Construction and early service , Philadelphia.
Astoria was
laid down at the
Cramp Shipbuilding shipyard in
Philadelphia on 6 September 1941 and was
launched on 6 March 1943. She was originally named
Wilkes-Barre, but during construction, she was renamed
Astoria for
Astoria, Oregon, with the
hull number CL-90. After completing
fitting-out, she was
commissioned for active service on 17 May 1944. The ship thereafter embarked on her
shakedown cruise along the western Atlantic, as far south as
Bermuda, which lasted from 6 June to 23 July. She then returned to Philadelphia for an overhaul before departing to join the
Pacific Fleet on 19 September. She passed through the
Panama Canal and arrived in
San Diego, California, on 3 October.
Astoria later moved to the
Mare Island Navy Yard before sailing for
Pearl Harbor on 25 October. She arrived five days later and remained there through 16 November.
World War II on 22 July On 16 November,
Astoria left Pearl Harbor to join Task Force 38, the
fast carrier task force, which was at that time based in
Ulithi in the western
Caroline Islands. She stopped in
Eniwetok in the
Marshall Islands while en route and reached Ulithi on 25 November. After arriving, she was assigned to Task Group 38.2, one of the
carrier battle groups that formed TF 38. At that time, the unit also included The
aircraft carriers , , , , and , the
fast battleships , , and , the light cruisers , , , and , and twenty
destroyers.
Astoria was assigned the role of anti-aircraft escort for the fleet's aircraft carriers. The American fleet sortied on 11 December to support the
invasion of Mindoro; the carriers conducted a series of raids from 14 to 16 December before poor weather on the 17th grounded the aircraft. That night,
Typhoon Cobra struck the fleet and inflicted significant damage to a number of ships, sinking three destroyers, though
Astoria was not seriously damaged. The fleet searched for two days for survivors from the destroyers that sank before returning to Ulithi. TF 38 sortied from Ulithi again on 30 December to cover the
invasion of Luzon, striking Japanese positions on the islands from 6 to 9 January 1945. By this time, TG 38.2 had been reduced to
Lexington,
Hancock, and
Hornet, covered by
New Jersey,
Wisconsin,
Astoria,
Pasadena,
San Juan, the cruiser , and fifteen destroyers. Late on the 9th, the fleet began the
South China Sea raid to attack Japanese holdings in China and
Southeast Asia.
Astoria escorted the carriers over the next two weeks as they struck various targets in Japanese occupied China, including
Hong Kong,
Guangzhou,
Hainan, and
Formosa, and
French Indochina, including the naval base at
Cam Ranh Bay. The fleet returned to Ulithi on 25 January. By early February, command of the fast carrier task force had passed to
5th Fleet, and so the unit was re-numbered TF 58. At that time,
Astoria,
Wilkes-Barre, and
Pasadena were transferred to TG 58.3, which included
Cabot, the carriers and , the battleships and
New Jersey, the large cruiser , and fourteen destroyers. The fleet, including
Astoria, sortied early that month to conduct a series of air attacks on the Japanese
home islands, which began on 18 February. Later that day, the fleet sailed south to support the
invasion of Iwo Jima, and
Astoria was detached to conduct shore bombardment on 21 February. She thereafter rejoined the carriers for another round of strikes on the Japanese capital,
Tokyo, and thereafter returned to Ulithi on 3 March. TF 58 got underway again on 14 March to begin air strikes to prepare for the upcoming
invasion of Okinawa.
Astoria once again served in the anti-aircraft screen for the carriers of TG 58.3 during these operations. Over the course of the next three months of sustained combat,
Astorias gunners claimed credit for eleven Japanese aircraft and partial credit for several others.
Astoria returned to
Leyte in the Philippines on 1 June for periodic maintenance that lasted for a month. On 1 July, she sailed to return to the fast carrier task force for another major operation against the Japanese home islands. By that time, Third Fleet had resumed control of the force, so unit to which
Astoria returned had reverted to the designation TG 38.3. During this period, she served in Cruiser Division 17, and she was twice detached to conduct patrols for Japanese vessels off
Honshu. These were carried out on 17–18 and 24–25 July. For the first of these,
Astoria joined
Pasadena,
Wilkes-Barre, and their
sister ship , along with six destroyers, to create Task Group 35.1. They were sent to carry out a sweep for Japanese vessels off northern Honshu and in the
Kii Channel, but they failed to locate any targets. For the latter operation,
Astoria was again detached to join the bombardment force TG 35.3 on 24 July, along with
Wilkes-Barre,
Pasadena, and
Springfield. The ships shelled the
seaplane base at
Kushimoto that evening and later bombarded
Cape Shionomisaki. TF 38's operations off Japan continued through the end of July and into the first two weeks of August. On 15 August, Japan agreed to surrender and TF 38 ceased offensive operations, though the fleet continued to patrol off the coast of Japan.
Astoria remained with the fleet until 3 September, when she received orders to return home. For her wartime service,
Astoria received five
battle stars.
Post war Astoria reached
San Pedro, California, on 15 September, anchoring there until she departed to return to Pearl Harbor on 24 November. Arriving there six days later, she took part in training exercises over the following days. She left to return to San Pedro on 10 December, arriving five days later. Over the course of the following ten months, the ship cruised along the western coast of North America, as far north as
Vancouver,
British Columbia, and as far south as San Diego. The ship got underway for a lengthy voyage to the central Pacific on 15 October 1946, which included stops in
Guam and
Saipan in the
Marianas Islands. On 17 February 1947, she left Guam to return home by way of
Kwajalein and Pearl Harbor, arriving in San Diego on 24 March. She resumed her peacetime cruises along the west coast through September 1948. The ship departed for another overseas cruise on 1 October, this time headed to East Asian waters. She stopped in Pearl Harbor for three days while en route and then resumed her voyage across the Pacific, arriving in
Qingdao, China, on 29 October.
Astoria visited a number of ports in the area over the next three and a half months, including
Inchon and
Pusan in Korea,
Sasebo and
Yokosuka in Japan, and
Shanghai, China. The ship left Yokosuka on 16 February 1949, bound for the United States. She stopped in Pearl Harbor on the way and arrived in San Francisco on 8 March. While there on 1 July,
Astoria was decommissioned and assigned to the San Francisco Group,
Pacific Reserve Fleet. She remained in the Navy's inventory until 1 November 1969, when she was struck from the
naval register. She was sold for
scrap to the Nicolai Joffe Corp. on 12 January 1971 and subsequently
broken up. ==Footnotes==