USS Hartley (DE-1029) - 1960s

1960s

From 1962 on, Hartley continued operating in the Atlantic and the Caribbean. In March 1963, she conducted surveillance patrols off Cuba, and during the next 5 months she participated in extensive ASW exercises out of Key West and Newport. Early in September she entered the Boston Naval Shipyard where she underwent overhaul and modification. Equipped with the latest advances in sonar equipment and DASH, Hartley resumed duty 27 January 1964. During February and March she trained out of Guantánamo Bay and served at the Sonar School at Key West. Returning to Newport 8 April, she spent the remainder of the year participating in antisubmarine exercises which sent her from the Gulf of Maine to the Straits of Florida.

After conducting surveillance patrols and sonar training out of Key West during the early part of 1965, she was heavily damaged by the Norwegian freighter Blue Master 16 June. As Hartley entered Chesapeake Bay in heavy weather, the merchantman hit the destroyer escort broadside, and her bow almost cut Hartley in half. She suffered no casualties but was extensively damaged in the engineering spaces. Prompt and effective rescue and salvage operations kept her from grounding; 19 hours after the collision, she reached Norfolk under tow.

After extensive repairs at Norfolk Navy Yard, Hartley returned to Newport early in October. There she resumed antisubmarine operations.

Hartley operated out of Newport along the New England coast and in the Caribbean until she sailed for Northern Europe late in May 1967. After cruising along the Scandinavian coast, she arrived Copenhagen 23 June. She next visited Holy Loch, Scotland, before getting underway 17 July for the Mediterranean, where she became an element of stability in that tense and explosive region that had been recently disturbed by the war between Israel and the Arab States.