_operating_in_Hawaiian_waters_on_8_July_1942_(NH_97682).jpg) USSAstoria (CA-34), operating in Hawaiian waters during battle practice, 8 July 1942. She appears to be recovering floatplanes from off her starboard side. Note booms rigged below the forward superstructure to tow aircraft recovery mats, and starboard crane swung out. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Astoria |
| Namesake | City ofAstoria, Oregon |
| Ordered | 13 February 1929 |
| Awarded |
|
| Builder | Puget Sound Navy Yard,Bremerton, Washington |
| Cost | $11,951,000 (limit of price) |
| Laid down | 1 September 1930 |
| Launched | 16 December 1933 |
| Sponsored by | Miss Leila C. McKay |
| Commissioned | 28 April 1934 |
| Reclassified | CA-34, 1 July 1931 |
| Identification |
|
| Nickname(s) | "Nasty Asty"[1] |
| Honors & awards |  3 ×battle stars |
| Fate | Sunk during theBattle of Savo Island 9 August 1942 |
| General characteristics (as built)[2] | |
| Class & type | New Orleans-classcruiser |
| Displacement | 9,950 long tons (10,110 t) (standard) |
| Length | |
| Beam | 61 ft 9 in (18.82 m) |
| Draft |
|
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 32.7 kn (37.6 mph; 60.6 km/h) |
| Capacity | Fuel oil: 1,650 tons |
| Complement | 104 officers 795 enlisted |
| Armament | |
| Armor |
|
| Aircraft carried | 4 ×floatplanes |
| Aviation facilities | 2 ×Amidshipcatapults |
| General characteristics (1942)[3] | |
| Armament |
|
The secondUSSAstoria (CL/CA-34) was aNew Orleans-classcruiser of theUnited States Navy that participated in both theBattle of the Coral Sea and theBattle of Midway, but was then sunk in August 1942, at theBattle of Savo Island.Astoria was the firstNew Orleans-class cruiser to be laid down but launched after and received a hull number higher than the lead shipNew Orleans.
Immediately after the months-longGuadalcanal campaign ended in February 1943, the remaining ships of the class would go through major overhauls to lessen top-heaviness due to new electrical and radar systems and advanced anti-aircraft weaponry. In doing so the ships took on a new appearance, most notably in the bridge.
Astoria was laid down on 1 September 1930, at thePuget Sound Navy Yard. Such ships, with a limit of 10,000 tons standard displacement and 8-inch calibre main guns may be referred to as "treaty cruisers." Originally classified alight cruiser, because of her thin armor, she was reclassified, after being laid down, aheavy cruiser, because of her 8-inch guns. The term "heavy cruiser" was not defined until theLondon Naval Treaty in 1930. Launched on 16 December 1933, sponsored by Miss Leila C. McKay (a descendant ofAlexander McKay, a member of theJohn Jacob Astor expedition that foundedAstoria,Oregon), and commissioned on 28 April 1934,Captain Edmund S. Root in command.
During the summer of 1934,Astoria conducted a lengthyshakedown cruise, in the course of which she voyaged extensively in the Pacific. In addition to theHawaiian Islands, the heavy cruiser also visitedAmerican Samoa;Fiji;Sydney,Australia; andNouméa on the island ofNew Caledonia. She returned toSan Francisco on 26 September 1934.
Between the fall of 1934 and February 1937, she operated as a unit ofCruiser Division 7 (CruDiv 7),Scouting Force, based atSan Pedro, California. In February 1937, the warship was reassigned to CruDiv 6, though she continued to serve as an element of Scouting Force based at San Pedro. In both assignments, she carried out normal peacetime maneuvers, the culmination of which came in the annual fleet problem that brought the entire United States Fleet together in a single, vast exercise.
At the beginning of 1939,Fleet Problem XX concentrated the fleet in theWest Indies, and at its conclusionAstoria,Richmond Kelly Turner commanding, made a hasty departure fromCulebra Island on 3 March 1939 and headed forChesapeake Bay. After taking on a capacity load of stores and fuel atNorfolk, Virginia, the heavy cruiser proceeded north toAnnapolis, Maryland, where she embarked the remains of the former Japanese Ambassador to the United States, the lateHiroshi Saito, for the voyage to Japan, a gesture that expressed America's gratitude to the Japanese for returning the body of the late United States Ambassador to Japan,Edgar Bancroft, in the cruiserTama in 1926.Astoria sailed from Annapolis on 18 March 1939, accompanied byNaokichi Kitazawa, Second Secretary of the Japanese Embassy in Washington.
