USS Birmingham (CL-62)

USS Birmingham 1943
Overview
Type	Light cruiser
Shipyard	Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company
Order	1938
Keel laying	February 17, 1941
Launch	March 20, 1942
1. Period of service
Commissioning	January 29, 1943
Decommissioning	January 2, 1947
Removed from ship register	March 1, 1959
Whereabouts	scrapped
Technical specifications
displacement	11,744  ts
length	186.0 m
width	20.2 m
height	23.5 m chimney 34.5 m mast
Draft	7.5 m
crew	1384
drive	4 boilers, 4 steam turbines , 4 shafts , 100,000 hp
speed	32.5  kn
Range	11,000  nautical miles at 15 kn
Armament	1943 12 × 6 "(152 mm) L / 47 in 4 triplet towers 12 × 5 "(127 mm) L / 38 in 6 twin towers 24 × 40 mm L / 56 flak 21 × 20 mm Fla-MK
Aircraft	4 Vought OS2U

The USS Birmingham (CL-62) was a light cruiser of the United States Navy of the Cleveland class . She was in the service of the US Navy from 1943 to 1947 and was used in the Mediterranean and Pacific. The ship was named after Birmingham, Alabama .

history

Combat missions from 1943 to 1945

USS Birmingham helping out for USS Princeton

Explosion of the USS Princeton bomb depot

The USS Birmingham took part in Operation Husky , the Allied invasion of Sicily , from July 10th to 26th, 1943 , providing fire support with its guns. Her first combat mission in the Pacific took place on September 18, 1943, when the Tarawa Atoll was bombarded . Eight more combat missions followed. The ship was hit by two bombs and a torpedo during the sea ​​battle at Kaiserin Augusta Bay on the night of November 1st. Two seamen were killed and 34 wounded.

As part of Task Force 58 , she took part in the decisive battle in the Philippine Sea from June 19-21 , in which three Japanese aircraft carriers were sunk. The ship went to the Mariana Islands and took part in the Battle of the Mariana Islands . The ship carried out the shelling of enemy positions during the Battle of Saipan , Battle of Tinian and Battle of Guam .

In the sea ​​and air battle in the Leyte Gulf on October 24, 1944, the ship sustained major damage to the top from explosions on board the aircraft carrier USS Princeton (CVL-23) while the crew was attempting to fall from a 227 kg bomb when the aft deck of the aircraft carrier was torn apart by the explosion of its own aircraft bomb depot. The superstructure of the USS Birmingham was badly damaged by the splinter rain and the pressure wave of the exploding aerial bombs of the USS Princeton . Of the Birmingham crew, 239 men died and 408 were wounded. Four bodies were never found. The front superstructure of the cruiser was badly damaged. The shock wave had thrown two 5-inch, two 40-mm and two 20-mm anti-aircraft guns from the ship. The cruiser was repaired in the dock of the Mare Island Navy Yard by January 1945 . The burning aircraft carrier itself could not be saved and was sunk after the evacuation of the crew of US ships.

During the Battle of Okinawa , the ship was attacked three times by aircraft on May 4, 1945. The third time the ship was badly damaged when a Japanese kamikaze plane hit the front. The resulting explosion killed 47 sailors and wounded 81, with four sailors missing.

The USS Birmingham received a total of nine Battle Stars for its service during World War II.

Web links

Commons : USS Birmingham (CL-62)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Naval History and Heritage Command : Birmingham (CL-62)