From: Dictionary of American Fighting Ships, Vol. A, 1991, Navy
Department, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Naval History
Division, Washington, D.C.
ASTORIA (CA-34)
dp. 9,960;
l. 588'0";
b. 61' 9" (l.);
dr. 19' 6" (mean);
s. 32.7 k.;
cpl. 899;
a. 9 8", 8 6", 2 3-pdrs., 8 .60-cal. mg.;
cl. NEW ORLEANS
The second ASTORIA (CL-34) was laid down on 1 September 1930 at the
Puget Sound Navy Yard; reclassified as a heavy cruiser, CA-34, on 1 July
1931; launched on 16 December 1933; sponsored by Miss Leila C. McKay, a
descendant of one of the partners in the Astoria expedition that founded
ASTORIA, Oreg.; and commissioned on 28 April 1934, Capt. Edmund S. Root
in command.
During the summer of 1934, ASTORIA conducted lengthy shake-down cruise
in the course of which she voyaged extensively in the Pacific. In
addition to the Hawaiian Islands, the heavy cruiser also visited Samoa,
Fiji, Sydney in Australia, and Noumea on the island of New Caledonia.
She returned to San Francisco on 26 September 1934. Between the fall of
1934 and February 1937, she operated as a unit of Cruiser Division
(CruDiv) 7, Scouting Force, based at San Pedro, Calif. In February 1937,
the warship was reassigned to CruDiv 6, though she continued to serve as
an element of Scouting Force based at San Pedro. In both assignments,
she carried out normal peacetime maneuvers the culmination of which came
in the annual fleet problem that brought the entire United States Fleet
together in a single, vast exercise.
At the beginning of 1939, Fleet Problem XX concentrated the fleet in the
West Indies and, at its conclusion ASTORIA made a hasty departure from
Culebra Island on 3 March 1939 and headed for Chesapeake Bay. After
taking on a capacity load of stores and fuel at Norfolk, the heavy
cruiser proceeded north to Annapolis Md., where she embarked the remains
of the former Japanese Ambassador to the United States, the late Hirosi
Saito, for the voyage to Japan, a gesture that expressed America's
gratitude to the Japanese for returning the body of the late United
States Ambassador to Japan, Edgar A. Bancroft, in one of their warships
in 1926. ASTORIA sailed from Annapolis on 18 March 1939, Saito's ashes
accompanied by Naokichi Kitazawa, Second Secretary of the Japanese
Embassy in Washington.
Arriving in the Canal Zone soon thereafter, where "various high
officials and a delegation from the Japanese colony in Panama Paid their
respects to Saito's ashes," ASTORIA got underway for Hawaii on 24 March.
She moored at Honolulu on 4 April, the same day that Madame Saito and
her two daughters arrived on board the passenger liner TATSUTA MARU. Two
days later, the heavy cruiser left Diamond Head in her wake as she
proceeded westward across the Pacific.
Accompanied by the destroyers HIBIKI, SAGIRI, and AKATSUKI, ASTORIA
steamed slowly into Yokohama harbor on 17 April, United States ensign at
half-staff and the Japanese flag at the fore. The warship fired a 21-gun
salute which was returned by the light cruiser KISO. American sailors
carried the ceremonial urn ashore that afternoon, and funeral ceremonies
took place the following morning.
After the solemn state funeral, the Japanese showered lavish hospitality
on the visiting cruiser and her men. Capt. Turner, for his part, pleased
Ambassador to Japan Joseph C. Grew by his diplomatic role in the
proceedings; the naval attache in Tokyo, Capt. Harold M. Bemis, later
recorded that the choice of Turner for that delicate mission was
"particularly fortunate...."
ASTORIA sailed for Shanghai, China, on 26 April, and reached her
destination on the morning of the 29th. She remained at Shanghai until 1
May. After receiving Admiral Harry E. Yarnell Commander in Chief,
Asiatic Fleet, on board for a courtesy cal that morning, ASTORIA put to
sea for Hong Kong in the afternoon. Following the visit to Hong Kong,
ASTORIA stopped briefly in the Philippines before continuing on to Guam.
