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| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USSRiley (DE-579) |
| Namesake | Paul James Riley |
| Builder | Bethlehem-Hingham Shipyard |
| Laid down | 20 October 1943 |
| Launched | 29 December 1943 |
| Sponsored by | Miss Milred LaV. Riley, sister of Lieutenant Riley |
| Commissioned | 13 March 1944 |
| Decommissioned | 15 January 1947 |
| Stricken | 29 June 1948 |
| Honors & awards | Two battle stars |
| Fate | Transferred to theRepublic of China, scrapped 1996, |
| History | |
 Taiwan | |
| Name | ROCSTai Yuan (Chinese:太原; DE-27) |
| Acquired | 10 July 1968 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Rudderow |
| Type | Destroyer escort |
| Displacement | 1,450 tons |
| Length | 306 feet |
| Beam | 36 feet, 10 inches |
| Draft | 9 feet 8 inches |
| Speed | 24 knots |
| Complement | 186 |
| Armament |
|
USSRiley (DE-579) was aRudderow-classdestroyer escort in theUnited States Navy duringWorld War II. She later transferred to theRepublic of China Navy and served asTai Yuan (DE-27). The ship was finally scrapped in 1996.
Paul James Riley was born on 12 April 1913 atHot Springs, Arkansas. He enlisted in theUnited States Naval Reserve on 12 December 1931 and was appointed midshipman on 26 June 1933. CommissionedEnsign 4 years later, he was designated naval aviator on 22 May 1940 and on 28 July he reported for duty withTorpedo Squadron 6 on boardUSS Enterprise. Promoted toLieutenant on 6 January 1942, he was awarded theDistinguished Flying Cross for "heroic conduct in aerial combat during the operations of U.S. forces against the Marshall Islands", on 1 February 1942. During theBattle of Midway on 4 June he was killed as he "pressed home his attack" against the Japanese Fleet "in the face of a terrific barrage of antiaircraft fire." He was posthumously awarded theNavy Cross.
Riley was laid down 20 October 1943 byBethlehem-Hingham Shipyard, Inc.,Hingham, Massachusetts; launched 29 December 1943; sponsored by Miss Mildred Laverne Riley, sister of ship's namesake. Riley was commissioned 13 March 1944.
Following shakedown exercises offBermuda,Riley joined CortDiv 67 atNorfolk, Virginia, where until 6 June she trained prospective destroyer escort crews. On 7 June she sailed forNew York whence she escorted a convoy back to Norfolk where she readied for her first transatlantic run. DepartingHampton Roads 23 June with convoy UGS-46, she crossed into theMediterranean Sea on 10 July, fought off aGerman aerial attack on the 12th, and arrived offBizerte on the 13th. She returned to the United States 9 August, conductedsonar tests in theNew 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 viaPanama, she reachedBora-Bora on the 25th and continued on toHollandia, anchoring inHumboldt Bay 11 December.
Between 19 December and 2 January 1945,Riley completed a round-trip escort run to Leyte, then on the 3rd got underway to escort theLingayen Support Group fromNew Guinea toLuzon. A unit of Task Group 78.9, she herded her charges throughSurigao Strait on the 9th, protected them during a series ofkamikaze 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 "Mark VII" assault force. On the 29th, she took the assault force to the landing area in southernZambales Province, Luzon, then patrolled off the area as the forces began to move inland from the San Felipe-San Narciso-San Antonio beachheads to seal off theBataan Peninsula and preventJapanese forces from leaving 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 theAdmiralties and thePalaus 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 Hollandia on her initialOkinawan 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 toJinsen, Korea.
Riley earned two battle stars during World War II. In mid-OctoberRiley got underway for the United States. Steaming viaPearl Harbor, she arrived atSan Diego 5 November and was assigned to thePacific Reserve Fleet.
Decommissioned 15 January 1947, inactivation was completed 5 February and she joined the mothball fleet at San Diego. Transferred to the Columbia River berthing area in 1957,Riley remained in the Reserve Fleet until transferred to theRepublic of China 10 July 1968. The destroyer escort served asROCSTai Yuan (DE-27) and was nicknamed "Yang Jr." (Chinese:小陽字號), a reference to her similar albeit less-numerous armaments as compared to the larger and more-powerfulYang class destroyers also acquired by the ROCN. At the height of her career she was armed (in addition to the 5" guns and original ASW weapons) with two twin 40mm/60 Bofors AA guns, four single 20mm Oerlikon cannons, two Mk 32 triple torpedo tubes, and a Sea Chaparral missile launcher. In the late 1980s she was transferred to the fisheries patrol until paid off in 1992.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
