Louisville was launched on 1 September 1930 at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington,[5] sponsored by Miss Jane Brown Kennedy, and commissioned on 15 January 1931, Captain Edward John Marquart in command.[6]Louisville since commissioning day has carried, on the prominent bulkhead, a shoe of the great stallion, Man o' War, as a talisman against evil.[7]
She was originally classified as a light cruiser, CL-28, because of her thin armor. Effective 1 July 1931, Louisville was redesignated a heavy cruiser, CA-28, because of her 8-inch guns in accordance with the provisions of the London Naval Treaty of 1930.[6]
Service history
Interwar period
USS Louisville in 1938
Louisville's shakedown cruise, running through the summer, fall, and winter of 1931, took her from Bremerton to New York City via the Panama Canal. Returning from New York, she participated in the 1932 fleet problems before commencing gunnery exercises in the San Pedro-San Diego area. During the winter of 1933, she steamed for Hawaii, returning after exercises to San Pedro where she became a schoolship for anti-aircraft (AA) training. In April 1934, the cruiser steamed out of San Diego to begin a nine-month voyage "showing the flag" at various ports in Central America, the Caribbean Sea, and along the gulf and east coasts. Arriving back in California in late fall, Louisville participated in gunnery and tactical exercises until the spring of 1935, when she departed for Dutch Harbor, Alaska, and, thence, to Pearl Harbor to take part in fleet problems.[6]
For the next two years, she operated off the West Coast, participating in the 1936 and 1937 fleet problems, making good will calls at Latin American ports and undergoing local training operations. On 16 July 1937 at about 1200 hours, she collided with the American halibut-fishing boatAlten in the harbor at Ketchikan, Territory of Alaska; she and a United States Coast Guard Cutter, USCGCCyane, assisted Alten's crew of 11 and there was no loss of life, although Alten was badly damaged.[8]
In January 1938, Louisville began a long Pacific cruise which took her to Hawaii, Samoa, Australia, and Tahiti before returning to Pearl Harbor for fleet problems. While in Sydney, Australia, the crew of the Louisville rescued a number of passengers from a sightseeing ferryboat which had capsized and sank when most of the passengers crowded on the open top deck ran to the rail to wave the cruiser off. Nineteen of the ferry's passengers died.[6]
The winter of 1939 found Louisville participating in fleet exercises in the Caribbean. She operated in these waters until May, when she returned to the west coast. After fleet problems off Hawaii that autumn, Louisville departed Long Beach, California, for an extended cruise through the Panama Canal to eastern South America. At Bahia, Brazil, she received orders to proceed to Simonstown, South Africa.[6]
As a neutral ship, Louisville traveled the U-boat-infested waters with her American flag spotlighted. At Simonstown, she received $148 million in British gold for deposit in the United States. She then sailed for New York City, delivered her precious cargo and returned to the Pacific.[6]
World War II
On 7 December 1941, Louisville, escorting A. T. Scott and President Coolidge, was en route from Tarakan, East Borneo, to Pearl Harbor. She continued on to Hawaii, stopped briefly to survey the damage and proceeded on to California. There she joined Task Force 17 (TF 17) and steamed from San Diego on 6 January 1942, for Samoa, landing troops there on 22 January. Her first offensive operation of the war came on her return trip when she took part in carrier plane raids on 1–2 February on the Gilbert and Marshall Islands. During this action, one of her scout planes went missing and the pilot and aircrewman were lost.[6]
After a short stay at Pearl Harbor, Louisville commenced patrolling the Ellice Islands area to help protect American bases in that vicinity. Early in March she joined TF 119, a carrier force, and began operations to stem the Japanese advance down the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomons. This force steamed in the Salamaua-Lae-Rabaul sector for a number of days, making airstrikes on numerous objectives.[6]
