USS Chicago (CA-29)
_underway_off_New_York_City_on_31_May_1934_(NH_715).jpg) |
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
.svg){kind=small}
The USS Chicago (ID: CA-29) was an American heavy cruiser of the Northampton class that after the city Chicago , Illinois was named and during the Second World War, especially in the Pacific War was used.
The 9,300 ts heavy ship was built as a light cruiser at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard and put into service in April 1931. The main feature of the 1926 design were the three 8-inch triple gun turrets. The ship made the maiden voyage to Hawaii , Tahiti and American Samoa . In July of the same year, it was reclassified as a heavy cruiser. Shortly thereafter, the ship moved to the Atlantic to serve as the flagship of a cruiser division (CRUDIV). In this context, she took part in some fleet exercises. In September 1940 she was moved to Pearl Harbor in the Pacific .
_low_in_the_water_on_30_January_1943.jpg)
When the Pacific War broke out, the Chicago was at sea. During the first few weeks of the war, she did patrol and reconnaissance trips . At the beginning of February 1942, the cruiser moved to the waters of the South Pacific to support the Allied forces in combating Japanese expansion. The ship took part in the Battle of the Coral Sea. There their task was to prevent the Japanese landings at Port Moresby in New Guinea . The ship was slightly damaged by machine gun and cannon fire during a Japanese air raid .
As a result, the Chicago remained in the South Pacific and was used in the American missions at Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the South Solomons in August. On the night of August 8-9, 1942, she was patrolling with the Canberra , an Australian heavy cruiser, and two destroyers between Guadalcanal and Savo Island when they were attacked by Japanese cruisers and destroyers. She received a torpedo hit in the bow , but, unlike most of the other ships, was able to escape early in the morning. Four Allied cruisers and two destroyers were sunk off Savo Island in this battle , while no Japanese ship sank.
After a repair in a dock on the US west coast, the Chicago returned to the disputed Solomon Islands in January 1943. In the Battle of Rennell Island on January 29, Japanese planes inflicted two torpedo hits on her. It was possible to drag the cruiser out of the danger zone, but the next day another Japanese attack took place. The Chicago sank on January 30, 1943 by further torpedo hits.
