USS Los Angeles (CA-135)

Figure 1:  USS Los Angeles (CA-135) photographed 21 March 1951 by PH1c Cooper. Collection of Admiral Arleigh A. Burke, USN. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2:  Sikorski HO3S-1 helicopter on board USS Los Angeles (CA-135) after it crashed while landing on the ship with Rear Admiral Arleigh A. Burke, Commander Cruiser Division Five, and Lieutenant General James A. Van Fleet, Commanding General, Eighth Army, aboard, circa June-July 1951. Amazingly, no one was injured in the accident. Donation of Admiral Arleigh A. Burke, USN (Retired), 1969. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3:  USS Los Angeles (CA-135) operating off Korea with Task Force 77, August 1951. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4:  USS Los Angeles (CA-135) "Returns to the Korean theater for its second tour of combat duty with UN Naval Forces.” Text quoted from the original picture caption, released by Commander Naval Forces Far East under date of 13 October 1952. Note that the ship's Jack and National Ensign are flying at half-mast. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5:  USS Los Angeles (CA-135), "Officers and men of USS Los Angeles honor US dead at Midway" (quoted from the original photo's caption). Photo was presumably taken off the Midway Islands. The original print bears a stamped date of 27 April 1959. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6:  USS Los Angeles (CA-135) "At anchor off Beppu, Japan. Beppu is a health resort city famous for natural hot baths." Quoted from the original photo caption. The original print bears a stamped date of 12 February 1962. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7:  "The first phase of reactivation work began today (Tuesday, December 5) aboard the heavy cruiser USS Los Angeles (CA-135) at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard. Today, yard workmen removed the ship's gun covers and prepared for all-out reactivation. When the ship is re-commissioned, probably during mid-January 1951, special ceremonies will be held and it is hoped by local Navy officials that the Honorable Fletcher Bowrow, Mayor of Los Angeles, will be present." Text quoted from the original photo caption, which was released on 5 December 1950. The ship re-commissioned on 27 January 1951, following reactivation work at Hunter's Point, San Francisco, California, where this photograph was taken. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8:  USS Los Angeles (CA-135) fires her forward 8-inch guns during a night bombardment of the North Korean coast. Photograph is dated 8 June 1951. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 9:  USS Los Angeles (CA-135) fires a 5-inch gun during a bombardment of Wonsan harbor, Korea, circa mid-1951. Note smoke ring, a feature frequently seen when firing 5-inch guns. Some of the cruiser's 40-mm guns are in the foreground. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.  

Figure 10:  USS Los Angeles (CA-135) firing her forward 8-inch guns on enemy targets at Wonsan, North Korea. Photograph is dated 15 October 1951. Note ship's hull number ("135") painted atop turret No. 2. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 11:  USS Los Angeles (CA-135), "West Coast Cruisers Capable of Nuclear Assault -- A Regulus I boils white smoke from booster charges as it roars away from its launcher aboard the heavy cruiser USS Los Angeles off San Diego. The launch, a routine evaluation 'shoot,' was conducted during the time that 600 members of the Institute of Aeronautical Science were embarked aboard the attack carrier USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14), right. The demonstration, which included a 'Terrier' guided missile interception of the Regulus, power exhibition, carrier operations, and a HUK exercise, was highlighted by the Regulus launching. The Terrier was fired at the Regulus from the USS Norton Sound (AVM-1), background, on August 7." Text quoted from the original photo caption, which was released by Commander, Cruiser-Destroyer Force, US Pacific Fleet, on 9 August 1957. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 12:  USS Los Angeles (CA-135), "Color Guard -- A four-man US Marine color guard from the heavy cruiser Los Angeles participated in opening ceremonies at the Los Angeles Coliseum during the World Series this week. The four Marines were: (from left to right) Private First Class R.D. Ott, Staff Sergeant R.L. Scroggin, Sergeant R.C. Robinson and Private First Class S.M. Green." Text quoted from the caption of the original photograph, which was released on 8 October 1959. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.



