USS Henley (DD-391): At Pearl Harbor and at General Quarters

From Wikipedia.

This was the ship that R.J. Brown of Wyoming served on at Pearl Harbor and until it was sunk.  He died in March 2012 and I wrote about him on my March 30, 2012, blog.

The USS Henley (DD-391) was a Bagley-class destroyer named for Capt. Robert Henley, an officer in the Quasi-War, 1812 and the second Barbary War.

It was launched 12 Jan. 1937.

On December 7, 1941, it was moored in the East Loch with battle stations manned when the attack began because a new sailor had mistakenly sounded General Quarters instead of Quarters for Muster.  Too bad this wasn't the case elsewhere in the fleet,

As such, the Henley fired the first destroyer shots as the initial planes attacked.  It drew attacks and a bomb exploded about 150 yards off the port bow.  The ship slipped its chain from a buoy and got underway.

About that time it received the report that there was a Japanese submarine in the harbor.  The Henley dropped depth charges on a sonar contact outside the harbor, possibly a midget sub.  They also shot down one bomber and shared credit for the downing of another.

Unfortunately, the USS Henley was sunk by a torpedo 3 October 1943.

--GreGen