>From the “Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships,” 

(1981) Vol. 7, pp.323-324.





TUCSON



CL-98

Displacement:  6,000 t.

Length:  541’6”

Beam:  53’2”

Draft:  20’0”

Speed:  33 k.

Complement:  623

Armament:  12 5”; 16 40mm; 16 20mm; 8 21” torpedo tubes

Class:  OAKLAND



	TUCSON (CL-98) was laid down on 23 December 1942 at San 

Francisco, Calif., by the Bethlehem Steel Co.; launched on 3 

September 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Emmett S. Claunch, Sr.; 

and commissioned on 3 February 1945, Capt. Arthur D. Ayrault 

in command.



	Following outfitting at San Francisco and shakedown out 

of San Diego, TUCSON sailed for the western Pacific on 8 

May.  She stopped at Pearl Harbor on 13 May for three weeks 

of additional training before resuming her voyage west on 2 

June.  She stopped overnight at Ulithi on 13 and 14 June, 

then continued on to the Philippines, and reached Leyte on 

the 16th.  The cruiser was assigned to the screen of the 

Fast Carrier Task Force, TF 38, specifically to that of Rear 

Admiral Gerald F. Bogan's Task Group (TG) 38.3 built around 

carriers ESSEX (CV-9), TICONDEROGA (CV-14), RANDOLPH 

(CV-15), MONTEREY (CVL-26), and BATAAN (CVL-29).



	TUCSON joined the fast carriers just in time to 

participate in their final rampage against the Japanese 

Empire and its inner defenses.  On 1 July, she sortied from 

Leyte Gulf with TF 38 and headed north to the Japanese home 

islands.  On the 10th, the flattops launched planes against 

Tokyo.  On the 14th and 15th, TF 38's air groups struck 

Hokkaido and northern Honshu.  They returned to southern 

Honshu on the 17th and 18th to blast Tokyo again and then 

left the area for almost a week.  On 24 and 28 July, she 

appeared with the carriers south of Shikoku while their 

planes hit shipping in the Inland Sea.  On the 30th, they 

zeroed in on Kobe and Nagoya.  After that, they retired 

south to fuel and replenish before striking out northward.  

By the second week of August, TUCSON was off northern Honshu 

screening the carriers while their planes pounded the island 

once more.  She then accompanied them south to pummel Tokyo 

again on the 13th. Two days later, Japan capitulated.



	Though hostilities had ceased in mid-August and the 

Japanese had surrendered formally on 2 September, TUCSON 

remained in the Far East, steaming with TF 38 to the east of 

Honshu, covering the occupation forces moving into Japan.  

On 20 September, she cleared the area and, two days later, 

stopped at Okinawa before shaping a course back to the 

United States.  En route, she called at Pearl Harbor and 

then arrived in San Francisco on 5 October.  On the 23d, the 

warship headed down the coast to San Pedro, where she 

participated in the Navy Day celebration on the 27th and 

28th.  On the 29th, she shifted to San Diego where she 

reported for duty with Pacific Fleet Training Command as an 

antiaircraft gunnery training ship.  Between November 1945 

and August 1946, the antiaircraft cruiser trained about 

5,000 officers and men in the use of 5-inch and 40- and 

20-millimeter antiaircraft guns.  She interrupted her 

training duties periodically to represent the Navy at 

special events held in various ports on the Pacific coast.



	On 6 September, she entered the Puget Sound Naval 

Shipyard for a three-month overhaul to get ready for duty 

under the Commander, Destroyers, Pacific Fleet.  For the 

next two months, TUCSON trained out of San Diego in 

preparation for a fleet exercise to be conducted near 

Hawaii.  On 24 February 1947, the cruiser stood out of San 

Diego and cruised Hawaiian waters as an element of the force 

charged with the defense of the islands against an aggressor 

force moving in from the western Pacific.  At the completion 

of the exercise, the warship put into Pearl Harbor on 11 

March.  However, she got underway again on the 18th to 

participate in the fruitless search to the northwest of 

Hawaii for survivors of the wrecked SS FORT DEARBORN.



	On 27 March, TUCSON returned to San Diego and resumed 

normal west coast operations until late summer.  She again 

departed the west coast on 28 July and proceeded, via Pearl 

Harbor, to the Far East, arriving at Yokosuka, Japan, on the 

15th.  For the next two months, the warship cruised the 

waters of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea making 

observations during the Communist-Nationalist struggle for 

supremacy in Manchuria and northern China.  During that 

period, she visited Shanghai twice and Tsingtao once.  

TUCSON returned to Yokosuka on 19 October, stayed overnight, 

and sailed the next day for the United States, arriving at 

San Diego on 6 November.  The cruiser resumed west coast 

operations and, for the brief remainder of her active 

career, remained so engaged.



	On 9 February 1949, TUCSON reported to Mare Island 

Naval Shipyard to begin preparations for inactivation.  On 

11 June 1949, she was decommissioned and berthed with the 

San Francisco Group of the Pacific Reserve Fleet.  She 

remained in reserve at Mare Island until 1 June 1966 when 

her name was struck from the Navy list.  The former warship 

served as a test hulk until 1970.  On 24 February 1971, the 

hulk was sold to the National Metal & Steel Corp., of 

Terminal Island, Calif., for scrapping.



	TUCSON earned one battle star during World War II.





Transcribed by Michael Hansen

mhansen2@home.com