USS Tucson (CL-98/CLAA-98) was a modified light cruiser, sometimes referred to as an "Oakland-class". She was laid down on 23 December 1942 in San Francisco, California, by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation; launched on 3 September 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Emmett S. Claunch, Sr.; and commissioned on 3 February 1945. She was named after Tucson, Arizona. She, along with the surviving Atlanta-class, was reclassified a light antiaircraft cruiser (CLAA) on 18 March 1949, prior to her decommissioning on 18 June 1949.

Service history

World War II

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 June and 14 June, then continued on to the Philippines, and reached Leyte on 16 June. The cruiser was assigned to the screen of the Task Force 38 (TF 38), specifically to that of Rear Admiral Gerald F. Bogan's Task Group 38.3 (TG 38.3) built around , , , , and . The beam line shot out by the accelerator was steered by rotating the entire accelerator assembly mounted on the turret base. It remained in use until the accelerator was decommissioned around 2005. The fact that a turret base of Tucson was surplussed to be used in Tucson, AZ is apparently a pure coincidence.

Awards

Tucson earned one battle star during World War II.

References

  • Papers of Harry Sanders, Commander of the USS Tucson (1946), Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library