Named after the city in California, the 13,600-ton USS Los Angeles was a Baltimore class heavy cruiser that was built by the Philadelphia Navy Yard at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was commissioned on 22 July 1945. The ship was approximately 674 feet long and 70 feet wide, had a top speed of 33 knots, and had a crew of 1,142 officers and men. Los Angeles was armed with nine 8-inch guns, 12 5-inch guns, 48 40-mm guns, and 28 20-mm guns.

After her shakedown cruise off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Los Angeles left on 15 October 1945 for the Far East. She transited the Panama Canal and, after making a brief stop on America’s west coast, sailed to Shanghai, China, arriving there on 3 January 1946. Throughout the next year, Los Angeles was part of the US Seventh Fleet and steamed along the coast of China and patrolled the western Pacific. The ship returned to the United States and arrived at San Francisco, California, on 21 January 1947. Los Angeles was decommissioned on 9 April 1948 and entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet.

In response to the urgent need for ships with heavy guns during the Korean War, Los Angeles was re-commissioned on 27 January 1951. The ship completed two combat tours with the US Seventh Fleet, from May to December 1951 and from October 1952 to May 1953. While off the coast of Korea, Los Angeles’ 8-inch and 5-inch guns were used to pound Communist positions on land, from Hungnam in the east to Haeju in the west. During her second tour of duty, Los Angeles’ guns were of particular value in destroying enemy bunkers and observation posts at Koji-ni. When needed, Los Angeles also provided off-shore gunfire support for American ground operations and patrolled the Sea of Japan with the fast carriers of the Seventh Fleet. While participating in the bombardment of Wonsan late in March and in early April 1953, Los Angeles received minor damage from Communist shore batteries, but continued operations until she sailed back to the United States in mid-April 1953. The heavy cruiser arrived at Long Beach, California, on 15 May.

From November 1953 to June 1963, Los Angeles made eight deployments to the Far East where she served as the flagship for the cruiser division of the Seventh Fleet. This was a tense time during the Cold War and ships like Los Angeles were assigned to “keep the peace” and “show the flag” in a very troubled part of the world. Los Angeles patrolled the coast of Japan, the Sea of Japan, the Yellow Sea, and the East and South China Seas, and assisted in the defense of American bases in the Philippines and South Korea. She also assisted in the defense of Allied bases in Hong Kong, Australia, and Taiwan. During the Quemoy-Matsu crisis of 1956, Los Angeles patrolled the Taiwan Strait to help protect Taiwan from possible invasion from Communist China.

When not deployed in the Far East, Los Angeles was based at Long Beach and patrolled areas between America’s west coast and the Hawaiian Islands. The ship was modernized in the late 1950s and received the capability of launching “Regulus” surface-to-surface guided missiles. In the early 1960s, Los Angeles also was modernized and given a heavier foremast and long-range radar, both useful when the heavy cruiser was used as a flagship.

Los Angeles returned to Long Beach from her final deployment in the Far East on 20 June 1963. She was decommissioned at Long Beach on 15 November 1963 and entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet at San Diego, California, until she was sold for scrapping in May of 1975. USS Los Angeles received five battle stars for her service during the Korean War.

USS Huse (DE-145)

Figure 1:  USS Huse (DE-145) operating with an escort carrier (CVE) in the Atlantic area, 12 December 1944. Photographed by PHom3 Joseph W. Lehan. Huse's port side is painted in camouflage Measure 33, Design 3d(gx). Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2:  USS Huse (DE-145) photographed in harbor, circa the 1950s. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3:  USS Huse (DE-145) in March, 1962, at the Key West, Florida, Naval Annex. Photograph © Fred Weiss. Click on photograph for larger image.  

Figure 4:  USS Huse (DE-145), date and location unknown. Courtesy Robert Hurst. Click on photograph for larger image.



Named after Vice Admiral Harry McLaren Pinckney Huse (1858-1942), the 1,200-ton USS Huse (DE-145) was an Edsall class destroyer escort that was built by the Consolidated Steel Corporation at Orange, Texas, and was commissioned on 30 August 1943. The ship was approximately 306 feet long and 36 feet wide, had a top speed of 21 knots, and had a crew of 186 officers and men. Huse was armed with three 3-inch guns, two 40-mm guns, eight 20-mm guns, three 21-inch torpedo tubes, 1 Hedgehog Projector Mk10 (with 144 rounds), and a large number of depth charges.