Arriving in thePanama Canal Zone soon thereafter, where "various high officials and a delegation from the Japanese colony in Panama paid their respects to Saito's ashes,"Astoria got underway forHawaii on 24 March. She moored atHonolulu on 4 April, the same day that Madame Saito and her two daughters arrived on board the passenger linerTatsuta Maru. Two days later, the heavy cruiser proceeded westward across the Pacific.
Accompanied by the destroyersHibiki,Sagiri,Akatsuki,Astoria steamed slowly intoYokohama harbor on 17 April, United States ensign at half-mast and the Japanese flag at the fore. The warship fired a21-gun salute which was returned by the light cruiserKiso. American sailors carried the ceremonial urn ashore that afternoon, and funeral ceremonies took place the following morning.
After the solemnstate funeral, the Japanese showered lavish hospitality on the visiting cruiser and her men. Captain Turner, for his part, pleased Ambassador to JapanJoseph C. Grew by his diplomatic role in the proceedings; the naval attaché in Tokyo, CaptainHarold Medberry Bemis, later recorded that the choice of Turner for that delicate mission was "particularly fortunate...." In grateful appreciation of American sympathy and courtesy a pagoda was later presented by Hirosi Saito's wife and child. That pagoda is located in front of Luce Hall at theUnited States Naval Academy.
Astoria sailed forShanghai,China, on 26 April, and reached her destination on the morning of the 29th. She remained at Shanghai until 1 May. After receiving AdmiralHarry E. Yarnell, Commander in Chief,Asiatic Fleet, on board for a courtesy call that morning,Astoria put to sea forHong Kong in the afternoon. Following the visit to Hong Kong,Astoria stopped briefly in thePhilippines before continuing on toGuam. When she arrived at Guam early on the morning of 21 May, the heavy cruiser was called upon to assistPenguin andRobert L. Barnes in their successful effort to refloat the grounded Army transportU. S. Grant. Soon thereafter,Astoria joined the search for the noted author and adventurerRichard Halliburton, and the companions with whom he had attempted the voyage from Hong Kong to San Francisco in his Chinese junk,Sea Dragon. The cruiser combed more than 162,000 sq mi (420,000 km2) of the Pacific, without success, before she discontinued the search on 29 May.
Assigned to the Hawaiian Detachment in October 1939,Astoria changed home ports from San Pedro toPearl Harbor. The following spring, she participated inFleet Problem XXI, the last of those major annual exercises that brought the entire United States Fleet together to be conducted beforeWorld War II engulfed the United States. The maneuvers took place in Hawaiian waters, and, instead of returning to the west coast at their conclusion, the bulk of the fleet joinedAstoria and the Hawaiian Detachment in making Pearl Harbor its base of operations.
On 2 April 1941,Astoria departed Pearl Harbor for the west coast of the United States. She reachedLong Beach, California, on 8 April and entered theMare Island Navy Yard on the 13th. During her refit, she received quadruple-mount1.1 in (28 mm)/75 calanti-aircraft guns and a pedestal fitted at her foremast in anticipation of the imminent installation of the new air-search radar. Emerging from the yard on 11 July 1941, the heavy cruiser sailed for Long Beach on the 16th. Later shifting to San Pedro,Astoria sailed for Pearl Harbor on 24 July 1941.
Following her return to Hawaii on 31 July,Astoria operated betweenOahu andMidway through early September. That autumn, the specter of German raiders on the prowl in the Pacific prompted the Navy toconvoy its ships bound for Guam and the Philippines.Astoria escortedHenderson to Manila and thence to Guam, before returning to Pearl Harbor on 29 October. Local patrols and training, alternated with upkeep in port, occupiedAstoria during the final five weeks of peace.
After rising tensions in the Pacific intensified his concern over the defenses of his outlying bases at the beginning of December 1941,AdmiralHusband E. Kimmel, Commander in Chief,Pacific Fleet/United States Fleet, ordered reinforcements, in the form of Marine Corps planes, to be ferried toWake Island and Midway.Astoria put to sea on 5 December in the screen ofRear AdmiralJohn H. Newton'sTask Force 12 (TF 12) built aroundLexington. Once the task force reached open sea,Lexington's air group and the 18Vought SB2U-3 Vindicators fromMarine Scout Bombing Squadron 231 (VMSB-231) bound for Midway landed on the carrier'sflight deck.
