Accession NumberP467Title (extended title only)Plaque - USS GridleyDescriptionWooden Plaque with raised red and gold plate with USS Gridley name and ships emblem – back of plaque also has the date the plaque was gifted to the City of Fremantle Date15th May 1964ProvenanceUS Navy plaque given to the City as a result of the visit of USS Gridley on the 15th May 1964 - USS Gridley (DLG-21/CG-21), a Leahy-class guided missile cruiser, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named after Charles Vernon Gridley, who distinguished himself with Admiral George Dewey's force at the Battle of Manila Bay on 1 May 1898.
Her keel was laid down by the Puget Sound Bridge and Drydock Company of Seattle, Washington. She was launched on 31 July 1961 sponsored by Mrs. Stuart D. Rose, great-granddaughter of Captain Gridley, and commissioned on 25 May 1963. Following shakedown out of San Diego, California, early in 1964, Gridley departed Long Beach 8 April and steamed via Pearl Harbor to Australia for commemoration of the Battle of the Coral Sea, arriving Adelaide, South Australia, on 5 May. "Gridley" also visited Perth and Geraldton on the western coast of Australia.
The ship also served in the Vietnam War and in the Indian Ocean area.
After a final port visit to San Francisco, in October 1993 Gridley returned to San Diego, where she was decommissioned, stricken from the Naval Vessel Register, and transferred to the Maritime Administration for temporary lay-up on 21 January 1994. She was laid up in the Suisun Bay, California, reserve to await disposal. She was scrapped in 2005. Relevance to the CityUSS Gridley visited the City of Fremantle on a few occasions, in 1964 and in 1980. When this ship was scrapped in 2005 there was another USS Gridley that was launched which also visited Fremantle on its service. This plaque related to the May 1964 visit when the plaque was given by the Ships Commanding Officer Captain P.A. Lilly
