Brooklyn (CL 40) - Naval Cruise Book

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- ini-'M' ' ...A -......,.,. 'T I .. vvgwyc The Executive Officers word on Palermo Liberty. Mid-November that year found BROOKLYN escorting the USS Iowa through the Straits of Gibraltar to Oran, North Africa, with President Roosevelt and his many starred Staff who travelled on further to Teheran, Iran, for another Big Three Meeting.-At this time BROOKLYN was the Major American Warship attached to the Mediterranean Fleet. She was the Flagship of Cruiser Division Eight's Rear Admiral Lyal A. Davidson. Christmas 1943 was spent at the shell-pocked Island of Malta, the British Mediterranean citidel which had withstood the crushing blows of constant enemy aerial poundings. The Crew was warmly welcomed by the Maltese inhabitants. They reciprocated by throwing a Christmas party for the many Maltese Orphans. The Maltese returned the favor many times with parties and a lot of good will to every member of BROOKLYN,s Crew. Nothing that weekend was too good for them. This Christmas tree has a special meaning to the members of BROOKLYN's Crew. Seems Chaplain O'Leary wanted a tree for the Christmas party. He sent some, Good Sailors, for a tree. Never dreaming that the, Best Place, was the Island Governors drive. This is a true Sea Story, it did happen. Maltese Orphans enjoying a Christmas Dinner. After a good battle, a Good Liberty, Palermo, Sicily Later, in 1944, at a press conference, Navy Secretary James A. Forrestall said, Malta is a jewel in the crown of England, being place there by the many sacrifices of countless British flyers and sailors - a symbol of the tenacity and resolution of British character. Charging up the boot heel to Rome, the American invaders had been stopped cold at the Gustav line. To deploy the dogged Nazi troops and engage their tactical reserves, the Yanks poked a double-thrust into Italy's western coast some fifty miles to the North of the Gustav defenses at the twin resort towns of Anzio and Nettuno. BROOKLYN was called in for artillery assistance and was quick to answer the call. The amphibious landing craft had met little opposition as they proceeded into shore on 22 January 1944, but once they had beached themselves and disgorged soldiers from their gaping mouths, all Hell broke loose. The sky was filled with zooming Nazi planes of every nomenclature. One seventy millimeter guns posted in the mountains inland rained a steady' stream of flaming steel on the Americans crowded in that little pocket of Italian soil. With meticulous plotting by her Navigation Officer, BROOKLYN eased her way through mine fields to shallow water positions where her main batteries were within range of hostile shore targets on the morning of D plus 1. BROOKLYN'S Captain Cary rendered outstanding service as Commander of the gunfire support flotilla, raked the Anzio-Nettuno area with her pulverizing 6-inchers as Army spotters indicated the targets. The Navy sharpshooters standing off Anzio underwent air raids throughout the day and night Cless concentrated attacks in the daytime, large scale bombings during the nightj. At dusk on the evening of the 24th, BROOKLYN sustained without damage the heaviest aerial assault of her career. below, Flares dropped by a Hi-flying German Plane, during the Anzio Operation, night of 24 January 1944. 4.

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1 In the four days from 5-9 July, a huge armada of 3266 vessels carried some 160,000 troups with their 1,008 guns, 600 tanks from Africa to Sicily on Operation Husky. The Yank soldiers, seasick in the troubled waters, moved in on the beaches of Licata, Gela and Scoglitti early on the 10th, quickly fanned out under an umbrella of fire from Naval artillery. At Licata, Rear Admiral Laurence T. DuBose in BROOKLYN directed the fire support group CBROOKLYN and BIRMINGHAM, a destroyer squadron, and other numerous American and British small craftl. Under this watchful eye, troops and supplies which had crossed the Mediterranean in landing boats poured into the beachhead. Except for the rough seas, all was going on schedule. The Gunnery Officer gave the order to commence fire at 0430 on 10 July. The Army's Third Division pushed their way inland, soon clashed head-on with determined enemy troops. Luftwaffe planes bombed and straffed the ships lying offshore and the artillery installations around Licata chimed in to complete the stentorian crescendo in this symphony of destruction. BROOKLYN fired volley after volley of devastating explosives that day. She patrolled and knocked out targets of opportunity on the 12th, and nosed cautiously through thick mine fields on the 13th to hit and land concentrations and shore installations at nearby Agrigento. Only when there were no more targets in range were her guns allowed to cool. On 14 July the cruisers BROOKLYN, BOISE and SAVANNAH left for Algiers to await further orders. Orders were received and mid-August found BROOKLYN once more relaxed and safe in New York City's mammoth harbor. While training the crews of new cruisers at Boston, BROOKLYN was ordered to return to the Mediterranean area. In her absence the wobbling Italy had bowed awkwardly out of the Axis triumvirate. And the USS SAVANNAH had taken a glider bomb through her number three turret and had all but sunk, except for the faith of her skipper in his crew. Together they sailed her to Malta for temporary repairs for her return to the U.S. The light cruiser sailed for Palermo, Sicily, on 13 September 1943 and arrived some 11 days later -. to take the place of SAVANNAH. - In Palermo on the 11th of October, Captain Robert W. Cary, USN, the Skipper of SAVANNAH when she was hit, relieved Legion of Merit winner, Captain Ziroli fawarded for his handling of BROOKLYN at Sicilyl. Captain Cary took his cruiser BROOKLYN on diversified missions in support of Allied Mediterranean operations. BROOKLYN was caught in a heavy night air attack on Allied shipping in Naples harbor on 23 October, fortunately came through without any more than a few pieces of schrapnel falling on her decks. Captain Cary's best strategy that night was to keep the larger caliber guns silent unless directly attacked so as not to reveal BROOKLYN'S presence in the harbor. . l ' ' X . s ions 'yuan o o nm , dws nl lvl nvvia A lfl ' couldn't stem the Allied tide. Somewhere off the Sicilian coast, geiyfserstgf :did explcidmg snliell' . u v i fragments till the air as Nazi planes score a direct hit on an invasion vessel. This foto was held up by Brit- ish censors. Yesterday a bitter aerial battle was being fought eye: the Italian toe wg 1,7 Axis planes were shot down. I p p V. If ,FSQW 03 page ,5 4 below, No Change, Fire for Effect below, Another Spotting Plane is launched . -V 1 T 5 'E 1 F s l I ,P 'T Hina.. sv-,gifmx 4