After a shakedown cruise off the coast of Bermuda, Huse steamed to Charleston, South Carolina, on 25 October 1943. She went to Norfolk, Virginia, for additional training before joining her first Atlantic convoy there on 13 November. After escorting her first convoy to Casablanca, Morocco, Huse returned to the United States and arrived in New York City on 25 December. Huse escorted another convoy to Africa from 25 January to11 February 1944.  She was then assigned to antisubmarine patrol duties off Gibraltar with ships from the Royal Navy.

Huse returned to New York on 8 March 1944 and was given a new assignment. The ship joined the escort carrier USS Croatan’s (CVE-25) antisubmarine group, which was created for the sole purpose of hunting down German U-boats. The group left Norfolk on 24 March and scoured the shipping lanes for enemy submarines. Their efforts were rewarded on 7 April. The escorts cornered U-856 and used depth charges against the submarine until she surfaced and was destroyed by gunfire from Huse and USS Champlin (DD-601). After a brief stop at Bermuda, the group left on 12 April and continued their search for more submarines. On 26 April, aircraft from Croatan as well as Huse and some of the other escort vessels in the group spotted U-488 and quickly sank it with gunfire.
  
The antisubmarine group eventually returned to the United States and Huse was sent to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York, on 11 May 1944 for a brief overhaul. The ship left the Brooklyn Navy Yard on 3 June and re-joined Croatan’s antisubmarine group. On the morning of 11 June, Huse received a sonar contact on a submarine and began dropping depth charges. At first, Huse lost contact with the German submarine. But the stubborn destroyer escort remained in the area, searching for the enemy warship. Finally, shortly after midnight on 12 June, Huse’s radar spotted a surfaced submarine. It was U-490, which had finally surfaced after being badly damaged the day before by Huse’s depth charges. Huse and some of the other escorts in the group immediately sank the submarine with gunfire. For the next few months, Huse continued to operate with Croatan in this “hunter-killer” group and these ships deserved a lot of credit for keeping open vital ocean supply lines to Europe. The ships in the group obtained fuel and supplies from Norfolk, Bermuda, and Casablanca, and then returned to sea to search for more German U-boats. In addition, Huse rescued downed pilots from Croatan’s air group on three separate occasions. Huse arrived back at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on 2 October 1944 for repairs, after which she conducted naval exercises in Chesapeake Bay and the Caribbean.

Huse again was assigned to Croatan’s hunter-killer group on 25 March 1945. Two of Huse’s sister ships then scored a “kill” and sank a German submarine on 16 April 1945 in the Atlantic. The antisubmarine group continued operating in north Atlantic waters until returning to New York on 14 May 1945, shortly after the war with Germany ended.

In early August 1945, Huse was sent to the Pacific where she was preparing for combat against Japan when that nation surrendered. The ship soon returned to the Atlantic and was decommissioned at Green Cove Springs, Florida, on 27 March 1946. Huse was then placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.

When the Korean War crisis generated great expansion of active Naval forces, Huse was brought back into service. She was re-commissioned in August 1951 and was assigned to anti-submarine and training duties in the Atlantic and Caribbean. She also made a training cruise to northern Europe in mid-1955 and another voyage to that area in 1957 to participate in NATO exercises. Huse became a Naval Reserve Training ship in March 1960, mainly stationed at New Orleans, Louisiana. During the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, she participated in quarantine operations off Cuba. USS Huse was decommissioned for the last time in June 1965. She was part of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet until stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in August 1973, and was sold for scrapping in June 1974. Huse received five battle stars for her service in World War II.

