_off_the_Mare_Island_Naval_Shipyard_on_17_December_1943_(19-N-57222)_(cropped).jpg) USSLouisville (CA-28), offMare Island Navy Yard,Vallejo, California, 17 December 1943. Camouflage is Measure 32, pattern 6d. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Louisville |
| Namesake | City ofLouisville, Kentucky |
| Ordered | 18 December 1924 |
| Awarded |
|
| Builder | Puget Sound Naval Yard,Bremerton, Washington |
| Laid down | 4 July 1928 |
| Launched | 1 September 1930 |
| Commissioned | 15 January 1931 |
| Decommissioned | 17 June 1946 |
| Reclassified | CA-28, 1 July 1931 |
| Stricken | 1 March 1959 |
| Identification |
|
| Nickname(s) | "Lady Lou"[1] |
| Honors & awards |   13 ×battle stars |
| Fate | Sold forscrap, 14 September 1959 |
| General characteristics (as built)[2][3] | |
| Class & type | Northampton-classcruiser |
| Displacement | 9,050long tons (9,200 t) (standard) |
| Length | 600 ft 3 in (182.96 m) (oa) |
| Beam | 66 ft 1 in (20.14 m) |
| Draft | 23 ft (7.0 m) (deep load) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | 4 ×screws, 4 ×steam turbines |
| Speed | 32.7knots (60.6 km/h; 37.6 mph) |
| Range | 10,000 nmi (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Complement |
|
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
|
| Aircraft carried | 4 ×floatplanes |
| Aviation facilities | 2 ×Amidshipcatapults and hangar |
| General characteristics (1945)[3][4] | |
| Armament |
|
| Aircraft carried | 2 ×Curtiss SC Seahawk floatplanes |
| Aviation facilities | 1 × catapult and hangar |
USSLouisville (CL/CA-28), aNorthampton-classcruiser, was the third ship of theUnited States Navy to be named for the city ofLouisville, Kentucky. She was active throughout thePacific War. USSLouisville was the first large warship to be built in a drydock.
Louisville was launched on 1 September 1930 at thePuget Sound Navy Yard,Bremerton, Washington,[5] sponsored by Miss Jane Brown Kennedy, and commissioned on 15 January 1931.[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 alight cruiser, CL-28, because of her thin armor. Effective 1 July 1931,Louisville was redesignated aheavy cruiser, CA-28, because of her 8-inch guns in accordance with the provisions of theLondon Naval Treaty of 1930.[6]
_visiting_Australia%2c_2_February_1938.jpg)
Louisville's shakedown cruise, running through the summer, fall, and winter of 1931, took her from Bremerton toNew York City via thePanama Canal. Returning from New York, she participated in the 1932fleet problems before commencing gunnery exercises in theSan Pedro-San Diego area. During the winter of 1933, she steamed forHawaii, returning after exercises to San Pedro where she became a schoolship foranti-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 inCalifornia in late fall,Louisville participated in gunnery and tactical exercises until the spring of 1935, when she departed forDutch Harbor,Alaska, and, thence, toPearl 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 Americanhalibut-fishing boatAlten in the harbor atKetchikan, Territory of Alaska; she and aUnited States Coast Guard Cutter,USCGC Cyane, assistedAlten's crew of 11 and there was no loss of life, althoughAlten was badly damaged.[8]
In January 1938,Louisville began a long Pacific cruise which took her to Hawaii,Samoa, Australia, andTahiti before returning to Pearl Harbor for fleet problems. While inSydney, Australia, the crew of theLouisville rescued a number of passengers from a sightseeingferryboat 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 foundLouisville 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 departedLong Beach, California, for an extended cruise through the Panama Canal to eastern South America. AtBahia, Brazil, she received orders to proceed toSimonstown, South Africa.[6]
As a neutral ship,Louisville traveled theU-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]
On7 December 1941,Louisville, escortingA. T. Scott andPresident Coolidge, wasen route fromTarakan, EastBorneo, to Pearl Harbor. She continued on to Hawaii, stopped briefly to survey the damage and proceeded on to California. There she joinedTask 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 theGilbert andMarshall 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 theEllice 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 theBismarck Archipelago and the Solomons. This force steamed in theSalamaua-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 toMare Island Navy Yard, San Francisco, where her anti-aircraft armament was increased with additional 1.1 in and 20 mm cannon fitted. On 31 May, she steamed for theAleutians to join TF 8 to counter the enemy forces expected to be in the area. Fortunately forLouisville, the Japanese carrier force did not locate her and the other cruisers during the attacks onDutch Harbor, which coincided with theBattle 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 ofKiska 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 asNew Caledonia. She then proceeded north toEspiritu Santo to Join TF 67, which was then battling Japanese forces in the Solomons. On 29 January 1943,Louisville participated In theBattle off Rennell Island, the last of the seven naval battles forGuadalcanal, after which she operated east of the island until it was entirely secured.[6]