When the Japaneseattacked Pearl Harbor on the morning of 7 December,Astoria was some 700 mi (1,100 km) west of Hawaii steaming toward Midway with TF 12. At 0900 the following day, the heavy cruiserIndianapolis,flagship ofVice AdmiralWilson Brown, Commander, Scouting Force, joined up with TF 12, and Brown assumed command. Its ferry mission canceled, TF 12 spent the next few days searching an area to the southwest of Oahu, "with instructions to intercept and destroy any enemy ship in the vicinity of Pearl Harbor...."
The cruiser reentered Pearl Harbor with theLexington force on 13 December, but she returned to sea on the 16th to rendezvous with and screen a convoy, theoilerNeches and theseaplane tenderTangier – the abortive Wake Island relief expedition. When that island fell to the Japanese on 23 December, however, the force was recalled.Astoria remained at sea until the afternoon of 29 December, when she arrived back at Oahu. WhenAstoria was moored in Pearl Harbor, she had about 40 sailors from the battleshipCalifornia transferred to her ranks. They were survivors of 7 December, whenCalifornia was sunk at Berth F4 onBattleship Row.
Astoria departed Pearl Harbor again on the morning of 31 December with TF 11, formed aroundSaratoga, and remained at sea into the second week of January 1942. On 11 January, the JapanesesubmarineI-6 torpedoed the carrier, forcing her retirement to Pearl Harbor.Astoria and her colleagues in the task force saw the crippled carrier safely into port on the morning of 13 January 1942.
After a brief respite at Pearl Harbor,Astoria returned to sea on 19 January with TF 11 – the carrierLexington, escorted by heavy cruisersChicago andMinneapolis, and ninedestroyers – to "conduct an offensive patrol northeast of theKingman Reef-Christmas Island line." On the afternoon of the 21st, however, TF 11 received orders to rendezvous withNeches, and then to conduct an air raid on Wake Island, followed by a surface bombardment "if practicable." Dispatches intercepted on the 23rd, however, revealed thatNeches had fallen victim to a Japanese submarine, identified later asI-17. Without the oiler's precious cargo of fuel, TF 11 could not execute the planned strike. Ordered back to Oahu, the task force reentered Pearl Harbor on the morning of 24 January.
On 16 February,Astoria put back to sea for what proved to be an extended cruise in the southwestern Pacific withTF 17, built around the carrierYorktown and comprising the heavy cruiserLouisville, destroyersSims,Anderson,Hammann andWalke, and the oilerGuadalupe, all under the command of Rear AdmiralFrank Jack Fletcher. Initially, TF 17's orders called for operations in the vicinity ofCanton Island. However, after the Japanese discovered TF 11 on its way to attack their important new base atRabaul and sent a determined raid which hit theLexington task force offBougainville on 20 February, Vice Admiral Brown asked for a second carrier to strengthen his force for another crack at Rabaul. Accordingly, TF 17 received orders to aid Brown in that attempt, andAstoria steamed withYorktown to a rendezvous with TF 11 that took place southwest of theNew Hebrides on 6 March.
The combined force, under Brown, stood toward Rabaul until the Japanese landings at Lae and Salamaua, New Guinea prompted a change of plans. Late on 8 March, Brown and his staff decided to shift objectives and attack the two new enemy beachheads by launching planes from the Gulf of Papua in the south and sending them across the width of New Guinea to the targets on the northern coast.Astoria, meanwhile, joined a surface force made up of heavy cruisersChicago,Louisville, andHMAS Australia, and destroyersAnderson,Hammann,Hughes, andSims under the command of Rear AdmiralJohn G. Crace, that Brown detached to operate in the waters offRossel Island in theLouisiade Archipelago. The heavy cruiser and the other warships of that force carried out a threefold mission. They secured the carriers' right flank during their operations in theGulf of Papua; they shieldedPort Moresby from any new enemy thrust; and they covered the arrival of Army troops at Nouméa.
The raids onLae andSalamaua, conducted by 104 planes fromYorktown andLexington on 10 March 1942 proved devastating to the Japanese, causing heavy damage to their already depleted amphibious forces by sinking three transports and a minesweeper, as well as damaging a light cruiser, a largeminelayer, three destroyers and aseaplane carrier. More importantly, the attack delayed the Japanese timetable for conquest in the Solomons and prompted them to send aircraft carriers to cover the operation. The delay, which also allowed the United States Navy time to marshal its forces, coupled with the dispatch of Japanese carriers led to the confrontation in theCoral Sea.
