St Louis (CL 49) - Naval Cruise Book

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the darkness-no American knows just what dispatched it-came a torpedo, and it wasn't a dud. Its coming was unseen, yet all aboard felt the concussion as it struck from the starboard, virtually prying off the St. Louis' bow. No fatalities or even serious injuries resulted but it was necessary for the cruiser to make her way to the Mare Island Navy Yard for repairs. She returned to the open sea late in the fall of 1943, not only with a new bow but with a dirlierent commanding oliicer, Captain R. H. Roberts, USN.. ' Captain Campbell, whom he relieved, received the Navy Cross for his adept maneuvering of the St. Louis through sub-infested waters during the Rice Anchorage landings and for brilliant direction of his cruiser's gunhre in the first battle of Kula Gulf. ' Later, he was awarded the Silver Star medal for courageous direc- tion of the St. Louis which led the cruiser line in the second battle of Kula Gulf. Captain Roberts saw his first action from the bridge of the St. Louis in December 1943, when a task force, of which she was a segment, shelled the Kieta area of Bougainville. Her guns silenced a Iapanese coastal emplacement during a bombardment of the Short- land Islands a month later. Return fire did not harm the St. Louis but it came so close that pieces of shrapnel fell on the deck. In fact, it wasn't until St. Valentine,s Day, 1944, that she suffered her First combat fatalities. Her assignment was to screen American landings on Green Island, north of Bougainville, and she lay off the island most of the day without incident. About sundown, however, six enemy planes-first noticed circling above the horizon at 5 p.m.-came in to make their runs over the screening force. Two went after the St. Louis, one ,plummeting a bomb off the starboard bow for a damaging near miss, the other scoring a direct hit just aft of the superstructure. The latter killed 22 men and an officer. ' i The Sz. Louis limped south to Tulagi where she was repaired by her crew. Her return to service some three months later marked the end of the lean days. I Or, as a seasoned boatswain's mate put it, we didn't even know there was a United States Navy until we arrived at Roi, in the Mar- shalls, from Tulagi and saw the Central Pacific Fleet in all its powerf, 4 The Sz. Louis was made an addition to that power for the intensive shelling that preceded the June 14 landings of American troops on Saipan, main japanese base in the Marianas and headquarters of the Iapanese Commander in Chief, Central Pacific Area. The Heet also opened up on Tinian across the channel from Saipan and portions, including the St. Louis, took time out to move down to Guam for another bombardment-the first against that island. United States surface units instituted a more vigorous attack on Iuly 7. Among them was the St. Louis, minus one of its four screws. The missing screw, believed damaged at Green Island, did not drop off until the cruiser was approaching Guam. Its loss necessitated a trip to the States but before departing the St. Louis continued to participate in the Guam shelling which pre- pared the way for our invasion Iuly 20. At times, the St. Louis was

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Island of Adak in the Andreanof Group, the St. Louis returned to the States. Then and there she experienced her first wartime change in Commanding Oiiicers, Captain Colin Campbell, USN, relieving Captain George Rood, USN. At that time also, the St. Louis surrendered her title as the most travelled ship in the United States Navy, being succeeded by another cruiser, the U. S. S. Louisville. g 1 A new year, 1943, had barely gotten started when the Iapanese discovered that the St. Louis was back to her old tricks: pounding pieces of a stolen empire with her six and five-inchers. The opening phase of her return engagement took place during the forepart of Ianuary, with the St. Louis shelling the New Georgia islands of Kolombangara, Vella Lavella and Munda. She was then-and for some time thereafter-operating in the Pacific's hottest battle area, the channel up through the Solomons and New Georgias, which was known as the slot. On her runs through the slotf' either for bombardment purposes or in search of the Tokyo Expressf' the St. Louis was constantly menaced by enemy planes and submarines. She survived this dangerous diet without adverse effect and was on hand for the hammering of Iapanese positions and gun installa- tions on Kolombangara and New Georgia-a hammering that sup- ported landings at Rice Anchorage the night of Iuly 4-5. The night was fraught with anxious moments for the St. Louis which lay in the gulf approximately halfway between the two is- lands. The greatest anxiety resulted from the illumination of the ship by Iapanese star shells. Guns on the shore and enemy merchantmen 1 promptly unlimbered, their missiles splashing around the plainly- visible target and singing ,near her superstructure. The luck of the Sz. Louis, from which she derived her nickname, Lucky Lou, continued to hold through the first battle of Kula Gulf. She was then part of Task Force 18, a group of cruisers and destroyers that was sent out to intercept the Tokyo Express on one of its nightly runs which were the enemy's means of supplying garrisons at Vila and elsewhere. Contact was made with the Iapanese-two contingents of them- early the morning of Iuly in Kula Gulf. The guns of the St. Louis roared without letup for 55 minutes, the longest period of continu- ous firing in the ship's history. The engagement ceased when Task Force 18 exhausted its supply of targets. Precisely what toll it had exacted could not be ascertained but old-timers on the St. Louis claim the bag included 13 ships, ftwo of them probably destroyers. The Lucky Lou had along her rabbit's foot that night, too, for a torpedo that struck aft of her No. 3 mount failed to detonate. It caused such inconsiderable damage the cruiser was perfectly able, the following week, to be present at what was very nearly her own funeral. y Intending to intercept the Tokyo Expressv again, Task Force 18 found the enemy in Kula Gulf for the second time late Iuly 12, and for a second time the convoy was disposed of in two groups. The first of these was soundly riddled, and at 1:55 a.m. Iuly 13, with the night as black as any night could be, the St. Louis swung around to prepare to engage the remainder of the convoy. Gut of

