USS Astoria (CA-34)

USS Astoria (CA-34): Fallen at Savo Island

Commissioned on 28 April 1934, USS Astoria was one of the first New Orleans-class heavy cruisers and one of the finest fighting ships in the prewar Pacific Fleet. Named for the Oregon city at the mouth of the Columbia River, she carried an unusual piece of history even before the war began: in 1939, she transported the ashes of Japanese Ambassador Hiroshi Saito back to Japan, an act of diplomatic courtesy that the war would render grimly ironic.

When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Astoria was at sea and escaped damage. She entered the Pacific War immediately and participated in the early carrier raids against Japanese-held Marshall Islands and Wake Island in early 1942. At the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942, she was part of the cruiser screen around the carriers Lexington and Yorktown. At Midway in June, she helped defend the American carrier force as dive bombers destroyed four Japanese fleet carriers in a single day.

The Guadalcanal campaign proved fatal. Astoria was assigned to protect the newly landed Marines on Guadalcanal and Tulagi, a critical and exposed position. On the night of 8–9 August 1942, Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa led a Japanese cruiser force through the darkness with a skill and aggression that caught the Allied screening force completely off guard. What followed was the Battle of Savo Island, the worst defeat ever suffered by the U.S. Navy in a fair fight.

In less than an hour, Mikawa's ships sank four Allied heavy cruisers, HMAS Canberra, USS Quincy, USS Vincennes, and USS Astoria, while losing no ships of their own. Astoria took multiple 8-inch shell hits that set her ablaze throughout her length. Her crew fought the fires with everything they had for hours, believing they might save her. By midday on 9 August, the fires had reached her magazines. At 1215, USS Astoria sank, taking 219 of her crew with her.

Three battle stars for a ship that fought well in every engagement she entered, Coral Sea, Midway, and the opening of Guadalcanal. The Battle of Savo Island was not a failure of her crew; it was a failure of intelligence and coordination at a higher level. The men of Astoria fought and died doing their jobs in one of the darkest nights of the Pacific War.

Tactically Acquired's USS Astoria (CA-34) collection is a tribute to the 219 men lost and every man who served aboard her. Their service at the beginning of America's Pacific counteroffensive is worth remembering.