USS Pittsburgh (CA-72)

USS Pittsburgh (CA-72): The Ship That Lost Her Bow and Kept Going

Commissioned on 10 October 1944, USS Pittsburgh was a Baltimore-class heavy cruiser that earned two battle stars, and achieved an unmatched distinction in American naval history by losing her entire bow section to a Pacific typhoon, with the severed bow floating independently for days while Pittsburgh conned herself to safety on her own power.

Pittsburgh entered the Pacific in 1945 and joined carrier task force strikes against Japan's home islands. In June 1945 she was operating with Admiral Halsey's Third Fleet when Typhoon Connie struck. The storm had been preceded by Typhoon Cobra the previous December, which sank three destroyers. Connie hit Pittsburgh harder than anything the enemy had managed.

In mountainous seas, the stress on Pittsburgh's hull reached the breaking point. Her entire bow section, approximately 104 feet forward of the break, tore completely free. The separated bow floated through the typhoon independently, was spotted by aircraft days later, and was eventually towed to Guam. Fleet personnel referred to finding it as "The Lost City of Pittsburgh." Meanwhile, Pittsburgh's crew, working a ship that now had a blunt, sheared-off forward section instead of a bow, made emergency repairs and brought the crippled cruiser under her own power to Guam. One of the more remarkable feats of emergency seamanship in the entire Pacific War.

Pittsburgh was repaired and returned to service before war's end. Two battle stars, one severed bow, one extraordinary recovery. She was decommissioned on 7 March 1947. Tactically Acquired's USS Pittsburgh (CA-72) collection honors the Steel City's ship and the crew whose seamanship kept her afloat when she had no business still being on the surface.