World War II As Seen Through The Eyes of United States Navy Cruisers Volume 1

This comprehensive two-volume set details the role played by the eighty-three light and heavy United States Navy cruisers that fought in World War II against the Axis Powers in the Atlantic Ocean, the English Channel, the Mediterranean Sea, the Norwegian Sea, the Barents Sea, the Bering Sea, the Pacific Ocean, the Antarctic Ocean and elsewhere. Cruisers saw extensive action in both the Pacific and Atlantic/European Theaters of operations, and fought in every major sea engagement with the exception of the Second Battle of Guadalcanal and the night action at Vella LaLavalla. During the course of World War II, cruisers performed a variety of missions including scouting, offensive strikes against surface and land targets, defensive actions in support of aircraft carriers, escorting and protecting destroyers as they executed their torpedo attacks, and escorting convoys. Sixty-six cruisers were either damaged or sunk by enemy action; twenty-three heavy cruisers were damaged by bombs, torpedoes, suicide planes or during strafing attacks and thirty-three light cruisers were damaged from the same causes. These casualties occurred during actions against aircraft, submarines, surface craft or shore batteries. In Chapter I, dates and operating theaters are co-mingled. From then on, each chapter addresses a specific year and is divided into specific theatres of operation. This work outlines the organizations that they served with and the role that each ship played, both individually and in fleet actions. Allied cruisers that served with the U.S. cruisers are also mentioned. All accounts are based on entries in individual cruisers or other ships Logs, War Diaries, and Action Reports. In addition to official records, the author has drawn on the vast body of knowledge compiled by historians over the past seventy plus years. Appendix A contains an alphabetical listing of all the United States cruisers that served at some period during World War II; Appendix B contains the same list arranged by date of commissioning. An extensive list of names of people involved, places and ships and aircraft has been compiled in the index.