USS Cincinnati, a 7050-ton Omaha class light cruiser, was built at Tacoma, Washington. Commissioned in January 1924, she cruised to South America on shakedown and then became part of the Scouting Fleet. Following operations in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Pacific, early in 1927 Cincinnati steamed across the Pacific for a year's tour with the Asiatic Fleet. She mainly served in the Atlantic during 1928-1932, then was assigned to the U.S. Fleet's Battle Force, which was based on the U.S. West Coast. The cruiser briefly revisited the Atlantic for the May 1934 fleet review off New York City, trained Naval Reservists in 1935-1938, and was reassigned to the Atlantic at the end of the decade.
Cincinnati returned to the Pacific in April 1940. She voyaged to Guam and the Philippines late in the year and, in April 1941, joined the Atlantic Fleet for Neutrality Patrol operations. She continued patrol and convoy escort duties after the United States formally entered World War II in December 1941. While serving in the South Atlantic in November 1942, Cincinnati assisted in the interception and destruction of the German blockade runner Annalise Essberger.
The remainder of Cincinnati's World War II career consisted of Atlantic patrol and convoy operations, among them escorting three convoys to the United Kingdom between March and July 1944, service in the western Mediterranean in August and September of that year, and duty with the Brazil-based Fourth Fleet. In the summer of 1945, after Germany's surrender, she was employed as a midshipmen's training ship. USS Cincinnati was decommissioned in November 1945 and scrapped in 1946.
This page features selected views of USS Cincinnati (CL-6).
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 63244 USS Cincinnati (CL-6) In harbor, circa the mid-1920s. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 79KB; 740 x 570 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 67531 USS Cincinnati (CL-6) Underway in harbor, circa the later 1930s. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 63KB; 740 x 450 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 86438 USS Cincinnati (CL-6) Visits Portland, Oregon, circa the later 1930s. Photographed by the Angelus Commercial Studio, Portland. Collection of Admiral Harold R. Stark, USN. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 142KB; 740 x 600 pixels |
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Photo #: 19-N-32590 USS Cincinnati (CL-6) Underway off New York City, 8 July 1942. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 55KB; 740 x 345 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 19-N-32591 USS Cincinnati (CL-6) Off New York City, 8 July 1942. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 41KB; 740 x 255 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 19-N-31170 USS Cincinnati (CL-6) Off New York City, 9 July 1942. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 100KB; 740 x 615 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 19-N-64188 USS Cincinnati (CL-6) Off New York City, 22 March 1944. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 54KB; 740 x 535 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 19-N-62459 USS Cincinnati (CL-6) In New York Harbor, 22 March 1944. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 124KB; 740 x 605 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 19-N-62458 USS Cincinnati (CL-6) In New York Harbor, 22 March 1944. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 137KB; 740 x 610 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: NH 69225 USS Cincinnati (CL-6) View looking up at the cruiser's mainmast in November 1923, just before she left the New York Navy Yard for speed trials off Rockland, Maine. View was taken from between the after smokestack and the mainmast. Note the extensive use of blocks on the mast rigging. Courtesy of the San Francisco Maritime Museum, San Francisco, California, 1969. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 93KB; 575 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 100515 Vought O2U-1 "Corsair" floatplane (Bureau # A-7918) Suspended over a ship's catapult during the later 1920s. This plane, from Scouting Squadron SIX, is assigned to USS Cincinnati (CL-6). Collection of Vice Admiral Dixwell Ketcham. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 68KB; 740 x 600 pixels |
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Photo #: 19-N-32596 USS Cincinnati (CL-6) View on deck, looking aft from the ship's bow, showing her forward 6"/53 gun turret and superstructure. Photographed at the New York Navy Yard, 4 July 1942. Recent alterations are marked and identified. Note Mark XXXII Mod. 1 Rangefinder on the bridge wings. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 132KB; 595 x 765 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 10 July 2002