Following this operation, Louisville returned to Pearl Harbor, proceeding from there to Mare Island Navy Yard, San Francisco, where her anti-aircraft armament was increased with additional 1.1 in and 20mm cannon fitted. On 31 May, she steamed for the Aleutians to join TF 8 to counter the enemy forces expected to be in the area. Fortunately for Louisville, the Japanese carrier force did not locate her and the other cruisers during the attacks on Dutch Harbor, which coincided with the Battle of Midway. Her duties, during this period of Japan's strongest efforts to establish the northern end of her "ribbon defense" in the western Aleutians, were primarily those of convoy escort, but included shore bombardment of Kiska Island.[6]
On 11 November, the cruiser departed San Francisco for Pearl Harbor, continuing, after a few days on to the South Pacific, escorting several troop transports as far as New Caledonia. She then proceeded north to Espiritu Santo to Join TF 67, which was then battling Japanese forces in the Solomons. On 29 January 1943, Louisville participated In the Battle off Rennell Island, the last of the seven naval battles for Guadalcanal, after which she operated east of the island until it was entirely secured.[6]
USS Louisville at Aleutian Islands
In April, Louisville steamed, via Pearl Harbor, to the Aleutians. There, as a unit of TF 16, the cruiser covered the assault and occupation of Attu (11–30 May) and participated In the pre-invasion bombardment of Kiska in July.[6]
After the latter was evacuated by the Japanese, she conducted escort of convoy operations in the northern Pacific. In August 1943 she proceeded to the Mare Island Navy Yard for an overhaul to her machinery and alterations. Louisville was in overhaul at Mare Island from 8 October until 24 December 1943. Like her sister ships her forward mast was cut down and her aft mainmast was removed to be replaced with a lighter tripod just aft of the second funnel. Louisville had the camouflage measure 32-6D paint scheme added and two new mark 34 main battery directors installed. The 1.1 in AA cannon mounts were removed and replaced with several quad 40mm Bofors mounts along with numerous 20mm cannon. Improved radars and flagship spaces were also added. Following this work in January 1944, Louisville returned to the southern Pacific as the flagship of Rear AdmiralJ. B. Oldendorf, who was to command the naval gunfire support groups through the amphibious operations ahead. In the Marshalls at the end of the month, she bombarded Wotje Atoll, west of Kwajalein, on 29 January. Then the cruiser turned her guns on the airfield and troop concentrations on Roi and Namur on the southern tip of the atoll, contributing to the conquest of those islands by 3 February. During this campaign, while waiting bombardment further targets an 8-inch 55 caliber shell fired from USSIndianapolis ricocheted off the island to explode a near miss alongside Louisville starboard side causing heavy pieces of shrapnel which damaged the chiefs quarters, pierced the bulkhead, and turret No. 3 – 8-inch gun had shrapnel damage on the tips of the barrels- no injuries. Two weeks later, Louisville led the gunfire support group into action at Eniwetok.[6]
After Eniwetok, Louisville joined TF 58, and with the fast aircraft carriers struck Japanese installations in the Palaus, in March, and bombarded Truk and Sawatan in April. June brought preparations for the invasion of the greater Marianas, and again Louisville was the leading unit in shore bombardment operations; beginning with Saipan, where she fired continuously for the first 11 days of that engagement, through the shelling of Tinian, and ending with the assault on Guam.[6]
Louisville became the first large US ship to enter Philippine waters since 12 December 1941. On 21 October 1944, while Louisville was bombarding Leyte she was hit by the kamikaze plane shrapnel killing one crewmember. On 25 October 1944, she was in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, participating in the last engagement of a battleline as the Japanese southern force attempted to force its way into Leyte Gulf through Surigao Strait. Admiral Oldendorf deployed the American battleline across the strait and PT boats and destroyers on either side of the narrow body of water, defeating the Japanese ships as they passed through the strait.[6]
