USSMilwaukee (CL-5) was anOmaha-classlight cruiser built for theUnited States Navy during the 1920s. The ship spent most of her early career assigned to theAsiatic andBattle Fleets. In 1941, she was assigned to theNeutrality Patrol until she was refitted in New York in late 1941. She escorted a troop convoy to the Pacific in early 1942 before returning to the South Atlantic where she patrolled for Germancommerce raiders andblockade runners. In November, she intercepted one of the latter, but itscuttled itself before it could be captured. In 1944, she was temporarily transferred to theSoviet Navy and commissioned asMurmansk. The ship was returned by the Soviets in 1949 and sold forscrap in December.

USSMilwaukee in New York, 1943
History
United States
Name	Milwaukee
Namesake	City ofMilwaukee, Wisconsin
Awarded	27 August 1917
Builder	Todd Dry Dock and Construction Company
Laid down	13 December 1918
Launched	24 March 1921
Sponsored by	Mrs. Rudolph Pfeil
Commissioned	20 June 1923
Identification	Hull number: CL-5
Fate	Loaned to the Soviet Union, 20 April 1944
Soviet Union
Name	Murmansk
Namesake	Murmansk
Operator	Soviet Navy
Acquired	20 April 1944
Renamed	20 April 1944
Fate	Returned to the United States, 16 March 1949
United States
Name	Milwaukee
Acquired	16 March 1949
Fate	Sold forscrap, 10 December 1949
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	Omaha-classlight cruiser
Displacement	7,050 long tons (7,163 t) (standard)
Length	555 ft 6 in (169.32 m)
Beam	55 ft 4 in (16.87 m)
Draft	13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
Installed power	90,000 shp (67,000 kW) 12 ×Yarrow boilers
Propulsion	4 × shafts 4 × gearedsteam turbines
Speed	35 kn (65 km/h; 40 mph)
Range	6,500 nmi (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	458 officers and enlisted men
Armament	2 × twin, 8 × single6 in (152 mm) guns 4 × single3 in (76 mm)anti-aircraft guns 10 ×21 in (533 mm)torpedo tubes 224mines
Armor	Belt: 3 inches (76 mm) Deck: 1.5 inches (38 mm) Conning tower: 1.5 inches (38 mm) Bulkheads: 1.5–3 inches (38–76 mm)
Aircraft carried	2 ×floatplanes
Aviation facilities	2 ×catapults

Milwaukee was 550 feet (170 m)long at the waterline and 555 feet 6 inches (169.3 m) longoverall, with abeam of 55 feet 4 inches (16.9 m) and a meandraft of 13 feet 6 inches (4.1 m). Herstandard displacement was 7,050long tons (7,163 t) and 9,150 long tons (9,297 t) atfull load.^[1] Her crew consisted of 29 officers and 429 enlisted men.^[2] The ship was fitted with a powerfulecho sounder.^[3]

The ship was powered by fourWestinghouse gearedsteam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam generated by 12Yarrow boilers.^[1] The engines were rated at 90,000indicated horsepower (67,000 kW) and designed to reach a top speed of 35knots (65 km/h; 40 mph). At deep load she carried 1,852 long tons (1,882 t) offuel oil that provided her a range of 6,500nautical miles (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).^[4]

Milwaukee mounted a dozen 53-caliber6-inch (152 mm) guns; four in two twingun turrets and eight in tieredcasemates fore and aft.^[1] Her secondary armament initially consisted of two 50-caliber3-inch (76 mm)anti-aircraft (AA) guns in single mounts, but this was doubled to four guns during construction.Milwaukee was initially built with the capacity to carry 224mines, but these were removed early in her career to make more space for crew accommodations.^[5] The ship carried above-water two triple and two twintorpedo tube mounts for 21-inch (533 mm)torpedoes. The triple mounts were fitted on the upperdeck, aft of theaircraft catapults, and the twin mounts were one deck lower, covered by hatches in the side of the hull. These lower mounts proved to be very wet and were removed, and the openings plated over, before the start of World War II. Another change made before the war was to increase the 3-inch (76 mm) guns to four, all mounted in the ship's waist.^[6]

