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Part of USS New Orleans found
Posted on 7/9/25 at 11:34 pm
Posted on 7/9/25 at 11:34 pm
SIAP (I looked), but part of the heavy cruiser U.S.S. New Orleans ( CA-32, Wikipedia) has been found. Its bow section, blown off by a Japanese torpedo during WWII, has been located on the ocean floor.
Source: CNN
The ship in better times:
And lacking its bow, back to Turret I, but still afloat:
Yes, she made it back to the U.S., got a new bow, and continued to serve. Would have been nice to have her as a NOLA (larger) counterpart to the U.S.S. Kidd in Baton Rouge. Quite a testament to the bravery and ingenuity of the U.S. sailors and the skill and care of the U.S. naval architects and shipyard workers.
quote:
More than 80 years ago, the crew of the USS New Orleans, having been hit by a Japanese torpedo and losing scores of sailors, performed hasty repairs with coconut logs, before a 1,800-mile voyage across the Pacific in reverse. The front of the ship, or the bow, had sunk to the sea floor. But over the weekend, the Nautilus Live expedition from the Ocean Exploration Trust located it in 675 meters (2,214 feet) of water in Iron Bottom Sound in the Solomon Islands.
Source: CNN
The ship in better times:
And lacking its bow, back to Turret I, but still afloat:
Yes, she made it back to the U.S., got a new bow, and continued to serve. Would have been nice to have her as a NOLA (larger) counterpart to the U.S.S. Kidd in Baton Rouge. Quite a testament to the bravery and ingenuity of the U.S. sailors and the skill and care of the U.S. naval architects and shipyard workers.
This post was edited on 7/10/25 at 8:51 am
16
Posted on 7/9/25 at 11:47 pm to NOLATiger163
Thank you for this.
Posted on 7/9/25 at 11:57 pm to NOLATiger163
Cool stuff there.
Posted on 7/10/25 at 12:10 am to NOLATiger163
Same thing happened to USS Minneapolis and Pittsburg. Seems to have been a design flaw in that class. Or maybe a feature, since they stayed afloat.
Posted on 7/10/25 at 12:24 am to NOLATiger163
She took a licking but kept on shipping.
Posted on 7/10/25 at 6:14 am to NOLATiger163
quote:
The front of the ship, or the bow, had sunk to the sea floor. But over the weekend, the Nautilus Live expedition from the Ocean Exploration Trust located it in 675 meters (2,214 feet) of water in Iron Bottom Sound in the Solomon Islands.
Could the bow or a section be raised or preserved in a way and put as an exhibit at the World War II Museum.
Maybe put a section in a large tank as testament of where some of these ships ended up.
This post was edited on 7/10/25 at 6:19 am
Posted on 7/10/25 at 6:15 am to NOLATiger163
Great history lesson! I was unaware, thanks again for sharing. “We’re going home…in reverse!”
Posted on 7/10/25 at 6:24 am to NOLATiger163
My grandpa was on a sister ship, uss san Francisco, during that guadalcanal time. Fun fact, the N.O. was finishing up in dry dock on 12/7/41, it had weapons but no ammo, the San Fran was moored next to it and the weapons removed but ammo still on board. Folks ran ammo to the NO during the attack.
Posted on 7/10/25 at 6:35 am to NOLATiger163
I heard a story a while back about the ship’s bow getting blown off. The bow veered away from the ship but then turned back into it and collided with the ship. They used to say it was the only ship in the Navy that rammed itself. I think it was the New Orleans but my memory could be failing me.
Posted on 7/10/25 at 7:22 am to holmesbr
quote:
My grandpa was on a sister ship, uss san Francisco, during that guadalcanal time. Fun fact, the N.O. was finishing up in dry dock on 12/7/41, it had weapons but no ammo, the San Fran was moored next to it and the weapons removed but ammo still on board. Folks ran ammo to the NO during the attack.
I always heard that this where the phrase "Praise the Lord and pass the ammo" came from.