Astoria rejoined TF 17 on 14 March and patrolled the Coral Sea for the rest of March. At sea continuously since 16 February,Astoria began to run low on provisions, so Rear Admiral Fletcher detached her to replenish fromBridge at Nouméa along withPortland,Hughes andWalke. Arriving on 1 April, the cruiser remained there only briefly, returning to sea the following day. The warship marched and counter-marched across the Coral Sea for two weeks before TF 17 headed forTongatapu, where she and theYorktown force spent the week of 20–27 April.
About this time, intelligence reports convinced AdmiralChester Nimitz that the enemy sought to take Port Moresby, on the southeastern coast ofNew Guinea, and he resolved to thwart those designs. He sent TF 11, built around a refurbishedLexington and led by a new commander, Rear AdmiralAubrey W. Fitch, to join Fletcher's TF 17 in the Coral Sea.Astoria returned to sea with TF 17 on 27 April to rendezvous with TF 11. The two carrier task forces met in the eastern Coral Sea early on the morning of 1 May.
Late in the afternoon of 3 May, Rear Admiral Fletcher received word of the Japanese occupation of Tulagi in the Solomons.Astoria screenedYorktown the following day as the carrier launched three raids on the enemy ships off Tulagi. Admiral Fletcher first considered sendingAstoria andChester to finish off the crippled ships at Tulagi with surface gunnery, but demurred and kept his force concentrated in anticipation of further action.
Next came a two-day lull on 5–6 May, during which TF 17 fueled in preparation for the impending battle.Astoria screenedYorktown on the 7th as her planes joined those fromLexington in searches and strikes that located and sank the Japanese carrierShōhō. Japanese planes, however, located and sank the oilerNeosho and her escort,Sims.
Fletcher's carriers launched aircraft again early on the morning of 8 May, whileAstoria and the other units of the screen prepared their antiaircraft batteries to meet the retaliation expected from Japanese carriersZuikaku andShōkaku. Enemy planes found TF 17 just before 1100 that morning and quickly charged to the attack. Almost simultaneously, planes fromYorktown andLexington deployed to attack the enemy task force.
The Japanese aviators concentrated almost exclusively on the American carriers as the two drew apart with their respective screening ships, ultimately putting some 6 to 8 mi (9.7 to 12.9 km) of ocean between them by the end of the battle.Torpedo bombers opened the first phase of the attack, while torpedo anddive bombers coordinated attacks in the second phase.
The battle action on 8 May, asAstoria's executive officer,Commander Chauncey R. Crutcher, recounted, "was short and was accompanied by intense anti-aircraft fire against a determined enemy...."Astoria assisted in putting up a protective barrage overLexington at the outset, and after the task forces separated, she shifted to the anti-aircraft umbrella overYorktown. Her gunners claimed to have splashed at least four enemy planes in the attack that "seemed to end as suddenly as it had started."
At about 1245,Lexington – heavily damaged though apparently in satisfactory condition afloat and underway – suffered severe internal explosions that rang her death knell. Fires raged out of control and, by 1630, her engines stopped. Ninety minutes later, CaptainFrederick C. Sherman ordered the ship abandoned. Once rescue operations were completed, andLexington's end was hastened by torpedoes fromPhelps, TF 17 began a slow retirement from the Coral Sea, having suffered heavy losses but also having inflicted a decisive strategic defeat on the Japanese by barring the Port Moresby invasion.
Astoria set course for Nouméa along withMinneapolis,New Orleans,Anderson,Hammann,Morris, andRussell. That force reached its destination on 12 May but remained only overnight. On the 13th, she and the other warships got underway for Pearl Harbor, via Tongatapu, and arrived at Oahu on 27 May.
The heavy cruiser remained in Pearl Harbor only until the 30th. On that day, she returned to sea with the hastily repairedYorktown to prepare to meet yet another major thrust by the Japanese fleet – this one aimed at Midway. Air searches from that island spotted the enemy'sMidway Occupation Force – made up of transports, minesweepers, and two seaplane carriers – early on 3 June, but the enemy carrier force eluded detection until early in the morning of the 4th. The heavy cruiser screenedYorktown as the carrier began launching strike aircraft at about 0840. While the planes droned off to make their contribution to the destruction of the Japanese carrier force,Astoria and her colleagues prepared for the inevitable Japanese reply.
