Photo.www.navsource.org
CLASS -
Displacement 9,475 Tons.
Dimensions, 608' 4" (oa) x 61' 8" x 24' (Max)
Armament 15 x 6"/47, 8 x 5"/38AA, 8 x 0.5"
4 Aircraft.
Armor, 5" Belt, 6 1/2" Turrets, 2" Deck, 5" Conning Tower.
Machinery, 100,000 SHP; Geared Turbines, 4 screws.
Speed, 32.5 Knots.
Crew 868.
Operational and Building Data.
Keel laid on 31 MAY 1934 by the New York Shipbuilding Association, Camden NJ
Launched 08 MAY 1937, Commissioned 10 MAR 1938
Decommissioned 03 FEB 1947
Stricken 01 MAR 1959
Fate: Sold for scrap to Bethlehem Steel Co. 25 JAN 1960.
As the flagship of Cruiser Division 8,
During the next eight weeks, the cruiser helped cover British merchantmen and Allied convoys to within a few hundred miles of the British Isles, replenishing at
She joined the screen of aircraft carrier, Ranger, in patrolling north of
Savannah then sailed for readiness exercises in the Chesapeake Bay that would prepare her for the invasion of
Teaming with escort carrier,
As a boarding party from Eberle arrived alongside, powerful time bombs, planted just before the Karin's lifeboats got underway, exploded. Eleven of the boarding party were killed, but a
Savannah returned to Algiers on 10 August 1943 in order to train with U.S. Armytroops for the Operation Avalanche amphibious landings to be made at Salerno, Italy. Leaving Mers-el-Kebir Harbor, Algeria, on 5 September, her Southern Attack Force entered Salerno Bay a few hours before midnight of the 8th. Savannah was the first American ship to open fire against the German shore defenses in Salerno Bay. She silenced a railroad artillery battery with 57 rounds, forced the retirement of enemy tanks, and completed eight more fire support missions that day. She continued her valuable support until the morning of 11 September 1943, when she was put out of action.
A radio-controlled Fritz X glide-bomb had been released at a safe distance by a high-flying German warplane and it exploded 49 ft (15 m) distance from Philadelphia. Savannah increased her speed to 20 kn (23 mph, 37 km/h) as a KG 100 Dornier Do 217 K-2 bomber approached from out of the sun. The USAAF's P-38 Lightnings and Savannah's anti-aircraft gunners, tracking this warplane at 18,700 ft (5,700 m), failed to stop the Fritz X bomb, trailing a stream of smoke. The bomb pierced the armored turret roof of Savannah's No. 3 gun turret, passed through three decks into the lower ammunition-handling room, where it exploded, blowing a hole in her keel and tearing a seam in the cruiser's port side. For at least 30 minutes, secondary explosions in the turret and its ammunition supply rooms hampered firefighting efforts.
Savannah's crew quickly sealed off flooded and burned compartments, and corrected her list. With assistance from the salvage tugs Hopi and Moreno, Savannah got underway under her own steam by 1757 hours and steamed for Malta.
Savannah lost 197 crewmen in this German counterattack. Fifteen other sailors were seriously wounded, and four more were trapped in a watertight compartment for 60 hours. These four sailors were not rescued until Savannah had already arrived at Grand Harbor, Valletta, Malta on 12 September.
After emergency repairs were completed, Savannah departed Malta on 7 December 1943, bound for the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard by way of Tunis, Algiers, and Bermuda. She arrived at the Naval Yard on 23 December and underwent heavy repair work for the next eight months. During this period her forward superstructure was remodeled, 4 dual mount 5"/38 caliber turrets replaced her eight single open-mount five-inch naval guns and a new set of up-to-date 20 mm and 40 mm antiaircraft guns were installed. In addition to the new gunnery fit she also received new air-search and surface-search gunnery radars. After this refit she more resembled her half sister St Louis, than her Brooklyn-class sister ships.
Above, archival footage on the USS Savannah hit by a german glider bomb during allied disembark at Salerno Italy in 1943.