USS Vicksburg (CL-86)

USS Vicksburg (CL-86): Mississippi's Cruiser in the Pacific

Commissioned on 12 June 1944, USS Vicksburg was a Cleveland-class light cruiser that earned two battle stars in the final year of World War II. Named for the Mississippi city made famous by Grant's siege in 1863, Vicksburg carried her name into the Pacific theater as American forces were in the final stages of breaking Japan's defensive perimeter.

Vicksburg entered the Pacific campaign in late 1944 and participated in the final carrier task force operations of the war, operations against the Philippines, strikes against Japanese positions, and the carrier screening missions that protected the fast carriers as they conducted increasingly aggressive strikes against Japanese home territory.

Through 1945, Vicksburg participated in operations that included strikes against Japanese naval facilities and the sustained campaign to destroy Japan's ability to mount effective resistance. The final year of the Pacific War saw American naval forces operating with a dominance that was almost without precedent, not because the Japanese had stopped fighting, but because American industrial production and naval training had simply overwhelmed Japan's capacity to replace losses.

Two battle stars for a ship that arrived for the war's closing phase and did her part in bringing it to a conclusion. Vicksburg was decommissioned on 30 June 1947. Tactically Acquired's USS Vicksburg (CL-86) collection honors Mississippi's contribution to the Pacific War and the men who served aboard her.