USS Saint Paul (CA-73)

Figure 1:  This photo of the USS Saint Paul (CA-73) is marked "Official USN Photo, Bureau of Aeronautics" and "CONFIDENTIAL." It also lists the date as 15 March 1945 and the location as Massachusetts Bay, taken from a height of 175 feet. Official US Navy Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2:  USS Saint Paul (CA-73) underway in Massachusetts Bay, 15 March 1945. Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, Maryland.  US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3:  USS Saint Paul (CA-73) in Boston Harbor, Boston, Massachusetts, on 16 February 1945. Courtesy of the U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, Maryland. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4:  USS Saint Paul (CA-73) off Wonsan, North Korea, with her guns ready for bombardment during the Seventh Fleet's siege of that major port city. Photograph is dated 20 April 1951. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5:  USS Saint Paul (CA-73) bombarding off Hungnam Harbor, North Korea, in support of the evacuation of UN forces from that port, December 1950. A U.S. Navy fast transport (APD) is inshore, at left. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6:  USS Saint Paul (CA-73) fires a salvo from her forward eight-inch gun turrets at enemy troops closing in on Hungnam, North Korea, during the evacuation of UN forces from that port. Photograph is dated 21 December 1950. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7:  USS Saint Paul (CA-73) fires her 5-inch guns at enemy installations, during the siege of Wonsan, North Korea. Photograph is dated 20 April 1951. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image. 

Figure 8:  A Sikorsky HO3S-1 helicopter lands on USS Saint Paul’s (CA-73) stern after spotting naval gunfire at Wonsan, North Korea. Photo is dated 17 April 1951. Note that the ship's after 8-inch and 5-inch guns are fully depressed. Men are working over the side cleaning or painting the hull. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 9:  USS Saint Paul (CA-73) in Chongjin harbor, North Korea, with her 8-inch gun turrets trained toward shore targets. Photo is dated 23 May 1952. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 10:  USS Saint Paul (CA-73) fires her forward 8-inch guns at enemy gun positions at Hungnam, North Korea, on 26 July 1953, the day before the Korean armistice was signed. Three shells are faintly visible in the upper right. On 2159 hours on 27 July 1953, a minute prior to the armistice taking effect, Saint Paul fired the last Navy bombardment round of the Korean War. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 11:  USS Saint Paul (CA-73) photographed during the later 1960s. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 12:  USS Saint Paul (CA-73) fires her forward 8-inch guns in support of ground troops in South Vietnam. Photographed by JO1 J. Johnson. Image was received by the Naval Photographic Center in October 1966. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 13:  USS Saint Paul (CA-73) under fire from shore batteries while bombarding the Cong Phy railroad yard, 25 miles south of Thanu Hoa, North Vietnam, on 4 August 1967. Official US Navy Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 14:  USS Saint Paul (CA-73) underway on 26 March 1968. Photographed by PH3 D.R. Hyder. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 15:  USS Saint Paul (CA-73) approaching USS Boston (CAG-1) off the coast of Vietnam, September 1968. Courtesy of John Jazdzewski. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 16:  USS Saint Paul (CA-73) approaching USS Boston (CAG-1) off the coast of Vietnam, September 1968. Courtesy of John Jazdzewski. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 17:  Actor John Wayne (top left, dressed as a Rear Admiral) on the bridge of USS Saint Paul (CA-73) circa August 1964, during the filming of the motion picture In Harm's Way. A Paramount Studios camera crew is in the foreground. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image. 

Named after the capital of Minnesota, the 13,600-ton USS Saint Paul (CA-73) was a Baltimore class heavy cruiser that was built by the Bethlehem Steel Company at Quincy, Massachusetts, and was commissioned on 17 February 1945. The ship was approximately 673 feet long and 70 feet wide, had a top speed of 32 knots, and had a crew of 1,700 officers and men. Saint Paul was armed with nine 8-inch guns, 12 5-inch guns, 48 40-mm guns, and 22 20-mm guns, and carried four scout aircraft which could be catapulted off the ship’s stern.

  

After completing her shakedown cruise in the Caribbean, Saint Paul left Boston, Massachusetts, on 15 May 1945 and steamed towards the Pacific. After transiting the Panama Canal, Saint Paul went to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and from 8 to 30 June participated in various training exercises. On 2 July, Saint Paul joined Task Force 38 and by 23 July this large carrier strike group began attacking the Japanese home islands. From 24 July to 10 August, Saint Paul escorted the carriers in the task force as their aircraft pounded targets on Honshu, Japan’s largest island. During this time, Saint Paul also used her guns to bombard industrial targets, such as the textile mills at Hamamatsu and the iron and steel works at Kamaishi. During the 9 August attack on Kamaishi, Saint Paul had the distinction of firing the war’s last hostile salvo from a major warship. Shortly after that, Japan gave up and all offensive US Naval operations ended. Saint Paul then steamed into Tokyo Bay and was present when Japanese representatives formally surrendered on board the American battleship USS Missouri (BB-63) on 2 September 1945. 

After the war ended, Saint Paul supported occupation duties in Japan until November 1945. The ship then went to China, where she continued to patrol the waters off that battered country until late 1946. Saint Paul completed three more deployments in the Far East from 1947 to 1949. During one of her overhauls in the United States before returning to the Far East, Saint Paul had her scout aircraft catapults removed and was converted to fly helicopters off her small flight deck. Modern aircraft were now appearing on the older World War II-era warships, a sign that times (as well as naval warfare) were changing. 