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so close to Guam's shoreline that her 20 mm. and 40 mm. guns were brought to bear on the beaches. . Recognizing the effective role of the St. Louis in the Marianas campaign, the commander of Cruiser Division Nine, Rear Admiral W. L. Ainsworth, USN, awarded Captain Roberts a letter of com- mendation and the Legion of Merit. The letter praised Captain Roberts, 'fconsummate skill in han- dling his ship Hduring all of these operations, lasting over two months in almost constant contact with an enemy-held shoreline in an advanced theater of operations . . .D Bidding farewell to Terminal Island in October, 1944, the St. Louis set out for Leyte Gulf in the Philippines by way of Eniwetok and Ulithi. A . American troops had invaded the island of Leyte October 19, but the Iapanese were still resisting bitterly when the SZ. Louis dropped anchor in the gulf November 16. Enemy planes were based in con- siderable strength on nearby islands-an unfortunate state af affairs that resulted in no less than 33 air attacks on the St. Louis in the course of a 13-day stretch. One such attack, taking place November 27 as the noon chow line was forming, left the St. Louis on the damaged list again. She suf- fered hits on the hangar deck and the port beam and 15 men and an oflicer received fatal infuries. The strike was not made without cost to the Iapanese, however, the St. Louis herself bringing down four planes for sure and being credited with Eve probables. Enemy air assaults continued and, al- though damaged no further, the St. Louis was obliged to fall to with her anti-aircraft batteries the night of November 29 asshe was with- drawing from the area, San Pedro bound. She went home under her own power, reaching the Pacific Coast December 26. Yet another chapter in her back-and-forth chronology was begun February 23, 1945, with the St. Louis churning westward, destination unknown-except to a few. One of the few is presumed to be Captain I. B. Griggs, USN, a veteran of submarine service who came aboard at San Pedro, Ian- uary 3, to relieve Captain Roberts. 1-le is her Hfth commanding officer, the only one not having been mentioned in this history being a native St. Louisan, Captain Charles H. Morrison, who assumed command when the Si. Louis was com- missioned by then-Rear Admiral Ioseph K. Taussig, USN, May 19, 1939., . The present Sz. Louis is the fourth naval vessel to bear the name. The Hrst was a fighting sloop built in 1828, the second was a Civil War gunboat and the third was a cruiser which was decommissioned in 1929. The Lucky Lou's,, shakedown cruise took her to Kingston, Iamaicag Port au Spain, Trinidad, and the Portuguese Azores, and ended in New York the day the Yankees and Cincinnati Reds were crossing bats in the first game of the 1939 world series. The following year the St. Louis was nominated to carry a party of high-ranking officers on an inspection tour of British possessions in the Atlantic that might have served as suitable American naval and air bases. She made her first appearance on the west coast in the fall of M4fR4'P1PYf'2'is22s1'1'1ff'f'14 V LSXRXKX X XXXNNNXWXX X X