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7 RED ANZIO I was a veteran at Anzio, This wasn't my first close shave! Yet when the J'U?s came circling, I envisioned a Tyrrhenian grave, Yes, I was a beach-head supporter, Helping out with the Fifth Army Show: But it got hot as hell, When straddling bombs fell, To the accompanying shout, Red Anzi03 . Night gave us scant protection, Flares lit up the sea in lanes, While sticks of deadly calling cards, Dropped from those damned Junker planes. The Luftwaffe was having a field day, Attacking with a sledge hammer blowg I saw ships torn apart, Where bombs found their markg No warning was needeC, Red Anzio! . But our Old Man was a cool one, His ship handling was of the best? He knew hor: to outsmart the Nazi, We wouldn T he caught with the rest. Before Sieily's beaches and Salerno, HQ had learned to deal with the ioeg Sc he snealf1e.i our ship out, By wave ruund about, And get us away from Red finzio3 . Oh ga-g'nnp.r don't look so askanceg L, . . ., l I'm -1 'victim of combat fatigue, ' If K7 carcusiug, to you, is unseemly, Believe liquor is just what I need. For in my memory is sharply chiseled, The image of that pyrotecnnic tableau. So let's drink all around To help shut out the sound, Of that alarming cry, Red lfin.zio3 . . Anonymous Exhausted, the Yanks fought with their backs to the sea. Yet the beleagured Anzio beachhead held in the face of heavy odds and every type of counter-attack and counter-measure which the panicky Germans could muster. No little credit for this feat of defiance was given the accurate shelling by the Navy vessels under the Flagship BROOKLYN. Legion of Merit winner, Captain Cary fawarded him for his handling of BROOKLYN at Anziol, was temporarily relieved of his command by Captain F. C. Layne, USN, until Captain F. R. Dodge, USN, took command 12 April 1944. ' .f . Captain Frank R. Dodge takes over from Captain Frank C. Layne 12 April 1944 In May the British Eight and American Fifth Armies cracked the Gustav line wide open, slugged their way through crumbling enemy lines, stormed or by-passed snow-capped mountains. BROOKLYN returned with other units to -the Anzio-Nettuno area to lend support to the victorious Army troops along the Western Italian Front, actually forming a left flank. Acting on a rotation basis, the cannonading ships CUSS PHILADELPHIA, USS BROOKLYN, HMS PHEOBE and ORIONJ took turns carrying out daily firing assignments. Ammunition dumps and railroad guns were destroyed, reinforced concrete pillboxes ground to rubble by the cruisers' fire. The Fifth Army turned the enemy's right wing and compelled him to abandon his mountain strongholds, formed a triumphal motorcade down the ancient Appian Way. Rome was ours. As the Normandy invasion got underway on Tuesday, 6 June 1944, the Allied forces in the Mediterranean area were feverishly active in preparing for the coordinating effort. A number of heavies of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet CUSS NEVADA, USS TEXAS, USS ARKANSAS, cruisers USS TUSCALOOSA, USS QUINCY, USS AUGUSTA, USS CONCORD, USS CINCINNATI, several escort carriers and destroyersj sailed in to swell the Mediterranean armada. BROOKLYN was ready for her fourth and final major amphibious operation - the invasion of Southern France. The huge flanking movement COperation Anvili was underway on 14 August 1944 as the 1500-ship invasion force assembled and set course for the French playground seaboard between Toulon and Cannes. After steaming through the night, BROOKLYN arrived in her assigned area and commenced a one-hour, pre-invasion barrage ten miles west of CANNES. Approaching Southern France 8-14-44 Gunners Watching