Following Leyte operations, Louisville rejoined the fast carriers now designated TF 38, and participated in pre-invasion strikes against the enemy on Luzon. By the new year, 1945, Louisville was headed towards Lingayen Gulf. While en route on 5–6 January, two kamikazes headed for and scored on her.[6] The first kamikaze on 5 January 1945 hit the No. 2 main battery 8-inch 55 caliber gun knocking it completely out of commission killing one man with 17 injured/burned including Captain Rex LeGrande Hicks. The second kamikaze on 6 January 1945 hit the starboard side signal bridge. Rear Admiral Theodore E. Chandler, commander of Cruiser Division 4 (CruDiv 4) was fatally injured helping the sailors man handle the fire hoses to put out the massive flames during the latter attack, and died of his wounds the following day. Commander (later Rear Admiral) William P. McCarty took control of Louisville and managed recovery efforts in fighting fires and restoration of equipment, for which he was awarded the Silver Star.[9] 42 crewmen were also killed and 125 or more men were wounded.[citation needed] Bridge knocked out of commission at the time forced switch of control to battery no. 2 by second smoke stack. Despite extensive damage, the cruiser shelled the beaches and shot down several enemy planes before withdrawing on 9 January 1945 and proceeding to Mare Island Navy Yard for repairs.[6]
Her repairs completed on 10 April 1945, Louisville delivered Admiral Halsey's 50 officers and 100 staff to the battleship Missouri at Guam and Louisville returned to the Pacific to join TF 54 in providing gunfire support for ground forces on Okinawa. On 5 June 1945, she was again hit by a kamikaze (initially identified as a friendly plane). Four twin 20 AA cannon opened up to set the kamikaze ablaze prior to hitting Louisville which killed eight sailors on a quad 40mm AA gun mount, injured 45 sailors, bent the number 1 smoke stack and cut Louisville's seaplane off and left only the pontoon on the catapult.[7]Louisville was back on the gun line by 9 June, to remain on station until ordered back to Pearl Harbor for repairs on 15 June.[6][10]
Post-war
Louisville's ship's bell
With the end of the war on 14 August, Louisville was again seaworthy and hurriedly prepared for postwar duties. On 16 August, she sailed for Guam to Darien, Manchuria, with Rear Admiral T. G. W. Settle on board. From Darien, where the evacuation of Alliedprisoners of war was supervised, she steamed to Qingdao, where Japanese vessels in that area were surrendered by Vice Admiral Kaneko. Louisville then escorted the surrendered vessels to Jinsen, Korea, after which she returned to China for further postwar duties at Yantai. In mid-October, she joined the Yellow Sea force for abbreviated service before proceeding, via San Pedro, to Philadelphia, where she decommissioned on 17 June 1946 and entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Remaining with that fleet for the next 13 years, Louisville was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 March 1959, and sold on 14 September to the Marlene Blouse Corporation of New York.[6]
Louisville's ship's bell is on display at the Navy Operational Support Center in Louisville, Kentucky. One of her main battery 8-inch 55 caliber gun turrets (Turret No. 2) damaged in a kamikaze attack on 5 January 1945, was removed and replaced. The turret was repaired, but with the end of the war it was no longer needed. After sitting for over a decade, it was taken to the Nevada Test Site and converted into a rotating radiation detector, to collect data on nuclear tests.[11][12] The turret is located 86 miles NNW of Las Vegas (Lat 37.139455, Long -116.109085).
The Battle of Leyte Gulf 23–26 October 1944, was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some criteria the largest naval battle in history, with over 200,000 naval personnel involved.
USS Alabama (BB-60) is a retired battleship. She was the fourth and final member of the South Dakota class of fast battleships built for the United States Navy in the 1940s. The first American battleships designed after the Washington treaty system began to break down in the mid-1930s, they took advantage of an escalator clause that allowed increasing the main battery to 16-inch (406 mm) guns, but Congressional refusal to authorize larger battleships kept their displacement close to the Washington limit of 35,000 long tons (36,000 t). A requirement to be armored against the same caliber of guns as they carried, combined with the displacement restriction, resulted in cramped ships. Overcrowding was exacerbated by wartime modifications that considerably strengthened their anti-aircraft batteries and significantly increased their crews.
