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USS St. Louis (CL-49)

1939 WORLD WAR 2

History of USS St. Louis (CL-49)

In 1929, the United States Navy (USN) ordered two new light cruiser battleships for its brand new St. Louis class. The series follows the earlier seven-man Brooklyn-class and aims to improve the design by incorporating a new high-pressure boiler unit with an emphasis on combat survivability. Additionally, the new class is designed to support the inherent air defense limitations of Brooklyn ships.

The St. Louis-class ships became the lead ships for USS St. Louis (CL-49) and USS Helena (CL-50).

USS St. Louis (CL-49) was ordered 13 February 1929 and awarded 16 October 1935 to the Virginia Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company. Her keel was laid on December 10, 1936, and launched on April 15, 1938. The warship was officially commissioned on May 19, 1939.

When built, the USS St. Louis displaces 10,000 tons under standard load, measures 608.7 feet in length, 61.4 feet in beam, and has a draft of 24 feet. Installed power becomes 8 x steam boiler units providing 4 x shafts for 4 x geared steam turbines rated at 100,000 hp.

The boat can go forward at a speed of 32.5 knots.

The armament was concentrated on a main turret consisting of a 15 x 6 inch gun mounted in five three-armed turrets. Three of the towers are located in front of the superstructure and two are located aft. The secondary battery consists of an 8 x 5 inch gun mounted on a dual arm mount for anti-aircraft (AA).

It was also armed with an 8 x .50 caliber heavy machine gun.

Armor protection ranges from 5" at the conveyor belt and 2" along the deck to 6" at the turret and 5" at the conning tower.

There were about 868 crew members on board, including a small wing. Aircraft on board are 4 x Curtiss SOC Seagull seaplanes, launched via 2 x stern ejection system. These planes can be recovered with cranes.

A full-service facility ensures proper maintenance and repair of these mission-critical lift platforms.

Although World War II (1939-1945) broke out in Europe on September 1, 1939, the United States was neutral from the beginning, so the USS St. Louis was mainly used for neutrality patrols in the Atlantic waters.

Finally, in November 1940, she crossed the Panama Canal into the Pacific Ocean, ending her voyage in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where she had participated in local patrols and exercises.

The USS St. Louis was one of the Japanese ships in the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, while anchored in Hawaiian waters. Her crew managed to activate her anti-aircraft guns against the incoming enemy forces, as chaos prevailed and several (three) Japanese attackers were shot down in the ensuing action. She was able to set sail around 9:30 a.m. and escaped the port carnage along with the USS Detroit and USS Phoenix (the USS St. Louis was the first large ship to leave the port).

Her luck at Pearl earned her the nickname "Lucky Lou" throughout her career in the U.S. Navy. In fact, a small Japanese submarine tried to torpedo them, and the "fish" hit a nearby school.

The surviving USS Pearl, the USS St. Louis remained active for the remainder of the Pacific campaign. On July 13, 1943, she fired a torpedo from the bow, surprisingly without casualties. Temporary repairs were made to keep her afloat and viable for follow-up. On June 15, 1944, out of anger, their weapons were used against enemy positions on Saipan.

Japanese "Val" dive bombers launched airstrikes on January 14, killing 23 and injuring 20. Then a month of repairs were done. In November 1944, she was the victim of a successful kamikaze attack (in which about 12 to 14 enemy fighter jets were involved) that killed several people.

The bravery on the ground and the thoughtfulness of the crew kept the fire out of control of the ship. The Pacific War ended on August 15, 1945, and the USS St.

Louis is now a battered but surviving veteran who served in the conflict from Bougainville, the Lett Mariana Islands, earning 11 battle stars, Led and Okinawa.

She remained in Asian waters shortly after the war, conducting mine-clearing operations in the East China Sea, and in some of these operations as part of Operation Magic Carpet, a final operation to return veterans to U.S. soil. She was decommissioned on February 25, 1946, and retired on June 20 of the same year. On January 22, 1951, she was officially removed from the Naval Register and transferred to the Brazilian Navy, where she served as Almirante Tamandare (C-12). She held the Fleet Flagship position until 1976 when she retired and entered the reserve for a second time.

In 1980, her dismantled hull was sold to Taiwan for scrapping. However, the warship encountered water on its way to the island nation and sank off the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa).