USS Houston (CA-30)
San Diego, California, in October 1935, with President Franklin D. Roosevelt on board. She is flying an admiral's four-star flag at her foremast peak, and the Presidential flag at her mainmast peak.
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | Houston |
Namesake | City of Houston, Texas |
Ordered | 18 December 1924 |
Awarded | 13 June 1927 |
Builder | Newport News , Virginia |
Cost | $10,567,000 (contract price) |
Laid down | 1 May 1928 |
Launched | 7 September 1929 |
Sponsored by | Miss Elizabeth Holcombe |
Commissioned | 17 June 1930 |
Reclassified | CA-30, 1 July 1931 |
Identification |
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Nickname(s) | "Galloping Ghost of the Java Coast"[1] |
Honors and awards |
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Fate | Sunk in the Battle of Sunda Strait, 1 March 1942 |
General characteristics (as built)[2][3] | |
Class and type | Northampton-class cruiser |
Displacement | 9,050 long tons (9,195 t) (standard) |
Length | |
Beam | 66 ft 1 in (20.14 m) |
Draft |
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Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 32.7 kn (37.6 mph; 60.6 km/h) |
Range | 10,000 nmi (12,000 mi; 19,000 km) at 15 kn (17 mph; 28 km/h) |
Capacity | 1,500 short tons (1,400 t) fuel oil |
Complement | 109 officers 676 enlisted |
Armament |
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Armor |
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Aircraft carried | 4 × SOC Seagull scout-observation floatplanes |
Aviation facilities | 2 × Amidship catapults |
General characteristics (1942)[4] | |
Armament |
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USS Houston (CL/CA-30), was a Northampton-class cruiser of the United States Navy. She was the second Navy ship to bear the name "Houston".
She was launched by
The ship was originally classified as a light cruiser (hull number CL-30) because of her thin armor. Houston was redesignated a heavy cruiser (CA-30) on 1 July 1931, as the provisions of the 1930 London Naval Treaty considered ships with 8-inch (20.3 cm) main guns to be heavy cruisers.
Inter-war period
After conducting a shakedown cruise in the Atlantic, Houston returned to the United States in October 1930. She then visited her namesake city, and joined the fleet at
With the outbreak of
During this period, Houston made several special cruises. President
After a short cruise in Alaskan waters, the cruiser returned to Seattle and embarked the President again on 3 October for a vacation cruise to Cedros Island, Magdalena Bay, Cocos Island, and Charleston, South Carolina. Houston celebrated the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge at San Francisco on 28 May 1937, and carried President Roosevelt for a Fleet Review at the same city on 14 July 1938.[5] Roosevelt then began a 24-day cruise aboard Houston to fish the waters of the Galápagos Islands, concluding on 9 August 1938 at Pensacola, Florida.[6][7]
Houston became flagship of the U.S. Fleet on 19 September, when
Assigned as flagship of the Hawaiian Detachment, the cruiser arrived Pearl Harbor after her post-overhaul shakedown on 7 December 1939, and continued in that capacity until returning to Mare Island on 17 February 1940. Sailing to Hawaii, she departed for the Philippine Islands on 3 November. Arriving at Manila on 19 November, she became the flagship of Admiral Thomas C. Hart, Commander Asiatic Fleet.[5]
Shortly before the war in the Pacific broke out, five quad-mount
World War II
As the war crisis deepened, Admiral Hart deployed his fleet in readiness. On the night of the
Battle of Makassar Strait
Air raids were frequent in the area, and Houston's gunners shot down four Japanese planes in the
Timor Convoy
Houston arrived at
Houston and Peary departed later that day to rejoin combat forces at Tjilatjap.[10] Shortly after departure, Peary broke off to chase a suspected submarine, and expended so much fuel in doing so that the destroyer returned to Darwin instead of continuing with Houston.[10] Houston thus escaped the Japanese attack on Darwin on 19 February, in which Peary, Meigs and Mauna Loa were among the ships sunk and Portmar was forced to beach.[11][12][13]
Battle of the Java Sea
Receiving word that the major Japanese invasion force was approaching
The Allied fleet dodged another torpedo attack and followed the coastline, during which time the destroyer HMS Jupiter was sunk, either by mine or internal explosion. The destroyer HMS Encounter was detached to pick up survivors from Kortenaer, and the American destroyers were ordered back to Surabaya as they had fired all their torpedoes. With no destroyer protection, Doorman's four remaining ships turned north again in a last attempt to stop the invasion of Java.[5] At 23:00, the cruisers again encountered the Japanese surface group. Sailing on parallel courses, the opposing units opened fire, and the Japanese launched a torpedo attack 30 minutes later. De Ruyter and Java were caught in a spread of 12 torpedoes, which resulted in their destruction.[5] Before De Ruyter sank, Doorman ordered Houston and Perth to retire to Tanjong Priok.[5][14]
Two cruisers and three destroyers of the ABDA naval force were sunk, the cruiser Exeter had been damaged, and the remaining ships were ordered back to Surabaya and Tanjong Priok.
