Attack on Pearl Harbor Moored in
Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941,
New Orleans was taking power and light from the dock, her engines under repair. With yard power out during the attack,
New Orleans engineers began to raise steam, working by flashlight, while on deck men fired on the
Japanese attackers with rifles and pistols. The crew was forced to break the locks on the ammunition ready boxes as the keys could not be located, and because the ship was taking power from the dock, the
5"/25 cal AA gun had to be aimed and fired manually. The gunners topside were ducking machine gun bullets and
shrapnel, training their guns manually, as they had no ammunition other than the few shells in their ready boxes. The ammunition hoists did not have power, making getting more ammunition topside to the gun crews nearly impossible. The shells had to be pulled up the powerless hoists by ropes attached to their metal cases. Every man with no specific job at the moment formed ammunition lines to get the shells to the guns. A number of her crew were injured when a
fragmentation bomb exploded close aboard.
New Orleans suffered no severe damage during the attack.
1942 Before having the engine work complete at Pearl Harbor, the cruiser convoyed troops to
Palmyra Atoll and
Johnston Atoll operating on only three of her four engines; she then returned to San Francisco on 13 January 1942 for engineering repairs and installation of new search radar and 20 mm guns. She sailed on 12 February, commanding the escort for a troop convoy to
Brisbane; from Australia, she screened a convoy to
Nouméa, and returned to Pearl Harbor to join Task Force 11.
Battle of Coral Sea Task Force 11
sortied on 15 April to join the task force southwest of the
New Hebrides. This joint force, together with a cruiser-destroyer group, won the
Battle of the Coral Sea on 7–8 May, driving back a southward thrust of the Japanese, which threatened Australia and New Zealand and their seaborne lifelines. In this battle, was sunk and
New Orleans stood by, her men diving overboard to rescue survivors and her boat crews closing the burning carrier, saving 580 of
Lexingtons crew who were subsequently landed at Nouméa.
New Orleans then patrolled the eastern
Solomons until sailing to replenish at Pearl Harbor.
Battle of Midway New Orleans sailed on 28 May, screening , to surprise the Japanese in the
Battle of Midway. On 2 June, she met with the
Yorktown force, and two days later joined battle. Three of the four Japanese carriers—
Akagi, Kaga, and
Soryu—were sunk by hits scored in
dive bomber attacks. The fourth carrier,
Hiryu, was found and wrecked later, but not before her dive bombers had damaged
Yorktown so badly she had to be abandoned.
Battle of the Eastern Solomons Again the
New Orleans was replenished at Pearl Harbor, steaming out on 7 July to meet off the
Fiji Islands for the invasion of the Solomon Islands, during which she screened the . Fighting off enemy air attacks on 24–25 August, the
New Orleans aided the
U.S. Marine Corps beachhead on
Guadalcanal, as a Japanese landing expedition was turned back in the
Battle of the Eastern Solomons. At this point,
New Orleans had been in the
Coral Sea for two full months, and food began to run low. The crew went on half rations and Spam became the main course of every meal; eventually, they ran out of rice. When the
Saratoga was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine on 31 August, the
New Orleans escorted her to Pearl Harbor, arriving on 21 September.
Battle of Tassafaronga With the repaired carrier,
New Orleans sailed to Fiji early in November 1942, then proceeded to
Espiritu Santo, arriving on 27 November to return to action in the Solomons. With four other cruisers and six destroyers, she fought in the
Battle of Tassafaronga on the night of 30 November, engaging a Japanese destroyer-transport force. When the flagship
Minneapolis was struck by two torpedoes,
New Orleans, next astern, was forced to sheer away to avoid collision, and ran into the track of a torpedo, which detonated the ship's forward magazines and gasoline tanks. This explosion severed of her bow just forward of turret number two. The severed bow, including turret number one, swung around the port side and punched several holes in the length of
New Orleans hull before sinking at the stern and damaging the port inboard propeller. With one-quarter of her length gone, she slowed to and was on fire. Everyone in turrets one and two perished; 183 men were killed. Herbert Brown, a seaman in the ship's plotting room, described the scene after the torpedo hit: "
I had to see. I walked alongside the silent turret two and was stopped by a lifeline stretched from the outboard port lifeline to the side of the turret. Thank God it was there, for one more step and I would have pitched headfirst into the dark water 30 feet below. The bow was gone; 125 feet of ship and the number-one main battery turret with three 8-inch guns were gone. Eighteen hundred tons of ship were gone. Oh my God, all those guys I went through boot camp with – all gone" Damage control parties managed to repair the ship enough to sail to
Tulagi Harbor near daybreak on 1 December. The crew camouflaged their ship from air attack, jury-rigged a bow of coconut logs, and worked clearing away wreckage. Eleven days later,
New Orleans sailed stern first, to avoid sinking, to
Cockatoo Island Dockyard in Sydney, Australia, arriving on 24 December. At Cockatoo, the damaged propeller was replaced and other repairs were made including the installation of a temporary stub bow. On 7 March 1943, she left Sydney for
