Daniel V. Gallery Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Daniel Vincent Gallery (1901–1977) was a captain in the United States Navy who fought in the Second Battle of the Atlantic during World War II. His most notable achievement was the capture of the German submarine, U-505, on June 4, 1944.In 1917, at the age of sixteen, Daniel V. Gallery entered the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. He graduated a year early, in 1920, and went on to compete in the Olympic Games in Antwerp on the U.S. wrestling team.
He was an early naval aviator and, in 1942, took command of the Fleet Air Base in Reykjavik, Iceland where he was awarded the Bronze Star for action against German submarines. It was there that he first conceived his plan to capture a U-boat.
In 1943 Captain Gallery was appointed commander of the escort carrier USS Guadalcanal, which he commissioned. In January 1944 he commanded antisubmarine Task Group 21.12 out of Norfolk, Virginia with the Guadalcanal as the flagship. Task group 21.12 sank the German submarine U-544.
In March 1944 Task Group 22.3 was formed with with the Guadalcanal as the flagship. On April 9 the task group sank U-515 (commanded by the top U-boat ace Kapitänleutnant Werner Henke). After a long battle the submarine was forced to the surface among the attacking ships and the surviving crew abandoned ship. The abandoned U-515 was hammered by rockets and gunfire before she finally sank. Captain Gallery recognized that this would have been a perfect opportunity to capture the vessel and decided to be ready the next time such an opportunity presented itself. The next night aircraft from the task group caught U-68 on the surface, in broad moonlight, and sank her with one surviver, a lookout caught on-deck when the U-boat crash dived to avoid the attack.
On the next cruise of Task Group 22.3 Captain Gallery took the unusual step of selecting and training a boarding party in the event that they could capture a U-boat. On June 4, 1944 the task group blundered into U-505, which was deafened by bad listening gear, off the coast of Africa. After a short battle the inexperienced commander, Oberleutnant Harald Lange, thinking the boat was mortally wounded, ordered U-505 to the surface, abandoned and . Captain Gallery's boarding party was ordered to the submarine. They prevented her from sinking and took command, making U-505 the only foreign captured, in battle, on the high seas by the United States Navy since the War of 1812. The task group was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation and Captain Gallery the Distinguished Service Medal for capturing U-505.
Toward the end of World War II Captain Gallery was given command of the aircraft carrier USS Hancock. After promotion to rear admiral he became Assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations and, later, commanded Carrier Division Six during the Korean War.
Admiral Gallery's final command was of the Tenth Naval District in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from December 1956 to July 1960. During this command, with the help or the Rotary and Lions clubs, he established the first Little Leagues in Puerto Rico. It was also there that he first heard the steel bands of Trinidad. He was so taken by the sound that he invested $120 in steel drums for the band assigned to him, establishing the first all-American and only military steel band in 1957. Admiral Dan's Pandemonaics—as they called themselves—became the US Navy Steel Band and toured the world as ambassadors of the US Navy until 1999.
Admiral Gallery retired in 1960. He was a prolific author on naval subjects, writing nine books and numerous magazine articles and short stories. His books are now out-of-print but are excellent reading and available in libraries and the used book market.
The guided-missile frigate USS Gallery was named for Daniel V. Gallery and his two brothers, Rear Admiral William O. Gallery and Real Admiral Philip D. Gallery.
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