Figure 1: USS Pasadena (CL-65) underway off Boston, Massachusetts, 21 July 1944. Photographed from a Squadron ZP-11 blimp, position is 42 45'N, 70 50'W. Pasadena is painted in Camouflage Measure 32, Design 24d. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 2: USS Pasadena (CL-65) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 2 May 1946. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 3: USS Pasadena (CL-65) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 2 May 1946. Among the attack transports alongside the seawall at left are USS Shelburne (APA-205) and USS Sarasota (APA-204). Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 4: USS Pasadena (CL-65) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 2 May 1946. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 5: USS Pasadena (CL-65) entering Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, during a NROTC midshipmen's cruise in the summer of 1948. The photograph was released for publication on 9 August 1948. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 6: View in the Combat Information Center (CIC) of USS Pasadena (CL-65), 21 November 1944. Note aircraft status board in the center background. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 7: Forward view taken of USS Pasadena (CL-65) at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 8 May 1946. Note crewmen working on the ship, and the many visible details of her structure, among them the two forward 6-inch triple gun turrets and two of her six 5-inch twin gun mounts. White outlines mark recent alterations to the ship. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 8: View amidships of USS Pasadena (CL-65) taken at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 8 May 1946. Note details of her structure, among them two 5-inch twin gun mounts, twin and quadruple 40-mm gun mounts, whaleboat and davits, and life rafts.The truck on shore is an international type, with Navy serial number 45742. White outlines mark recent alterations to the ship. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 9: View aft of USS Pasadena (CL-65) taken at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 8 May 1946. Note details of her structure, among them 6-inch triple gun turrets, 5-inch twin gun mounts, and Curtiss SC floatplanes on the catapults. White outlines mark recent alterations to the ship. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 10: Port bow view of USS Pasadena (CL-65) at anchor while assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet in Bremerton, Washington, 1972. Photograph courtesy of Richard Leonhardt. Click on photograph for larger image.
Named after a city in California, the 10,000-ton Cleveland class light cruiser USS Pasadena (CL-65) was built by the Bethlehem Steel Company at Quincy, Massachusetts, and was commissioned on 8 June 1944. The ship was approximately 610 feet long and 66 feet wide, had a top speed of 32 knots, and had a crew of 1,319 officers and men. Pasadena was armed with 12 6-inch guns, 12 5-inch guns, 28 40-mm guns, and 10 20-mm guns, and carried four aircraft.
Pasadena completed her shakedown cruise in the summer of 1944 and on 25 September began her journey to the Pacific theater of operations during World War II. She joined Task Force 38 at Ulithi atoll in the middle of November and for the rest of the year participated in operations against Luzon and Formosa in support of the Philippine campaign. In mid-January 1945, as the battle for Luzon continued, Task Force 38 steamed into the South China Sea and attacked Japanese installations and shipping along the coasts of Indo-China and Formosa. In February, Pasadena’s task force (now called TF 58) attacked the Japanese home islands, and then moved southeast to provide cover for the amphibious assault on Iwo Jima. Pasadena joined other major warships in bombarding Japanese targets on the island. During this time, Pasadena was assigned patrol duties as well.
After returning to Ulithi for ammunition and provisions, Pasadena’s task force began the process of “softening up” the Japanese home islands and the Ryukyu Islands for the major assault that was about to take place on the principal target of Okinawa. Pasadena remained at sea for 80 days as flagship of Cruiser Division 17 and participated in the night bombardments of Minami Daito (28 March and 10 May) and in the continuous bombardment against Japanese positions on Okinawa and Kyushu (1 April to 30 May 1945).
After again returning to Ulithi for more provisions in June 1945, Pasadena’s task force made its last attacks against the Japanese home islands in July and August, pounding coastal targets in northern Honshu and Hokkaido in anticipation of heavy resistance for what appeared inevitable, the amphibious assault on Japan. The US Navy expected tough resistance to the American landings on the Japanese home islands and, considering the terrible US casualties sustained during the assault on Okinawa (approximately 50,000 Americans killed or wounded), their expectations were probably right. But after America dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945.
After hostilities ended in the Pacific, Pasadena began occupation duties. On 23 August 1945, she became the flagship of Task Group 35.1 and on 27 August dropped anchor in Sagami Wan, Honshu, Japan. But on 2 September, Pasadena was at Tokyo Bay to witness Japan’s formal surrender to the Allies on board the battleship USS Missouri. From then until mid January 1946, Pasadena remained in Tokyo Bay supporting American occupation forces. On 19 January, the ship returned to the United States and eventually arrived at San Pedro, California, for a badly needed overhaul.
By September 1946, Pasadena was ready to return to duty and once again headed west. From November 1946 to February 1947, Pasadena participated in naval exercises in Micronesia and then fleet maneuvers in Hawaiian waters. After that, she returned to California. During the summer of 1948, the ship conducted an NROTC training cruise and then on 1 October she got underway for the Far East. Pasadena arrived at Tsingtao, China, at the end of October and continued patrolling off the coast of that troubled nation until May 1949, as Communist forces successfully completed their long fight to win control of China.
On 1 June 1949, Pasadena returned to the United States and began inactivation preparations in September 1949. She was decommissioned at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Washington, in January 1950 and remained in the Pacific Reserve Fleet for twenty years. USS Pasadena was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in December 1970 and was sold for scrapping in July 1972. Pasadena received five battle stars for her service during World War II.
