USS Dayton (CL-105)

USS Dayton (CL-105): Ohio's Cruiser at War's End

Commissioned on 7 January 1945, USS Dayton was a Cleveland-class light cruiser that arrived in the Pacific at the war's final stage. Named for Ohio's city of aviation heritage, where the Wright brothers had built their first aircraft, Dayton carried that pioneering American spirit into the Pacific campaign's final months.

Dayton entered the Pacific just as American forces were making their final push against Japan. She participated in carrier task force operations during the spring and summer of 1945, the same period when the Army Air Forces' B-29s were firebombing Japanese cities and carrier aviation was conducting strikes against Japanese naval and military targets throughout the home islands.

One battle star for service during the war's conclusion. Dayton was present for operations that included the sustained campaign to break Japan's industrial and military capacity. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 and Japan's subsequent surrender brought the war to an end before the planned invasion of the home islands, an invasion that would have involved ships like Dayton in some of the most costly combat of the entire war.

Dayton was decommissioned on 7 March 1949. One battle star for a ship that arrived in time to participate in the end of the greatest naval war in American history. Named for the city of the Wright brothers, she served in an era when naval aviation had proven it could win wars. Tactically Acquired's USS Dayton (CL-105) collection honors Ohio's contribution and the crew who served in the war's final push.