USS Houston CA-30

USS Houston. 

USS Houston (CL/CA-30), was a Northampton-class cruiser of the United States Navy. She was the second Navy ship to bear the name "Houston".

She was launched by Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia, on 7 September 1929, sponsored by Elizabeth Holcombe (daughter of Oscar Holcombe, then-mayor of Houston, Texas), and commissioned on 17 June 1930.

The ship was originally classified as a light cruiser (hull number CL-30) because of her thin armor. Houston was redesignated a heavy cruiser (CA-30) on 1 July 1931, as the provisions of the 1930 London Naval Treaty considered ships with 8-inch (20.3 cm) main guns to be heavy cruisers. 

USS Cuttlefish SS-171

USS Cuttlefish SS-171, underway, circa mid-1943, while serving on training duty out of New London, Connecticut. 

USS Cuttlefish (SC-5/SS-171), a Cachalot-class submarine and one of the "V-boats," was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the cuttlefish. Her keel was laid down by Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 21 November 1933 sponsored by Mrs. B. S. Bullard, and commissioned on 8 June 1934, Lieutenant Commander Charles W. "Gin" Styer in command. Cuttlefish was the first submarine built entirely at Electric Boat's facility in Groton, Connecticut; construction of previous Electric Boat designs had been subcontracted to other shipyards, notably Fore River Shipbuilding of Quincy, Massachusetts. Four Peruvian R-class submarines had previously been finished in Groton, using material from cancelled S-boats salvaged from Fore River.

USS Barracuda SS-163

USS Barracuda SS-163.

USS Barracuda (SF-4/SS-163), lead ship of her class and first of the "V-boats," was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the barracuda (after USS F-2). 

USS South Dakota BB-57

South Dakota BB-57.

USS South Dakota (BB-57) was the lead vessel of the four South Dakota-class fast battleships built for the United States Navy in the 1930s. The first American battleships designed after the Washington treaty system began to break down in the mid-1930s, the South Dakotas were able to take advantage of a treaty clause that allowed them to increase the main battery to 16-inch (406 mm) guns. However, congressional refusal to authorize larger battleships kept their displacement close to the Washington limit of 35,000 long tons (35,562 t). A requirement to be armored against the same caliber of guns as they carried, combined with the displacement restriction, resulted in cramped ships. Overcrowding was exacerbated by wartime modifications that considerably strengthened their anti-aircraft batteries and significantly increased their crews.

South Dakota saw extensive action during World War II; immediately upon entering service in mid-1942, she was sent to the south Pacific to reinforce Allied forces waging the Guadalcanal campaign. The ship was damaged in an accidental grounding on an uncharted reef, but after completing repairs she returned to the front, taking part in the Battle of Santa Cruz in October and the Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in November. During the latter action, electrical failures hampered the ability of the ship to engage Japanese warships and she became the target of numerous Japanese vessels, sustaining over two-dozen hits that significantly damaged her superstructure but did not seriously threaten her buoyancy. South Dakota returned to the United States for repairs that lasted into 1943, after which she was briefly deployed to strengthen the British Home Fleet, tasked with protecting convoys to the Soviet Union.

In mid-1943, the ship was transferred back to the Pacific, where she primarily operated with the fast carrier task force, contributing her heavy anti-aircraft armament to its defense. In this capacity, she took part in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign in late 1943 and early 1944, the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign in mid-1944, and the Philippines campaign later that year. In 1945, she participated in the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and bombarded Japan three times. Following the end of the war in August 1945, she took part in the initial occupation of the country before returning to the United States in September. She later moved to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, where she was laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet until 1962, when she was sold for scrap. 

USS Scorpion SS-278

Scorpion SS-278 launch in 1942.

USS Scorpion (SS-278) – a Gato-class submarine – was the fifth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the scorpion.

Scorpion′s keel was laid down at the Portsmouth Navy Yard at Kittery, Maine, on 20 March 1942. She was launched on 20 July 1942, sponsored by Ms. Elizabeth T. Monagle, and commissioned on 1 October 1942. 

Scorpion was probably mined in the Yellow Sea after 5 January 1944 and lost with all hands.

Scorpion earned three battle stars for her World War II service.

USS Enterprise CV-6

A U.S. Navy Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless over CV-6), foreground, and Saratoga (CV-3) near Guadalcanal on 19 December 1942. The aircraft is likely on anti-submarine patrol. Saratoga background is trailed by her plane guard destroyer. Another flight of three aircraft is visible near the Saratoga. The radar array on the Enterprise has been obscured in the image.

USS Enterprise (CV-6) was a Yorktown-class carrier built for the United States Navy during the 1930s. She was the seventh U.S. Navy vessel of that name. Colloquially called "The Big E", she was the sixth aircraft carrier of the United States Navy. Launched in 1936, she was the only Yorktown-class and one of only three American fleet carriers commissioned before World War II to survive the war (the others being Saratoga and Ranger).

Enterprise participated in more major actions of the war against Japan than any other United States ship. These actions included the attack on Pearl Harbor — 18 Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers of her air group arrived over the harbor during the attack; seven were shot down with eight airmen killed and two wounded, making her the only American aircraft carrier with men at Pearl Harbor during the attack and the first to sustain casualties during the Pacific War — the Battle of Midway, the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, various other air-sea engagements during the Guadalcanal Campaign, the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Enterprise earned 20 battle stars, the most for any U.S. warship in World War II, and was the most decorated U.S. ship of World War II. She was also the first American ship to sink a full-sized enemy warship after the Pacific War had been declared when her aircraft sank the Japanese submarine I-70 on 10 December 1941. On three occasions during the war, the Japanese announced that she had been sunk in battle, inspiring her nickname "The Grey Ghost". By the end of the war, her planes and guns had downed 911 enemy planes, sunk 71 ships, and damaged or destroyed 192 more.

Despite efforts made by the public after the war to turn Enterprise into a museum ship, Enterprise was scrapped from 1958 to 1960. 

 

Signalmen on the Enterprise CV-6. 

 

PT-170 80' Elco Motor Torpedo Boat

Painted in the experimental zebra stripe camouflage scheme tried out on 80-ft Elco PT Boats in the Pacific and Mediterranean. This was intended to make it difficult for enemy gunners to determine speed and course of the boat.

80' Elco Motor Torpedo Boat, laid down 26 September 1942 by the Electric Boat Co., Elco Works, Bayonne, New Jersey. Launched 14 December 1942. Completed 28 December 1942, placed in service and assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron TEN (MTBRon 10) under the command of Lt. Comdr. Thomas G. Warfield. MTBRon 10, assigned to the South Pacific, had action at Rendova, Vella Lavella, Treasury, Bougainville, and Green. Transferred to the Southwest Pacific in April 1944, the squadron had action at Saidor, New Guinea; Morotai, in the Halmaheras; and at Balikpapan, Borneo. The squadron also based for a time at Mios Woendi, Dutch New Guinea, and at Samar, P.I., but had no action from these bases. The "Zebra" was placed out of service, stripped and destroyed by U.S. Forces 11 November 1945 at Samar, Philippines.