(CA-37) - USS Tuscaloosa

I'm going to try something new. Instead of talking about some gaming thing, I'm going to try my hand at putting history to paper, and spreading some pretty cool stories. I figured that I'll start with a ship that's very well known within my family, the USS Tuscaloosa.

USS Tuscaloosa (CA 37) Steaming at high speed, probably during trials in 1934. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives - 19-N-14733.

I'm going to try to summarize this ship's history, which will be a bit rough since it spans from 1933 to 1959. 26 years of service. Alright. Let's do this.

USS Tuscaloosa (CA 37) Underway on 7 October 1942. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center - NH 97938

The USS Tuscaloosa was a New Orleans class heavy cruiser, the fourth ship in the class to be launched. She had the hull number of 37, and being a heavy cruiser, was given the designation of CA. Here's a few basic stats.

Undated, pre-war Image. Starboard Bow view, in transit through the Panama Canal. Provided by Robert M. Cieri.

Name:Tuscaloosa

Namesake: City of Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Type: Heavy cruiser

Displacement: 9,950 long tons (10,110 t) 12,463 long tons (12,663 t) (loaded)

Length: 588 ft 2 in (179.27 m)

Beam: 61 ft 9 in (18.82 m)

Draft: 19 ft 5 in (5.92 m)

Propulsion: 4 × Parsons/Westinghouse geared turbines, 8 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers, 4 × screws, producing 107,000 hp (79,800 kW)

Speed: 32.7 knots (60.6 km/h; 37.6 mph)

Armament: 9 × 8-inch/55 caliber guns, 8 × 5-inch/25 caliber guns[1], 8 × .50 caliber machine guns

Armor: Belt 3–5 in (76–127 mm), Deck 1.25–2.25 in (32–57 mm), Turrets 1.5–8 in (38–203 mm),

Barbettes 5 in (127 mm), (6.5 in (165 mm) in CA-38). Conning tower 5 in (127 mm)

Ordered: 13 February 1929

Awarded: 3 March 1931

Builder: New York Shipbuilding, Camden, New Jersey

Cost: $10,450,000 (limit of price)

Laid down: 3 September 1931

Launched: 15 November 1933

Sponsored by: Mrs. Thomas Lee McCann

Commissioned: 17 August 1934

Complement: 708 officers and enlisted

Decommissioned: 13 February 1946

Struck: 1 March 1959

Identification: Hull symbol: CA-37, Code letters: NAJF

Honors and awards: 7 × battle stars

Fate: Sold for scrap 25 June 1959

Tuscaloosa anchored at Scapa Flow in April 1942. Now in the collections of the National Archives.

Her keel was laid down in 1931, and she was launched in 1933. Commissioned in 1934, she spent most of her career in the Atlantic and Caribbean, participating in several European wartime operations, most notably her participation in the hunt for the Bismarck, and her role in shelling the beaches of Normandy during Operation D-Day. In early 1945, she transferred to the Pacific and assisted in shore bombardment of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and stayed there until the end of the war in 1945. Consequently, she earned 7 battle stars for her service in World War II. Having been never damaged in a battle, she led a charmed life compared to her six sister ships, three of which were sunk in the battle of Savo Island, and the other three heavily damaged in the Guadalcanal campaign. After the war, she was decommissioned in early 1946 and scrapped in 1959.

My great grandfather served on the Tuscaloosa for the majority of WWII and the pre-war stage, and that's where I got a lot of this information.

Expect a video on this class of ship soon. ;)