When she arrived at Guam early on the morning of 21 May, the heavy
cruiser was called upon to assist PENGUIN (AM-33) and ROBERT L. BARNES
(AG-27) in their successful effort to refloat the grounded Army
transport USAT U. S. GRANT. Soon thereafter, ASTORIA joined the search
for the noted author and adventurer Richard Halliburton, and the
companions with whom he had attempted the voyage from San Francisco for
Hong Kong in his Chinese junk, SEA DRAGON. The cruiser combed more than
162,000 square miles of the Pacific, without success, before she
discontinued the search on 29 May.
Assigned to the Hawaiian Detachment in October 1939, ASTORIA changed
home ports from San Pedro, Calif., to Pearl Harbor. The following
spring, she participated in Fleet Problem XXI, the last of those major
annual exercises that brought the entire United States Fleet together to
be conducted before World War II engulfed the United States. The
maneuvers took place in Hawaiian waters, and, instead of returning to
the west coast at their conclusion, the bulk of the fleet joined ASTORIA
and the Hawaiian Detachment in making Pearl Harbor its base of
operations.
On 2 April 1941, ASTORIA departed Pearl Harbor for the west coast of the
United States. She reached Long Beach on 8 April and entered the Mare
Island Navy Yard on the 13th. During her refit, she received quadruple-
mount 1.1-inch antiaircraft machineguns and a pedestal fitted at her
foremast in anticipation of the imminent installation of the new air-
search radar. Emerging from the yard on 11 July 1941, the heavy cruiser
sailed for Long Beach on the 16th. Later shifting to San Pedro, ASTORIA
sailed for Pearl Harbor on 24 July 1941.
Following her return to Hawaii on 31 July, ASTORIA operated between Oahu
and Midway through early September. That autumn, the specter of German
raiders on the prowl in the Pacific prompted the Navy to convoy its
ships bound for Guam and the Philippines. ASTORIA escorted HENDERSON
(AP-1) to Manila and thence to Guam, before returning to Pearl Harbor on
29 October. Local patrols and training, alternated with upkeep in port,
occupied ASTORIA during the final five weeks of peace.
After rising tensions in the Pacific intensified his concern over the
defenses of his outlying bases at the beginning of December 1941,
Admiral Husband E. Kimmel Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet/United
States Fleet, ordered reinforcements, in the form of Marine Corps
planes, to be ferried to Wake Island and Midway. ASTORIA put to sea on 6
December in the screen of Rear Admiral John H. Newton's Task Force (TF)
12 built around LEXINGTON (CV-2). Once the task force reached open sea,
LEXINGTON's air group and the 18 Vought SB2U-3 "Vindicators" from Marine
Scout Bombing Squadron (VMSB) 231 bound for Midway landed on the
carrier's flight deck.
When the Japanese attacked the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor on the
morning of 7 December, ASTORIA was some 700 miles west of Hawaii
steaming toward Midway with TF 12. At 0900 the following day the heavy
cruiser INDIANAPOLIS (CA-36), flagship of Vice Admiral Wilson Brown,
Commander, Scouting Force, joined up with TF 12, and Brown assumed
command. Its ferry mission canceled, TF 12 spent the next few days
searching an area to the southwest of Oahu, "with instructions to
intercept and destroy any enemy ship in the vicinity of Pearl
Harbor...."
The cruiser reentered Pearl Harbor with the LEXINGTON force on 13
December, but she returned to sea on the 16th to rendezvous with and
screen a convoy, the oiler NECHES (AO-6) and the seaplane tender TANGIER
(AV-8)-the abortive Wake Island relief expedition. When that island fell
to the Japanese on 23 December however, the force was recalled. ASTORIA
remained at sea until the afternoon of 29 December when she arrived back
at Oahu.
ASTORIA departed Pearl Harbor again on the morning of 31 December 1941
with TF 11, formed around SARATOGA (CV-3), and remained at sea into the
second week of January 1942. On 11 January, the Japanese submarine I-6
torpedoed the carrier, forcing her retirement to Pearl Harbor. ASTORIA
and her colleagues in the task force saw the crippled carrier safely
into port on the morning of 13 January 1942.