Battle of Sunda Strait
Houston and Perth reached Tanjong Priok on 28 February, where they attempted to resupply, but were met with fuel shortages and no available ammunition.
The two cruisers evaded the nine torpedoes launched by the destroyer Fubuki.[18] According to ABDA post-battle reports, the cruisers then reportedly sank one transport and forced three others to beach, but were blocked from passing through Sunda Strait by a destroyer squadron, and had to contend with the heavy cruisers Mogami and Mikuma in close proximity.[5] At midnight, Perth attempted to force a way through the destroyers, but was hit by four torpedoes in the space of a few minutes, then subject to close-range gunfire until sinking at 00:25 on 1 March.[16]
On board Houston, shells were in short supply in the forward turrets, so the crew manhandled shells from the disabled number three turret to the forward turrets. Houston was struck by a torpedo shortly after midnight, and began to lose
Aftermath
Houston's fate was not fully known by the world for almost nine months, and the full story of her last fight was not told until the survivors were liberated from prison camps at the end of the war.[5] Before then, on 30 May 1942, 1,000 new recruits for the Navy, known as the Houston Volunteers, were sworn in at a dedication ceremony in downtown Houston, to replace those believed lost on Houston. On 12 October 1942 the light cruiser Vicksburg (CL-81), then under construction, was renamed Houston in honor of the old ship, President Roosevelt declaring:
Our enemies have given us the chance to prove that there will be another USS Houston, and yet another USS Houston if that becomes necessary, and still another USS Houston as long as American ideals are in jeopardy.[21][22]
Captain Rooks received posthumously the
The crew of Houston is honored alongside that of Perth at the
The wreck
The wreck of USS Houston has been dived by amateur scuba divers since at least the early 1970's, first on an irregular basis, but by the late 1990's on a more semi-regular basis, with multi-day scuba diving charter-vessel trips being undertaken to specifically dive the wrecks of both Houston and HMAS Perth which rests nearby, having been sunk in the same battle as Houston.[23] There could be no doubt whatsoever which wreck they were diving as the ships bell had been 'unofficially' raised from Houston's wreck in 1973 [24] (as was Perth's in the late 1960's,[25] and a book written about the 'expedition' by the salvor, David Burchell[26]), and after passing through several hands over the years, now sits atop a plinth in a park in the city of Houston, Texas, USA [27] (while Perth's bell is displayed at the Perth Town Hall in Western Australia).[25] In a training evolution conducted as part of the Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) 2014 exercise series, U.S. Navy divers, assisted by personnel from the Indonesian Navy, surveyed what they believed to be the wreck of Houston in June 2014. The purpose of the mission was to determine the vessel's condition and provide real-world training to rescue-and-salvage divers in maneuvering around a sunken ship. The formal report was released in August 2014 and confirmed that the wreck is indeed that of Houston. The report also stated that the wreck had suffered illegal salvage over the years, including removal of rivets and a steel plate from the hull. The investigation also recorded active oil seepage from the ship's fuel tanks.[28][29] Another survey of Houston occurred in October 2015, with United States Navy and Indonesian Navy divers embarked aboard USNS Safeguard for a nine-day survey of Houston and Perth (which had also been subject to unauthorized salvaging).[30] Divers documented the condition of the two shipwrecks, with this data presented to a conference in Jakarta on preserving and preventing the illegal salvage of wartime shipwrecks in the Java Sea.[30][31]
Awards
- Presidential Unit Citation
- American Defense Service Medal with "FLEET" clasp
- battle stars
- World War II Victory Medal
Notes
References
- ^ "Ship Nicknames". zuzuray.com. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
- ^ "Ships' Data, U. S. Naval Vessels". US Naval Department. 1 July 1935. pp. 16–23. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
- ^ "US Cruisers List: Light/Heavy/Antiaircraft Cruisers, Part 1". Hazegray.org. 22 January 2000. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
- ISBN 0-87021-974-X.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t "Houston II (CA-30)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History and Heritage Command. 20 July 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
- ^ "President's Cruiser Reaches Galapagos". The New York Times. Vol. LXXXVII, no. 29402. 25 July 1938. p. 3. Retrieved 15 June 2023 – via TimesMachine.
- ^ Crestview, Florida, "President Lands At Pensacola", Okaloosa News-Journal, Friday 12 August 1938, Volume 24, Number 32, page 1.
