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Milwaukee
Country | United States |
Ship Class | Omaha-class Light Cruiser |
Builder | Seattle Construction & Dry Dock Company, Seattle, Washington, United States |
Laid Down | 13 Dec 1918 |
Launched | 24 Mar 1921 |
Commissioned | 20 Jun 1923 |
Decommissioned | 6 Mar 1949 |
Displacement | 7,050 tons standard |
Length | 555 feet |
Beam | 55 feet |
Draft | 13 feet |
Machinery | Geared turbines, 4 shafts |
Power Output | 90,000 shaft horsepower |
Speed | 35 knots |
Crew | 458 |
Armament | 2x2x6in, 8x6in, 2x3in AA, 10x21in torpedo tubes, 224 mines |
Armor | 76mm sides, 38mm deck, 38mm bulkheads |
Aircraft | 2 |
Russian Recommission | 20 Apr 1944 |
Contributor: C. Peter Chen
ww2dbaseMilwaukee had her shakedown cruise from the United States to Sydney, Australia. With modern depth-finding equipment on board, she gathered a wealth of scientific data during the shakedown cruise. She spent the bulk of her pre-WW2 service in the Pacific Ocean, but did perform several key missions in the Caribbean Sea, including offering assistance at the Isle of Pines after a devastating hurricane in Oct 1926. On 14 Feb 1939, she found the greatest depth in the Atlantic off Puerto Rico, and the spot had since been named the Milwaukee Deep.
ww2dbaseIn WW2, though before the United States officially entered the war, Milwaukee sailed to Singapore, the Philippine Islands, and Guam as gesture that the US was not backing down from Japanese aggression in China. The trip lasted from 3 Jan until 27 Apr 1938. At the time of the Pearl Harbor attack, she was at New York Navy Yard for overhaul. She left the shipyard in Jan 1942 under the command of Captain Forest B. Royal, escorting a convoy to the Caribbean Sea then a troop transport fleet to the US Navy supply base at Bora Bora of the Society Islands in the South Pacific, then returned to the Atlantic Ocean where she joined the South Atlantic Patrol Force. On 19 May 1942, cruisers Milwaukee and Omaha and destroyers Moffett and McDougal rescued the crew of Brazilian merchantman Commandante Lyra, which was torpedoed by a German submarine. On 21 Nov 1942, cruisers Milwaukee and Cincinnati intercepted German blockade runner Annaliese Essenberger, which was scuttled by her own crew when they failed to evade the American cruisers; Milwaukee captured 62 prisoners from Annaliese Essenberger. She left the South Atlantic on 8 Feb 1944 for New York Navy Yard, from which she escorted a convoy for Belfast, Northern Ireland on 8 Mar 1944. On 29 Mar 1944, she escorted a convoy from Belfast to Murmansk; the convoy was challenged by German submarines repeatedly, but the attempts all failed at the cost of one to three submarines. Upon reaching Russian waters, she was escorted by four Russian ships into the Kola Inlet, where Milwaukee was transferred to the Soviet Union Northern Fleet on loan for the war effort. She was recommissioned on 20 Apr 1944 as the Russian cruiser Murmansk, and performed convoy and patrol duties until the end of the war.
ww2dbaseMilwaukee returned to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States on 16 Mar 1949. She was sold to the American Shipbreakers, Inc. in Wilmington, Delaware for scrapping on 10 Dec 1949.
ww2dbaseSource: Wikipedia.
Last Major Revision: May 2007
Light Cruiser Milwaukee Interactive Map
Photographs
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Milwaukee Operational Timeline
20 Jun 1923 | Milwaukee was commissioned into service. |
20 Apr 1944 | The cruiser USS Milwaukee was transferred to the Soviet Navy, under Lend-Lease, and renamed Murmansk. |
6 Mar 1949 | Milwaukee was decommissioned from service. |
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Visitor Submitted Comments
24 Jul 2009 07:49:59 AM
Hello, Donalee,
My grandpa served on the Milwaukee (after transfer to the Russian Fleet - Murmansk). He participated in the acceptance of the ship from the US Navy and forming new crew. He was Dmitry Litvinov.
27 Jan 2010 04:56:57 PM
I was selected as a member of the skeleton crew who participated in the return of the USS Milwaukee from the Russians. While anchored at the mouth of the Delaware River we were housed in the Milwaukee's unlocked brig during the negotiations between the US and Russia. In the middle of the fourth night of the negotiations the Russians took their flag down and disembarked from one side of the ship while the rest of the skeleton crew boarded from the other. Once again under US control, the boilers of the Milwaukee were shut down because the cruiser was in such a state of disrepare. With the US Navy in control of the rudder, two tug boats towed the USS Milwaukee to it's final mooring. This, as told to me by my father's recolections. US Naval Fireman Richard K. Smith, Sr.
13 Jul 2017 04:28:54 PM
My father Vern Dilk was one of the first men waiting to board the USS Milwaukee in WWII. He was on from it's shakedown, and eventually on to Guam. This ship and it's men were instrumental in preserving our freedoms then, and to this day. These men are War Hero's. I still have the letters from the Department of War to my grandmother, giving my father recognition for his service on this ship.
All visitor submitted comments are opinions of those making the submissions and do not reflect views of WW2DB.
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Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, 16 Mar 1945
21 Mar 2009 08:31:03 PM
I am looking for anyone connected with the USS Milwaukee 1943 - 45. Especially on the Atlantic convoy from Belfast to Murmansk. My dad was James W. Hill.