After a brief respite at Pearl Harbor, ASTORIA returned to sea on 19
January with TF 11-the carrier LEXINGTON (CV-2) escorted by CHICAGO (CA-
29), MINNEAPOLIS and nine destroyers-to "conduct an offensive patrol
northeast of the Kingman-Christmas Island line." On the afternoon of the
21st, however, TF 11 received orders to rendezvous with NECHES, and then
to conduct an air raid on Wake Island, followed by a surface bombardment
"if practicable." Dispatches intercepted on the 23d, however, revealed
that NECHES had fallen victim to a Japanese submarine, identified later
as I-17. Without the oiler's precious cargo of fuel, TF 11 could not
execute the planned strike. Ordered back to Oahu, the task force
reentered Pearl Harbor on the morning of 24 January
On 16 February, ASTORIA put back to sea for what proved to be an
extended cruise in the southwestern Pacific with TF 17, built around
YORKTOWN (CV-5) and comprising LOUISVILLE (CA-28), SIMS (DD-409),
ANDERSON (DD-411), HAMMANN (D412), WALKE (DD-416), and the oiler
GUADALUPE (AO-32), all under the command of Rear Admiral Frank Jack
Fletcher. Initially, TF 17's orders called for operations in the
vicinity of Canton Island. However, after the Japanese discovered TF 11
on its way to attack their important new base at Rabaul and sent a
determined raid which hit the LEXINGTON task force off Bougainville on
20 February 1942, Vice Admiral Brown asked for a second carrier to
strengthen his force for another crack at Rabaul. Accordingly, TF 17
received orders to aid Brown in that attempt, and ASTORIA steamed with
YORKTOWN to a rendezvous with TF 11 that took place southwest of the New
Hebrides on 6 March.
The combined force, under Brown, stood toward Rabaul until the Japanese
landings at Lae and Salamaua, New Guinea prompted a change of plans.
Late on 8 March, Brown and his staff decided to shift objectives and
attack the two new enemy beachheads by launching planes from the Gulf of
Papua in the south and sending them across the width of New Guinea to
the targets on the northern coast. ASTORIA, meanwhile, joined a surface
force made up of CHICAGO, LOUISVILLE, HMAS AUSTRALIA, and four
destroyers, ANDERSON, HAMMANN, HUGHES (DD-410), and SIMS under the
command of Rear Admiral John G. Crace RN, that Brown detached to operate
in the waters off Rossel Island in the Louisiade Archipelago. The heavy
cruiser and the other warships of that force carried out a threefold
mission. They secured the carriers' right flank during their operations
in the Gulf of Papua; they shielded Port Moresby from any new enemy
thrust; and they covered the arrival of Army troops at Noumea.
The raids on Lae and Salamaua, conducted by 104 planes from YORKTOWN and
LEXINGTON on 10 March 1942 proved devastating to the Japanese, causing
heavy damage to their already depleted amphibious forces by sinking
three transports and a minesweeper, as well as damaging a light cruiser,
a large minelayer, three destroyers and a seaplane carrier. More
importantly, the attack delayed the Japanese timetable for conquest in
the Solomons and prompted them to send aircraft carriers to cover the
operation. The delay, which also allowed the United States Navy time to
marshal its forces, coupled with the dispatch of Japanese carriers led
to the confrontation in the Coral Sea.
ASTORIA rejoined TF 17 on 14 March and patrolled the Coral Sea for the
rest of March. At sea continuously since 16 February ASTORIA began to
run low on provisions, so Rear Admiral Fletcher detached her to
replenish from BRIDGE (AF-1) at Noumea along with PORTLAND (CA-33),
HUGHES and WALKE. Arriving on 1 April, the cruiser remained there only
briefly, returning to sea the following day. The warship marched and
countermarched across the Coral Sea for two weeks before TF 17 headed
for Tongatabu, where she and the YORKTOWN force spent the week 20 to 27
April.
