USS Louisville (CL/CA-28), a , was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the city of Louisville, Kentucky. She was active throughout the Pacific War. USS Louisville was the first large warship to be built in a drydock.
Louisville was launched on 1 September 1930 at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, sponsored by Miss Jane Brown Kennedy, and commissioned on 15 January 1931. Louisville since commissioning day carried, on the prominent bulkhead, a shoe of the great stallion, Man o' War, as a talisman against evil.
She was originally classified as a light cruiser, CL-28, because of her thin armor. Effective 1 July 1931, Louisville was redesignated a heavy cruiser, CA-28, because of her 8-inch guns in accordance with the provisions of the London Naval Treaty of 1930.
In January 1938, Louisville began a long Pacific cruise which took her to Hawaii, Samoa, Australia, and Tahiti before returning to Pearl Harbor for fleet problems. While in Sydney, Australia, the crew of the Louisville rescued a number of passengers from a sightseeing ferryboat which had capsized and sank when most of the passengers crowded on the open top deck ran to the rail to wave the cruiser off. Nineteen of the ferry's passengers died. 42 crewmen were also killed and 125 or more men were wounded. Bridge knocked out of commission at the time forced switch of control to battery no. 2 by second smoke stack. Despite extensive damage, the cruiser shelled the beaches and shot down several enemy planes before withdrawing on 9 January 1945 and proceeding to Mare Island Navy Yard for repairs.
Post-war
thumb|upright=0.5|Louisville ship's bell
With the end of the war on 14 August, Louisville was again seaworthy and hurriedly prepared for postwar duties. On 16 August, she sailed for Guam to Darien, Manchuria, with Rear Admiral T. G. W. Settle on board. From Darien, where the evacuation of Allied prisoners of war was supervised, she steamed to Qingdao, where Japanese vessels in that area were surrendered by Vice Admiral Kaneko. Louisville then escorted the surrendered vessels to Jinsen, Korea, after which she returned to China for further postwar duties at Yantai. In mid-October, she joined the Yellow Sea force for abbreviated service before proceeding, via San Pedro, to Philadelphia, where she decommissioned on 17 June 1946 and entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Remaining with that fleet for the next 13 years, Louisville was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 March 1959, and sold on 14 September to the Marlene Blouse Corporation of New York. The turret is located 86 miles NNW of Las Vegas (Lat 37.139455, Long -116.109085).
Awards
Louisville was awarded 13 battle stars for her service during World War II.