USS Memphis (CL-13)
USS Memphis (1925)
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | Memphis |
Namesake | City of Memphis, Tennessee |
Ordered | 1 July 1918 |
Awarded | 24 January 1919 |
Builder | William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia |
Yard number | 503 |
Laid down | 14 October 1920 |
Launched | 17 April 1924 |
Sponsored by | Miss Elizabeth R. Paine |
Completed | 1 April 1922 |
Commissioned | 4 February 1925 |
Decommissioned | 17 December 1945 |
Stricken | 8 January 1946 |
Identification |
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Fate | Scrapped at Baltimore, 1947 |
General characteristics (as built) | |
Class and type | Omaha-class light cruiser |
Displacement | |
Length | |
Beam | 55 ft (17 m) |
Draft | 14 ft 3 in (4.34 m) (mean) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | |
Crew | 29 officers 429 enlisted (peace time) |
Armament |
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Armor |
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Aircraft carried | 2 × floatplanes |
Aviation facilities | |
General characteristics (1945) | |
Armament |
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USS Memphis (CL-13) was an Omaha-class light cruiser, originally classified as a scout cruiser, of the United States Navy. She was the fourth Navy ship named for the city of Memphis, Tennessee.
Built in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Memphis was authorized on 1 July 1918, and assigned to
Memphis was 550 feet (170 metres)
Memphis was powered by four
Memphis'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. Memphis 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 and the conning tower had 1.5 inches of armor.[7] Memphis 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 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 Memphis 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 seven, all 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
Late in February, Memphis got underway for a shakedown cruise in the Caribbean. On 13 April, the cruiser participated in the dedication of an American memorial gateway to Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry at Port of Spain, Trinidad.[8][9][10] Six years after the indomitable Perry had defeated the British on Lake Erie on 10 September 1813, he died on board frigate John Adams at Port–of–Spain and was interred there until his remains were removed to Newport, R.I. seven years later. In June, Memphis joined ships of a scouting fleet off Honolulu, Hawaii, for a cruise to the South Pacific through September, with visits to Australia and New Zealand. From October 1925 to April 1926, she again operated in the West Indies before returning to her home port, New York City.[3]
Memphis next sailed for Europe, arriving off
On 3 June 1927, Memphis embarked Captain
In January 1928, Memphis acted as part of an escort group for President Calvin Coolidge on a cruise to the West Indies. After four months of Caribbean operations,[3] she served in the western Pacific as part of Light Cruiser Division TWO attached to the Asiatic Fleet along with Milwaukee and Trenton.[12]
On 5 June, the cruiser arrived at
After a good will cruise to Australia in January 1938, Memphis reached Honolulu on 1 April, to rejoin the fleet for operations until she participated in the presidential review off San Francisco on 12 July 1939. In August, she sailed to Alaska, operating there until early 1941.[3]
World War II
As the time of US involvement in World War II approached, Memphis sailed to the east coast. She departed
In January 1943, the cruiser flew President
President Amenzoga of Uruguay, and President
On 18 February, Memphis arrived at
See also
- Vice admiral James L. Kauffman, Navy Cross recipient and Commanding officer of Memphis in 1936.
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". 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 "Memphis (CL-13)". Naval History and Heritage Command. 7 August 2015. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
- ^ a b Rickard, J (30 January 2014). "USS Memphis (CL-13)". 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.
- ^ U.S.S. Memphis
- Operational Archives Branch, Naval Historical Center. Archived from the originalon 13 August 2006. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
- ^ "USS Memphis". historycentral.com. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
- ^ "Myers, Burrage, Graham Papers" (PDF). Special Collections Research Center, Earl Gregg Swem Library, College of William and Mary. Retrieved 6 October 2010.
- ^ "NH 80491 USS Memphis (CL-13)". U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command. October 1928. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
- ^ Forward, FDR-Archive
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
External links
- Photo gallery of USS Memphis at NavSource Naval History