USS Savannah (CL-42)

USS Savannah (CL-42): Hit by History's First Guided Weapon

Commissioned on 10 April 1938, USS Savannah holds a grim distinction in the history of warfare: on 11 September 1943, she became one of the first warships in history to be struck by a guided weapon in combat. The German Ruhrstahl SD 1400 X, known as the Fritz X, was a radio-controlled glide bomb developed specifically to sink Allied warships that naval gunfire and conventional bombs could not reach. At Salerno, it nearly worked.

Savannah, a Brooklyn-class light cruiser, spent the opening years of the war in Atlantic convoy escort and participated in Operation Torch in November 1942, providing gunfire support for the North Africa landings. She continued into the Mediterranean theater, earning battle stars through the steady advance of Allied operations against Axis positions in North Africa and then into Europe itself.

At Salerno in September 1943, Operation Avalanche, the Allied invasion of mainland Italy, Savannah was providing crucial naval gunfire support when German aircraft appeared overhead. High-altitude Dornier Do 217 bombers released Fritz X guided bombs, tracking them with radio control toward the Allied ships below. One struck Savannah directly through the roof of her Number Three gun turret, penetrating deep into the ship before detonating. The explosion tore through her keel, blew out her bottom, and flooded multiple compartments. The explosion and fire killed 197 of her crew.

By all rights, Savannah should have sunk. Her crew's damage control kept her afloat. She was towed to Malta, patched enough to transit to Philadelphia Navy Yard for full repairs, and returned to service, though not until the Italian campaign was largely concluded. The Fritz X attack on Savannah and her sister ship Roma (the Italian battleship sunk the same week) was a watershed moment in naval warfare: the first successful use of precision-guided weapons against warships in combat.

Three battle stars, 197 men killed, and a ship that survived a weapon specifically designed to kill her. Tactically Acquired's USS Savannah (CL-42) collection honors the crew who held their ship together at Salerno and every man who paid the ultimate price in that turret.