World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseUSS Marblehead entered US Navy service in 1924. Prior to the opening of the Pacific War, she held her shakedown cruise in the English Channel and the Mediterranean Sea; visited Samoa, Society Islands, Australia, Galápagos Islands, Nicaragua, Hawaii, Shanghai and Hankou in China, Japan; and then served with Pacific, Atlantic, and Asiatic Fleets of the US Navy in the 1930s. She was anchored at Tarakan, Borneo, Dutch East Indies when the war broke out. Sailing alongside of Dutch and Australian warships, she screened Allied shipping in the Dutch East Indies in the opening days of the war. During the Battle of Makassar Strait on 4 Feb 1942, she successfully maneuvered through three Japanese aerial attacks, but the fourth wave scored two bomb hits and one near miss, killing 15 men and wounding 84. She suffered a list to starboard, a few fires, and jammed rudder, but survived the battle. After repairs were completed at Simon's Town, South Africa between Mar and Apr 1942 and New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York, United States between May and Oct 1942, she was assigned to the South Atlantic Force based in Recife and Bahia, Brazil. She would remain in Brazil until Feb 1944, after which date she patrolled the North Atlantic Ocean until being relocated to the Mediterranean Sea to support the Allied invasion of Southern France. Upon the completion of Operation Dragoon, she returned to the United States. She was decommissioned after the war in Nov 1945, and was sold for scrap in Feb 1946.

Light Cruiser Marblehead (CL-12) Interactive Map

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Marblehead Operational Timeline

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