USS Pittsburgh (CA-72)
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USS Pittsburgh (CA-72) in November 1944
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 United States
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| Name: | USS Pittsburgh |
| Namesake: | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Builder: | Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation's Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts |
| Laid down: | 3 February 1943 |
| Launched: | 22 February 1944 |
| Commissioned: | 10 October 1944 |
| Decommissioned: | 7 March 1947 |
| Recommissioned: | 25 September 1951 |
| Decommissioned: | 28 August 1956 |
| Struck: | 1 July 1973 |
| Honors and awards: |
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| Fate: | Sold for scrap, 1 August 1974 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Baltimore-class cruiser |
| Displacement: | 13,600 long tons (13,818 t) |
| Length: | 673 ft 5 in (205.26 m) |
| Beam: | 70 ft 10 in (21.59 m) |
| Draft: | 20 ft 6 in (6.25 m) |
| Speed: | 33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph) |
| Complement: | 1,142 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: | |
| Aircraft carried: | 4 |
USS Pittsburgh (CA–72), originally named USS Albany (CA-72), was a Baltimore-class heavy cruiser of the US Navy. The third ship to bear this name, it was laid down on 3 February 1943 by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation's Fore River Shipyard at Quincy, Massachusetts; launched on 22 February 1944, sponsored by Mrs Cornelius D. Scully, wife of the Mayor of Pittsburgh; and commissioned at Boston on 10 October 1944, with Capt. John Edward Gingrich in command.
Pittsburgh trained along the east coast and in the Caribbean until departing Boston on 13 January 1945 for duty in the Pacific. After calling in Panama and final gunnery exercises in the Hawaiians, she joined TF 58 at Ulithi on 13 February, assigned to TG 58.2 formed around the aircraft carrier Lexington (CV-16).
The force sortied on 10 February to prepare the way for the assault on Iwo Jima. Carrier air strikes against airfields near Tokyo on 16 and 17 February limited Japanese air response to the initial landings on 19 February. That day planes from Pittsburgh's group began direct support to Marines fighting to overcome fierce Japanese resistance on the island. Final strikes against Tokyo's environs on 25 February and 1 March against the Nansei Shoto completed this operation.
The force sailed from Ulithi on 14 March to pound airfields and other military installations on Kyūshū on 18 March, and again the next day. The Japanese struck back at dawn on the 19th, with an air raid which set the carrier Franklin (CV-13) ablaze, her decks utter chaos and power lost. Pittsburgh dashed to the rescue at 30 knots (56 km/h). After saving 34 men from the water, Pittsburgh, with the light cruiser Santa Fe (CL-60), performed an outstanding feat of seamanship in getting a tow line on board the flaming carrier. Pittsburgh then began the agonizingly slow task of pulling the carrier to safety, as the flattop's crew struggled to restore power. Twice gunning off enemy air attacks attempting to finish Franklin, the cruiser continued her effort until noon, on 20 March when Franklin was able to cast off the tow and proceed, albeit slowly, under her own power. Capt. Gingrich had remained at the conn for 48 hours during the situation.
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