USS Louisville (CA-28)

Figure 1: USS Louisville (CA-28) photographed during the early 1930s. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: USS Louisville (CA-28) steams past Battery Park, at the southern tip of Manhattan Island, New York City, in 1934. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: USS Louisville (CA-28) "Vanguard of Fleet Honors War Dead." "Veterans and sons of veterans stand at attention at Grant's Tomb as the USS Louisville fires a salute" (quoted from the original photo caption). These Memorial Day ceremonies took place in New York City, 31 May 1934. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: USS Louisville (CA-28) passengers from the British Motor Ship Silver Larch pose with Louisville's Commanding Officer, Captain William S. Farber, upon their arrival at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 14 March 1937. The cruiser had rescued them on the previous day from the burning Silver Larch, about 450 miles northeast of Honolulu. Courtesy of Don S. Montgomery, USN (Retired), 1987. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5: USS Louisville (CA-28) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 26 May 1942. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection at the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
 

Figure 6: USS Louisville (CA-28) steams out of Kulak Bay, Adak, Aleutian Islands, bound for operations against Attu, 25 April 1943. The photograph looks toward Sweepers Cove. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
 

Figure 7: USS Louisville (CA-28) operating in the Bering Sea during May 1943. She is followed by USS San Francisco (CA-38). Collection of Vice Admiral Robert C. Giffen. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8: USS Louisville (CA-28) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 17 December 1943. Her camouflage scheme is probably Measure 32, Design 6d. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
 

Figure 9: USS Louisville (CA-28) in a Pacific anchorage in 1944, while wearing camouflage Measure 32, Design 6d. This image has been taken from a color motion picture film. Courtesy of Don S. Montgomery, USN (Retired), 1987. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 10: USS Louisville (CA-28) is hit by a kamikaze in Lingayen Gulf, Philippine Islands, 6 January 1945. Photographed from USS Salamaua (CVE-96). Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 11: USS Louisville (CA-28) arrives off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, on 6 February 1945 to receive repairs for damage inflicted by two kamikazes a month earlier. The photograph is annotated with details about the suicide plane crashes and the damage inflicted. The ship's camouflage scheme is probably Measure 32, Design 6d. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 12: USS Louisville (CA-28) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 7 April 1945. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection at the U.S. National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Named after a city in Kentucky, the 9,050-ton USS Louisville was a Northampton class heavy cruiser that was built at the Puget Sound Navy Yard at Bremerton, Washington, and was commissioned on 15 January 1931. Designated CL-28 (for light cruiser) when built, the ship was re-designated CA-28 (for heavy cruiser) shortly after being commissioned in accordance with the provisions of the London Naval Treaty of 1930. Louisville was approximately 600 feet long and 66 feet wide, had a top speed of 32 knots, and had a crew of 621 officers and men. She was armed with nine 8-inch guns, four 5-inch guns, 6 21-inch torpedo tubes, and four aircraft.

Louisville’s shakedown cruise lasted from the summer to the winter of 1931 and it took her from Bremerton, Washington, to New York City via the Panama Canal. The ship returned to the west coast in 1932 to participate in naval exercises and was based at San Diego, California. During the winter of 1933, Louisville steamed to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and then returned to the west coast to be used as a training ship for antiaircraft gunnery while based at San Pedro, California. In April 1934, Louisville began a nine-month voyage to “show the flag” in Central America, the Caribbean, and along the gulf and east coasts of the United States. Louisville returned to the west coast in the fall of 1934 to take part in gunnery and tactical naval exercises and then in the spring of 1935 the ship sailed to Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Towards the end of 1935, Louisville returned to Pearl Harbor for yet another round of naval exercises.

For the next two years, Louisville was based on the west coast and participated in major fleet exercises in 1936 and 1937. She also made good-will visits to Latin America. In January 1938, the cruiser began a long Pacific journey that took her to Hawaii, Samoa, Australia, and Tahiti before returning to Pearl Harbor. While in Sydney, Australia, the Louisville’s crew rescued a large number of passengers from a sightseeing ferryboat which had capsized when most of the passengers crowded to the rail to wave the cruiser off.

