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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
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Photo # NH 98201:  USS Pasadena arriving at Pearl Harbor, Summer 1948

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

USS Pasadena (CL-65), 1944-1972

USS Pasadena, a 10,000-ton Cleveland class light cruiser, was built at Quincy, Massachusetts. Commissioned in June 1944, she went to the Pacific in the Fall of that year to join the war against Japan. From mid-November 1944 until the end of the fighting in August 1945, she escorted aircraft carriers as they hit targets in the Philippines area, the South China Sea, the Ryukyus and the Japanese Home Islands. In February-May 1945, Pasadena also provided gunfire support during the difficult campaigns to capture Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The cruiser was present in Tokyo Bay when Japan formally surrendered on 2 September.

Pasadena remained in Japanese waters for the rest of 1945 and the first few weeks of 1946, supporting occupation activities. After overhaul on the U.S. West Coast, she served in the Eastern and Central Pacific for two years, taking part in training and readiness operations. The cruiser deployed to the Far East between October 1948 and May 1949, a period of rising tension as Communist forces neared the end of their long fight to control China. Pasadena completed her active service with local operations off the West Coast and began inactiviation preparations in September 1949. She was decommissioned at the Puget Sound Navy Yard in January 1950 to begin two decades in the Pacific Reserve Fleet. USS Pasadena was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in December 1970 and sold for scrapping in July 1972.

This page features all the views we have related to USS Pasadena (CL-65).


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 #: 80-G-237944

USS Pasadena (CL-65)


Underway off Boston, Massachusetts, 21 July 1944.
Photographed from a Squadron ZP-11 blimp. Position is 42 45'N, 70 50'W. Ship's course 110 degrees. Time 1400 hrs.
Pasadena is painted in Camouflage Measure 32, Design 24d.

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

Online Image: 60KB; 740 x 610 pixels

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

 
Photo #: NH 98195

USS Pasadena (CL-65)


Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 2 May 1946.

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

Online Image: 63KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98196

USS Pasadena (CL-65)


Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 2 May 1946.
Among the attack transports alongside the seawall at left are USS Shelburne (APA-205) and USS Sarasota (APA-204).

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

Online Image: 74KB; 740 x 620 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98197

USS Pasadena (CL-65)


Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 2 May 1946.

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

Online Image: 66KB; 740 x 620 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98201

USS Pasadena (CL-65)


Entering Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, during a NROTC Midshipmen's cruise in the Summer of 1948.
The photograph was released for publication on 9 August 1948.

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

Online Image: 116KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 
Photo #: 80-G-120074

USS Pasadena (CL-65)


View in the ship's Combat Information Center (CIC), 21 November 1944.
Note aircraft status board in the center background.

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

Online Image: 117KB; 740 x 605 pixels

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

 
Photo #: NH 98198

USS Pasadena (CL-65)


Plan view, forward, taken at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 8 May 1946.
Note crewmen working on the ship, and the many visible details of her structure, among them the two forward 6"/47 triple gun turrets and two of her six 5"/38 twin gun mounts.
White outlines mark recent alterations to the ship.

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

Online Image: 112KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98199

USS Pasadena (CL-65)


Plan view, amidships, taken at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 8 May 1946.
Note details of her structure, among them two 5"/38 twin gun mounts, twin and quadruple 40mm gun mounts, whaleboat and davits, and life rafts.
The truck on shore is an International type, with Navy serial number 45742.
White outlines mark recent alterations to the ship.

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

Online Image: 130KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98200

USS Pasadena (CL-65)


Plan view, aft, taken at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 8 May 1946.
Note details of her structure, among them 6"/47 triple gun turrets, 5"/38 twin gun mounts, and Curtiss SC floatplanes on the catapults.
White outlines mark recent alterations to the ship.

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

Online Image: 118KB; 740 x 615 pixels

 
Photo #: 80-G-219406

USS Pasadena (CL-65)


Mrs. C.G. Wopschall christens the ship, during launching ceremonies at the Bethlehem Steel Company's Fore River shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts, 28 December 1943.

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

Online Image: 81KB; 740 x 600 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 80-G-174363

USS Pasadena (CL-65)


Slides down the ways, during her launching at the Bethlehem Steel Company's Fore River shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts, 28 December 1943.

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

Online Image: 100KB; 605 x 765 pixels

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

 
Photo #: NH 101409

USS Pasadena (CL-65)


Cartoon insignia, published in the ship's cruise book.
The original volume is held by the Navy Department Library.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 121KB; 740 x 550 pixels

 

Additional view: Photo # 80-G-K-6523, a color photograph taken in Sagami Wan, Japan, circa 27-29 August 1945, shows USS Pasadena in the center distance of the image.


In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS Pasadena (CL-65). The following list features some of these images:

The images listed below are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections.
DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".


  • Photo #: 80-G-49011
    USS Pasadena (CL-65) underway in mid-1944. This view has been retouched by wartime censors to eliminate radar antennas.
    Starboard broadside surface view, with shoreline in the distance. The ship is painted in Measure 32, Design 24d pattern camouflage.

  • Photo #: 80-G-237704
    USS Pasadena (CL-65) underway at sea (position 42 10'N, 70 23'W) at 0955 hrs on 23 July 1944. Photographed from a blimp of squadron ZP-11.
    Port broadside aerial view, somewhat toward the bow. The ship is painted in Measure 32, Design 24d pattern camouflage.

  • Photo #: USN 1106424
    USS Pasadena (CL-65) in port, circa 1948. Probably photographed by Ted Stone.
    Port bow surface view.

  • Photo #: USN 1106426
    USS Pasadena (CL-65) in port, circa 1948. Probably photographed by Ted Stone.
    Port bow surface view, much more toward the bow that USN 1106424.


  • Photo #: 80-G-472055
    View on board USS Pasadena (CL-65) during gunnery practice in the Pacific, June 1945. Photographed by Lieutenant B. Gallagher, USNR.
    View looking aft from the ship's bow, with her forward 6"/47 gun turrets trained out to port, ready for firing.

  • Photo #: 80-G-472056
    View on board USS Pasadena (CL-65) during gunnery practice in the Pacific, June 1945. Photographed by Lieutenant B. Gallagher, USNR.
    View looking aft from the ship's bow, with her forward 6"/47 gun turrets trained out to port. Some guns are firing.

  • Photo #: 80-G-472059
    View on board USS Pasadena (CL-65) during operations in the Pacific, June 1945. Photographed by Lieutenant B. Gallagher, USNR.
    View looking aft from the ship's bow. The forward 6"/47 gun turrets are secured, trained on the centerline.


    Reproductions of these images should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval Historical Center.

    The images listed in this box are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".


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


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    Page made 19 November 2002