- ISBN 978-1-61251-057-6, p. 67
- ^ Gill quoting Morrison's History of United States Naval Operations in World War II: The Rising Sun in the Pacific, 1931 – April 1942, p. 315
- ^ a b Grose 2009, p. 77.
- ^ Gill 1957, pp. 581, 585.
- ^ The Java Sea Campaign. Combat Narratives. Washington, DC: Office Of Naval Intelligence - United States Navy. 1943. pp. 36–37 – via Naval History and Heritage Command.
- ^ Masterson 1949, p. 26.
- ^ Cassells 2000, p. 93.
- ^ Cassells 2000, pp. 93–4.
- ^ a b c d e Cassells 2000, p. 94.
- ^ a b c Bastock 1975, p. 128.
- ^ a b Hornfischer 2006, pp. 109–110.
- ^ "stats". Lost Battalion Association. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
- ^ Evans, David (25 March 1988). "An Overly Large Officers Corps is Costing us Plenty". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
- ^ Miller 1985, p. 5.
- ^ Hornfischer 2006, p. 184.
- ^ "Pacific Wrecks - Battle of Sunda Strait, Indonesia".
- ^ "The ship's bell from the United States Navy light cruiser, USS Houston. The USS Houston and HMAS".
- ^ a b "Ship's Bell : HMAS Perth".
- ^ "The bells of Sunda Strait / David Burchell".
- ^ https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMNB4F_USS_Houston_Memorial_Houston_TX
- ^ Calamur, Krishnadev (28 February 1942). "Wreck Of World War II-Era U.S. Ship Dubbed 'Galloping Ghost' Is Found : The Two-Way". NPR. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
- ^ "BBC News – US Navy: USS Houston wreck found in Java Sea". BBC News. 19 August 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
- ^ a b Task Force 73 Public Affairs (26 October 2015). "Navy Divers Survey Historic WWII in Sunda Strait". Navy News Service. United States Navy. Archived from the original on 27 October 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ U.S. Pacific Fleet Public Affairs (29 October 2015). "Partner Nations Preserve, Protect Sunken WWII Wrecks". Navy News Service. United States Navy. Archived from the original on 30 October 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
Bibliography
- Bastock, John (1975). Australia's Ships of War. Cremorne, New South Wales: Angus and Robertson. OCLC 2525523.
- Cassells, Vic (2000). The Capital Ships: Their Battles and Their Badges. East Roseville, New South Wales: Simon & Schuster. OCLC 48761594.
- Jane's Fighting Ships of World War II. Studio. 1989. ISBN 1-85170-194-X.
- Fahey, James C. (1941). The Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet, Two-Ocean Fleet Edition. Ships and Aircraft.
- Gill, G. Hermon (1957). Royal Australian Navy 1939–1942. Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Series 2 – Navy. Vol. 1. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. Archived from the original on 25 May 2009. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
- Grose, Peter (2009). An Awkward Truth: The Bombing of Darwin, February 1942. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin. OCLC 271861660.
- Hornfischer, James D. (2006). Ship of Ghosts: The Story of the USS Houston, FDR's Legendary Lost Cruiser, and the Epic Saga of Her Survivors. New York: Bantam Books. OCLC 69680190.
- Hornfischer, James D. (December 2006z). "Street Fight in Sunda Strait". OCLC 61312917.
- Masterson, James R. (1949). U. S. Army Transportation In The Southwest Pacific Area 1941-1947. Washington, DC: Transportation Unit, Historical Division, Special Staff, U. S. Army.
- Miller, John Grider (1985). The Battle to Save the Houston: October 1944 to March 1945. Annapolis, Maryland: U.S. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-276-5.
- Schultz, Duane P. (1985). The Last Battle Station: the Story of the USS Houston. New York: St. Martin's Press. OCLC 11444339.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (1965). US Warships of World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-773-9.
- ISBN 0-521-61826-6.
- Winslow, Walter G. (1974). The Ghost of the Java Coast, Saga of the USS Houston. Satellite Beach, Florida: Coral Reef Publications. OCLC 947862.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Houston (CA-30).- USS Houston homepage
- A Collection of Biographies and Photographs of those of Served aboard the USS Houston CA30 USS Houston Next Generation
- Navy photographs of Houston (CA-30) Archived 1 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine
- Vincent P. O'Hara. "Battle of Sunda Strait: 28 February–March 1, 1942 by Vincent P. O'Hara". Retrieved 31 May 2006.
- The USS Houston Bluebonnet Newsletter Collection (1933–1941)
- Field Report: 2014 USS Houston (CA-30) DIVEX, 10 November 2014.
- Photo gallery of USS Houston at NavSource Naval History