About this time, intelligence reports convinced Admiral Nimitz that the
enemy sought to take Port Moresby, on the southeastern coast of New
Guinea, and he resolved to thwart those designs. He sent TF 11, built
around a refurbished LEXINGTON and led by a new commander, Rear Admiral
Aubrey W. Fitch, to join Fletcher's TF 17 in the Coral Sea. ASTORIA
returned to sea with TF 17 on 27 April to rendezvous with TF 11. The two
carrier task forces met in the eastern Coral Sea early on the morning of
1 May.
Late in the afternoon of 3 May, Rear Admiral Fletcher received word of
the Japanese occupation of Tulagi in the Solomons. ASTORIA screened
YORKTOWN the following day as the carrier launched three raids on the
enemy ships off Tulagi. Admiral Fletcher first considered sending
ASTORIA and CHESTER (CA-27) to finish off the crippled ships at Tulagi
with surface gunnery, but demurred and kept his force concentrated in
anticipation of further action.
Next came a two-day lull on 5 and 6 May, during which TF 17 fueled in
preparation for the impending battle. ASTORIA screened YORKTOWN on the
7th as her planes joined those from LEXINGTON in searches and strikes
that located and sank the Japanese light carrier SHOHO. Japanese planes,
however, located and sank the oiler NEOSHO (AO-23) and her escort, SIMS.
Fletcher's carriers launched aircraft again early on the morning of 8
May, while ASTORIA and the other units of the screen prepared their
antiaircraft batteries to meet the retaliation expected from Japanese
carriers ZUIKAKU and SHOKAKU. Enemy planes found TF 17 just before 1100
that morning and quickly charged to the attack. Almost simultaneously,
planes from Yorktown and Lexington deployed to attack the enemy task
force.
The Japanese aviators concentrated almost exclusively on the American
carriers as the two drew apart with their respective screening ships,
ultimately putting some six to eight miles of ocean between them by the
end of the battle. Torpedo planes opened the first phase of the attack,
while torpedo planes and dive bombers coordinated attacks in the second
phase.
The battle action on 8 May, as ASTORIA's executive officer, Comdr.
Chauncey R. Crutcher, recounted, "was short and was accompanied by
intense anti-aircraft fire against a determined enemy...." ASTORIA
assisted in putting up a protective barrage over LEXINGTON at the
outset, and then, after the task forces separated, shifted to the
antiaircraft umbrella over YORKTOWN. Her gunners claimed to have
splashed at least four enemy planes in the attack that "seemed to end as
suddenly as it had started."
At about 1245, LEXINGTON-heavily damaged though apparently in
satisfactory condition afloat and underway-suffered severe internal
explosions that rang her death knell. Fires raged out of control and, by
1630, her engines stopped. Ninety minutes later, Capt. Frederick C.
Sherman ordered the ship abandoned. Once rescue operations were
completed, and LEXINGTON's end was hastened by torpedoes from PHELPS
(DD-361), TF 17 began a slow retirement from the Coral Sea, having
suffered heavy losses but also having inflicted a decisive strategic
defeat on the Japanese by barring the Port Moresby invasion.
ASTORIA set course for Noumea along with MINNEAPOLIS (CA-36), NEW
ORLEANS (CA-32), ANDERSON, HAMMANN, MORRIS, and RUSSELL. That force
reached its destination on 12 May but remained only overnight. On the
13th, she and the other warships got underway for Pearl Harbor, via
Tongatabu, and arrived at Oahu on 27 May.
The heavy cruiser remained in Pearl Harbor only until the 30th. On that
day, she returned to sea with the hastily repaired YORKTOWN to prepare
to meet yet another major thrust by the Japanese fleet-this one aimed at
Midway. Air searches from that island spotted the enemy's Midway
Occupation Force-made up of transports, minesweepers, and two seaplane
carriers-early on 3 June, but the enemy carrier force eluded detection
until early in the morning of the 4th. The heavy cruiser screened
YORKTOWN as the carrier began launching strike aircraft at about 0840.
While the planes droned off to make their contribution to the
destruction of the Japanese carrier force, ASTORIA and her colleagues
prepared for the inevitable Japanese reply.
The counterstroke, however, did not come until a few minutes before noon
as YORKTOWN's victorious aviators began to return to their ship.
