USS Savannah (CL-42)

History
USS Savannah (CL-42), as photographed by a blimp while underway off the New England coast 30 October 1944.42°18′N 68°22′W / 42.30°N 68.36°W / 42.30; -68.36
United States
Name:	Savannah
Namesake:	City of Savannah, Georgia
Ordered:	16 June 1933
Awarded:	3 August 1933
Builder:	New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey
Cost:	$11,677,000 (contract price)
Laid down:	31 May 1934
Launched:	8 May 1937
Sponsored by:	Miss Jayne Maye Bowden
Commissioned:	10 March 1938
Decommissioned:	3 February 1947
Struck:	1 March 1959
Identification:	Hull symbol:CL-42 Code letters:NAQL
Honors and awards:	3 × battle stars
Fate:	Sold for scrap 25 January 1966
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type:	Brooklyn-class cruiser
Displacement:	10,000 long tons (10,000 t) (estimated as design) 9,767 long tons (9,924 t) (standard) 12,207 long tons (12,403 t) (max)
Length:	600 ft (180 m) oa 608 ft 4 in (185.42 m) lwl
Beam:	61 ft 7 in (18.77 m)
Draft:	19 ft 9 in (6.02 m) (mean) 24 ft (7.3 m) (max)
Installed power:	8 × Steam boilers 100,000 shp (75,000 kW)
Propulsion:	4 × geared turbines 4 × screws
Speed:	32.5 kn (37.4 mph; 60.2 km/h)
Complement:	868 officers and enlisted
Armament:	15 × 6 in (150 mm)/47 caliber guns (5x3) 8 × 5 in (130 mm)/25 caliber anti-aircraft guns 8 × caliber 0.50 in (13 mm) machine guns
Armor:	Belt: 3 ¹⁄₄–5 in (83–127 mm) Deck: 2 in (51 mm) Barbettes: 6 in (150 mm) Turrets: 1 ¹⁄₄–6 in (32–152 mm) Conning Tower: 2 ¹⁄₄–5 in (57–127 mm)
Aircraft carried:	4 × SOC Seagull floatplanes
Aviation facilities:	2 × stern catapults
General characteristics (1945)
Beam:	61 ft 7 in (18.77 m) 69 ft (21 m) (1944 refit)
Armament:	15 × 6 in (150 mm)/47 caliber guns (5x3) 4 × twin 5 in (130 mm)/38 caliber anti-aircraft guns 4 × quad 40 mm (1.6 in) Bofors anti-aircraft guns 6 × twin 40 mm (1.6 in) Bofors anti-aircraft guns 12 × single 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons

USS Savannah (CL-42) was a light cruiser of the Brooklyn-class that served in World War II in the Atlantic and Mediterranean theatres of operation.

Savannah conducted Neutrality Patrols (1941) and wartime patrols in the Atlantic and Caribbean (1942), and supported the invasion of French North Africa in Operation Torch (November 1942). She sought German-supporting blockade runners off the east coast of South America (1943), and supported the Allied landings on Sicily and at Salerno (1943). Off Salerno on 11 September 1943, a German radio-controlled Fritz X glide-bomb caused extensive casualties aboard and serious damage to Savannah, requiring emergency repairs in Malta and permanent repairs at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. After repairs and upgrades, she served in the task force that carried President Roosevelt to the Yalta Conference in early 1945.

Savannah was laid down on 31 May 1934 by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden, New Jersey; launched on 8 May 1937; sponsored by Miss Jayne Maye Bowden, the niece of Senator Richard B. Russell, Jr., of Georgia; and commissioned in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on 10 March 1938, with Captain Robert C. Giffen in command.

Following a shakedown cruise to Cuba and Haiti in the spring, Savannah returned to Philadelphia on 3 June for alterations followed by final trials off Rockland, Maine. This cruiser, prepared to protect American nationals should war break out in Europe, steamed out from Philadelphia bound for England on 26 September, and she reached Portsmouth on 4 October. However, the Munich agreement had postponed the war, so Savannah returned to Norfolk on 18 October. Following winter maneuvers in the Caribbean Sea, Savannah visited her namesake city, Savannah, Georgia, from 12 to 20 April 1939. She got underway from Norfolk on 26 May; transited the Panama Canal on 1 June; and arrived at San Diego on the 17th. Her homeport was soon shifted to Long Beach, California.

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