The counterstroke, however, did not come until a few minutes before noon asYorktown's victorious aviators began to return to their ship. 18Aichi D3A1 "Val" dive bombers came in to attack the carrier.Grumman F4F-4 Wildcatfighters fromFighting Squadron 3 (VF-3) accounted for 10 of the intruders, but the remaining eight managed to penetrate thecombat air patrol (CAP).Astoria teamed up withPortland and the screening destroyers to splash another two of the attackers. The remaining six, however, succeeded in attackingYorktown, and three of those scored hits. One of the three hit the carrier's stack, causing fires in her uptakes that literally smoked Rear Admiral Fletcher and his staff out of flag plot. At about 1310, he shifted his flag toAstoria.
_at_Midway_1942.jpg)
Yorktown's damage control parties worked feverishly, and by 1340 she was again underway under her own power, albeit at only 18 to 20 kn (21 to 23 mph; 33 to 37 km/h). At about 1430, the second attack – composed of 10Nakajima B5N2 "Kate" torpedo bombers escorted by sixMitsubishi A6M Zero fighters – came in and eluded the weak CAP.Astoria and the other ships of the screen attempted to discourage attacks from four different directions by bringing every gun to bear and firing them into the sea to throw curtains of water into the path of the attackers. Nevertheless, four of the "Kates" made good their attack and released their torpedoes within 500 yd (460 m).Yorktown dodged two, but the other two scored hits which stopped the ship again. By 1500, the order to abandon ship went out.Astoria called away lifeboats to assist in the rescue ofYorktown's survivors. That night, the heavy cruiser retired east ward with the rest of the task force to await dawn, while a single destroyer,Hughes, stood by the stricken carrier.
The following day broke withYorktown still afloat, and efforts began to salvage the battered warship. Though the Japanese had abandoned the Midway attack and had begun retiring toward Japan, submarineI-168 had been given orders to sinkYorktown. After a 24-hour search, the enemy submarine found her quarry on the 6th and attacked with a spread of four torpedoes. One torpedo missed completely, two passed under destroyerHammann alongside the carrier and detonated inYorktown's hull, while the fourth brokeHammann's back. The destroyer sank in less than four minutes. The carrier remained afloat until early on the morning of the 7th. At about dawn, she finally rolled over and sank.
Astoria remained as flagship for TF 17, as it operated north of Midway, until shortly after midday on 8 June when TF 11 arrived on the scene, and Rear Admiral Fletcher transferred his flag toSaratoga, On 11 June, Admiral Nimitz – satisfied that the major Japanese thrust had been thwarted – ordered his carrier task forces back to Hawaii, andAstoria reentered Pearl Harbor with them on 13 June. During the early summer of 1942, she completed repairs and alterations at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard and carried out training in the Hawaiian operating area.
_off_Guadalcanal_1942.jpg)
By the beginning of August,Astoria had been reassigned toTask Group 62.3 (TG 62.3), Fire Support Group L, to cover theGuadalcanal-Tulagi landings. Early on the morning of 7 August, the heavy cruiser entered the waters between Guadalcanal andFlorida Islands in the southernSolomons. Throughout the day, she supported the Marines as they landed on Guadalcanal and several smaller islands nearby. The Japanese launched air counterattacks on the 7th–8th, andAstoria helped to defend the transports from those attacks.
On the night of 8/9 August, a Japanese force of seven cruisers and a destroyer under Vice AdmiralGunichi Mikawa sneaked bySavo Island and attacked the American ships. At the time,Astoria had been patrolling to the east of Savo Island in column behindVincennes andQuincy. The Japanese came through the channel to the west of Savo Island and opened fire onChicago –HMAS Canberra force first at about 0140 on the morning of the 9th, hitting both cruisers with torpedoes and shells. They then divided – inadvertently – into two separate groups and turned generally northeast, passing on either side ofAstoria and her two consorts. The enemy cruisers began firing on that force at about 0150, and the heavy cruiser began return fire immediately. She ceased fire briefly because her commanding officer temporarily mistook the Japanese force for friendly ships but soon resumed shooting.Astoria took no hits in the first four Japanese salvoes, but the fifth ripped into her superstructure, turning her into an inferno amidships. In quick succession, enemy shells put her No. 1turret out of action and started a serious fire in the plane hangar that burned brightly and provided the enemy with a self-illuminated target.
