5.1.16. Cruiser Marblehead 1942

From William Hawkes daily record book May 4th 1942

He no doubt read the story of the "Marblehead" in the newspaper.....

USS Marblehead

Country	United States
Ship Class	Omaha-class Light Cruiser
Hull Number	CL-12
Builder	William Cramp and Sons, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Laid Down	4 Aug 1920
Launched	9 Oct 1923
Commissioned	8 Sep 1924
Decommissioned	1 Nov 1945
Displacement	7160 tons standard
Length	556 feet
Beam	55 feet
Draft	14 feet
Machinery	Geared turbines, four screws
Power Output	90000 SHP
Speed	35 knots
Crew	458
Armament	2x2x150mm/53cal guns, 8x1x150mm/53cal guns, 2x76mm/50cal guns, 10x530mm torpedo tubes
Armor	3in belt, 1.5in deck, 1.5in conning tower

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

USS Marblehead entered US Navy service in 1924. Prior to the opening of the Pacific War, she held her shakedown cruise in the English Channel and the Mediterranean Sea; visited Samoa, Society Islands, Australia, Galápagos Islands, Nicaragua, Hawaii, Shanghai and Hankou in China, Japan; and then served with Pacific, Atlantic, and Asiatic Fleets of the US Navy in the 1930s. She was anchored at Tarakan, Borneo, Dutch East Indies when the war broke out. Sailing alongside of Dutch and Australian warships, she screened Allied shipping in the Dutch East Indies in the opening days of the war. During the Battle of Makassar Strait on 4 Feb 1942, she successfully maneuvered through three Japanese aerial attacks, but the fourth wave scored two bomb hits and one near miss, killing 15 men and wounding 84. She suffered a list to starboard, a few fires, and jammed rudder, but survived the battle. After repairs were completed at Simon's Town, South Africa between Mar and Apr 1942 and New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York, United States between May and Oct 1942, she was assigned to the South Atlantic Force based in Recife and Bahia, Brazil. She would remain in Brazil until Feb 1944, after which date she patrolled the North Atlantic Ocean until being relocated to the Mediterranean Sea to support the Allied invasion of Southern France. Upon the completion of Operation Dragoon, she returned to the United States. She was decommissioned after the war in Nov 1945, and was sold for scrap in Feb 1946.