USS California (BB-44) was the second of two Tennessee-class battleships built for the United States Navy between her keel laying in October 1916 and her commissioning in August 1921. The Tennessee class was part of the standard series of twelve battleships built in the 1910s and 1920s, and were developments of the preceding New Mexico class. They were armed with a battery of twelve 14-inch (356 mm) guns in four three-gun turrets. California served as the flagship of the Battle Fleet in the Pacific Ocean for the duration of her peacetime career. She spent the 1920s and 1930s participating in routine fleet training exercises, including the annual Fleet Problems, and cruises around the Americas and further abroad, such as a goodwill visit to Australia and New Zealand in 1925.
USS Mississippi (BB-41/AG-128), the second of three members of the New Mexico class of battleship, was the third ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the 20th state. The ship was built at the Newport News Shipbuilding Company of Newport News, Virginia, from her keel laying in April 1915, her launching in January 1917, and her commissioning in December that year. She was armed with a battery of twelve 14-inch (356 mm) guns in four three-gun turrets, and was protected by heavy armor plate, with her main belt armor being 13.5 inches (343 mm) thick.
USS Massachusetts (BB-59) is the third of four South Dakota-class fast battleships built for the United States Navy in the late 1930s. The first American battleships designed after the Washington treaty system began to break down in the mid-1930s, they took advantage of an escalator clause that allowed increasing the main battery to 16-inch (406 mm) guns, but refusal to authorize larger battleships kept their displacement close to the Washington limit of 35,000 long tons (36,000 t). A requirement to be armored against the same caliber of guns as they carried, combined with the displacement restriction, resulted in cramped ships, a problem that was exacerbated by wartime modifications that considerably strengthened their anti-aircraft batteries and significantly increased their crews.
USS Maryland (BB-46), also known as "Old Mary" or "Fighting Mary" to her crewmates, was a Colorado-class battleship. She was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the seventh state. She was commissioned in 1921, and serving as the flagship of the fleet, cruised to Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil.
USS West Virginia (BB-48) was the fourth dreadnought battleship of the Colorado class, though because Washington was cancelled, she was the third and final member of the class to be completed. The Colorado class proved to be the culmination of the standard-type battleship series built for the United States Navy in the 1910s and 1920s; the ships were essentially repeats of the earlier Tennessee design, but with a significantly more powerful main battery of eight 16-inch (406 mm) guns in twin-gun turrets. West Virginia was built between her keel laying in 1920 and her commissioning into the Navy in 1923. The ship spent the 1920s and 1930s conducting routine training exercises, including the typically-annual Fleet Problems, which provided invaluable experience for the coming war in the Pacific.
The second USS Astoria (CL/CA-34) was a New Orleans-class cruiser of the United States Navy that participated in both the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway, but was then sunk in August 1942, at the Battle of Savo Island. Astoria was the first New Orleans-class cruiser to be laid down but launched after and received a hull number higher than the lead ship New Orleans.
The third USS Astoria was a Cleveland-class light cruiser of the United States Navy, which were built during World War II. The class was designed as a development of the earlier Brooklyn-class cruisers, the size of which had been limited by the First London Naval Treaty. The start of the war led to the dissolution of the treaty system, but the dramatic need for new vessels precluded a new design, so the Clevelands used the same hull as their predecessors, but were significantly heavier. The Clevelands carried a main battery of twelve 6-inch (152 mm) guns in four three-gun turrets, along with a secondary armament of twelve 5 in (127 mm) dual-purpose guns. They had a top speed of 32.5 knots.
USS Portland (CL/CA–33) was the lead ship of the Portland class of cruiser and the first ship of the United States Navy named after the city of Portland, Maine. Launched in 1932, she completed a number of training and goodwill cruises in the interwar period before seeing extensive service during World War II, beginning with the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942, where she escorted the aircraft carrier Yorktown and picked up survivors from the sunken carrier Lexington. She screened for Yorktown again in the Battle of Midway, picking up her survivors as well. She then supported the carrier Enterprise during the initial phase of the Guadalcanal Campaign later that year, and was torpedoed during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. The torpedo inflicted heavy damage which put her out of action for six months as she was repaired in Sydney, Australia, and later San Diego, California.
