On August 27, 1965 at approximately 0110 the PERRY struck the Starboard side of the USS SHANGRI-LA CVS-38 just forward of the conning tower, with the Port Bow.  This was a result of the carrier, after giving orders for the formation to change, turned without notifying any other ships.  This put her on a collision course with the PERRY, which would have struck the PERRY amidships.  The PERRY then turned into the SHANGRI-LA, which was probably the only thing that kept the PERRY from being cut in half by the carrier.

This caused Twenty-Three frames of the PERRY's Bow to be bent at approximately ninety degrees to Starboard.  The Bos'n Locker is in that part of the ship and two men were in it stowing supplies that we had taken on the evening of the 26th.  The men were Fred L. Greene Jr. and John S. Ryals.  Fred Greene survived the crash but was pinned in the wreckage for approximately seventeen hours, then died aboard the SHANGRI-LA an hour later.  John Ryals was pinned in the wreckage for over four hours before he was freed and flown to the SHANGRI-LA for medical treatment.  John Ryals returned to the PERRY when he was released from the hospital.

The photos below are of the damage to the PERRY and the SHANGRI-LA caused by the collision.  

The last two photos are of a collision with a sulfur barge in Mayport, FL.                      

Click on Photos to view