Puget Sound Navy Yard, sailing backward the entire voyage, where a new bow was fitted with the use of
Minneapolis number-two turret. All battle damage was repaired, and she was given a major refit involving the reduction of the forward superstructure along the lines of other prewar cruisers, adding new air-search and surface-search radars, as well as numerous 20 mm and 40 mm Bofors antiaircraft guns. In addition, her boilers, machinery, and hull structures were overhauled to almost new condition. She continued to sail with the back portion (aft) riveted and the front portion (bow) welded. Image:NewOrleansTulagiBowMissing.jpg|
New Orleans with torpedo damage in Tulagi Harbor on 1 December 1942 after the Battle of Tassafaronga. Image:Damages New Orleans Tassafaronga.jpg|Damage to
New Orleans with everything ahead of turret number two missing after being hit by a single torpedo that detonated her forward magazines. This was photographed after the Battle of Tassafaronga, which occurred on 30 November 1942. Image:Survivors on PT boat after Tassafaronga.jpg|
New Orleans seen after the Battle of Tassafaronga near Tulagi on 1 December 1942: The PT boat in the foreground is carrying survivors from
Northampton. Image:TassaNewOrleans.gif|
New Orleans under a camouflage net at Tulagi undergoing field repairs suffered in the Battle of Tassafaronga on 1 December 1942: Once field repairs were completed,
New Orleans traveled to rear-area ports for further repairs. Image:Titan lifting temporary bow to be welded to USS New Orleans.jpg|
Titan lifting temporary bow to be welded
New Orleans at Cockatoo Island Dockyard Image:False bow being fitted to USS New Orleans.jpg|False bow being fitted to
New Orleans Image:Temporary bow fitted to USS New Orleans.jpg|Temporary bow fitted to
New Orleans to enable her return to the United States to repair damage sustained from torpedo damage at the Battle of Tassafaronga: The guns have been removed from the number-two turret.
1943 Returning to Pearl Harbor on 31 August for combat training,
New Orleans next joined a cruiser-destroyer force to bombard
Wake Island on 5–6 October, repulsing a Japanese torpedo-plane attack. Her next sortie from Pearl Harbor came on 10 November, when she sailed to fire precision bombardment in the
Gilberts on 20 November, then to screen carriers striking the eastern
Marshalls on 4 December. In aerial attacks that day, the new , namesake of the carrier whose men
New Orleans had pulled from the Coral Sea, was torpedoed, and
New Orleans guarded her successful retirement to repairs at Pearl Harbor, arriving on 9 December.
1944 From 29 January 1944,
New Orleans fired on targets in the Marshalls, hitting air installations and shipping as the Navy took
Kwajalein. She fueled at
Majuro, then sailed 11 February to join the fast carriers in a raid on
Truk, Japanese bastion in the
Carolines on 17–18 February. While air strikes were flown,
New Orleans, with other warships circled the atoll to catch escaping ships; the task force's combined gunfire sank a light cruiser, a destroyer, a trawler, and a
submarine chaser. The force sailed on to hit the Marianas, then returned to Majuro and Pearl Harbor. The carriers, with
New Orleans in escort, attacked targets in the Carolines late in March, then in April, sailed south to support Allied landings at
Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura),
New Guinea. There on 22 April, a disabled plane flew into
New Orleans mainmast, hitting gun mounts as it fell into the sea. The ship was sprayed with gas as the plane exploded on hitting the water; one crew member was lost, and another badly injured, but
New Orleans continued in action, patrolling and plane guarding off New Guinea, then joining in further raids on Truk and
Satawan, which she bombarded on 30 April. She returned to Majuro on 4 May. Preparations were made in the Marshalls for the invasion of the Marianas, for which
New Orleans sortied from Kwajalein on 10 June. She bombarded
Saipan on 15–16 June, then joined the screen protecting carriers as they prepared to meet the
Japanese Mobile Fleet in the
Battle of the Philippine Sea.
New Orleans made patrols and bombardments on Saipan and
Tinian into August, returned to
Eniwetok on the 13th, and sailed the 28th for carrier raids on the
Bonins, bombardments of
Iwo Jima on 1–2 September, and direct air support for the invasion of the
Palaus. After reprovisioning at
Manus, the task force assaulted
Okinawa,
Formosa, and Northern
Luzon, destroying Japanese land-based aviation, which otherwise would have threatened the landings on
Leyte on 20 October.
New Orleans was present during the
Battle of Leyte Gulf, which started on 23 October. On 25 October, the Fast Carrier Strike Force had steamed north, to attack the Northern Force commanded by
Jisaburō Ozawa.
New Orleans again screened for the carriers, which sank or damaged several Japanese carriers. Task Force 34 was detached to finish off several of the crippled Japanese ships with gunfire;
New Orleans and three other cruisers sank the light carrier and the destroyer .
1945 After replenishing at
Ulithi,
New Orleans guarded carriers during raids throughout the Philippines in preparation for the invasion of
Mindoro, then late in December, sailed for a
Mare Island Navy Yard overhaul, followed by training in Hawaii. She returned to Ulithi on 18 April 1945, and two days later, departed to join
Task Force 54, in the ongoing
invasion of Okinawa, arriving at
Okinawa on 23 April. Here, she engaged with shore batteries and fired directly against the enemy lines. After nearly two months on station, she sailed to replenish and repair in the Philippines, and was at
Subic Bay when
hostilities ceased in the
Pacific War. ==Post-war==