Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships USS PORTLAND (CA-33)



The first PORTLAND (CA-33), a heavy cruiser, was authorized 
13 February 1929; laid down by Bethlehem Steel Co., Shipbuilding 
Div., Quincy, Mass. 17 February 1930; launched 21 May 1932; 
sponsored by Mrs. Ralph D. Brooks of Portland; and commissioned 
23 February 1933, Captain H. F. Leary in command.

    Departing Boston 1 April 1933, the cruiser arrived Gravesend 
Bay, N.Y., the evening of 3 April.  The next night, she received 
word that dirigible AKRON was down at sea.  Thirty-six minutes 
after receipt of the message the ship was underway.  Racing 
seaward, she was the first naval vessel at the scene of the 
disaster, and the task of search and rescue coordination was 
thus hers.  Seventy-three lives were lost in the disaster 
including that of Admiral William Moffett, Chief, Bureau of 
Aeronautics.

    PORTLAND steamed from San Diego, Calif. 2 October 1935 
astern HOUSTON (CA-30) which carried President Franklin D. 
Roosevelt.  The following days the President and his party 
fished.  After calling at Panama and several other ports, the 
two ships steamed to Charleston, S.C. where the President 
disembarked.

    During Pacific Fleet maneuvers, PORTLAND crossed the equator 
for the first time 20 May 1936.  From thence until the outbreak 
of war, she was engaged in peacetime training and goodwill 
missions as a unit of Cruiser Division 5, Scouting Force.

   When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, PORTLAND was two 
days out, enroute Midway with a carrier group.  Through the 
remainder of December and until 1 May 1942, she operated 
between the west coast, Hawaii, and Fiji.

    PORTLAND served in Rear Admiral T. C. Kinkaid's Attack Group 
4-8 May when a Japanese invasion force was turned back from Port 
Moresby, New Guinea during the two-day battle of the Coral Sea.
When LEXINGTON (CV-2) was lost, the cruiser took on 722 
survivors.  She was in Rear Admiral F. J. Fletcher's TF 17 
carrier screen during the Battle of Midway (2-6 June) when the 
Japanese lost four of their carriers.  PORTLAND provided cover 
and support for the Marine landings at Tulagi and Guadalcanal, 
the Solomons, 7 through 9 August.  She then remained in the area 
to support the Guadalcanal operations and to protect Allied
communications lines.

    The cruiser participated in the Battle of the Eastern 
Solomons, 23-25 August, when Allied forces prevented 
reinforcement of Japanese units in the Solomons by a large naval 
armada under Admiral Yamamoto.  She then steamed south to take 
part in the Battle of Santa Cruz, 26-27 October, as one of the 
escorts for ENTERPRISE (CV-6).  Two weeks later, she 
participated in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal (12-15 November) 
which resulted in heavy damage to both forces but broke up the 
determined Japanese effort to disrupt the landing of 6,000 
American troops on Guadalcanal, to bombard Henderson Field, and 
to land reinforcements.

    During this action, 13 November 1942, PORTLAND took a 
torpedo hit at 0158 on the starboard quarter, which blew off 
both inboard propellers, jammed the rudder five degrees right, 
and jammed number three turret in train and elevation.  A four
degree list was quickly corrected by shifting ballast, but the 
steering casualty could not be overcome and the ship was forced 
to steam in circles to starboard.

    At the end of the first circle, a Japanese battleship, 
illuminated by nearby burning ships and flares, was taken under 
fire by PORTLAND's forward turrets.  The enemy returned the 
fire, but all salvos passed over the cruiser.  In the four six-
gun salvos returned by PORTLAND, she succeeded in starting fires 
in the Japanese heavy.  Then again at 0630, still circling, 
PORTLAND opened fire on an enemy destroyer at a range of six 
miles.  On the sixth salvo the destroyer exploded, rolled over, 
and sank within five minutes.

    With the assistance of Higgins boats, a YP, and a tug, 
PORTLAND anchored at Tulagi 14 November.  From there she was 
towed to Sydney, Australia for preliminary repairs prior to 
overhaul in the United States.  Following short stops at Samoa 
and Pearl Harbor, the ship arrived Mare Island Navy Yard 3 March 
1943.

