USS Astoria (CA-34)
_operating_in_Hawaiian_waters_on_8_July_1942_(NH_97682).jpg) The Astoria during a maneuver off Hawaii (July 1942).
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The USS Astoria (ID: CA-34) was a heavy cruiser of the US Navy , which entered service in the 1930s and sunk in World War II . The ship belonged to the New Orleans class consisting of a total of seven units and was named after the city of Astoria in the US state of Oregon . The keel of the cruiser, approved in 1929, was laid on September 1, 1930 at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton ( Washington State ). After being launched on December 16, 1933, it was put into service on April 28, 1934. The first in command of the Astoria was Captain Edmund S. Root.
Technical details, armament and modifications
The Astoria was a maximum of 179.27 m long and 18.82 m wide. When fully equipped, the draft was 6.93 m. Eight Babcock & Wilcox - Express boiler and four Westinghouse - geared turbines allowed, at an engine capacity of 107,000 WPS, the cruiser a top speed of 32.7 knots (60.5 km / h). The sea endurance with a full oil bunker (1,200 ts) was up to 10,000 nautical miles (at 15 kn cruising speed).
The main artillery consisted of nine 20.3 cm Mark 9 L / 55 cannons in three triple turrets each weighing around 300 ts; two towers (in an elevated position) stood in front of the main superstructure, one was located aft of these. These guns - the doping per barrel was 150 projectiles - were able to fire a shell weighing 118 kilograms over a distance of up to 29,130 m. The rate of fire was about three to four rounds per minute. The medium and light armament consisted of eight individually mounted 12.7 cm multi-purpose guns Mark 11 L / 25, four of these cannons were located approximately at the level between the bridge structure and the aft chimney, on both sides of the structure, and initially ( 1934) from eight 12.7 mm anti- aircraft machine guns . Between April 1941 and June 1942 the machine guns were disembarked and replaced by a total of 16 2.8 cm Flak Mark 1 L / 75 (in four four-pack mountings) and six individual 2.0 cm Oerlikon flak . There was no torpedo armament on board.
In addition, the Astoria received a Mark 3 SC search radar in mid-1942 for sea observation (with a range of about 20,000 m). Up to four Vought O2U (1930s) or Vought OS2U (1940s) aircraft were also available for reconnaissance purposes. These machines were launched from two pivoting catapults , later landed on the surface of the water alongside the cruiser and were then brought back on board with cranes.
period of service
Pre-war period
After completion of the test drives, the Astoria was assigned to the 7th Cruiser Division 7 of the American Pacific Fleet at the end of 1934 and stationed in San Pedro ( California ). In the spring of 1937, the ship was temporarily in use with the 6th Cruiser Division 6 , which was also based in San Pedro, and completed uneventful maneuvers off the US west coast. On September 10, 1938, Captain Richmond K. Turner , who in 1942 and later became Vice Admiral Commander in Chief of the amphibious forces of the US naval forces deployed in the South Pacific, came on board as a new commander.
In March 1939 the Astoria moved under Turner's command first to Chesapeake Bay and later to Annapolis , where the ashes of the former Japanese ambassador to the United States, Hiroshi Saitō (1886-1939), who died in Washington in February 1939 , were taken on board. The cruiser then transported the remains of the ambassador to Japan via the Panama Canal and Hawaii and entered Yokohama on April 17, 1939 . This diplomatic undertaking also took place against the background that in 1925 the Japanese light cruiser Tama had transported the body of US Ambassador Edgar A. Bancroft, who died in Japan in July 1925, to the United States.
On the way back from this diplomatic mission, the Astoria took part in the search for US adventurer Richard Halliburton , who had been missing since the end of March 1939 and who had tried to cross the Pacific with a replica junk . The cruiser searched an area of over 400,000 square kilometers in the sea area west of the Midway Islands until the end of May , but could not find any trace of the missing person or his ship. Halliburton was finally pronounced dead in October 1939.
Subsequently, the Astoria was detached to Pearl Harbor and remained there until April 1941, with maneuvering and training trips in particular dominating everyday life. Between April and July 1941 there was a stay at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Long Beach , during which the ship was subjected to a major overhaul and the first modifications to the anti-aircraft capacity were made (among other things, the 12.7 mm machine guns were replaced by 2.8 cm -Flakvierlinge replaced). Until the outbreak of the Pacific War in December 1941, the Astoria operated in the western Pacific, taking on, among other things, transport and security tasks between Hawaii and the Philippines and the Midway Islands.
Use in World War II
After the attack on Pearl Harbor , the cruiser was initially integrated as a backup in the combat group around the aircraft carrier Saratoga ( Task Force 11) and operated with them west of Hawaii until January 1942 . After the torpedoing and damaging the Saratoga on 11 January 1942 a Japanese submarine - the carrier could be introduced later - that formed Astoria in mid-February 1942, together with the aircraft carrier Yorktown , two more heavy cruisers and nine destroyers , the newly established Task Force 17 (under Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher ).
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With this combat group, the cruiser took part in the subsequent battles in the Coral Sea (early May 1942) and at Midway (early June 1942). The Astoria mostly acted as a close-range and air security ship for the aircraft carrier Yorktown and was temporarily used on June 4, 1942, after the carrier was badly damaged by Japanese carrier aircraft (and sank three days later after a Japanese submarine attack) , Flagship of Rear Admiral Fletcher. The cruiser survived both clashes unscathed and, during the fighting at Midway, hid, among other things, US pilots who had been thrown into the water, who had not been able to land on Yorktown because of the damage to the flight deck . In mid-June and after the Midway operation, a new commander came on board with Captain William G. Greenman.
