USS Portland (CL/CA–33) was the lead ship of the Portland class of cruiser and the first ship of the United States Navy named after the city of Portland, Maine. Launched in 1932, she completed a number of training and goodwill cruises in the interwar period before seeing extensive service during World War II, beginning with the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942, where she escorted the aircraft carrier and picked up survivors from the sunken carrier . She screened for Yorktown again in the Battle of Midway, picking up her survivors as well. She then supported the carrier during the initial phase of the Guadalcanal campaign later that year, and was torpedoed during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. The torpedo inflicted heavy damage which put her out of action for six months as she was repaired in Sydney, Australia, and later San Diego, California.
Returning to combat in mid-1943, Portland saw action in many of the major engagements of the Pacific War, conducting shore bombardments in support of campaigns at the Aleutian Islands, Gilbert and Marshall Islands, Mariana Islands, and New Guinea. She was involved in the October 1944 Battle of Leyte Gulf, engaging Japanese ships in the decisive Battle of Surigao Strait. She then conducted shore bombardments at Lingayen Gulf and Corregidor Island, and in 1945 supported landings during the Battle of Okinawa until the end of the war.
Following World War II, Portland accepted the Japanese surrender in the Caroline Islands and then undertook several Operation Magic Carpet cruises to bring U.S. troops home. She was decommissioned in 1946 and scrapped by 1962. In her extensive service she accrued 16 battle stars, making her one of the most decorated ships in the U.S. fleet.
Design and construction
Portland was the lead ship of the third class of "treaty cruisers" to be constructed by the United States Navy following the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, following the two vessels of the ordered in 1926 and the six vessels of the ordered in 1927. Ordered for the U.S. Navy in Fiscal Year 1930. Portland was originally designated as a light cruiser, because of her thin armor, and given the hull classification symbol CL-33. She was reclassified a heavy cruiser, because of her 8-inch guns, with the symbol CA-33 on 1 July 1931, in accordance with the London Naval Treaty.
Portland was designed for a standard displacement of , and a full-load displacement of . However, Portland only displaced when completed. In 1943, a light tripod was added forward of the second funnel on the ship, and a prominent fire-control director was installed aft.
Her four Parsons GT geared turbines each drove a propeller shaft using steam provided by eight Yarrow boilers. Portlands power plant generated and she had a designed maximum speed of . The ship reached, however, on sea trials. She rolled badly until fitted with bilge keels. Portland was designed for a range of at .
The ship was armed with a main battery of nine Mark 9 8"/55 caliber guns arrayed in three triple mounts, a superfiring pair forward and one aft. She was armed with eight 5"/25 caliber guns for anti-aircraft defense, and she also had two QF 3 pounder Hotchkiss saluting guns. In 1945, her anti-aircraft defenses were upgraded, receiving 24 Bofors 40 mm guns which were arranged in four quad mounts and four twin mounts. Portland was also upgraded with seventeen Oerlikon 20 mm cannons.
She was originally designed with of armor for deck and side protection, but during construction her armor was increased. As completed, the ship was protected with of belt armor which increased to around the magazines. Her armor was between and thick on the transverse bulkheads, while armor on her main deck was thick. Armor on her barbettes was thick, armor on her gunhouses was thick, and armor on her conning tower was thick.
Additionally, Portland-class cruiser USS Indianapolis CA-35 was designed with space to be outfitted as a fleet flagship, with accommodations for an Admiral and his staff to operate. The class also featured two aircraft catapult amidships, and she could carry four aircraft which were stored in a hangar. Her total crew complement varied, with a regular designed crew complement of 848, a wartime complement of 952, and a complement 1,229 when the cruiser was operating as a fleet flagship.
Portland was laid down by Bethlehem Steel at its Quincy Shipyard on 17 February 1930. The machinery was provided by the builders. Portland was launched on 21 May 1932 and commissioned on 23 February 1933. She was the first ship named for the city of Portland, Maine, and sponsored by the daughter of Mayor Ralph D. Brooks of Portland, and with Captain Herbert F. Leary as her first commander. Her sailors would later nickname her "Sweet Pea."
Service history
Departing Boston on 1 April 1933, the cruiser arrived Gravesend Bay, New York late in the day on 3 April. The next evening, she was dispatched on her first assignment to the scene of the airship , which had crashed at sea. Thirty six minutes after receiving the message, she was underway and en route to the crash site. She was the first Navy vessel on scene, and began coordinating the search and rescue effort with other ships arriving. In spite of her efforts, 73 were killed in the crash, including Admiral William Moffett, Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics.
Portland steamed from San Diego, California, on 2 October 1935 along with , which was carrying President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The president spent much of his trip fishing with his party. After visiting Panama and several other ports, the two ships steamed to Charleston, South Carolina, where the President disembarked. Portland spent the remainder of the interwar era with the Scouting Force, Cruiser Division 5 and later in the United States Pacific Fleet conducting peacetime training and a number of goodwill missions. She crossed the equator for the first time on 20 May 1936 during fleet maneuvers.