    After operational training in southern Californian waters, 
PORTLAND steamed for the Aleutians late in May, arriving 11 June 
and bombarding Kiska 26 July.  After covering a reconnaissance 
landing on Little Kiska 17 August, she called at Pearl Harbor 23 
September, thence to San Francisco in early October, then back 
to Pearl Harbor in mid-October.

    From November 1943 through February 1944, PORTLAND 
participated in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaigns.  She 
next screened carriers during air strikes against Palau, Yap, 
Ulithi, and Woleai, 30 March-1 April.

    The ship then steamed with a carrier force assigned to cover 
the landing in the Hollandia-Tanahmerah area of New Guinea, 21-
24 April.  Cruising northward again the force struck at Truk 
and, in company with five other cruisers and destroyers, 
PORTLAND bombarded Satawan in the Nomei Group.

    Following this series of operations, PORTLAND steamed for 
Mare Island for overhaul, completed in time for her return to 
the western Pacific for pre-landing bombardments of Peleliu, 
12-14 September.  The cruiser supported the landing on Peleliu 
15 September, and, for the four following days, her guns blasted 
enemy positions that threatened the advance of allied forces.  
She provided gunfire support at Peleliu through 29 September and 
then steamed for Seeadler Harbor, Manus, the Admiralties.

    PORTLAND next joined a powerful force in the first heavy 
surface strike on the central Philippines.  She arrived off 
Leyte 17 October, entering the Gulf the next day--two days 
before A-Day.  For those two days her guns softened up enemy 
held positions in preparation for the landing.

    The night of 24 October, a strong Japanese force consisting 
of two battleships, one heavy cruiser, and four destroyers 
headed for Surigao Strait with the apparent intent of raiding 
shipping in Leyte Gulf.  The Japanese force advanced in rough 
column up the narrow strait during darkness, while PORTLAND and 
her sisters steamed across the top of the strait, crossing the 
enemy's T.  The Japanese were first met by PT boats, then in 
succession by three coordinated destroyer torpedo attacks, and 
finally by devastating gunfire from American battleships and 
cruisers disposed across the northern end of the strait.  The 
Japanese force was utterly defeated, losing two battleships and 
three destroyers.

    From 3 January through 1 March 1945, PORTLAND participated 
in the operations at Lingayen Gulf and Corregidor.  Arriving off 
Lingayen Gulf 5 January and bombarding the vicinity of Cape 
Bolinao, she entered the Gulf the same day and commenced 
bombardment of the eastern shore but discontinued immediately 
when a heavy suicide air attack came in.

    PORTLAND entered Manila Bay 15 February and bombarded the 
south shore of Corregidor in preparation for landings there.  
She returned to Leyte Gulf 1 March for her first availability 
for repairs, and replenishment of general stores in five months.

    From 26 March through 20 April, while conducting operations 
in support of the Okinawa campaign, PORTLAND underwent twenty-
four air raids, shot down four enemy aircraft and assisted in 
downing two others.  From 8 May until 17 June, she participated 
in the bombardment and capture of Okinawa, departing 17 June for 
upkeep at Leyte.  At Buckner Bay, 6 August, she commenced upkeep 
and training.

    With the termination of hostilities, PORTLAND was designated 
flagship of Vice Admiral George D. Murray, Commander, Marianas, 
who was to accept the surrender of the Carolines.  The ship 
steamed to Truk Atoll and there Admiral Murray, acting for Fleet 
Admiral Nimitz, accepted the formal capitulation of the senior 
Japanese military and civilian officials in ceremonies on 
PORTLAND.

    PORTLAND called at Pearl Harbor 21-24 September, there 
embarking 600 troops for transportation to the United States.  
Transiting the Panama Canal 8 October, she continued to the 
U.S., calling at Portland, Maine for Navy Day celebrations 27 
October.  She reported 11 March 1946 to the Philadelphia Naval 
Shipyard for inactivation and assignment to the Reserve Fleet.  
She decommissioned at Philadelphia 12 July 1946 and was 
maintained in reserve status until struck from the Navy List 1 
March 1959.  The cruiser was sold to Union Mineral and Alloys 
Corp., New York, N.Y. 6 October 1959 and scrapped.

    PORTLAND received sixteen battle stars for World War II 
service.





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