World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseUSS Helena was constructed at New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York, United States in the 1930s and she was commissioned into service in Sep 1939. In late 1939 and early 1940, she made a cruise to South American, visiting Cuba, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil. She was later assigned to the Pacific Fleet and was present at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack. Moored at the berth normally assigned to battleship USS Pennsylvania, her position was particularly targeted by the Japanese, suffering a torpedo hit on the starboard side merely three minutes after the attack began. 34 were killed and 69 were wounded during this attack that brought the United States into WW2. She was moved to dry dock on the following day, and then received permanent repairs and anti-aircraft weaponry upgrades at Mare Island Navy Yard in California, United States until Jun 1942. Upon completion, she escorted ships to the South Pacific. In this capacity, on 15 Sep 1942, she was in convoy with USS Wasp when the carrier was hit by torpedoes from Japanese submarine I-19 in the Solomon Islands; Helena rescued nearly 400 survivors from Wasp and brought them to Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides. On 11 Oct 1942, Helena was the part of the US task force that ambushed an incoming Japanese fleet in the darkness of night just before midnight at the end of the day; the subsequent Battle of Cape Esperance was greatly confusing for both sides, but the Americans would achieve a small victory after sinking heavy cruiser Furutaka and destroyer Fubuki. A junior officer on Helena later wrote, "Cape Esperance was a three-sided battle in which chance was the major winner." During the First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in Nov 1942, she was first to detect the presence of Japanese warships in the darkness with her radar, but Rear Daniel Callaghan and the task force failed to take proper action based on this information, and the battle was not joined until both sides sighted each other. In yet another confused pre-dawn battle, Helena assisted in the sinking of destroyer Akatsuki and serious damaged destroyer Amatsukaze. Captain Gilbert Hoover, commanding officer of USS Helena and the senior surviving US officer, gave the order for all Americans to disengage from battle after 40 minutes of fighting since only Helena and destroyer USS Fletcher were still in full fighting condition. Hoover would lead the task force to Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides as the acting commanding officer; en route, USS Juneau was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine, and Hoover would be relieved of duty for his decision to provide minimum rescue efforts to help Juneau's survivors. Captain Charles Cecil would be named the next commanding officer. In Jan 1943 and then again in Jul 1943, she bombarded Japanese positions on New Georgia. During the Battle of Kula Gulf in the early hours of 6 Jul 1943, she ambushed "Tokyo Express" Japanese destroyer transports, but the many gun flashes in turn made her an attractive target for Japanese gunners. She was struck by a Japanese Type 93 torpedo on the port side below No. 1 Turret at 0203 hours, breaking off the bow. At 0205 hours, she received two more torpedo hits, again on the port side. The main part of the ship sank at 0225 hours, and the bow would sink on the following day. Some of the survivors were picked up by destroyers USS Nicholas and USS Radford, some made it to nearby islands, but some others, many wounded by the torpedo detonations, would die before reaching safety. In all, of the crew of 888, 168 died in the sinking. Captain Cecil survived the sinking.

ww2dbaseIn Jun 2006, remains of a US Navy serviceman were found on Ranongga Island in the Solomon Islands, west of New Georgia island. In Sep, it was determined to be the remains of Seaman 1st Class General Preston Douglas of USS Helena. His remains were buried at Gollihon Cemetery in Sneedville, Hancock County, Tennessee on 26 Jan 2008.

Light Cruiser Helena (St. Louis-class) (CL-50) Interactive Map

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Helena (St. Louis-class) Operational Timeline

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12.  David Stubblebine says:
27 May 2019 06:33:24 PM

Traci Smith (above):
Seaman Ora Alanda Marshall appears in the Helena Muster Rolls a few times. His service number was 632 21 24 and he was received aboard 19 Jun 1942 when Helena was at Mare Island. I can’t find a final Muster Roll compiled after the sinking accounting for all the crewmen but such things were customary; there may be one on file at the National Archives. If you want to research this further, I recommend getting a copy of his service record; see: https://ww2db.com/faq/#3.

15.  David Stubblebine says:
15 Sep 2019 06:52:00 PM

Jack Cox (above):
Helena Muster Rolls list that Ernest Francis Cox, who enlisted 16 Dec 1941 at Birmingham, Alabama and had service number 272 79 91, reported aboard 20 Jan 1942 at San Diego. I cannot find a final Muster List following Helena’s sinking but the last Muster Roll filed 6 days before that (30 Jun 1943) still listed Ernest Cox. I could not find any Muster Roll from any ship that listed Ernest Cox after Helena sank. As always, my best advice for the best information on your brother’s service is to request a copy of his service record. See https://ww2db.com/faq/#3 for more info.

16.  David Stubblebine says:
15 Sep 2019 07:03:33 PM

Judy Savoy (#13 above):
See my comment #12 above about the unavailability of Helena’s final muster list. The best I can do for you is the same as for Ernest Cox (above) that James Walter Gore, service number 382 28 90, was listed on the 30 Jun 1943 Muster Roll, 6 days before the sinking.

18.  David Stubblebine says:
24 Jun 2021 01:56:48 PM

The USS Helena had a quite illustrious career, enough so that the ship is still mentioned in television documentaries with some regularity. While this is not a problem on a website like this, it bothers me that the narrators for these TV shows mis-pronounce the name so badly. Like all US cruisers of the period, Helena was named for a prominent American city, in this case, the capital of Montana. As such, it is pronounced the same as the city name, which is “HEL-en-a” and not “he-LEEN-a” as if it were a woman’s name. This OGG sound file is linked to the Wiki page for the City of Helena offering the preferred pronunciation: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Helena_%28spoken_word%29.ogg