USS Astoria (CL-90)

Peggy Lucas breaks a champagne bottle on the USS Astoria (CL-90) on March 6, 1943 at Cramp Shipbuilding Company, Philadelphia.

Astoria was laid down at the Cramp Shipbuilding shipyard in Philadelphia on 6 September 1941 and was launched on 6 March 1943. She was originally named Wilkes-Barre, but during construction, she was renamed Astoria for Astoria, Oregon, with the hull number CL-90. After completing fitting-out, she was commissioned for active service on 17 May 1944. The ship thereafter embarked on her shakedown cruise along the western Atlantic, as far south as Bermuda, which lasted from 6 June to 23 July. She then returned to Philadelphia for an overhaul before departing to join the Pacific Fleet on 19 September. She passed through the Panama Canal and arrived in San Diego, California, on 3 October. Astoria later moved to the Mare Island Navy Yard before sailing for Pearl Harbor on 25 October. She arrived five days later and remained there through 16 November.[3][4]

Astoria underway during her shakedown cruise on 22 July

On 16 November, Astoria left Pearl Harbor to join Task Force 38, the fast carrier task force, which was at that time based in Ulithi in the western Caroline Islands. She stopped in Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands while en route and reached Ulithi on 25 November. After arriving, she was assigned to Task Group 38.2, one of the carrier battle groups that formed TF 38.[4] At that time, the unit also included The aircraft carriers Lexington, Hancock, Hornet, Independence, and Cabot, the fast battleships New Jersey, Iowa, and Wisconsin, the light cruisers Pasadena, Vincennes, Miami, and San Juan, and twenty destroyers.[5] Astoria was assigned the role of anti-aircraft escort for the fleet's aircraft carriers. The American fleet sortied on 11 December to support the invasion of Mindoro; the carriers conducted a series of raids from 14 to 16 December before poor weather on the 17th grounded the aircraft. That night, Typhoon Cobra struck the fleet and inflicted significant damage to a number of ships, sinking three destroyers, though Astoria was not seriously damaged. The fleet searched for two days for survivors from the destroyers that sank before returning to Ulithi.[4]

TF 38 sortied from Ulithi again on 30 December to cover the invasion of Luzon, striking Japanese positions on the islands from 6 to 9 January 1945.[4] By this time, TG 38.2 had been reduced to Lexington, Hancock, and Hornet, covered by New Jersey, Wisconsin, Astoria, Pasadena, San Juan, the cruiser Wilkes-Barre, and fifteen destroyers.[6] Late on the 9th, the fleet began the South China Sea raid to attack Japanese holdings in China and Southeast Asia. Astoria escorted the carriers over the next two weeks as they struck various targets in Japanese occupied China, including Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Hainan, and Formosa, and French Indochina, including the naval base at Cam Ranh Bay. The fleet returned to Ulithi on 25 January.[4]

By early February, command of the fast carrier task force had passed to 5th Fleet, and so the unit was re-numbered TF 58.[4] At that time, Astoria, Wilkes-Barre, and Pasadena were transferred to TG 58.3, which included Cabot, the carriers Bunker Hill and Essex, the battleships South Dakota and New Jersey, the large cruiser Alaska, and fourteen destroyers.[7] The fleet, including Astoria, sortied early that month to conduct a series of air attacks on the Japanese home islands, which began on 18 February. Later that day, the fleet sailed south to support the invasion of Iwo Jima, and Astoria was detached to conduct shore bombardment on 21 February. She thereafter rejoined the carriers for another round of strikes on the Japanese capital, Tokyo, and thereafter returned to Ulithi on 3 March.[4] TF 58 got underway again on 14 March to begin air strikes to prepare for the upcoming invasion of Okinawa. Astoria once again served in the anti-aircraft screen for the carriers of TG 58.3 during these operations.[8] Over the course of the next three months of sustained combat, Astoria's gunners claimed credit for eleven Japanese aircraft and partial credit for several others. Astoria returned to Leyte in the Philippines on 1 June for periodic maintenance that lasted for a month.[4]

On 1 July, she sailed to return to the fast carrier task force for another major operation against the Japanese home islands.[4] By that time, Third Fleet had resumed control of the force, so unit to which Astoria returned had reverted to the designation TG 38.3.[9] During this period, she served in Cruiser Division 17, and she was twice detached to conduct patrols for Japanese vessels off Honshu. These were carried out on 17–18 and 24–25 July.[4] For the first of these, Astoria joined Pasadena, Wilkes-Barre, and their sister ship Springfield, along with six destroyers, to create Task Group 35.1. They were sent to carry out a sweep for Japanese vessels off northern Honshu and in the Kii Channel, but they failed to locate any targets.[10] For the latter operation, Astoria was again detached to join the bombardment force TG 35.3 on 24 July, along with Wilkes-Barre, Pasadena, and Springfield. The ships shelled the seaplane base at Kushimoto that evening and later bombarded Cape Shionomisaki.[11] TF 38's operations off Japan continued through the end of July and into the first two weeks of August. On 15 August, Japan agreed to surrender and TF 38 ceased offensive operations, though the fleet continued to patrol off the coast of Japan. Astoria remained with the fleet until 3 September, when she received orders to return home. For her wartime service, Astoria received five battle stars.[4]

Astoria reached San Pedro, California, on 15 September, anchoring there until she departed to return to Pearl Harbor on 24 November. Arriving there six days later, she took part in training exercises over the following days. She left to return to San Pedro on 10 December, arriving five days later. Over the course of the following ten months, the ship cruised along the western coast of North America, as far north as Vancouver, British Columbia, and as far south as San Diego. The ship got underway for a lengthy voyage to the central Pacific on 15 October 1946, which included stops in Guam and Saipan in the Marianas Islands. On 17 February 1947, she left Guam to return home by way of Kwajalein and Pearl Harbor, arriving in San Diego on 24 March. She resumed her peacetime cruises along the west coast through September 1948.[4]

The ship departed for another overseas cruise on 1 October, this time headed to East Asian waters. She stopped in Pearl Harbor for three days while en route and then resumed her voyage across the Pacific, arriving in Qingdao, China, on 29 October. Astoria visited a number of ports in the area over the next three and a half months, including Inchon and Pusan in Korea, Sasebo and Yokosuka in Japan, and Shanghai, China. The ship left Yokosuka on 16 February 1949, bound for the United States. She stopped in Pearl Harbor on the way and arrived in San Francisco on 8 March. While there on 1 July, Astoria was decommissioned and assigned to the San Francisco Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet. She remained in the Navy's inventory until 1 November 1969, when she was struck from the naval register. She was sold for scrap to the Nicolai Joffe Corp. on 12 January 1971 and subsequently broken up.[4]