USS Marblehead (CL-12)
USS Marblehead (1935)
| |
History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name | Marblehead |
Namesake | Town of Marblehead, Massachusetts |
Ordered | 1 July 1918 |
Awarded | 24 January 1919 |
Builder | William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia |
Yard number | 502 |
Laid down | 4 August 1920 |
Launched | 9 October 1923 |
Sponsored by | Mrs. Joseph Evans |
Completed | 1 January 1924 |
Commissioned | 8 September 1924 |
Decommissioned | 1 November 1945 |
Stricken | 28 November 1945 |
Identification |
|
Honors and awards | battle star |
Fate | Sold for scrap 27 February 1946 |
General characteristics (as built) | |
Class and type | Omaha-class light cruiser |
Displacement | |
Length | |
Beam | 55 ft 4 in (16.87 m) |
Draft | 14 ft 3 in (4.34 m) (mean) |
Installed power |
|
Propulsion |
|
Speed | |
Crew | 29 officers 429 enlisted (peace time) |
Armament |
|
Armor |
|
Aircraft carried | 2 × floatplanes |
Aviation facilities | |
General characteristics (1941) | |
Armament |
|
General characteristics (1945) | |
Armament |
|
USS Marblehead (CL-12) was an Omaha-class light cruiser, originally classified as a scout cruiser, of the United States Navy. She was the third Navy ship named for the town of Marblehead, Massachusetts.
Built in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Marblehead was authorized on 1 July 1918, and assigned to
Marblehead was 550 feet (167.6 metres)
Marblehead was powered by four
Marblehead's main armament went through many changes while she was being designed. Originally she was to mount ten 6 in (150 mm)/53 caliber guns; two on either side at the waist, with the remaining eight mounted in tiered casemates on either side of the fore and aft superstructures. After America's entry into World War I the US Navy worked alongside the Royal Navy and it was decided to mount four 6-in/53 caliber guns in two twin gun turrets fore and aft and keep the eight guns in the tiered casemates so that she would have an eight gun broadside and, due to limited arcs of fire from the casemate guns, four to six guns firing fore or aft. Her secondary armament consisted of two 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber anti-aircraft guns in single mounts. Marblehead was initially built with the capacity to carry 224 mines, but these were removed early in her career to make way for more crew accommodations. She also carried two triple and two twin, above-water, torpedo tube mounts for 21 in (530 mm) torpedoes. The triple mounts were fitted on either side of the upper deck, aft of the aircraft catapults, and the twin mounts were one deck lower on either side, covered by hatches in the side of the hull.[1][6][7]
The ship lacked a full-length waterline armor belt. The sides of her boiler and engine rooms and steering gear were protected by 3 inches (76 mm) of armor. The transverse bulkheads at the end of her machinery rooms were 1.5 inches (38 mm) thick forward and three inches thick aft. The deck over the machinery spaces and steering gear had a thickness of 1.5 inches. The gun turrets were not armored and only provided protection against muzzle blast. The conning tower had 1.5 inches of armor.[7] Marblehead carried two floatplanes aboard that were stored on the two catapults. Initially these were probably Vought VE-9s until the early 1930s when the ship may have operated the OJ-2 until 1935 and Curtiss SOC Seagulls until 1940 when Vought OS2U Kingfishers were used on ships without hangars.[5]
Armament changes
During her career Marblehead went through several armament changes, some of these changes were to save weight, but others were to increase her AA armament. The lower torpedo tube mounts proved to be very wet and were removed, and the openings plated over, before the start of World War II. Another change made before the war was to increase the 3-inch guns to eight; all were mounted in the ship's waist. After 1940, the lower aft 6 in (150 mm) guns were removed and the casemates plated over for the same reason as the lower torpedo mounts.
Inter-war period
After commissioning, Marblehead departed
Marblehead next sailed for Pearl Harbor, where she joined Cincinnati and Richmond and headed for Shanghai, China. Upon arrival there she contributed to the show of force aimed at the protection of American and other foreign nationals of Shanghai's international settlement during operations against that city through the summer of 1927, in China's civil war.[3]
In addition to her stay at Shanghai, Marblehead spent two months up the
During the next decade Marblehead operated with both the Atlantic (August 1928-January 1933) and Pacific (February 1933–January 1938) Fleets. In January 1938, she was temporarily assigned to the Asiatic Fleet, receiving permanent assignment there seven months later. Home ported at
World War II
"About on 24 November 1941," her war diary reported, "the Commander–in–Chief, US Asiatic Fleet sensed that the relations between the United States and
Battle of Makassar Strait, 1942
Marblehead and other American warships then joined with those of the
In the ensuing Battle of Makassar Strait, Marblehead successfully maneuvered through three attacks. After the third, an enemy plane spiraled toward the cruiser, but her gunners shot it down. The next minute a fourth wave of seven bombers released bombs at Marblehead. Two were direct hits and a third a near miss close aboard the port bow causing severe underwater damage. Fires swept the ship as she listed to starboard and began to settle by the bow. Her rudder jammed, Marblehead, continuing to steam at full speed, circled to port. Her gunners kept firing, while damage control crews fought the fires and helped the wounded. By 1100, the fires were under control. Before noon the enemy planes departed, leaving the damaged cruiser with 15 dead or mortally wounded and 84 seriously injured.[3]
Marblehead's engineers soon released the rudder angle to 9° left, and at 12:55, she retired to
Still steering with her engines, she made
Atlantic, Mediterranean, 1942–1944
On 15 October, the rebuilt Marblehead again put to sea. Attached to the South Atlantic Force, she operated against the enemy in the South Atlantic from Recife and Bahia, Brazil, until February 1944. Returning to New York on 20 February, she operated along the convoy lanes of the North Atlantic for the next five months. She then sailed for the Mediterranean. Arriving at Palermo on 29 July, she joined the task force then staging for Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France. From 15 to 17 August, the cruiser bombarded enemy installations in the vicinity of Saint Raphael, where Allied assault troops were landing. On 18 August, she withdrew to Corsica, her mission complete.[3]
End of career
Marblehead returned to the United States, conducted a summer training cruise for Naval Academy midshipmen and then entered the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, where she decommissioned on 1 November 1945. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 28 November, and her hull was scrapped on 27 February 1946.[3]
Awards
- battle star for World War IIserviceAsiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with one battle star for World War II service[3]
References
- ^ a b c d "Ships' Data, U. S. Naval Vessels". US Naval Department. 1 July 1935. pp. 24–31. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
- ^ "Cramp Shipbuilding, Philadelphia PA". www.ShipbuildingHistory.com. 3 September 2014. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Marblehead (CL-12)". Naval History and Heritage Command. 5 August 2015. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
- ^ Rickard, J (30 January 2014). "USS Marblehead (CL-12)". Historyofwar.org. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
- ^ ISBN 0-87021-974-X.
- ^ a b Rickard, J (1 January 2014). "Omaha Class Cruisers". Historyofwar.org. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
- ^ a b c Toppan, Andrew (22 January 2000). "US Cruisers List: Light/Heavy/Antiaircraft Cruisers, Part 1". Hazegray.org. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
- ^ Perry & Leighton, p. 42
- ^ Wade, Steve. "USS Marblehead (CL-12)". The Marby.
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
Further reading
- George Sessions Perry; Isabel Leighton (1944). Where Away: A Modern Odyssey. Whittlesey House, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Incorporated. ASIN B0007DKZ0U.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Marblehead (CL-12).- Photo galleryat Naval Historical Center Archived 2010-09-10 at the Wayback Machine
- Photo gallery of USS Marblehead at NavSource Naval History