USS Houston (CL-81)

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For other ships with the same name, see USS Houston.

USS Houston (January 1944)
History
United States
NamesakeCity of
Houston, Texas
Builder
Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia
Launched19 June 1943
Commissioned20 December 1943
Decommissioned15 December 1947
Stricken1 March 1959
FateSold for scrap on 1 June 1961
General characteristics
Class and typeCleveland-class light cruiser
Displacement
Length610 ft 1 in (185.95 m)
Beam66 ft 4 in (20.22 m)
Draft24 ft 6 in (7.47 m)
Installed power
  • 4 ×
    Babcock & Wilcox boilers
  • 100,000 shp (75,000 kW)
Propulsion
Speed32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph)
Range11,000 nmi (20,000 km; 13,000 mi) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement1,285 officers and enlisted
Armament
Armor
Aircraft carried4 × floatplanes
Aviation facilities2 × stern catapults

USS Houston (CL-81) 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).

She was active in the Pacific War and survived two separate aerial torpedo hits in October 1944.

Design

Main article: Cleveland-class cruiser
Depiction of the Cleveland class, showing the plan and profile

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]

Houston 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 four double mounts and twenty-one 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. Houston's conning tower had 5-inch sides.[2]

Service history

Houston was

Fitting-out work was completed by December that year, and she was commissioned on the 20th. The ship got underway on 1 February 1944 to begin her shakedown cruise. She initially sailed to the Caribbean Sea, and then returned north for initial training off Boston. On 16 April, she left for the Pacific Ocean to join the war effort there. She passed through the Panama Canal and sailed north to San Diego, before continuing on to Pearl Harbor. She arrived there on 6 May and carried out further training exercises for the next few weeks.[3]

World War II operations

Houston departed from Hawaii later in May and arrived in

Eniwetok to replenish ammunition for the next operation.[3]

By this time, the Fast Carrier Task Force had passed to the command of the

Palau Islands to prepare for the upcoming invasion of Peleliu. The carriers struck the islands on 6 September, after which Houston and several destroyers bombarded Peleliu and other islands in the area. The Fast Carrier Task Force then sailed west to neutralize Japanese airfields in the Philippines before returning for another series of attacks on Peleliu from 17 to 19 September to support American ground forces that had landed on the island on the 15th. The fleet then departed for Ulithi atoll to prepare for the next offensive, arriving there on 1 October.[3] There, the fleet was reorganized again, and Houston was assigned to TG 38.1, which included the carriers Hornet and Wasp and the light carriers Cowpens and Monterey.[7]

Formosa raid and torpedoing

Second torpedo strike on Houston

On 6 October, the Fast Carrier Task Force sortied to carry out a series of air strikes on Japanese targets in the western Pacific. These began with attacks on

starboard side while Houston was turning right at a speed of 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph), so her hull was listing to port; as a result, the torpedo hit on the bottom of the hull. The ship's damage control teams began work immediately and began efforts to control flooding; eventually, they were able to contain flooding and pump some undamaged compartments empty.[3][8][9]

The heavy cruiser Boston took Houston under tow to evacuate the crippled vessel, though the tugboat Pawnee had taken over the towline later that night. As the ship could no longer feed or house her crew due to the damage, most of the men were evacuated save the captain and damage control teams. She and the heavy cruiser Canberra, which had also been disabled by a torpedo hit, came under heavy attack from the 2nd Air Fleet on 16 October, and Houston was struck by a second torpedo in the stern, directly above her rudder. The explosion set fire to the starboard tank that held fuel for the ship's reconnaissance floatplanes, causing a major fire in the aircraft hangar, though the remaining crew suppressed the blaze within fifteen minutes. Flooding from this hit degraded the ship's buoyancy and stability further. Another 300 men were evacuated afterward, leaving just 200 aboard to continue damage control efforts as the ships withdrew.[3][8][9]

The Japanese believed the withdrawing formation might be intercepted, and sortied from the

battle stars.[3][8]

Evacuation and repairs
  • Houston, low in the water, on 17 October
    Houston, low in the water, on 17 October
  • USS Canberra (foreground) and Houston (background) under tow on 18 October
    USS Canberra (foreground) and Houston (background) under tow on 18 October
  • Houston's badly damaged stern
    Houston's badly damaged stern
  • Houston alongside Hector at Ulithi for repairs
    Houston alongside Hector at Ulithi for repairs

Post-War service

A H Vedel on board the USS Houston 1946

After returning to active service, Houston conducted refresher training for her crew in the Caribbean. She then joined training maneuvers held off

goodwill cruise to visit European ports, including cities in Scandinavia, Portugal, and Italy; she also stopped in Egypt while cruising the Mediterranean Sea. Houston arrived back in the United States on 14 December and thereafter took part in various training exercises through 17 May 1947. At that time, she joined Cruiser Division 12 for another voyage to the Mediterranean. She returned to Philadelphia on 16 August, and was decommissioned on 15 December. She was allocated to the reserve fleet, remaining in the Navy's inventory until 1 March 1959, when she was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register and sold to be broken up.[3]

Footnotes

Notes

  1. ^ /47 refers to the length of the gun in terms of calibers. A /47 gun is 47 times long as it is in bore diameter.

Citations

  1. ^ Friedman 1984, pp. 245–247.
  2. ^ a b c d Friedman 1980, p. 119.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i DANFS.
  4. ^ Hornfischer, pp. 182–183.
  5. ^ Rohwer, p. 335.
  6. ^ Rohwer, p. 354.
  7. ^ Rohwer, pp. 363–364.
  8. ^ a b c Damage Report.
  9. ^ a b Rohwer, p. 364.

References

  • 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 978-0-553-80390-7
    .
  • "Houston III (CL-81)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. 20 June 2015. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  • Preliminary Design Section. "USS Houston CL81 Torpedo Damage Off Formosa 14 and 16 October 1944". U. S. Hydrographic Office. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  • ISBN 978-1-59114-119-8
    .

Further reading

  • Miller, John Grider (1985). The Battle to Save the Houston, October 1944 to March 1945. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.

External links

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