USS Nashville (CL-43)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Nashville.

USS Nashville (CL-43) photographed off Mare Island Naval Shipyard in 1943
Career
Ordered:
Laid down:	24 January 1935
Launched:	2 October 1937
Commissioned:	6 June 1938
Decommissioned:	24 June 1946
Struck:	9 January 1961
Fate:	Sold to Chile in 1951, scrapped in 1983
General characteristics
Displacement:	9,475 tons
Length:	608 ft 4 in
Beam:	61 ft 8 in
Draught:	19 ft 2 in
Propulsion:
Speed:	32.5 knots
Range:
Complement:	868 officers and enlisted
Armament:	15 x 6 in, 8 x 5 in, 8 x .50 cal. guns
Aircraft:
Motto:

The second USS Nashville (CL-43) was laid down 24 January 1935 by New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey; launched 2 October 1937; sponsored by Misses Ann and Mildred Stahlman; and commissioned 6 June 1938, Capt. William W. Wilson in command. She was a Brooklyn class light cruiser.

Nashville departed Philadelphia 19 July 1938 for shakedown in the Caribbean. In early August, she sailed for Northern Europe on a good will visit, arriving at Cherbourg, France, 24 August 1938. Getting underway 21 September from Portland, England, with 25 million dollars in British gold bullion aboard, Nashville arrived at Brooklyn Navy Yard 30 September, off-loaded the gold, and returned to Philadelphia 5 October.

In the spring of 1939, Nashville carried American representatives to the Pan American Defense Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, returning them to Annapolis, Maryland, on 20 June 1939. On 23 June, she steamed westwards from Norfolk, Virginia for the Pacific via the Panama Canal, arriving at San Pedro, California, on 16 July for two years of operations. In February 1941, she and three other cruisers carried US Marines to Wake Island. On 20 May she departed Pearl Harbor for the east coast, arriving Boston on 19 June to escort a convoy carrying Marines to Iceland.

From August to December 1941 Nashville was based at Bermuda for the Neutrality Patrol in the Central Atlantic. With the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Nashville steamed to Casco Bay, Maine, where she joined with a troop and cargo convoy to escort them to Iceland. She continued escort duty to Bermuda and Iceland until February 1942.

On 4 March, she rendezvoused with the USS Hornet (CV-8) off the Virginia Capes, and then escorted the aircraft carrier to the West Coast via the Panama Canal, arriving on 20 March at San Diego. The Hornet and the Nashville steamed, under Vice-Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., from San Diego on 2 April, with the carrier laden with 16 Army "B-25 Mitchell" bombers on her flight deck - bombers under the command of Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, USAAF, for the Doolittle Raid on Japan. On 13 April, they rendezvoused with other US Navy warships north of Midway Atoll, and then they set course for Japan. When about 1000 miles away from Japan on 17 April, the destroyers of the task force were detached due to lack of fuel, and then the Nashville, the other escorting cruisers, and the aircraft carriers USS Hornet and USS Enterprise (CV-6) made a high speed dash to the air raid launching point 500 miles from Japan. The next day, the task force was sighted by a Japanese picket boat, which reported the presence of the carrier task force before being sunk by scout planes from the Enterprise. A second picket boat was then sunk by gunfire from the Nashville - but the advantage of surprise was lost. The B–25s were launched 150 miles short of the intended launching point in heavy seas. Immediately after the launch, the strike force reversed course and steamed eastwards for Honolulu. The “Shangri-La” task force returned to Pearl Harbor on 25 April 1942.

The USS "Nashville" left Hawaii on 14 May to become the flagship of TF 8 defending Alaska and the Aleutians, and arrived at Dutch Harbor, Alaska 26 May. She steamed for Kodiak, Alaska two days later to join with other units of the task force. On 3 June and 4 June, Japanese carrier planes struck Dutch Harbor. The Nashville and her accompanying warships were unable to make contact with the enemy due to heavy fogs. Admiral Yamamoto withdrew his diversionary force from the Aleutians after his defeat at the Battle of Midway. As the Japanese departed, they left occupying forces behind on Attu Island and Kiska Island in the Aleutians. From June to November 1942, the Nashville patrolled the North Pacific Ocean, and snd participated in the attack on Kiska on 7 August, in which heavy damage was inflicted on Japanese shore installations.

