USS Astoria (CL-90)
_underway_at_sea,_circa_in_1947_(NH_98423).jpg) USS Astoria (CL-90), circa 1947.
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Astoria |
| Namesake | City of Astoria, Oregon |
| Builder | Cramp Shipbuilding Co., Philadelphia |
| Laid down | 6 September 1941 |
| Launched | 6 March 1943 |
| Commissioned | 17 May 1944 |
| Decommissioned | 1 July 1949 |
| Stricken | 1 November 1969 |
| Fate | Sold for scrap 12 January 1971 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Cleveland-class light cruiser |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 610 ft 1 in (185.95 m) |
| Beam | 66 ft 4 in (20.22 m) |
| Draft | 24 ft 6 in (7.47 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph) |
| Range | 11,000 nmi (20,000 km; 13,000 mi) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Complement | 1,285 officers and enlisted |
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
|
| Aircraft carried | 4 × floatplanes |
| Aviation facilities | 2 × stern catapults |
The third USS Astoria was a
5 in (127 mm) dual-purpose guns. They had a top speed of 32.5 knots
(60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph).
The ship was laid down on 6 September 1941 at
Philadelphia Navy Yard on 17 May 1944, Captain
George Carroll Dyer in command.
Design
The Cleveland-class
US Navy quickly followed. Though still neutral, the United States recognized that war was likely and the urgent need for additional ships ruled out an entirely new design, so the Clevelands were a close development of the earlier Brooklyn-class cruisers, the chief difference being the substitution of a two-gun 5 in (127 mm) dual-purpose gun mount for one of the main battery 6 in (152 mm) gun turrets.[1]
Mare Island Navy Yard
in October 1944Astoria was 610 feet 1 inch (186 m)
kW), the turbines were intended to give a top speed of 32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph). Her crew numbered 1285 officers and enlisted men.[2]
The ship was armed with a main battery of twelve
Bofors 40 mm (1.6 in) guns in four quadruple and six double mounts and ten Oerlikon 20 mm (0.79 in) guns in single mounts.[2]
The ship's
amidships where it protected the ammunition magazines and propulsion machinery spaces. Her deck armor was 2 in (51 mm) thick. The main battery turrets were protected with 6.5 in (170 mm) faces and 3 in (76 mm) sides and tops, and they were supported by barbettes 6 inches thick. Astoria's conning tower had 5-inch sides.[2]
Service history
Construction and early service
Cramp Shipbuilding Company
, Philadelphia.Astoria was
Mare Island Navy Yard before sailing for Pearl Harbor on 25 October. She arrived five days later and remained there through 16 November.[3][4]
World War II
_underway_at_sea_on_22_July_1944.jpg)
On 16 November, Astoria left Pearl Harbor to join Task Force 38, the
Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands while en route and reached Ulithi on 25 November. After arriving, she was assigned to Task Group 38.2, one of the carrier battle groups that formed TF 38.[4] At that time, the unit also included The aircraft carriers Lexington, Hancock, Hornet, Independence, and Cabot, the fast battleships New Jersey, Iowa, and Wisconsin, the light cruisers Pasadena, Vincennes, Miami, and San Juan, and twenty destroyers.[5] Astoria was assigned the role of anti-aircraft escort for the fleet's aircraft carriers. The American fleet sortied on 11 December to support the invasion of Mindoro; the carriers conducted a series of raids from 14 to 16 December before poor weather on the 17th grounded the aircraft. That night, Typhoon Cobra struck the fleet and inflicted significant damage to a number of ships, sinking three destroyers, though Astoria was not seriously damaged. The fleet searched for two days for survivors from the destroyers that sank before returning to Ulithi.[4]
TF 38 sortied from Ulithi again on 30 December to cover the
Formosa, and French Indochina, including the naval base at Cam Ranh Bay. The fleet returned to Ulithi on 25 January.[4]
By early February, command of the fast carrier task force had passed to
invasion of Okinawa. Astoria once again served in the anti-aircraft screen for the carriers of TG 58.3 during these operations.[8] Over the course of the next three months of sustained combat, Astoria's gunners claimed credit for eleven Japanese aircraft and partial credit for several others. Astoria returned to Leyte in the Philippines on 1 June for periodic maintenance that lasted for a month.[4]
On 1 July, she sailed to return to the fast carrier task force for another major operation against the Japanese home islands.battle stars.[4]
Post war
Astoria reached
Kwajalein and Pearl Harbor, arriving in San Diego on 24 March. She resumed her peacetime cruises along the west coast through September 1948.[4]
The ship departed for another overseas cruise on 1 October, this time headed to East Asian waters. She stopped in Pearl Harbor for three days while en route and then resumed her voyage across the Pacific, arriving in
naval register. She was sold for scrap to the Nicolai Joffe Corp. on 12 January 1971 and subsequently broken up.[4]
Footnotes
Notes
Citations
References
- "Astoria III (CL-90)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. 19 June 2015. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
- Friedman, Norman (1980). "United States of America". In Gardiner, Robert & Chesneau, Roger (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. pp. 86–166. ISBN 978-0-87021-913-9.
- Friedman, Norman (1984). U.S. Cruisers: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-739-5.
- ISBN 978-1-59114-119-8.
Further reading
- Jones, Brent E. (2021). Days of Steel Rain: The Epic Story of a WWII Vengeance Ship in the Year of the Kamikaze. New York: Hachette Books. ISBN 978-0-316-45110-9.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Astoria (CL-90).
- Homepage of USS Astoria CL-90
- Photo gallery of USS Astoria at NavSource Naval History