Salt Lake City (CA 25) - Naval Cruise Book

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lt hod token three hours ond forty-two minutes, the longest sed engagement in the entire history of the modern Novy. The Sdlt Loilce City Counted her losses, two men killed ond thirteen Wounded. Then proudly, with on eight degree list to port, the result ot bottle doinioge, the cruiser steoined loock toward on Arnericon bose. ,t w -. . 1 W, ,Q wi, . . BURIAL OF TWO MEN KILLED IN ACTION IN THE BATTLE OF KOMANDORSKIE ISLANDS, DUTCH HARBOR t up-EX' iq. 1-Q0 20

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of all proportion to the cause. They circled wildly, then headed West. They were retiring. They had aloandoned plans to re- inforce Attu. They had given up the tight, licked by an enemy halt their size, whose principal ship was lying helpless. ii i if Aw 'xxx gfflfl WX lei iw Xnlllj tl T lgjrl, T J' . . T T it , f Hill l'lrgi,tQ J!! f'l fl X I, T l JIT' lil l, ll X Vlhcgos X ff X ffl f i il X I U T if T 1 iiii T ff ff! X If 4 Their damage rniist have loeen extreme. Both heavies and one light had suffered hits, and the men from the Bailey, who got close enough to see, said that on one enemy heavy cruiser, only one ol tive tiirrets was in operation. 1 Q l

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E715 Um' of Zriumplz May 14, 1943 to August 15, 1945 When the Salt Lake City emerged from the Mare Island Navy Yard on May 14, l943, after repair of the damage suffered in the Battle of the Komandorskies, the American offensive, begun on a small scale at Guadalcanal and on New Guinea, was about to expand into an irresistible march across the Pacific. Henceforth, the SWayback's primary targets were to be, not surface ships, but land bases. She was attached to the bom- bardment groups, the almost unsung ships which steamed up to enemy bases and stayed, paralyzing his resistance to con- quest by the thunder of their heavy guns. The cruiser's first assignment took her back to the Aleutians, Where Attu and Kiska remained as unfinished American busi- ness. For l23 days, she was at sea practically all the time, returning only at infrequent intervals to her base, bleak Kuluk Bay at Adak for logistics not available at sea. She convoyed, patrolled, bombarded Kiska and covered the Attu lnvasion. On September 23, she moved south with the War. She based at Pearl Harbor and made a flying trip to San Francisco from Cctober lst to l4th to carry back as passengers seventy- five officers and one thousand enlisted men for participation in the forthcoming invasion of the Gilbert Islands. ln November the Salt Lake City was in the midst of that operation, helping the marines in their now famous conquest of Tarawa. During the assault, Iap shore batteries fired at the cruiser for one hour and fifty-four minutes, but obtained no hits. The luck of the Salt Lake City was becoming a byword. After Tarawa, the Swayback covered the occupation of nearby Abemama. ln two days there, she knocked down four lap planes and helped destroy another. The operation con- cluded, she based at Funafuti. ln Ianuary, the Americans moved north into the Marshalls. As part of the neutralizing force, the Salt Lake City conducted 21 g