When
Japan attacked her base on 7 December 1941,
Minneapolis was at sea for gunnery practice about from Pearl Harbor. She immediately took up patrol until late January 1942 when she joined a carrier task force about to
raid the Gilberts and Marshalls. While screening on 1 February, she helped turn back an air attack in which three Japanese
Mitsubishi G4M "Betty"
medium bombers were shot down. She screened the carriers during their successful raids on 20 February and again on 10 March, when they attacked Japanese shipping at Lae and Salamaua, disrupting enemy supply lines to those garrisons. However, the gunfire failed to sink
Takanami before she could fire her torpedoes, and in a twist of revenge two of these torpedoes hit
Minneapolis, one on the port bow, the other in her number two fireroom, causing loss of power and severe damage; her bow collapsing back to the hawsepipes, her port side badly ruptured, and two firerooms open to the sea. Of the battle, American naval historian
Samuel Eliot Morison wrote, "It is a painful truth that the Battle of Tassafaronga was a sharp defeat inflicted on an alert and superior cruiser force by a partially surprised and inferior destroyer force." Of her crew, 37 were killed in action while 36 were wounded. The ship was saved however by skillful damage control work and seamanship that kept her afloat and enabled her to reach Tulagi. There, camouflaged with palm fronds and shrubs to protect her from frequent air raids, she was temporarily repaired by her own crew with the help of
Seabees of the 27th Naval Construction Battalion stationed on the island, and was able to sail for extensive repairs at
Mare Island Naval Shipyard. The latter raids were coordinated with the landings at
Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura),
New Guinea.
Battle of the Philippine Sea In May,
Minneapolis prepared at Majuro for the assaults in the Marianas, firing on
Saipan in preinvasion bombardment on 14 June. As word came that a large Japanese force was sailing to attempt a disruption of the operation,
Minneapolis rejoined TF 58 to screen the carriers during the
Battle of the Philippine Sea on 19–20 June. As American aviators won another great victory,
Minneapolis screened the carriers and provided antiaircraft fire. After taking a bomb miss close aboard, her crew again patched her up.
Guam From 8 July to 9 August,
Minneapolis brought her heavy guns to the support of the Marines winning
Guam back from the enemy. Firing deep support, night harassing, and call fire, she won grateful praise from
General Allen H. Turnage, commanding the
3rd Marine Division: "...a prime factor in the success of this operation...a job well done." From 6 September to 14 October, she gave similar essential aid to the capture of the Palaus, her operations at the close of that period preparing directly for the assault on
Leyte. In the preinvasion bombardment force, she entered
Leyte Gulf on 17 October, and she downed five enemy planes during the initial resistance to the assault.
Battle of Surigao Strait As the Japanese launched the three-pronged naval attack which would develop into the
Battle for Leyte Gulf,
Minneapolis was assigned on 24 October to
Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf's bombardment group with other cruisers and older battleships. With them, she deployed across
Surigao Strait that night, alert to any sign of contact with the enemy by the plucky PT-boats and destroyers fanned out ahead. As the Japanese ships steamed in column, they ignored the flank attacks of the smaller ships, heading straight for Oldendorf's battleline, which opened fire with an enormous coordinated salvo, quickly sinking the Japanese old battleship
Yamashiro. The battleline, including
Minneapolis, also crippled the heavy cruiser
Mogami and the destroyer
Shigure (the drifting
Mogami was sunk by aircraft later that day). Admiral Oldendorf, in this
Battle of Surigao Strait, had performed the classic maneuver of "
crossing the T", meeting the individual fire of the enemy with his own massed fire. Continuing to alternate carrier screening and bombardment duties in the
Philippines,
Minneapolis was on the scene for the attack and landings at
Lingayen Gulf,
Luzon from 4–18 January 1945 and the landings on
Bataan and
Corregidor from 13 to 18 February. During March, she was assigned to
Task Force 54 (TF 54) for the
invasion of Okinawa, off which she arrived for preinvasion bombardment on the 25th. She fired at once on
Kerama Retto, seized first in a move to provide a safe haven for ships during the assault on Okinawa proper. When the main invasion began 1 April,
Minneapolis bombarded the Japanese airfield at Naha, rendering it useless to the enemy, then began call fire as ground forces pinpointed her targets by radio. After months of such action, her gun barrels were worn so badly as to need replacement, and she prepared to sail on 12 April. Her departure was delayed that day by the largest air attack yet of the Okinawa operation, during which she downed four would-be
kamikazes and watched three others crash harmlessly into the sea. At nightfall, she sailed for
Bremerton, Washington, where she repaired and replaced the linings of her gun barrels. Headed back for more action, she was in
Subic Bay, Philippines, at the end of hostilities. She flew the flag of Admiral
Thomas C. Kinkaid as he accepted the Japanese surrender of
Korea on 9 September, then patrolled the
Yellow Sea, covering the landing of Marines at
Taku and
Qinhuangdao, China. After carrying homeward bound veterans to the west coast, she sailed on 14 January 1946 for the Panama Canal and
Philadelphia. Here she was placed in commission, in reserve, on 21 May, and out of commission on 10 February 1947. She was sold for scrapping on 14 August 1959 to Union Metals and Alloys Corp. == Awards ==