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Photo # NH 98120:  USS Birmingham underway in the Hampton Roads area, 20 February 1943

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Birmingham (CL-62), 1943-1959

USS Birmingham, a 10,000-ton Cleveland class light cruiser, was built at Newport News, Virginia. She commissioned in late January 1943 and, following shakedown, crossed the Atlantic to the Mediterranean Sea where she supported the invasion of Sicily during July 1943. Birmingham was sent to the Pacific in August and escorted the fast carrier task forces during raids on Tarawa and Wake over the next two months. On 8 November 1943, while participating in the Bougainville operation, she was hit forward by a Japanese aerial torpedo and aft by two bombs, but was able to remain in formation until detached to return to the United States for repairs.

Back in fighting trim in February 1944, Birmingham's next major undertaking was the invasion of the Marianas in June and July. She screened the landing forces and provided extensive gunfire support as troops ashore gradually overwhelmed the Japanese defenders of Saipan, Tinian and Guam. In mid-June, as the enemy responded to the Saipan landings by sending out his Mobile Fleet, Birmingham helped protect U.S. aircraft carriers during the Battle of the Philippine Sea. She continued in the carriers' screen later in the year, during the September-October raids on the Philippines, Okinawa and Formosa. On 24 October 1944, on the first day of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, she suffered heavy casualties and serious topside damage when the burning carrier Princeton (CVL-23) blew up while Birmingham was alongside assisting with firefighting.

In March-May 1945, the newly-repaired Birmingham took part in the Iwo Jima and Okinawa campaigns. During Japanese Kamikaze attacks on ships off Okinawa on 4 May, she was again damaged, suffering more than fifty crewmen killed and many others injured when a suicide plane crashed into her deck just aft of the forward gun turrets. More shipyard work returned her to the western Pacific in late August 1945, soon after Japan had agreed to surrender. She remained in the area for some months, visiting Brisbane, Australia, in November. The cruiser steamed to San Francisco, California, in March 1946 and was decommissioned there at the beginning of January 1947. Stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in May 1959, after a dozen years in "mothballs", USS Birmingham was sold for scrapping the following November.

This page features selected views related to USS Birmingham (CL-62), and provides links to pictures of her actions and activities.

For other images related to this ship, see:

  • USS Birmingham (CL-62) -- Actions and Activities.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 98120

    USS Birmingham (CL-62)


    Underway in the Hampton Roads area, Virginia, on 20 February 1943.
    This image has been retouched by wartime censors to obscure radar antennas atop the ship's gun directors.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 90KB; 740 x 595 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 90021

    USS Birmingham (CL-62)


    Underway in the Hampton Roads area, Virginia, on 20 February 1943.
    Photographed by Naval Air Station, Hampton Roads.

    Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Institute. James C. Fahey Collection.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 119KB; 740 x 570 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 87948

    USS Birmingham (CL-62)


    Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, following overhaul and repair of combat damage, 21 January 1945.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 72KB; 740 x 610 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 87950

    USS Birmingham (CL-62)


    Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, following overhaul and repair of combat damage, 21 January 1945.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 93KB; 740 x 610 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98122

    USS Birmingham (CL-62)


    At the Mare Island Navy Yard, 22 January 1945, following battle damage repair and overhaul.
    Photographed from one of the Navy Yard cranes, this "plan view" of the ship's forward area shows a number of recent alterations, enclosed in white lines drawn on the image.
    Notable features include the forward Mark 37 Gun Director with antennas for Mark 12 and Mark 22 radars (upper left center); 6"/47, 5"/38, 40mm and 20mm guns; protective canvas covers on 40mm gun barrels; and a variety of equipment on the ship's command platform.
    Also note the portable gangway between the ship and the pier, and very long shadows cast by people standing on the pier.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 169KB; 600 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98123

    USS Birmingham (CL-62)


    At the Mare Island Navy Yard, 22 January 1945, following battle damage repair and overhaul.
    Photographed from a Navy Yard crane, this "plan view" of the ship's midships area shows a number of recent alterations, enclosed in white lines drawn on the image.
    Notable features include Mark 34 Gun Directors with antennas for Mark 8 radar on top; height-finding radar on the mainmast; antenna for SK search radar on the foremast; and new electronic antennas on the after end of the forward smokestack.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 147KB; 740 x 615 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98124

    USS Birmingham (CL-62)


    At the Mare Island Navy Yard, 22 January 1945, following battle damage repair and overhaul.
    Photographed from a Navy Yard crane, this "plan view" of the ship's midships area shows a number of recent alterations, enclosed in white lines drawn on the image.
    Notable features include the forward smokestack, with a new electronics platform mounted on it; 40mm quad gun mounts; life rafts; Mark 34 Gun Director; and a variety of equipment on the ship's forward superstructure platforms.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 174KB; 740 x 610 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98125

    USS Birmingham (CL-62)


    At the Mare Island Navy Yard, 22 January 1945, following battle damage repair and overhaul.
    Photographed from a Navy Yard crane, this "plan view" of the ship's after area shows a number of recent alterations, enclosed in white lines drawn on the image.
    Notable features include a Mark 34 Gun Director with antenna for Mark 8 radar; Mark 37 Gun Director with antennas for Mark 12 and Mark 22 radars; the after smokestack with searchlight platforms mounted on it; and the height-finding radar and other electronic equipment on the mainmast.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 144KB; 600 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 75592

    USS Birmingham (CL-62)


    Launching, at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company shipyard, Newport News, Virginia, 20 March 1942.

    Courtesy of James Russell, 1972.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 108KB; 740 x 610 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 89291

    USS Birmingham (CL-62)


    View on the cruiser's forecastle, looking aft, taken the day she left the San Diego Reserve Fleet facility for the wrecking yard, circa 9 December 1959.

    Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Institute Photo Collection, 1979.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 87KB; 595 x 765 pixels

     

    For other images related to this ship, see:

  • USS Birmingham (CL-62) -- Actions and Activities.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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    Page made 22 October 2002