m10bob
Posts: 8622
Joined: 11/3/2002
From: Dismal Seepage Indiana
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USS "PENSACOLA" (CA 24) 1930-1948
USS Pensacola, name ship of a class of two 9.100-ton light cruisers, was built by the New York Navy Yard. Commissioned in February 1930, she made a shakedown cruise to Peru and Chile then began regular operations in the western Atlantic, Caribbean and Pacific. In July 1931, her classification was changed to heavy cruiser and her hull number became CA-24. Pensacola shifted home port from Norfolk, Virginia, to San Diego, California, in January 1935 and thereafter mainly served in the Pacific.
When the Pacific War began on 7 December 1941 with Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Pensacola was at sea escorting a convoy that was subsequently diverted to Australia. Following patrols in the vicinity of Samoa, the cruiser screened the carriers Lexington and Yorktown during their operations in the southern Pacific from February into April 1942. In the early June Battle of Midway Pensacola escorted both USS Enterprise and USS Yorktown. From August to December 1942, she operated in support of the Guadalcanal campaign, mainly serving with aircraft carriers, and was present during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in late October and the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in mid-November. At the end of November, Pensacola was badly damaged by a torpedo in the Battle of Tassafaronga, with the loss of over 120 of her crewmen.
Pensacola was under repair until well into 1943, but returned to service in time to participate in the Tarawa invasion in November. In 1944 she took part in the conquest of the Marshall Islands and operated with carrier striking forces during raids in the central Pacific. From May into August, she patrolled in the north Pacific and bombarded Japanese positions in the Kurile Islands. Moving south, Pensacola shelled Wake Island in September and Marcus in early October, then joined the Third Fleet's carrier forces to participate in attacks on Formosa and in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
During the rest of the year and into 1945, Pensacola regularly conducted bombardments in the Bonin and Volcano Islands. While off Iwo Jima on 17 February 1945, she was hit several times by Japanese coastal guns, but was soon able to resume shelling the island. She provided more gunfire support during the campaign to seize Okinawa in March and April. When the fighting ended in mid-August, she was serving in the North Pacific. Pensacola's final months of active service were spent supporting the occupation of northern Japan and transporting Pacific War veterans home as part of Operation "Magic Carpet". In 1946 the now-elderly cruiser was assigned to target duty in connection with the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll. Badly damaged by the two explosions on 1 July and 25 July, she was formally decommissioned in August. More than two years later, on 10 November 1948, USS Pensacola was sunk as a target in fleet exercises off the coast of Washington State
http://www.warship.get.net.pl/StZjednoczone/Cruisers/CA_1929_Pensacola_class/_Pensacola_photos.html
Ya can't say we don't all jump in to help a friend...
BTW, look at that 1st pic I posted..It was 1944 and the ship still has the high tripod main mast.
Apparently Pensacola was last to convert since she was in repair from prior combat action,(according to both narratives?)
< Message edited by m10bob -- 3/17/2007 6:21:12 PM >
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