From that moment on, deadly accurate Japanese gunfire pounded her unmercifully, and she began to lose speed. Turning to the right to avoidQuincy's fire at about 0201,Astoria reeled as a succession of enemy shells struck her aft of the foremast. Soon thereafter,Quincy veered acrossAstoria's bow, blazing fiercely from bow to stern.Astoria put her rudder over hard left and avoided a collision while her battered sister ship passed aft, to starboard. As the warship turned,Kinugasa's searchlight illuminated her, and men on deck passed the order to No. 2 turret to shoot out the offending light. When the turret responded withAstoria's 12th and final salvo, the shells missedKinugasa but struck the No. 1 turret ofChōkai.
Astoria lost steering control on the bridge at about 0225, shifted control to central station, and began steering a zig-zag course south. Before she made much progress, though, the heavy cruiser lost all power. Fortunately, the Japanese chose that exact instant to withdraw. By 0300, nearly 400 men, including about 70 wounded and many dead, were assembled on the forecastle deck.
Suffering from the effects of at least 65 hits,Astoria fought for her life. A bucket brigade battled the blaze on the gun deck and the starboard passage forward from that deck, and the wounded were moved to the captain's cabin, where doctors and corpsmen proceeded with their care. Eventually, however, the deck beneath grew hot and forced the wounded back to the forecastle. The bucket brigade made steady headway, driving the fire aft on the starboard side of the gun deck, while a gasolinehandy-billy rigged over the side pumped a small stream into the wardroom passage below.
Bagley came alongsideAstoria's starboard bow and, by 0445, took all of the wounded off the heavy cruiser's forecastle. At that point, a small light flashed fromAstoria's stern, indicating survivors on that part of the ship. Signaling the men on the heavy cruiser's stern that they had been seen,Bagley got underway and rescued men on rafts – someVincennes survivors – and men who had been driven overboard by the fires blazing aboardAstoria.
With daylight,Bagley returned to the heavy cruiser and came alongside her starboard quarter. Since it appeared that the ship could be saved, a salvage crew of about 325 able-bodied men went back aboardAstoria. Another bucket brigade attacked the fires while the ship's first lieutenant investigated all accessible lower decks. A party of men collected the dead and prepared them for burial.Hopkins came up to assist in the salvage effort at about 0700. After securing a towline,Hopkins proceeded ahead, swingingAstoria around in an effort to tow her to the shallow water off Guadalcanal. A second gasoline-powered handy-billy, transferred fromHopkins, promptly joined the struggle against the fires.Wilson soon arrived on the scene, coming alongside the cruiser at about 0900 to pump water into the fire forward. Called away at 1000,Hopkins andWilson departed, but the heavy cruiser received word thatBuchanan was on the way to assist in battling the fires and thatAlchiba was coming to tow the ship.
Nevertheless, the fire below decks increased steadily in intensity, and those topside could hear explosions. Her list increased, first to 10° and then 15°. Her stern lowered in the dark waters, and her bow was distinctly rising. All attempts to shore the shell holes – by then below the waterline due to the increasing list – proved ineffective, and the list increased still more.Buchanan arrived at 11:30, but could not approach due to the heavy port list. Directed to stand off the starboard quarter, she stood by while all hands assembled on the stern, which was now wet with seawater. With the port waterway awash at noon, Commodore William G. Greenman gave the order to abandon ship.
Astoria turned over on her port beam, rolled slowly, and settled by the stern, disappearing completely by 12:16.Buchanan lowered two motor whaleboats and, although interrupted by a fruitless hunt for a submarine, came back and assisted the men in the water.Alchiba, which arrived on the scene just beforeAstoria sank, rescued 32 men. Not one man from the salvage crew lost his life. Officially, 219 men were reported missing or killed.[4]
The wreck of USSAstoria was discovered in early 2015 during a sonar mapping project of Iron Bottom Sound led by Microsoft co-founderPaul Allen. The wreck lies upright in roughly 860 meters (2,820 ft) of water. As with her sister ships, the bow forward of A turret detached during the sinking, and it now lies on top of the seaplane hanger aft.[5]
Astoria earned threebattle stars during World War II.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
9°12′33″S159°52′3″E / 9.20917°S 159.86750°E /-9.20917; 159.86750
