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Photo # NH 97838:  USS Pensacola at sea, September 1935

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

USS Pensacola (CA-24, originally CL-24), 1930-1948

USS Pensacola, name ship of a class of two 9100-ton light cruisers, was built by the New York Navy Yard. Commissioned in February 1930, she made a shakedown cruise to Peru and Chile then began regular operations in the western Atlantic, Caribbean and Pacific. In July 1931, her classification was changed to heavy cruiser and her hull number became CA-24. Pensacola shifted home port from Norfolk, Virginia, to San Diego, California, in January 1935 and thereafter mainly served in the Pacific.

When the Pacific War began on 7 December 1941 with Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Pensacola was at sea escorting a convoy that was subsequently diverted to Australia. Following patrols in the vicinity of Samoa, the cruiser screened the carriers Lexington and Yorktown during their operations in the southern Pacific from February into April 1942. In the early June Battle of Midway Pensacola escorted both USS Enterprise and USS Yorktown. From August to December 1942, she operated in support of the Guadalcanal campaign, mainly serving with aircraft carriers, and was present during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands in late October and the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in mid-November. At the end of November, Pensacola was badly damaged by a torpedo in the Battle of Tassafaronga, with the loss of over 120 of her crewmen.

Pensacola was under repair until well into 1943, but returned to service in time to participate in the Tarawa invasion in November. In 1944 she took part in the conquest of the Marshall Islands and operated with carrier striking forces during raids in the central Pacific. From May into August, she patrolled in the north Pacific and bombarded Japanese positions in the Kurile Islands. Moving south, Pensacola shelled Wake Island in September and Marcus in early October, then joined the Third Fleet's carrier forces to participate in attacks on Formosa and in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

During the rest of the year and into 1945, Pensacola regularly conducted bombardments in the Bonin and Volcano Islands. While off Iwo Jima on 17 February 1945, she was hit several times by Japanese coastal guns, but was soon able to resume shelling the island. She provided more gunfire support during the campaign to seize Okinawa in March and April. When the fighting ended in mid-August, she was serving in the North Pacific. Pensacola's final months of active service were spent supporting the occupation of northern Japan and transporting Pacific War veterans home as part of Operation "Magic Carpet". In 1946 the now-elderly cruiser was assigned to target duty in connection with the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll. Badly damaged by the two explosions on 1 July and 25 July, she was formally decommissioned in August. More than two years later, on 10 November 1948, USS Pensacola was sunk as a target in fleet exercises off the coast of Washington State.

This page features selected views concerning USS Pensacola (CA-24).


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 662

USS Pensacola (CA-24)


Photographed at anchor, during the 1930s.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 600 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 97838

USS Pensacola (CA-24)


Underway at sea, September 1935.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command.

Online Image: 102KB; 740 x 620 pixels

 
Photo #: 19-N-34705

USS Pensacola (CA-24)


At anchor in a south Pacific port, 28 September 1942. An oiler (AO) is in the left distance.

Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

Online Image: 74KB; 740 x 585 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: 19-N-67932

USS Pensacola (CA-24)


Photographed on 14 October 1943. She is accompanied by two tugs, one small harbor type and the other (at right) an old Navy fleet tug.

Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

Online Image: 88KB; 740 x 585 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: NH 97839

USS Pensacola (CA-24)


In Massacre Bay, Attu Island, Alaska, 9 June 1944.
She is painted in camouflage Measure 32, Design 14d.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command.

Online Image: 109KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 
Photo #: 19-N-87787

USS Pensacola (CA-24)


Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 29 June 1945.

Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

Online Image: 68KB; 740 x 570 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: 19-N-87792

USS Pensacola (CA-24)


At the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 3 July 1945, at the end of her final overhaul.
Circles mark recent alterations to the ship.
Note her main battery of twin and triple eight-inch gun turrets.
USS Indianapolis (CA-35) and the lighter YF-390 are at left.

Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

Online Image: 134KB; 605 x 765 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: NH 48909

USS Pensacola (CL-24)


Actress Ethyl Merman, star of the stage hit "Girl Crazy", presents a young goat (lower right) to the ship's crew, possibly at about the time of Pensacola's commissioning in February 1930.
Accepting the gift is the ship's Commanding Officer, Captain Alfred G. Howe, USN.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 97KB; 580 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 51885

USS Pensacola (CA-24)


Officers, Sailors and Marines in the ship's midships well deck, 1933.
Note details of catapults, and the four Vought O2U-4 floatplanes. The plane at far right is Bureau # 8334.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 109KB; 740 x 585 pixels

 
Photo #: 80-G-33862

USS Pensacola (CA-24)


Alongside USS Vestal (AR-4), undergoing repair of torpedo damage received during the Battle of Tassafaronga, off Guadalcanal on 30 November 1942.
Note the hole in her side below the mainmast, and the extensive fire damage in the area of that mast and the number three eight-inch gun turret.
Photographed at Espirito Santo, New Hebrides, on 17 December 1942.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 130KB; 740 x 610 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: NH 97840

USS Pensacola (CA-24)


View on the ship's afterdeck, looking forward, showing damage inflicted during the Operation "Crossroads" atomic bomb tests at Bikini, in July 1946. Men in the foreground are examining the remains of equipment placed on her deck to test the effects of the bomb explosion.
Note the caution signs painted on her after eight-inch gun turret, presumably to reduce fire risks and prevent the taking of radioactive items as souvenirs.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command.

Online Image: 125KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 86700

USS Pensacola (CA-24)


Is towed out of Puget Sound, Washington, en route to sea for disposal as a target in First Task Fleet exercises, 9 November 1948.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 101KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 


NOTES:

  • To the best of our knowledge, the pictures referenced here are all in the Public Domain, and can therefore be freely downloaded and used for any purpose.

  • Some images linked from this page may bear obsolete credit lines citing the organization name: "Naval Historical Center". Effective 1 December 2008 the name should be cited as: "Naval History and Heritage Command".


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


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    Page made 30 January 2002
    Coding updated 5 May 2009