During the winter of 1939, while World War II had already begun in Europe, Louisville participated in fleet exercises in the Caribbean. She remained in that area until May, when she returned to the west coast. Later that year, the ship left Long Beach, California, for a journey that was to take her through the Panama Canal and to various ports along the eastern coast of South America. While in Bahia, Brazil, Louisville received orders to go to Simonstown, South Africa. Although the United States was still neutral at that time, Louisville had to steam through waters infested with German U-boats. When she arrived at Simonstown, approximately $148 million in British gold was placed on board the ship to be deposited in the United States for safekeeping. Louisville steamed directly to New York City and offloaded the gold and then returned to the Pacific.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Louisville was at sea escorting American ships from the East Indies to Hawaii. She participated in American aircraft carrier raids in the central and southern Pacific in February and March 1942. Later that year, Louisville operated in the Aleutians area, where she was used as a convoy escort and to bombard Kiska Island. In late 1942, the ship was sent to the Solomon Islands and took part in the final months of the Guadalcanal campaign. In late January 1943, she was present during the major Battle of Rennell Island. Louisville was hit by a torpedo during the battle, but fortunately it turned out to be a dud and did no damage to the ship. Louisville did tow the crippled cruiser USS Chicago after the battle, until that job was taken over by the tug USS Navajo.

Louisville returned to the Aleutians in April 1943 and remained there until the United States recaptured the islands of Attu and Kiska from the Japanese. After that, Louisville went to the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, for an extensive overhaul. Once the overhaul was completed, Louisville began a long tour of duty providing heavy gunfire support for American amphibious landings. In this role, the ship bombarded Wotje, Kwajalein, and Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands from January to February 1944. After serving with aircraft carriers on raids in the central Pacific during March and April, Louisville provided invasion support bombardments at Saipan, Tinian, and Guam during June and July 1944, Peleliu in September and Leyte, the Philippines, in October. During the evening of 24-25 October, when what was left of the Japanese battle fleet tried to stop the American landings at Leyte, Louisville participated in the Battle of Surigao Strait, where the United States Navy achieved a major victory over the Japanese Navy.

After the invasion of Leyte, Louisville was assigned to escort aircraft carriers as part of Task Force 38. She participated in pre-invasion bombardments and air strikes against the island of Luzon in the Philippines. By the beginning of January 1945, Louisville was heading towards Lingayen Gulf. At the time, Louisville served as the flagship for Rear Admiral Theodore E. Chandler. On 5 January, a Japanese kamikaze aircraft crashed into Louisville, causing extensive damage. The plane hit the Number 2 turret, killing one man and injuring 59 others. One of the injured crewmembers was the ship’s commanding officer, Captain R.L. Hicks, who was badly burned after the plane exploded and started a large fire. The next day, a kamikaze crashed into the starboard side of the bridge structure, causing even more damage. Standing on the flag bridge at the time was Rear Admiral Chandler, who was badly burned by flaming gasoline after the plane hit the ship. Although seriously wounded, Rear Admiral Chandler assisted in handling a fire hose to combat the fire and then took his turn with the enlisted men for first aid. But the massive flames had severely scorched his lungs and all efforts to save him failed. He died the next day. During this second kamikaze attack, Louisville lost 31 crewmen killed and 56 wounded. But the cruiser continued to shell the beaches and shot down several enemy planes before being ordered to withdraw and sent back to the Mare Island Navy Yard for repairs.

Louisville was again ready for action in the spring of 1945. The cruiser returned to the Pacific and joined Task Force 54 and provided gunfire support for the American troops on Okinawa. On 5 June 1945, Louisville was again hit by a kamikaze. Fortunately, the damage was not too serious and there were no casualties. The sturdy ship remained on station and continued to bombard Japanese positions on Okinawa until ordered back to Pearl Harbor for repairs on 15 June.

By the time the war ended in the Pacific on 14 August 1945, Louisville was repaired and prepared for postwar duties. Louisville supported Allied occupation duties along the Chinese coast but was sent back to the United States in 1946. First arriving at San Pedro, the ship continued on to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she was decommissioned on 17 June 1946. The ship entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet and remained there for the next 13 years. USS Louisville was struck from the Navy list on 1 March 1959 and sold for scrapping on 14 September. Louisville was awarded 13 battle stars for her service during World War II.