The USS Nashville arrived at Pearl Harbor 22 November 1942 and proceeded south to the Fiji Islands on 24 December. At Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, she became flagship of TF 67. After escorting troopships to Guadalcanal, Nashville, Helena, and St. Louis inflicted heavy damage on the Japanese air base at Munda on the night of 4 January 1943. Subsequent attacks were made on Kolombangara and New Georgia in the next several months. While shelling Vila airfield on Kolombangara on the night of 12 May, she suffered a powder charge explosion in one of her forward turrets, killing 18 and injuring 17.

Leaving Espiritu Santo 22 May, Nashville arrived at Mare Island Naval Shipyard for repairs and modernization. Departing from San Francisco on 6 August, she arrived at Pearl Harbor on 12 August to join carrier task forces for strikes on Marcus Island and Wake Island during the next two months.

The Nashville returned to Espiritu Santo 25 October and for the next seven months, she shelled targets on New Guinea and the Admiralty Islands. Againse the Japanese, the Nashville provided fire support for the landings on Bougainville Island and Cape Gloucester, New Britain. After bombarding Wake Island, 21 April 1944 – 22 April 1944, the Nashville provided fire support and carried General of the Army Douglas MacArthur to the amphibious operations at Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura), Tanahmerah Bay, and Aitape, on 22 April–23 April. On 27 May the light cruiser was a member of the assault force shelling Biak, Schouten Islands, where on 4 June, she sustained moderate damage from a near miss while repelling a Japanese air attack.

After repairs at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, the Nashville twice more carried General MacArthur and his staff to the invasion of Morotai, Dutch East Indies in mid-September. She carried General MacArthur on his return to the Philippines, for which she sailed from Manus 16 October. She provided fire support for the Leyte Island landings on 20 October, and she remained on station at the mouth of Leyte Gulf until 25 October, guarding the troops on the beachhead and the nearby transports. Returning to Manus Island for brief repairs, the Nashville left the Admiralties on 28 November as the flagship for the Commander, Visayan Attack Force, en route to the invasion of Mindoro. On 13 December she was struck by a kamikaze off Negros Island. The aircraft crashed into her port 5 inch gun mount, with both bombs exploding about 10 feet off her deck. Gasoline fires and exploding ammunition made her midships area an inferno, but although 133 sailors were killed and 190 wounded, her remaining 5 inch guns continued to provide antiaircraft fire.

The Attack Group Commander shifted his flag to another warship, and then the damaged "Nashville" steamed via San Pedro Bay in the Philippines and Pearl Harbor, Oahu, to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, arriving on 12 January 1945, for heavy repairs. Underway on 12 March, the Nashville departed westward from San Diego, California on 15 April after training exercises.

Arriving at the U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay, Philippines, on 16 May, the Nashville became the flagship of TF 74. The closing months of the war were spent providing fire support for the landings at Brunei Bay, Borneo, and protecting aircraft carriers in the Makassar Straits, Dutch East Indies. On 29 July, the Nashville made a brief sortie from Subic to intercept a Japanese convoy reported off Indochina, but the sortie was soon cancelled, ending her final wartime operation.

The Nashville, CTF 73 embarked, entered Shanghai harbor on 19 September 1945. CTF 73 hauled down his flag 17 November, and the Nashville sailed for the US West Coast with 450 returning soldiers, as part of "Operation Magic Carpet". Picking up 90 more soldiers in Hawaii, she reached San Pedro, California, on 3 December, 1945, and then immediately steamed west to Eniwetok and Kwajalein to pick up more returning troops and Marines. Nearing the US West Coast on 3 January 1946, the Nashville came to the aid of theSt. Mary’s (APA–126), laboring in heavy seas with engine breakdowns and 1800 men aboard. The cruiser took St. Mary’s in tow, pulling her to safety to the tugs at the San Francisco Lightship on 6 January, 1946.

The Nashville departed eastward from San Francisco on 21 January, 1946, and she arrived at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for a pre-inactivation overhaul. Decommissioned on 24 June 1946, she remained in reserve until 1950. After an overhaul at the Philadelphia Naval Yark, she was sold to Chile on 9 January 1951, and she served in the Chilean Navy as Capitan Prat.

The Nashville received 10 battle stars for her World War II service.

External links

• navsource.org: USS Nashville CL-43
• hazegray.org: USS Nashville CL-43
• [1]

References

• Fahey, James C. (1941). The Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet, Two-Ocean Fleet Edition. Ships and Aircraft.
•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. [2]

Further reading

• Bustin, Steven (2007). Humble Heroes: How the USS Nashville CL43 Fought WWII. BookSurge Publishing. ISBN 1419658840. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)