuel and rearm, TG 38.4 departed the next day for operations in the Palaus. Following an air strike on the 6th, Bagley, accompanying two cruisers and three other destroyers, proceeded to Yap on 7 September, where she fired 200 rounds at gun emplacements on Gagil-Tomil Island. The next day, she screened a second bombardment before the group proceeded to Palau. The carriers flew strikes and support missions in support of the landings on Peleliu and Angaur.

The task group then steered for Seeadler Harbor, Admiralty Islands, arriving there on 21 September 1944. Joined by U.S.S. Belleau Wood (Aircraft carrier: CV-24), TG 38.4 sailed to support operations in the Palaus on the 24th. Then, after the three other carrier groups sailed from Seeadler Harbor and Ulithi, the entire task force steamed northwest for raids on the Ryukyu Islands, Formosa, and the Philippines. Bagley screened Enterprise during the strikes on Okinawa and the smaller Ryukyus on the 10th. This was followed by a raid on Aparri in the Philippines on the 11th before the large-scale effort to destroy Japanese air power on Formosa began on 12 September.

Although the American attacks neutralized much of the defending Japanese planes, the task force was plagued by night attacks by bombers out of Kyushu. On 12 October 1944, two damaged bombers passed near Bagley, one of which was shot down. On the night of the 13th, Bagley helped repel another night attack by Japanese bombers. The next day, the task force slowly steamed east, covering the retirement of the crippled U.S.S. Canberra (Heavy cruiser: CA-70). The carriers of TG 38.4 then struck at the Manila airfields on 15 October, prompting retaliatory attacks. Attacks on the Luzon airfields resumed on the 17th, preparing the way for the planned landings on Leyte.

The Japanese responded by sending four groups of surface ships, including carriers, to intercept the American invasion. On the morning of 24 October 1944, one of the Japanese surface forces was attacked and bombed by planes from TG 38.4, which sank battleship Musashi, in the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea. Later that day, Bagley's task group received orders to intercept and sink the four Japanese carriers spotted several hundred miles to the north. All three Japanese surface groups, however, still closed the invasion beaches.

Bagley's only part in the ensuing Battle for Leyte Gulf was to join the ad hoc cruiser-destroyer group dispatched in futile pursuit of the retreating aircraft carriers. Late on 25 October 1944, the crew watched as the Japanese light carrier Chiyoda and destroyer Hatsuzuki succumbed to gunfire and torpedoes. In the meantime, an American battleship force, supported by cruisers, destroyers, and torpedo boats, shattered two of the Japanese surface groups in the Battle of Surigao Strait, while the third retreated after desperate resistance by American destroyers and escort carriers in the Battle off Samar.

With the Battle for Leyte Gulf over on 25 October, Bagley rejoined the carriers as they stood by to support ground operations on Leyte. In order to do so, TG 38.4 launched attacks on Luzon from its patrol area east of Leyte Gulf on 30 October. Unfortunately, a Japanese kamikaze raid of five planes eluded the combat air patrol and attacked the American carriers. Bagley's guns helped destroy three, but one crashed into Franklin's deck while the other plane hit Belleau Wood. Both carriers suffered heavy damage and, escorted by Bagley and the rest of TG 38.4, retired to Ulithi.

Arriving 2 November 1944, Bagley received four days of overhaul, then sailed on the 10th with TU 77.4.1 to provide air support for Leyte ground operations. She also rescued the crew of a Lockheed PV-1 patrol plane shot down by friendly fire on 22 November. Retiring to Seeadler Harbor on the 27th, Bagley spent the next month training in preparation for the landings on Luzon.

On 27 December 1944, the destroyer got underway for the Palaus. The 12 escort carriers of TG 77.2 and 77.4, and their screen of 19 destroyers, including Bagley, then sortied from Kossol Roads on 1 January 1945. The group entered Leyte Gulf on 3 January and headed for Lingayen Gulf to provide air support for amphibious operations. Late in the afternoon of the 4th, a single Japanese suicide plane crashed into U.S.S. Ommaney Bay (Escort aircraft carrier: CVE-79), ultimately destroying her. The next day, in the South China Sea, four Japanese kamikaze raids attacked. Although the first two were driven off, suicide planes from the third attack crashed into U.S.S. Columbia (Light cruiser: CL-56), Manila Bay (Escort aircraft carrier: CVE-61), HMAS Australia, and Stafford (Destroyer escort: DE-411), damaging the latter badly enough to force her retreat. Bagley screened the escort carriers between 6 and 13 January, when the next kamikaze attacked the group. Although an undetected plane crashed into U.S.S. Salamaua (Escort aircraft carrier: CVE-96), Bagley escaped unscathed. The next four days passed without any Japanese attacks, and the task group retired to Ulithi, arriving there on the 23 January.

With Philippine operations well underway, Bagley was assigned to the amphibious landings planned for Iwo Jima in February 1945. Following a repair period, she set out from Ulithi on 10 February, escorting the small carriers of TG 52.2 to the operating area west of Iwo Jima on 16 February. Over the next three weeks, Bagley either screened the escort carriers or patrolled an air-sea rescue station during B-29 raids on Honshu. The destroyer then departed the area on 12 March for Ulithi.

After a mere six days to conduct repairs and replenish, Bagley embarked upon the last major amphibious operation of the war, the invasion of Okinawa, in company with the escort carriers of TG 52.1. Arriving off Okinawa Jima on 25 March 1945, the destroyer screened U.S.S. Anzio (Escort aircraft carrier: CVE-57) during ground attack and support operations into April without incident. Over the next several weeks, numerous small Japanese air raids were detected, but only one plane closed to attack on 12 April. On 28 April, while the escort carriers launched raids on Sakishima Gunto, the crew spotted a Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka rocket-propelled suicide "Baka" bomb as it passed harmlessly overhead.