German Auxiliary Cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich, USS DeKalb

Figure 1: Prinz Eitel Friedrich (German passenger liner, 1904) interned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, on 28 March 1917. Behind her is the liner Kronprinz Wilhelm. These ships were seized when the United States entered World War I and subsequently served as USS DeKalb (ID No. 3010) and Von Steuben (ID No. 3017). US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 2: German passenger liners Prinz Eitel Friedrich and Kronprinz Wilhelm (left), interned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, prior to the United States entry into World War I. They are still flying German flags. During 1917-1919, these ships respectively served as USS De Kalb (ID No. 3010) and USS Von Steuben (ID No. 3017). Note US Navy target raft at right. Courtesy of Paul H. Silverstone, 1983. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 3: German passenger liners Prinz Eitel Friedrich and Kronprinz Wilhelm (left), interned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, on 26 March 1917, shortly before they were seized by the United States. Photographed from on board USS Salem. During 1917-1919, these ships respectively served as USS De Kalb (ID No. 3010) and USS Von Steuben (ID No.3017). US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 4: German passenger liners Kronprinz Wilhelm and Prinz Eitel Friedrich (left), interned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, on 26 March 1917, shortly before they were seized by the United States. They are still flying the German flag, and German guns are visible on Prinz Eitel Friedrich's stern. During 1917-1919, these ships respectively served as USS Von Steuben (ID No. 3017) and USS De Kalb (ID No. 3010). US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 5: German passenger liner Kronprinz Wilhelm interned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, on 26 March 1917, shortly before she was seized by the United States. Visible on her opposite side are the masts and funnels of the interned liner Prinz Eitel Friedrich. During 1917-1919, these ships respectively served as USS Von Steuben (ID No. 3017) and USS De Kalb (ID No. 3010). Photographed by Replogle. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 6: Prinz Eitel Friedrich (ex-German passenger liner, 1904) sailors pose with empty beer barrels removed from the ship's hold, 20 April 1917, soon after she was seized by the United States. She was refitted for US Navy service at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, renamed DeKalb and commissioned on 12 May 1917. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 7: Prinz Eitel Friedrich (ex-German passenger liner, 1904) sailors on the pier at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, with items removed from the ship's hold, 20 April 1917, soon after she was seized by the United States. Empty wine bottles are specifically identified, in left center. The ship, seen in the background, was refitted for US Navy service, renamed DeKalb and commissioned on 12 May 1917. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 8: USS DeKalb (later ID No. 3010) moored at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, on 11 June 1917, the day before she sailed to transport US troops to the European war zone. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 9: USS DeKalb (later ID No. 3010) taking US Marines on board for transportation to Europe, at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, 0600 hours, 12 June 1917. Note the automobiles in the foreground. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 10: USS DeKalb (later ID No. 3010) leaving the pier at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, 0609 hours, 12 June 1917, en route to the European war zone with US troops on board. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 11: USS DeKalb (later ID No. 3010) tied up at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, after returning from France, 1917. Note sign on the lamp post in the foreground, marking the intersection of 2nd Street West and Preble Avenue. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 12: USS DeKalb (later ID No. 3010) tied up at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, 18 February 1918. Note her camouflage scheme, ice in the Delaware River, and battleships in the left background. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 13: USS DeKalb (ID No. 3010) underway, circa 1918, probably in New York Harbor. Note the pattern camouflage she wore during the latter part of World War I. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Washington, DC, 1969. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.



Figure 14: USS DeKalb (ID No. 3010) in port, circa 1917-1919, with US battleships in the background. Built as the German passenger liner Prinz Eitel Friedrich in 1904, she was seized when the U.S. entered World War I. She was renamed DeKalb and placed in commission on 12 May 1917. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 15: USS DeKalb (ID No. 3010) in port, with a small tug alongside, 1919. The original image was printed on postcard ("AZO") stock as one of the "Ship That Brought Us Home" series produced as souvenirs for service personnel returning from Europe. Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2007. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 16: SS DeKalb in the Hudson River near Sputtan Duyvill Creek, on 16 December 1919, after she had been damaged by fire. The fire broke out while the ship was lying ready to be converted to an oil burner for the South American trade. Her skeleton crew of 35 men was removed safely and the vessel beached. Built in 1904 as the German liner Prinz Eitel Friedrich, this ship served as USS DeKalb (ID No. 3010) from 1917 to 1919. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.