The ship lacked a full-lengthwaterlinearmor belt. The sides of herboiler and engine rooms and steering gear were protected by 3 inches (76 mm) of armor. The transversebulkheads at the end of her machinery rooms were 1.5 inches (38 mm) thick forward and three inches thick aft. The deck over the machinery spaces and steering gear had a thickness of 1.5 inches. The gun turrets were only protected againstmuzzle blast and the conning tower had 1.5 inches of armor.^[4]Milwaukee carried twofloatplanes aboard that were stored on the two catapults. Initially these were probablyVought VE-9s, but the ship operatedCurtiss SOC Seagulls from 1935 andVought OS2U Kingfishers after 1940.^[7]

After 1940 the lower aft six-inch guns were removed and the casemates plated over. The ship's anti-aircraft armament was augmented by two quadruple1.1-inch gun mounts by early 1942, although these were replaced by twinBofors 40 mm gun mounts later in the war. At about the same time,Milwaukee received eightOerlikon 20 mm cannon.^[7]

The contract forMilwaukee, the third ship named for the city ofMilwaukee, Wisconsin,^[3] was signed on 27 August 1917, and the ship waslaid down byTodd Dry Dock and Construction Company, at theirTacoma,Washington shipyard on 13 December 1918.^[8] She waslaunched on 24 March 1921 and was commissioned on 20 June 1923.^[1] During the ship'sshakedown cruise, she visitedSydney,Australia, during thePan-Pacific Scientific Congress which opened on 23 August. With her new depth–finding equipment,Milwaukee surveyed the floor of the Pacific en route. "The MilwaukeeSeamounts in the Northern Pacific are named after a set of soundings taken byMilwaukee in 1929."^[3]

DuringFleet Problem VI, she collided with hersister shipDetroit inGuantanamo Bay, Cuba, on 1 February 1926, although neither ship was seriously damaged.^[9]Milwaukee and thedestroyerGoff assisted victims of a fierce hurricane which had devastated theIsle of Pines in October.^[3] She was assigned toCruiser Division 2 of the Asiatic Fleet in 1928.^[7] During an engagement with "enemy" cruisers during Fleet Problem IX on 16 April 1930, the ship was ruled to have been knocked out by the exercise's umpires. Three years later, during Fleet Problem XIV,Milwaukee was spotted by fighters from the aircraft carrierSaratoga and "sunk" by some of the opposing cruisers.^[10] In 1933, the ship was assigned toCruiser Division 3 of the Battle Fleet.^[7] After thePanay Incident in December 1937,Milwaukee made a cruise through the Western Pacific from January to April 1938.^[3]

While steaming north ofHispaniola andPuerto Rico on 14 February 1939,Milwaukee discovered the deepest place in theAtlantic Ocean. The spot—which has a depth of 28,680 feet (8,740 m)—is now known as the "Milwaukee Deep".^[3] By January 1941, the ship had returned to Cruiser Division 2 which was now assigned to the Caribbean Patrol, commanded byRear AdmiralJonas H. Ingram,^[11] part of the Neutrality Patrol established after the war began.^[7] Cruiser Division 2 was ordered to patrol the Atlantic betweenTrinidad, theCape Verde Islands and the eastern bulge of Brazil in April, althoughMilwaukee was not immediately available. The ship, escorted by the destroyersSomers andJouett, began her first patrol in May, making a port visit toRecife, Brazil, on 1 June, before returning toSan Juan, Puerto Rico. These patrols continued in the same manner for most of the rest of the year.^[12]

