USS Miami, a 10,000-ton Cleveland class light cruiser built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was commissioned in late December 1943. She made a shakedown cruise along the East Coast and in the Caribbean then, in April 1944, went to the Pacific to begin operations against Japan. The new cruiser first saw combat as an escort for aircraft carriers during the invasion of Saipan and the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June, and continued in that role through the summer, as landings were made on Tinian, Guam, and in the Palaus, and other enemy-held islands were raided. In October 1944 Miami was part of the fast carrier task forces that hit Japanese bases on Okinawa, Formosa and the Philippines and took part in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. On 26 October, at the conclusion of the latter action, she used her six-inch guns to help sink the destroyer Nowaki.
For the rest of 1944 and into 1945, Miami accompanied the carriers as they attacked targets in the Philippines, on the Asian mainland, on Formosa and, for the first time since 1942, in the Japanese home islands. She was damaged in the great typhoon encountered by the Third Fleet in mid-December 1944, but was able to remain in action. From late March through April 1945 she took part in the long campaign to seize and hold Okinawa, helping to fight off nearly constant attacks by enemy suicide planes. Miami was overhauled in the U.S. during May-August and returned to the Western Pacific soon after Japan had agreed to surrender. After supporting initial post-war activities for the next few months, she steamed back across the Pacific to the West Coast, where she arrived in December 1945. She participated in Naval Reserve training during the next year and, upon decommissioning at the end of June 1947, entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet. USS Miami spent the next fourteen years in "mothballs". She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in September 1961 and sold for scrapping in July 1962.
This page features all the views we have related to USS Miami (CL-89).
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 46257 USS Miami (CL-89) Photograph taken circa early 1944, showing the ship painted in camouflage Measure 32, Design 1d. This image was retouched for World War II public release purposes. However, note that while the censor removed the entire forward main battery gun director, the after director and its radar antenna remain completely visible. Radar antennas atop the secondary battery gun directors and the masts have also been removed, and the ship's hull number, near her bow, has been circled. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 65KB; 740 x 500 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 98403 USS Miami (CL-89) Underway at sea, circa early 1944. The ship is painted in camouflage Measure 32, Design 1d. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 109KB; 740 x 580 pixels Note: This image is somewhat disfigured by a water stain in the lower right. |
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Photo #: NH 98405 USS Miami (CL-89) Steaming in heavy seas during her shakedown cruise, 17 February 1944. Photographed from USS Quincy (CA-71). Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 81KB; 590 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 98404 USS Miami (CL-89) At Trinidad, British West Indies, with her crew at quarters on deck, 19 February 1944. Note her Measure 32, Design 1d camouflage, considerably worn away forward by wave action. Miami was then on her shakedown cruise. Photographed from USS Quincy (CA-71). Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 93KB; 740 x 600 pixels Note: The left side of this image is somewhat disfigured by mimeographed caption bleed-through. |
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Photo #: 80-G-358622 USS Miami (CL-89) Underway at sea, 27 April 1944. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 77KB; 740 x 510 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 80-G-K-3812 (Color) USS Miami (CL-89) Prepares to depart for the invasion of Okinawa, March 1945. Probably taken at Ulithi Atoll. Photographed from USS West Virginia (BB-48). Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 70KB; 495 x 765 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: NH 98406 USS Miami (CL-89) In a Pacific Ocean anchorage, soon after the end of the war with Japan, circa September-October 1945. Photographed from USS Antietam (CV-36). Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 67KB; 740 x 610 pixels Note: The upper center of this image is somewhat disfigured by mimeographed caption bleed-through. |
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Photo #: 80-G-273151 USS Ticonderoga (CV-14) Afire after she was hit by a "Kamikaze" attack off Formosa, 21 January 1945. Photographed from USS Miami (CL-89). A Vought OS2U "Kingfisher" floatplane is on the cruiser's starboard catapult, in the foreground. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 86KB; 740 x 610 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 80-G-K-4272 (Color) USS Miami (CL-89) Crewmen hoisting in one of the ship's paravanes, during operations in the Pacific Ocean, 26 March 1945. Photographed by R.J. Guttosch. Note sheath knives worn by some of these Sailors. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 82KB; 740 x 605 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 80-G-324543 Okinawa Campaign, 1945 A Japanese airplane ("believed 'Zeke'") about to crash into the sea as a result of heavy anti-aircraft gunfire, during an air attack on Task Group 58.1 off Okinawa, 14 April 1945. Photographed from USS Miami (CL-89), whose 5"/38 and 40mm guns are firing in the foreground. Two other ships, nearly hidden by gunfire smoke, are in the distance. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 98KB; 740 x 635 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: NH 75601 USS Miami (CL-89) Launching, at the Cramp Shipbuilding Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 8 December 1942. Note anchors and chains hanging near the ship's bow, for use in stopping her once she was afloat. Courtesy of Mr. James Russell, 1972. U.S. Naval Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 107KB; 590 x 765 pixels |
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Additional Images: The following views show USS Miami
(CL-89) distantly, or were taken from her but do not show any
of her structure:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 19 March 2003