Prinz Eitel Friedrich was a 16,000-ton passenger liner that was built by the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin, Germany, in 1904. The ship was built for the North German Lloyd shipping company and for nearly ten years this impressive ocean liner was used to travel the major shipping routes in the Far East. At the start of the First World War in August 1914, Prinz Eitel Friedrich was docked at Shanghai, China. She was given orders by the German Navy to proceed to the German naval base at Tsingtao, China, where she was to be converted into an auxiliary cruiser.

Several guns were stripped from small German gunboats based at Tsingtao and placed on board Prinz Eitel Friedrich. After her conversion into an “auxiliary” cruiser (which basically was a merchant ship or ocean liner with some guns welded on board the ship), Prinz Eitel Friedrich was commissioned on 5 August 1914 and set sail the same day from Tsingtao to join Vice Admiral Maximilian Graf von Spee’s Far East Squadron. After meeting the Far East Squadron at Pagan in the Caroline Islands on 12 August, von Spee decided to detach Prinz Eitel Friedrich for independent raiding operations against Allied shipping. On 13 August, Prinz Eitel Friedrich left von Spee’s squadron and headed south to begin commerce raiding operations off the coast of Australia.

For the next seven months, Prinz Eitel Friedrich searched the Pacific and South Atlantic for victims. During that time, she sank 11 merchant vessels (most of them sailing ships) for a total of 33,423 tons. One of those ships was the schooner William P. Frye, captured on 27 January 1915 and scuttled the next day. William P. Frye turned out to be the first US flagged vessel to be sunk in World War I.

But by the beginning of March 1915, with her coal bunkers nearly empty and her engines almost worn out, Prinz Eitel Friedrich had no possibility of making her way back to Germany. With few options left and with British warships scouring the seas for German auxiliary cruisers, the captain of the Prinz Eitel Friedrich decided to give up. On 10 March 1915, Prinz Eitel Friedrich steamed into Newport News, Virginia, where she was interned by the United States and forced to stay in American waters for the rest of the war. Although she technically remained under the German flag, the ship was taken to the Philadelphia Navy Yard at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for storage.

But when the United States entered World War I in April 1917, Prinz Eitel Friedrich was seized by US Customs officials and transferred to the US Navy. The ship was reconditioned and refitted as a troop transport and was renamed USS DeKalb, after General Baron DeKalb (1721-1780), a hero for the American cause during the Revolutionary War. The troop ship was approximately 506 feet long and 55 feet wide, had a top speed of 16 knots, and had a crew of 534 officers and men. DeKalb was armed with eight 5-inch guns and six 3-inch guns and carried roughly 1,000 passengers. USS DeKalb was commissioned on 12 May 1917.

DeKalb was assigned to the Cruiser and Transport Force, Atlantic Fleet, and on 14 June 1917 sailed in the convoy carrying the first troops of the American Expeditionary Forces to France. During the next 18 months, DeKalb made 11 such voyages, carrying 11,334 soldiers safely to Europe. After the war ended, she continued her transport duties returning 20,332 troops from Europe back to the United States in eight voyages. On 6 September 1919, the troop ship was turned over to the Commandant, Third Naval District. USS DeKalb was decommissioned on 22 September 1919 and returned to the Shipping Board for disposal the following day. The ship was sold to a private shipping company and was called SS DeKalb, but after 1920 she was re-named Mount Clay. After briefly operating for the United American Lines during the first half of the 1920s, the ship was laid up. She was scrapped in 1934.

Thus ended the strange career of a ship that started its life as a German ocean liner, was converted by the Germans into an armed auxiliary cruiser with 11 “kills” to her credit, then became an American troop transport, and ended her days as an ocean liner with an American company. But DeKalb also showed how important troop transports were to the war effort. The only way to transport large numbers of troops and equipment was still by sea and ships like DeKalb proved to be invaluable to the Allies during World War I.