Eighteen Aichi D3A1 Type 99 dive bombers ("Vals") came in to attack the
carrier. Grumman F4F-4 "Wildcat" pilots from Fighting Squadron (VF) 3
accounted for 10 of the intruders but eight others managed to penetrate
the combat air patrol (CAP). ASTORIA teamed up with Portland and the
screening destroyers to splash another two of the attackers. The
remaining six, however, succeeded in attacking YORKTOWN, and three of
those scored hits. One of the three hit the carrier's stack, causing
fires in her uptakes that literally smoked Rear Admiral Fletcher and his
staff out of flag plot. At about 1310, he shifted his flag to ASTORIA.
YORKTOWN's damage control parties worked feverishly; and, by 1340, she
was again underway under her own power but turning only 18 to 20 knots.
At about 1430, the second attack-composed of 10 Nakajima B5N2 Type 97
torpedo bombers escorted by six "Zero" fighters-came in and eluded the
weak CAP. ASTORIA and the other ships of the screen attempted to
discourage attacks from four different directions by bringing every gun
to bear and firing them into the sea to throw curtains of water into the
path of the attackers. Nevertheless, four of the "Kates" made good their
attack and released their torpedoes within 500 yards range. YORKTOWN
dodged two, but the other two scored hits which stopped the ship again.
By 1500, the order to abandon ship went out. ASTORIA called away
lifeboats to assist in the rescue of YORKTOWN's survivors. That night,
the heavy cruiser retired east ward with the rest of the task force to
await dawn, while a single destroyer, Hughes, stood by the stricken
carrier.
The following day broke with YORKTOWN still afloat, and efforts bean to
salvage the battered warship. Though the Japanese had abandoned the
Midway attack and had begun retiring toward Japan, submarine I-168 had
orders to sunk YORKTOWN, After a 24-hour search, the enemy submarine
found her quarry on the 6th and attacked with a spread of four
torpedoes. One missed completely, two passed under destroyer HAMMANN
alongside the carrier and detonated in YORKTOWN's hull, while the fourth
broke HAMMANN's back. The destroyer sank in less than four minutes. The
carrier remained afloat until early on the morning of the 7th. At about
dawn, she finally rolled over and sank.
ASTORIA remained as flagship for TF 17, as it operated north of Midway,
until shortly after midday on 8 June when TF 11 arrived on the scene,
and Rear Admiral Fletcher transferred his flag to SARATOGA, On 11 June,
Admiral Nimitz, satisfied that the major Japanese thrust had been
thwarted, ordered his carrier task forces back to Hawaii, and ASTORIA
reentered Pearl Harbor with them on 13 June. During the early summer of
1942, she completed repairs and alterations at the Pearl Harbor Navy
Yard and carried out training in the Hawaiian operating area.
By the beginning of August, ASTORIA had been reassigned to Task Group
(TG) 62.3, Fire Support Group L, to cover the Guadalcanal-Tulagi
landings. Early on the morning of 7 August the heavy cruiser entered the
waters between Guadalcanal and Florida Islands in the southern Solomons.
Throughout the day she supported the marines as they landed on
Guadalcanal and several smaller islands nearby. The Japanese launched
air counterattacks on both the 7th and 8th, and ASTORIA helped to defend
the transports from those attacks.
On the night of 8 and 9 August, a Japanese force of seven cruisers and a
destroyer under Rear Admiral Gunichi Mikawa sneaked by Savo Island and
attacked the American ships. At the time, ASTORIA had been patrolling to
the east of Savo Island in column behind VINCENNES (CA-44) and QUINCY
(CA-39). The Japanese came through the channel to the west of Savo
Island and opened fire on the CHICAGO-HMAS CANBERRA force first at about
0140 on the morning of the 9th hitting both cruisers with torpedoes and
shells. They then divided-inadvertently-into two separate groups and
turned generally northeast passing on either side of ASTORIA and her two
consorts. The enemy cruisers began firing on that force at about 0150,
and the heavy cruiser began return fire immediately. She ceased fire
briefly because her commanding officer temporarily mistook the Japanese
force for friendly ships but soon resumed shooting. ASTORIA took no hits
in the first four Japanese salvoes, but the fifth ripped into her
superstructure turning her into an inferno amidships. In quick
succession, enemy shells put her number 1 turret out of action and
started a serious fire in the plane hangar that burned brightly and
provided the enemy with a self-illuminating target.
