Submarine Attack
Henley, in company with Reid and Smith on an offensive sweep off Finschafen when two torpedoes were sighted heading for her. Split-second maneuvering permitted Henley to evade those two torpedoes - but a third was immediately sighted, closing too fast and too near to be avoided. Henley was struck on the port side, with the torpedo exploding in the number 1 fire room, destroying her boilers, breaking her keel, and displacing her bow about 30 degrees from the longitudinal axis of the ship. With all her crew having abandoned ship Henley went down, stern first. Her companion DD's searched for the sub, then returned to rescue Henley's survivors, who had lashed their life-rafts together and were using flashlights as signals. 243 of her crew were rescued, with 15 members of the crew missing and presumed killed.