USS Perkins (DD-877, DDR-877, DD-877)

Figure 1: USS Perkins (DDR-877) leading other ships of Destroyer Division Eleven, Pacific Fleet, circa 1954-1955. The next ship astern is USS Orleck (DD-886). Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 2: USS Perkins (DD-877) at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, 30 January 1947. Note the tripod mainmast and extra antennas fitted for her role as a radar picket destroyer. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 3: USS Perkins (DD-877) at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, 30 January 1947. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 4: USS Perkins (DD-877) at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, 30 January 1947. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 5: USS Perkins (DDR-877) operating off the coast of Korea, 26 August 1951. Photographed by McClure, of USS Sicily (CVE-118). Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 6: USS Perkins (DDR-877) underway, circa 1953. This image was received by the Naval Photographic Center in December 1959, but was taken several years earlier, soon after removal of her mainmast and replacement of her 40mm guns with 3-inch twin mounts. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 7: USS Perkins (DDR-877) refueling at sea from USS Yorktown (CVA-10), August 1953. Photographed by W.L. Pooler. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 8: USS Perkins (DD-877) underway following her FRAM II modernization, circa the mid-1960s. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 9: Seventh Fleet ships replenishing in the South China Sea, May 1969. Photographed by PH1 Long. Ships present are (from front to back): USS Wiltsie (DD-716); USS Tappahannock (AO-43); USS Oriskany (CVA-34); USS Mars (AFS-1); and USS Perkins (DD-877). Official US Navy Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 10: Jacket patch of USS Perkins’ (DD-877) insignia used during the 1960s. Courtesy of Captain G.F. Swainson, USN, 1969. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.



Named after US Navy Commodore George H. Perkins (1836-1899), the 3,479-ton USS Perkins (DD-877) was a Gearing class destroyer that was built by the Consolidated Steel Corporation at Orange, Texas, and was commissioned on 5 April 1945. The ship was approximately 390 feet long and 40 feet wide, had a top speed of 35 knots, and had a crew of 345 officers and men. As built, Perkins was armed with six 5-inch guns, 12 40-mm guns, five 21-inch torpedo tubes, and depth charges, although this armament changed in later years.

Right after being commissioned in April 1945, Perkins was converted into a radar picket destroyer, work that was completed in July. In the middle of August 1945, when Japan agreed to surrender, Perkins was at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Continuing on to Tokyo Bay, where she arrived in early September, she operated in the western and central Pacific until April 1946. Two more Far Eastern deployments took place in 1947 and 1949. In 1948 she went to the Marshall Islands for atomic weapons tests. While in Chinese waters in February 1949, she was re-designated DDR-877, a belated recognition of the radar picket capabilities she had received some three and a half years earlier.

In mid-1950, Perkins began operating in the central Pacific. During the Korean War, she was assigned to aircraft carrier escort and shore bombardment missions from February to September 1951. A second combat deployment followed in 1952, during which she suffered the loss of one crewman when enemy shore battery shells exploded next to her off Kojo, Korea, on 15 October. For the rest of the decade, and into the early 1960s, Perkins regularly served with the Seventh Fleet in the often tense Far Eastern waters, and operated elsewhere in the Pacific.

Between March and December 1962, Perkins was converted to FRAM II configuration, trading her special radar picket gear and 3-inch guns for anti-submarine torpedo tubes and the capability of operating drone anti-submarine helicopters (DASH). Her designation reverted to DD-877 while this work was in progress. The updated destroyer began her next series of Seventh Fleet cruises in October 1963, continuing them nearly to the end of her US Navy career. Perkins performed Vietnam War carrier escort, bombardment and search-and-rescue duties during deployments in 1966 to 1967, 1967 to 1968, 1969 and 1970 to 1971. Assigned to Naval Reserve training service after her last western Pacific visit, she spent most of 1971 and all of 1972 operating along the U.S. West Coast, with additional trips to Alaska and Hawaii. USS Perkins was decommissioned in mid-January 1973 and was transferred to Argentina. Renamed Comodore Py, she served in that nation's navy until 1984, when she was scrapped.