From that moment on, deadly accurate Japanese gunfire pounded her
unmercifully, and she began to lose speed. Turning to the right to avoid
QUINCY's fire at about 0201, ASTORIA reeled as a succession of enemy
shells struck her aft of the foremast. Soon thereafter, QUINCY veered
across ASTORIA's bow, blazing fiercely from bow to stern. ASTORIA put
her rudder over hard left and avoided a collision while her battered
sister ship passed aft, to starboard. As the warship turned, KINUGASA's
searchlight illuminated her, and men on deck passed the order to number
2 turret to shoot out the offending light. When the turret responded
with ASTORIA's 12th and final salvo, the shells missed KINUGASA but
struck the number 1 turret of CHOKAI.
ASTORIA lost steering control on the bridge at about 0225, shifted
control to central station, and began steering a zig-zag course south.
Before she made much progress, though, the heavy cruiser lost all power.
Fortunately, the Japanese chose that exact instant to withdraw. By 0300,
nearly 400 men, including about 70 wounded and many dead, were assembled
on the forecastle deck.
Suffering from the effects of at least 65 hits, ASTORIA fought for her
life. A bucket brigade battled the blaze on the gun deck and the
starboard passage forward from that deck, and the wounded were moved to
the captain's cabin where doctors and corpsmen proceeded with their
care. Eventually, however, the deck beneath grew hot and forced the
wounded back to the forecastle. The bucket brigade made steady headway,
driving the fire aft on the starboard side of the gun deck, while a
gasoline handy-billy rigged over the side pumped a small stream into the
wardroom passage below.
BAGLEY (DD-386) came alongside ASTORIA's starboard bow and, by 0445,
took all of the wounded off the heavy cruiser's forecastle. At that
point, a small light flashed from ASTORIA's stern, indicating survivors
on that part of the ship. Signaling the men on the heavy cruiser's stern
that they had been seen, BAGLEY got underway and rescued men on rafts-
some VINCENNES survivors-and men who had been driven overboard by the
fires blazing on board ASTORIA.
With daylight, BAGLEY returned to the heavy cruiser and came alongside
her starboard quarter. Since it appeared that the ship could be saved, a
salvage crew of about 325 able-bodied men went back on board ASTORIA,
Another bucket brigade attacked the fires while the ship's first
lieutenant investigated all accessible lower decks. A party of men
collected the dead and prepared them for burial. HOPKINS (DMS-13) came
up to assist in the salvage effort at about 0700. After securing a
towline, HOPKINS proceeded ahead, swinging ASTORIA around in an effort
to tow her to the shallow water off Guadalcanal. A second gasoline
powered handy-billy, transferred from HOPKINS, promptly joined the
struggle against the fires. WILSON (DD-408) soon arrived on the scene,
coming alongside the cruiser at about 0900 to pump water into the fire
forward. Called away at 1000, HOPKINS and WILSON departed, but the heavy
cruiser received word that BUCHANAN (DD-484) was on the way to assist in
battling the fires and that ALCHIBA (AK-23) was coming to tow the ship.
Nevertheless, the fire below decks increased steadily in intensity, and
those topside could hear explosions. Her list increased, first to 10
degrees and then 15. All attempts to shore the shell holes-by then below
the waterline due to the increasing list-proved ineffective, and the
list increased still more. BUCHANAN arrived at 1130, but could not
approach due to the heavy list. Directed to stand off the starboard
quarter, she stood by while all hands assembled on the stern. With the
port waterway awash at noon, Capt. Greenman gave the order to abandon
ship.
ASTORIA turned over on her port beam, rolled slowly, and settled by the
stern, disappearing completely by 1216. BUCHANAN lowered two motor
whaleboats and, although interrupted by a fruitless hunt for a
submarine, came back and assisted the men in the water. ALCHIBA, which
arrived on the scene just before ASTORIA sank, rescued 32 men. Not a man
from the salvage crew lost his life.
ASTORIA (CA-34) earned three battle stars during World War II.
Copyright © 1999 Mary Floy Katzman