On 30 April 1945, Bagley and U.S.S. Lawrence C. Taylor (Destroyer escort: DE-415) escorted Rudyerd Bay (Escort aircraft carrier: CVE-81) to Kerama Retto on a replenishment mission, delivering 400 rockets to the air squadron on board U.S.S. Fanshaw Bay (Escort aircraft carrier: CVE-70) on 2 May. Over the following three weeks, Bagley supported the escort carriers, and, on 19 May, rescued a pilot from a plane downed at sea. Following a generator casualty on 24 May, Bagley returned to Leyte Gulf for repairs.

The warship's last combat operation began on 15 June 1945 when the destroyer departed Leyte for Kerama Retto. She rendezvoused with the six escort carriers of TG 32.1 on the 18th and supported them during a series of air strikes on Okinawa. A week later, Bagley's main battery director failed and she again retired to Leyte for repairs. As the tender was unable to repair the director, Bagley steamed to Saipan on 5 July and then on to Guam, arriving in Apra Harbor on the 6th. With a new director installed by 14 July 1945, Bagley sailed to Saipan. There, she conducted drills in preparation for operations in the Okinawa area. Departing the Marianas on 6 August, she escorted a convoy of merchant ships to Okinawa on 12 August. Three days later, her crew learned of the Japanese surrender while shepherding a convoy to Saipan. Following 10 days of rest and recreation, Bagley embarked Rear Admiral Francis E. M. Whiting and staff for transport to Marcus Island. She arrived there on 31 August, and Japanese Rear Admiral M. Matsubara surrendered the island and its garrison to Rear Admiral Whiting on board Bagley.

Returning to Saipan on 2 September, the destroyer then reported to the Commander, 5th Fleet, for extended duty. After a brief stop at Buckner Bay, Okinawa, the destroyer sailed for Japan, arriving in Sasebo on 20 September. Bagley spent the next five weeks assisting minesweeping efforts and providing courier services. Several officers also inspected various Japanese naval vessels in port to determine compliance with Allied surrender terms.

Bagley departed Sasebo on 29 October 1945 for the United States, arriving in San Diego on 19 November. Originally marked for use in experimental testing, Bagley steamed to Pearl Harbor in late April 1946. The destroyer did not participate in the atomic tests at Bikini Atoll, however, but instead reported for inactivation at Pearl Harbor on 2 May. Decommissioned there on 13 June 1946, she was towed to San Diego for scrap sale. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 25 February 1947, and she was sold to the Moore Dry Dock Co., Oakland, California, on 8 September 1947.

Description of Contents

The U.S.S. Bagley Association Records, comprising 5.5 linear feet, span from 1937 to 1999. The records consist of copies of the ship's historical records, in the form of deck logs, muster rolls, officer rosters, and war diaries from the years leading up to, and including, World War II; as well as the records of the Association itself, in the form of the group's quarterly newsletter.

The U.S.S. Bagley Association Records are organized into two series by time period and creator. Series 1: Historical Records consists of copies of official documents produced by the Bagley while in commission, including the ship's deck logs, muster rolls, officer rosters, and war diaries. Much of the documentation is a product of Bagley's service in the Pacific during World War II, which consisted of convoy, carrier screening, and bombardment duties during the attempted relief of Wake Island, the defense of Australia, the Solomon Islands Campaign, the Guadalcanal Campaign, the New Guinea Campaign, the Mariana and Palau Islands Campaign, and the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Series 2: Association Records consists entirely of the Bagley Association's quarterly newsletter.

Arrangement

The U.S.S. Bagley Association Records are organized into the following two series:

• Series 1: Historical Records, 1937-1946
• Series 2: Association Records, 1987-1999

Access and Use

Access

Access is unrestricted.

Copyright and Permission

The U.S.S. Bagley Association Records are the physical property of Nimitz Library. Copyright belongs to the authors or creators of the works, or their legal representatives. For further information, consult the Head, Special Collections & Archives.

It is the responsibility of the researcher to secure written permission to publish, reprint, or reproduce material from Special Collections & Archives. The researcher assumes responsibility for infringement of copyright or literary or publication rights. Please contact the Head, Special Collections & Archives for permission to publish and for further information.

Acquisition and Appraisal

Provenance and Acquisition

Gift of Walter S. Morley in December 1999. Accession No. 99-116.

Related Materials

Location of Originals

Originals of the historical records of the U.S.S. Bagley are held by the National Archives and Records Administration and the Naval History and Heritage Command.

Related Archival Material

Additional materials in this repository pertaining to the service of U.S.S. Bagley can be found in World War II Ship Action Reports, MS 415 and World War II Battle Action and Operational Reports, MS 416.

Materials Cataloged Separately

No materials have been removed from this collection and cataloged separately.

Processing and Other Information

Preferred Citation

U.S.S. Bagley Association Records, MS 508

Special Collections & Archives Department

Nimitz Library

United States Naval Academy

Selected Bibliography

The following source was adapted for use as the biographical note:

Francis, Timothy L. "Bagley III (DD-386)." Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Washington: Naval History and Heritage Command, 2005, https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/b/bagley-iii.html.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by David D'Onofrio in August 2019. Finding aid written by David D'Onofrio in August 2019.

Subject Headings

Name and Subject Terms

• Bagley (Destroyer : DD-386)
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Naval operations, American
• World War, 1939-1945 -- Naval operations -- Pacific Ocean

Genre Terms

• Logs (records)
• Manuscripts
• Muster rolls
• Newsletters
• Reports

Additional Creator/Author

• Bagley (Destroyer : DD-386)
• Morley, Walter S.