_steams_out_of_Kulak_Bay%2c_Adak%2c_on_25_April_1943_(80-G-72060).jpg)
In April,Louisville steamed, via Pearl Harbor, to the Aleutians. There, as a unit of TF 16, the cruiser covered the assault and occupation ofAttu (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 40 mm Bofors mounts along with numerous 20 mm cannon. Improved radars and flagship spaces were also added. Following this work in January 1944,Louisville returned to the southern Pacific as theflagship ofRear 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 bombardedWotje Atoll, west ofKwajalein, on 29 January. Then the cruiser turned her guns on the airfield and troop concentrations onRoi 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 fromUSS Indianapolis ricocheted off the island to explode a near miss alongsideLouisville 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 atEniwetok.[6]
After Eniwetok,Louisville joined TF 58, and with the fastaircraft carriers struck Japanese installations in thePalaus, in March, and bombardedTruk andSawatan in April. June brought preparations for the invasion of the greaterMarianas, and againLouisville was the leading unit in shore bombardment operations; beginning withSaipan, where she fired continuously for the first 11 days of that engagement, through the shelling ofTinian, and ending with the assault onGuam.[6]
Louisville became the first large US ship to enter Philippine waters since 12 December 1941. On 21 October 1944, whileLouisville was bombarding Leyte she was hit by thekamikaze plane shrapnel killing one crewmember. On 25 October 1944, she was in theBattle of Leyte Gulf, participating in the last engagement of a battleline as the Japanese southern force attempted to force its way into Leyte Gulf throughSurigao Strait. Admiral Oldendorf deployed the American battleline across the strait andPT boats anddestroyers on either side of the narrow body of water, defeating the Japanese ships as they passed through the strait.[6]
_is_hit_by_a_kamikaze_in_Lingayen_Gulf_on_6_January_1945_(80-G-363217).jpg)
FollowingLeyte operations,Louisville rejoined the fast carriers now designated TF 38, and participated in pre-invasion strikes against the enemy onLuzon. By the new year, 1945,Louisville was headed towards Lingayen Gulf. While en route on 5–6 January, twokamikazes headed for and scored on her.[6] The firstkamikaze 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 secondkamikaze on 6 January 1945 hit the starboard side signal bridge. Rear AdmiralTheodore 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 ofLouisville and managed recovery efforts in fighting fires and restoration of equipment, for which he was awarded theSilver 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 battleshipMissouri at Guam andLouisville returned to the Pacific to join TF 54 in providing gunfire support for ground forces onOkinawa. On 5 June 1945, she was again hit by akamikaze (initially identified as a friendly plane). Four twin 20 AA cannon opened up to set thekamikaze ablaze prior to hittingLouisville which killed eight sailors on a quad 40 mm AA gun mount, injured 45 sailors, bent the number 1 smoke stack and cutLouisville'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]
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 toDarien,Manchuria, with Rear AdmiralT. G. W. Settle on board. From Darien, where the evacuation ofAlliedprisoners of war was supervised, she steamed toQingdao, where Japanese vessels in that area were surrendered by Vice Admiral Kaneko.Louisville then escorted the surrendered vessels toJinsen, Korea, after which she returned to China for further postwar duties atYantai. In mid-October, she joined the Yellow Sea force for abbreviated service before proceeding, via San Pedro, toPhiladelphia, where she decommissioned on 17 June 1946 and entered theAtlantic Reserve Fleet. Remaining with that fleet for the next 13 years,Louisville was struck from theNaval Vessel Register on 1 March 1959, and sold on 14 September to theMarlene 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 akamikaze 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 theNevada 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).
Louisville was awarded 13battle stars for her service duringWorld War II.[6]
Lou
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