Posted on 7/10/25 at 7:26 am to NOLATiger163
What a great story. They don't make them like they used to (the MEN and the ships)
Posted on 7/10/25 at 7:26 am to NOLATiger163
quote:
Quite a testament to the bravery and ingenuity of the U.S. sailors
Yes, nothing like gazing into the black abyss of death to get oneself motivated.
Posted on 7/10/25 at 8:38 am to NOLATiger163
Ole girl still in better shape than her namesake city.
Posted on 7/10/25 at 8:45 am to NOLATiger163
Thanks for posting this. I had only heard the of the shop not the story behind the ship. Fantastic. Will certainly pick up the book, Hell at Tassafaronga, for more on the story. I would love to see a special section at the WW II Museum on this story. Thank you.
Posted on 7/10/25 at 8:50 am to NOLATiger163
What ever happened to the ship? Scrapped?
Posted on 7/10/25 at 9:04 am to Chicken
quote:
What ever happened to the ship? Scrapped?
Per Wikipedia, which I think is correct (ETA--it's copied from the official DANFS):
quote:
After similar duty took her to Guam in January 1946, she sailed through the Panama Canal for a 10-day visit to her namesake city. She then steamed to Philadelphia Navy Yard, arriving on 12 March. There, she was decommissioned on 10 February 1947 and lay in reserve until struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 March 1959 and sold for scrapping on 22 September to Boston Metals Company, Baltimore, Maryland.
The Navy retained in service some of the WWII cruisers for many years, and others were sold off, some to South American countries, where they continued to serve. The New Orleans, being one of the older ones, made less sense to keep around. I think my 1989-90 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships lists two or three still in service in countries like Brazil and Argentina. Some of you may remember that the former U.S.S. Phoenix became the Argentine General Belgrano, which the Brits torpedoed in 1982 after Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands.
[ETA]
Mardi Gras 1946 was on March 5, so the last hurrah for the ship and crew, before going to retirement and eventual scrapping in Philly, may well have been that ten-day visit to her namesake city between January 1946 and March 12, 1946. Did she depart Ash Wednesday, after the Shore Patrol got the last celebrating sailors aboard? I hope they enjoyed some well-deserved R&R.
This post was edited on 7/10/25 at 11:48 am
Posted on 7/10/25 at 10:18 am to Jim Rockford
quote:
Same thing happened to USS Minneapolis and Pittsburg. Seems to have been a design flaw in that class. Or maybe a feature, since they stayed afloat.
The navy design philosophy at the time was "All or Nothing". It primarily applied to battleships but carried over to lesser armored ships. Instead of using lesser degrees of armor over lesser critical parts of the ship, it was determined to armor all critical equipment up to standard and use nothing on spaces that were not critical.
They used "soft bows". They mainly contained anchor chains.
Posted on 7/10/25 at 10:57 am to NOLATiger163
She was a good-looking ship.
Posted on 7/10/25 at 11:12 am to GasMan
It would have been really nice to have her as part of the WW2 Museum, but she was an older CA in mothballs that had heavy wartime service and was scrapped at the same time as the rebuilt battleship survivors of Pearl Harbor (Tennessee, California, West Virginia, and Colorado)
Remember, in 1959 the only WW2 warship saved as a memorial was Texas and that was because Chester Nimitz was CNO when the ships were chosen for the Bikini Atoll atom bomb tests.
Hell, they couldn't come up with the money to save Enterprise in 1959.
Remember, in 1959 the only WW2 warship saved as a memorial was Texas and that was because Chester Nimitz was CNO when the ships were chosen for the Bikini Atoll atom bomb tests.
Hell, they couldn't come up with the money to save Enterprise in 1959.
Posted on 7/10/25 at 12:01 pm to NOLATiger163
Im 15 years late to the party but the series The Pacific (2010) on Netflix is extremely well done. Follows Eugene Sledge of Mobile, Alabama and “Snafu” a guy from Louisiana as main characters.
Excellent series and based off Sledge’s memoirs. Those baws went through multiple layers of hell. Truly a different generation of men.
Excellent series and based off Sledge’s memoirs. Those baws went through multiple layers of hell. Truly a different generation of men.
This post was edited on 7/10/25 at 1:35 pm
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