When war broke out in Korea in June 1950, Saint Paul was conducting a midshipman training cruise from San Francisco, California, to Pearl Harbor. She immediately disembarked the midshipmen in California and prepared to head for Korea. In late July 1950, Saint Paul joined Task Group (TG) 77.3, which was on patrol in the Formosa Strait. The heavy cruiser remained on patrol between Formosa (present day Taiwan) and mainland China from 27 August to 1 November. Saint Paul then steamed north into the Sea of Japan and joined carrier Task Force TF 77. The ship began combat operations off the northeast coast of Korea on 9 November. Eight days later, the heavy cruiser provided gunfire support to the United Nations troops advancing on Chongjin, Korea. That day, shrapnel from a near-miss shell of a Communist shore battery injured six men manning some guns. Saint Paul destroyed the enemy gun emplacement with country-battery fire and then continued on her support mission. 

As Chinese Communist troops began major attacks in late November 1950, United Nations forces in North Korea began a withdrawal south to Korea’s famous 38^th parallel, the border between North and South Korea. Saint Paul provided close support for South Korean troops on their eastern flank as they withdrew from Hapsu, and along the coast, as they retreated from Chongjin. On 2 December, Saint Paul conducted night bombardment missions north of Chongjin and then moved south to support the withdrawal of additional South Korean troops. Saint Paul steamed into Wonsan harbor on 3 December and provided gunfire support around that city so that United Nations forces and equipment could move to Hungnam.  The heavy cruiser then followed the troops to Hungnam and covered their evacuation from that port from 10 to 24 December. 

From 21 to 31 January 1951, Saint Paul conducted shore bombardment missions north of Inchon where, on 26 January, she was again fired on by Communist shore batteries. On 7 April, Saint Paul (along with two American destroyers and two US Navy transport ships) helped to carry out raids on North Korean rail lines and tunnels utilizing 250 commandos of the 41^st Independent Royal Marines from Great Britain. These highly successful raids slowed down the enemy’s re-supply efforts, forcing the Communists to attempt to repair or rebuild their rail lines by night while hiding the work crews and locomotives in tunnels by day. 

Saint Paul returned to San Francisco for an overhaul which lasted from June to September 1951. On 5 November she returned to Korea. The heavy cruiser arrived off Wonsan harbor on 27 November and began gunfire strike missions. During the next few weeks, Saint Paul bombarded strategic targets at Hungnam, Songjin, and Chongjin. In December, the ship was assigned to escort Task Force 77 and, following a trip to Japan, returned to operations off the coast of North Korea. In April 1952, Saint Paul participated in combined air-sea attacks against the ports of Wonsan and Chongjin. On 21 April, while the ship was engaged in gunfire support operations, a sudden and serious powder fire broke out in Saint Paul’s forward 8-inch turret. Tragically, 30 men died in the fire. But before returning to Japan for repairs, Saint Paul bombarded railroad targets near Songjin. After a brief stay in Japan and two more weeks firing at Communist targets in North Korea, Saint Paul headed back to the United States for another overhaul, arriving at Long Beach, California, on 24 June. 

On 28 February 1953, Saint Paul left California for her third Korean War tour of duty and was again in action by April.  Along with the battleship USS New Jersey (BB-62), Saint Paul provided close support for South Korean Army troops in an assault on Kosong. During this attack, Saint Paul was fired on many times by Communist shore batteries, with some near misses exploding a mere ten yards from the ship. But on 11 July off Wonsan, the cruiser received her only direct hit from a shore battery. Thankfully, nobody was injured and only one antiaircraft gun was damaged. On 27 July 1953, at 2159 hours, Saint Paul conducted her last gun strike and had the distinction of firing the last round shot at sea during the Korean War. The shell, which was autographed by Rear Admiral Harry Sanders, was fired at an enemy gun position. The armistice went into effect at 2200 hours. Saint Paul then commenced patrol duties along the east coast of Korea. 

In the decade following the end of the Korean War, Saint Paul served in the Far East on several occasions, including a 39-month cruise that began in 1959. Specially modified for flagship service, she was frequently employed in that role by both the US Navy’s Seventh and First Fleets. On several occasions during this period of time, Saint Paul patrolled the waters between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland, playing a major role in protecting America’s interests in the Far East.

Beginning in 1965, Saint Paul made five further western Pacific deployments and served off the coast of Vietnam. The heavy cruiser’s 8-inch and 5-inch guns were kept busy supporting American and allied troops in South Vietnam and bombarding coastal targets in North Vietnam. For her splendid record of service in destroying numerous enemy shore targets and helping to combat Communist aggression in South Vietnam, Saint Paul was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation and two Meritorious Unit Commendations.

USS Saint Paul was decommissioned on 30 April 1971 at Bremerton, Washington, after 26 years of continuous active service including combat in three wars. The ship was initially placed in reserve with the Pacific Reserve Fleet, but was sold for scrapping in January 1980. Saint Paul received one battle star for her service in World War II, eight battle stars for her service during the Korean War, and another eight battle stars for her service during the Vietnam War.