USS Chicago

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As one of the Northampton-class heavy cruisers, the US Navy commissioned the USS Chicago in March 1931 at the Mare Island Navy Yard. She displaced 9.006 tons and 11,420 tons when fully loaded. After her shakedown cruise to Hawaii, Tahiti, and American Samoa, the Navy upgraded her classification in July 1931 from a light cruiser to a heavy cruiser (CA-29). Her maximum rated speed was 32.5 knots driven by a power plant of eight boilers, four steam turbines, and four propellers. The cruiser carried nine 8-inch guns mounted in three 3-gun turrets — two forward and one aft. Her secondary armament included eight single-mounted 5-inch guns and eight .50-caliber machine guns. Her normal crew complement was 807 men but carried 917 men when she was a flagship.

During the 1930s and early 1940s, she actively was part of fleet exercises and problems in the Atlantic. The cruiser was part of the naval review viewed by President Roosevelt on May 31, 1934. She then steamed to her new home base in San Diego and stayed there until September 1940. At that time, the Navy transferred her to Pearl Harbor.

The Chicago was at sea when the Japanese attacked Hawaii. Immediately after the assault, she patrolled around the Hawaiian Islands. Her next assignment was the South Pacific where she protected American bases and shipping. In early May, 1942, she was part of naval task force at the Battle of the Coral Sea. Japanese aircraft attacked her on May 7 and inflicted light damage on her.

She was part of Radm. Kelly Turner’s invasion fleet when the Americans invaded Guadalcanal and Tulagi on August 7. When Mikawa’s cruisers came calling at the Battle of Savo Island, the Chicago was right in the middle of the fight. A Japanese torpedo hit her in the bow and had to leave the area. After undergoing repairs on the American West Coast, she returned to the Guadalcanal area in January 1943. While part of a task force of cruisers and destroyers steaming south of Guadalcanal on January 29, Japanese aircraft torpedoed her twice and badly damaged her at the Battle of Rennell Islands. While under tow to get out of danger, Japanese airplanes attacked her a third time and sank her on January 30, 1943.