USS Stanly (DD-478) was a Fletcher-class destroyer in service with the United States Navy from 1942 to 1947. She was scrapped in 1972. History USS Stanly (DD-478) was named for Rear Admiral Fabius Stanly (1815–1882). She was laid down on 15 September 1941 at the Charleston Navy Yard; launched on 2 May 1942; sponsored by Mrs. Elizabeth Stanley Boss; and commissioned on 15 October 1942. 1943 Stanly remained at the Charleston Navy Yard fitting-out and undergoing dock trials until 30 December. During that time, her seaplane catapult was removed to make room for additional 5-inch guns. On the 30th, she passed Fort Sumter on her way to shakedown training off the coast of Cuba. Stanly returned to Charleston on 7 January 1943 and operated on the east coast and in Guantanamo Bay until 28 February when she rounded Cape Charles and headed for Delaware Bay, where she joined Santa Fe (CL-60) and sailed with the light cruiser for Panama. The two warships transited the Panama Canal on 5 March, fueled at Balboa the next day, and steamed for Long Beach. They stayed at San Pedro Harbor from the 12th to the 16th, when they headed for Hawaii. After entering Pearl Harbor on 22 March, Stanly operated out of that naval base until May, hunting submarines, participating in drills, and screening convoys on the last leg of their voyages to Oahu. Finally, on 14 May, she departed Pearl Harbor in the screen of a westward-bound convoy. Twelve days later, Stanly and her convoy passed through the submarine nets into the harbor at Nouméa, New Caledonia. Over the next three months, Stanly was in and out of Nouméa, escorting convoys and screening battleships and aircraft carriers. She made trips as far west as the coast of Australia and as far north and east as the New Hebrides and Wallis islands. Upon her return to Nouméa from Wallis Island on 7 August, Stanly was ordered to Espiritu Santo with a convoy. Entering Segond Channel on the 11th, she underwent 13 days availability before exiting the channel for Fila Island, also in the New Hebrides. On this passage, she was accompanied by destroyers Charles Ausburne (DD-570), Claxton (DD-571), and Dyson (DD-572). The four destroyers arrived at Fila on the 24th and stood out again the next day, bound for the Solomons. By 27 August, Stanly and the other three destroyers were off Guadalcanal, patrolling