At the beginning of August 1942, the Astoria was included in the ongoing US counter-offensive in the Solomon Islands ( Operation Watchtower ) and took part in the US landings on Tulagi and Gavutu from August 7, 1942 as a backup ship for the landing fleet (which comprised 23 transport ships) Tanambogo part. The cruiser belonged to a cover group consisting of a total of eight cruisers and 15 destroyers (Task Group 62) and supported the landings, which were surprising for the Japanese, by shelling the coast. Immediately after the initially successful operation, however, Japanese counter-attacks began from Rabaul . While on the first two days after the landing Japanese air attacks were largely repulsed and without major losses, a Japanese combat group under Vice Admiral Mikawa Gun'ichi gathered near Buka on the evening of August 7 and ran into it in the night hours of the same day Direction Guadalcanal to attack the Allied landing fleet.
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Fall of the Astoria
Allied communications mishaps contributed to the fact that Mikawa's association (consisting of the heavy cruisers Chōkai , Aoba , Kinugasa , Furutaka and Kako , the two light cruisers Yūbari and Tenryū and a destroyer) largely went unnoticed - albeit by an American submarine and sighted an Australian plane - between the islands of the Solomon Islands (through the New Georgia Sound , which the Allies colloquially called "the slot") was able to march up.
During the night of the 8./9. August 1942, shortly after midnight, Mikawa penetrated the so-called Ironbottom Sound south of Savo Island , bypassed the two advanced US radar security destroyers (which suffered from problems with the radar devices) and almost completely surprised the Allied security cruisers, which were divided into two groups .
The situation on board the Astoria , which belongs to the northeastern cover group, was so confusing that Captain Greenman, who was not on the navigating bridge at the beginning of the engagement (at 1:43 a.m.) and only after the opening of fire (which the responsible deck officer correctly assessed of the situation) had been ordered) appeared there, first ordered a ceasefire, as he went on the assumption that fire had been opened on his own ships by mistake. These irritations in the command management contributed significantly to the fact that the guns of the Astoria were silent for almost five minutes and the cruiser did not intervene in the ongoing battle between 1:50 a.m. and 1:55 a.m. (although he was shot at and hit himself).
In the course of the night battle, Astoria was hit by an estimated 65 shells (mostly 20.3 cm and 14 cm in caliber) between 1:50 a.m. and 2:16 a.m., with the front heavy artillery tower being out of action and a strong one in the first minutes of the battle Fire was triggered in the area of the aircraft equipment. This fire, which illuminated the ship, served the Japanese ships as a target point, which is why the Astoria suffered numerous hits, especially amidships and in the area of the machinery. In return, the Astoria probably only got two hits on the Japanese cruiser Chōkai , with its front turret being put out of action.
The Japanese broke off the action at 2.25 a.m. and withdrew, although they had sunk or badly damaged four Allied heavy cruisers and the landing fleet was now almost unprotected in front of them, as Mikawa expected air strikes at daybreak.
The heavily damaged and burning Astoria - at around 3 a.m. both the rudder failed and the power supply collapsed - initially remained afloat until the morning of August 9, secured and supported by four US destroyers. However, because the fire inside the cruiser as a result of the power failure could not be fought, also also all bilge pumps had failed and the flip side to the port side as a result, constantly increasing, came at 11:30 the order to abandon ship. Around 20 minutes later, the Astoria sank over the stern and disappeared from the surface of the water at 12:16 p.m. The crew of the cruiser had a total of 247 dead and missing, 202 crew members, including Captain Greenman, were wounded.
Commanders of the Astoria
| April 28, 1934 to August 26, 1935 | Captain Edmund S. Root |
| August 26, 1935 to March 15, 1937 | Captain Charles M. Austin |
| March 15, 1937 to September 10, 1938 | Captain Charles C. Gill |
| September 10, 1938 to September 13, 1940 | Captain Richmond K. Turner |
| September 13, 1940 to December 14, 1941 | Captain Preston B. Haines |
| December 14, 1941 to June 14, 1942 | Captain Francis W. Scanland |
| June 14, 1942 up to the time of loss | Captain William G. Greenman |
Awards
For its missions in World War II, the Astoria was awarded three Battle Stars .
Footnotes
- ↑ Eric Hammel: Guadalcanal. Starvation Island. 1987, p. 112.
- ↑ Note: These hits may also have come from the Astoria's sister ship , the heavy cruiser Quincy (?).
literature
- Robert D. Ballard, Rick Archbold: Sunk in the Pacific. Guadalcanal Ship Cemetery. Ullstein, Berlin et al. 1993, ISBN 3-550-06834-4 .
- Eric Hammel: Guadalcanal. Starvation Island. Crown Publishers, New York NY 1987, ISBN 0-517-56417-3 .
- Stefan Terzibaschitsch : The cruisers of the US Navy. 1942-1975. Stalling, Oldenburg et al. 1975, ISBN 3-7979-1862-3 .
- Mike J. Whitley: Cruiser in World War II. Classes, types, construction dates. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-01842-X .