USS Columbia was a Cleveland-class light cruiser of the United States Navy, which were built during World War II. The class was designed as a development of the earlier Brooklyn-class cruisers, the size of which had been limited by the First London Naval Treaty. The start of the war led to the dissolution of the treaty system, but the dramatic need for new vessels precluded a new design, so the Clevelands used the same hull as their predecessors, but were significantly heavier. The Clevelands carried a main battery of twelve 6-inch (152 mm) guns in four three-gun turrets, along with a secondary armament of twelve 5 in (127 mm) dual-purpose guns. They had a top speed of 32.5 knots.
USS Nashville (CL-43) was a Brooklyn-class cruiser. She was laid down on 24 January 1935 by New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey. She was launched on 2 October 1937, sponsored by Misses Ann and Mildred Stahlman and commissioned on 6 June 1938.
USS Oakland (CL-95), was a modified Atlanta-class light cruiser, the first of a group of four sometimes referred to as the "Oakland-class". She was laid down by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, San Francisco, California, on 15 July 1941; launched on 23 October 1942; sponsored by Dr. Aurelia Henry Reinhardt, president of Mills College, Oakland, California; and commissioned on 17 July 1943. She was named for the city of Oakland, California. Like the Atlanta class, the Oakland class was designed as an anti-aircraft cruiser, with a main battery of dual-purpose guns, the principal difference between the two classes being that the Oakland-class did not have the Atlanta class's two-beam twin 5 in (127 mm)/38 cal gun turrets. They were removed for the sake of stability and the limited arcs of fire experienced by the wing turrets on the Atlantas. Oakland sustained three casualties during World War II.
USS Tucson (CL-98/CLAA-98) was a modified Atlanta-class light cruiser, sometimes referred to as an "Oakland-class". She was laid down on 23 December 1942 in San Francisco, California, by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation; launched on 3 September 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Emmett S. Claunch, Sr.; and commissioned on 3 February 1945. She was named after Tucson, Arizona. She, along with the surviving Atlanta-class, was reclassified a light antiaircraft cruiser (CLAA) on 18 March 1949, prior to her decommissioning on 18 June 1949.
USS Hazelwood (DD-531) was a World War II-era Fletcher-class destroyer in the service of the United States Navy. The ship was the second named for Commodore John Hazelwood; a naval leader in the American Continental Navy.
USS Taylor (DD/DDE-468) was a Fletcher-class destroyer of the United States Navy, named for Rear Admiral William Rogers Taylor (1811–1889). She was laid down on 28 August 1941 at Bath, Maine, by the Bath Iron Works Corp.; launched on 7 June 1942, sponsored by Mrs. H. A. Baldridge; and commissioned on 28 August 1942 at the Charlestown Navy Yard near Boston, Mass.
USS Izard (DD-589), a Fletcher-class destroyer, was a ship of the United States Navy named for Lieutenant Ralph Izard (1785–1822),
USS Bagley (DD-386), a Bagley-class destroyer, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for Ensign Worth Bagley, officer during the Spanish–American War, distinguished as the only U.S. naval officer killed in action during that war.
USS Heywood L. Edwards (DD-663) was a Fletcher-class destroyer of the United States Navy, named after Lieutenant Commander Heywood L. Edwards (1905–1941), captain of the destroyer USS Reuben James, the first U.S. Navy ship sunk in World War II. Following the war, the ship was transferred to Japan and renamed Ariake. The ship served with the Japanese until 1974 and was scrapped in 1976.
USS Bryant (DD-665) was a Fletcher-class destroyer of the United States Navy, named for Rear Admiral Samuel W. Bryant (1877–1938).
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
United States
13 × battle stars 