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Portland was two days away, en route to Midway Atoll as part of a carrier group escorting aircraft carrier . From December 1941 to 1 May 1942, she operated between the West Coast, Hawaii, and Fiji on patrol.
Battle of Coral Sea
Portland joined Task Force 17 (TF 17), commanded by Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher and centered around the carrier escorted by Portland as well as cruisers and plus the destroyers , , , , , and and oiler and Tippecanoe. TF 17 departed Tongatabu on 27 April en route to the Coral Sea. On the morning of 1 May, TF 17 joined with Task Force 11 (TF 11) about northwest of New Caledonia. TF 17 completed refueling the next day, but TF 11 reported that they would not be finished fueling until 4 May. Fletcher elected to take TF 17 northwest towards the Louisiades.
At 17:00 on 3 May, Fletcher was notified that a force of Japanese troops had been sighted at Tulagi the day before, approaching the southern Solomons. TF 17 changed course and proceeded at towards Guadalcanal to launch airstrikes against the Japanese forces at Tulagi the next morning. On 4 May, from a position south of Guadalcanal (), TF 17 launched airstrikes against Japanese forces off Tulagi. After recovering its aircraft late in the evening of 4 May, TF17 retired towards the south. The next morning, TF 17 rendezvoused with TF 11 and Task Force 44 (TF 44) at a predetermined point south of Guadalcanal (). Prompted by reports the Japanese would attack Port Moresby, the force moved to the Louisiades to engage the Japanese the next day. Portland was assigned to Task Group 17.2 under Rear Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid together with cruisers , , Astoria, Chester, and five destroyers from Destroyer Squadron One. She screened for Yorktown throughout the operation, including during Japanese air attacks on the two carriers on 8 May. Following the battle, she was to escort the damaged Lexington, but after fires on that carrier became uncontrollable she was abandoned and sunk. Portland took on 722 of her survivors. She suffered no casualties herself, though at least four of her sailors were transferred to the Neosho shortly before the battle and were lost when that ship was sunk.
Battle of Midway
After brief repairs at Tongatabu, Portland took on a new commander, Captain Laurance T. DuBose. She then steamed for Pearl Harbor escorting Yorktown, before heading to Midway Atoll to set a trap for Japanese forces attacking there. On 4 June, after Dive-Bombers from carriers Yorktown and had sunk three Japanese carriers, aircraft from Japanese carrier Hiryū responded with an attack on Yorktown that afternoon. Portland was to her port, providing anti-aircraft defense along with cruisers and . A Japanese air attack came at 14:00 and another after 16:30, and Yorktown was struck several times with torpedoes. With increasing damage, the carrier was abandoned and its survivors picked up by five destroyers and then transferred to Portland. In all, 2,046 of Yorktown'''s crew transferred to the cruiser. She then steamed toward Pearl Harbor and met the submarine tender and transferred the Yorktown survivors aboard her on 6 June. During 7 June she searched for downed naval aviators and the next day joined the group of carrier . They steamed for the Aleutian Islands to counter a Japanese force there but were recalled to Pearl Harbor two days later.
Guadalcanal campaign Portland accompanied the invasion fleet to Guadalcanal, escorting Enterprise. She remained off the coast protecting the landings at Tulagi and Guadalcanal from 7–9 August. In this duty, she missed the Battle of Savo Island and withdrew two days later following Enterprise. She then remained in the area to support the Guadalcanal operations and to protect communications lines for the attacking forces.
Remaining with Enterprise, she later participated in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. On 24 August she was posted to air defense to the port of Enterprise, and though she and her sisters were able to down a number of Japanese aircraft, the carrier was hit at 18:34. She continued to protect the carrier through 25 August, when Allied forces prevented reinforcement of Japanese units in the Solomons by a large naval armada under Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. Following the battle she escorted Enterprise to Pearl Harbor and was then ordered on a secret mission to the Gilbert Islands to conduct a raid on Tarawa with light cruiser . She took aboard Rear Admiral Mahlon S. Tisdale and was designated Task Unit 16.9.1. Between 14:10 and 14:51 on 15 October she attacked Japanese ships near the island, damaging a transport and a destroyer and suffering one damaged aircraft before she withdrew and rejoined the Enterprise task group near the Solomons.
She then steamed south to take part in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands as one of the escorts for Enterprise. The carrier came under heavy air attack at 10:12 on 24 October, and Portland suffered her first wartime damage as one of her guns exploded in firing and again when one of her AA guns depressed too low and damaged the splinter shield, injuring 19 men. In heavy fighting Enterprise was hit once but Portland and the task group shot down several aircraft. At 11:53 the bridge lost control of steering, and before it could regain control, a Japanese submarine was spotted. The submarine struck Portland with three torpedoes, but none detonated, likely because the submarine had fired too close and they had no time to arm.