Milwaukee, commanded byCaptainForrest B. Royal, was beingoverhauled in theBrooklyn Navy Yard when the Japaneseattacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December. The ship escorted a convoy to theCaribbean from New York on 31 December and then escorted eight troop transports from thePanama Canal to theSociety Islands. She rejoined the South Atlantic Patrol Force upon her return and spend the next two years making patrols between Brazil and the African coast. On 19 May she received anSOS from the Brazilian cargo ship SSCommandante Lyra, which had been torpedoed by theItalian submarine Barbarigo off the coast of Brazil.Milwaukee found the freighter abandoned, burning, andlisting to port. She rescued 25 survivors from theirlifeboats, including the ship's master. Reinforced by her sisterOmaha and the destroyerMcDougal, the fires were brought under control, cargo was jettisoned to lighten the ship, andCommandante Lyra was towed toFortaleza, Brazil.^[3] Shortly after, on the night of 20 May, she was attacked by theBarbarigo, commanded byEnzo Grossi (who mistook her for a "Maryland- orCalifornia- type battleship") with two torpedoes, which missed and were not even noticed by the American ships; however, Grossi claimed to have sunk his target, and was promoted toCapitano di Fregata (Commander) and decorated with theGold Medal of Military Valour and theIron Cross. Two subsequent commissions in 1949 and 1962 would eventually reverse the promotion and the decorations.^[13]

Rear AdmiralOliver M. Read assumed command of Cruiser Division 2 in October and hoisted his flag aboardMilwaukee.^[14] On 21 November,Milwaukee, her sisterCincinnati and the destroyerSomers intercepted the German blockade runnerAnneliese Essberger. WhenSomers had closed to 4 miles (3.5 nmi; 6.4 km), the German ship scuttled herself to prevent capture.^[15]Milwaukee rescued 62 of the ship's crew. On 2 May 1943, while the ship was under repair at Recife, her crew helped to fight a fire on theoil tankerSS Livingston Roe.^[3]Milwaukee andOmaha collided on 31 May off the coast of Brazil, although the extent of the damage is not known.^[16] The ship sailed for the Brooklyn Navy Yard on 8 February 1944,^[3] preparatory to her temporary transfer to the Soviet Union in lieu of Italian ships allotted after the Italian surrender that could not be delivered.^[17] She escorted a convoy toBelfast,Northern Ireland, on 8 March before forming part of the escort ofConvoy JW 58 during her voyage toMurmansk beginning on 29 March.^[3]

On 20 April, the ship was transferred on loan to the SovietNorthern Fleet inMurmansk. She was commissioned in the Soviet Navy asMurmansk and performed convoy and patrol duty in theArctic Ocean for the remainder of the war. Afterward, she became atraining ship and participated in the 1948 fleet maneuvers.^[18] On 16 March 1949,Milwaukee was transferred back to the United States. She was the first of 15 American warships returned by the Soviet Union. She entered the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on 18 March 1949, and was sold for scrapping on 10 December to the American Shipbreakers, Inc. ofWilmington, Delaware.^[3]

• Erikson, Rolf F. (2015). "Question 39/44: USS Milwaukee (CL-5) in Soviet Service".Warship International.LII (4):295–296.ISSN 0043-0374.
• Friedman, Norman (1984).U.S. Cruisers: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 0-87021-718-6.
• Giorgerini, Giorgio (1994).Uomini sul fondo : storia del sommergibilismo italiano dalle origini a oggi. Mondadori. pp. 534–42.ISBN 8804505370.
• Nofi, Albert A. (2010).To Train the Fleet for War: The U.S. Navy Fleet Problems. Naval War College Historical Monograph. Vol. 18. Newport, Rhode Island: Naval War College Press.ISBN 978-1-884733-69-7.
• Rohwer, Jürgen (2005).Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
• United States Navy.Commander South Atlantic Force. United States Naval Administration in World War II. Vol. Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet: XI. United States Navy. Retrieved12 January 2013.
• Whitley, M. J. (1995).Cruisers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. London: Cassell.ISBN 1-86019-874-0.

• Budzbon, Przemysław (1980). "Soviet Union". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.).Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 318–346.ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
• Budzbon, Przemysław; Radziemski, Jan & Twardowski, Marek (2022).Warships of the Soviet Fleets 1939–1945. Vol. I: Major Combatants. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 978-1-68247-877-6.

• Navy photos ofMilwaukee