Allied Warships

USS Savannah (CL 42)

Light cruiser of the Brooklyn class

NavyThe US Navy
TypeLight cruiser
ClassBrooklyn 
PennantCL 42 
Built byNew York Shipbuilding Corp. (Camden, New Jersey, U.S.A.) 
Ordered 
Laid down31 May 1934 
Launched8 May 1937 
Commissioned10 Feb 1938 
End service3 Feb 1947 
History

Decommissioned 3 February 1947.
Stricken 1 March 1959.
Sold 25 January 1966 to be broken up for scrap.

 

Commands listed for USS Savannah (CL 42)

Please note that we're still working on this section
and that we only list Commanding Officers for the duration of the Second World War.

CommanderFromTo
1Robert Carlisle Griffin, USN10 Mar 193815 May 1940
2Capt. Harry Gates Patrick, USN15 May 194012 Jul 1940
3Cdr. Alfred Paul Haken Tawresey, USN12 Jul 194019 Jul 1940
4Cdr. Ingolf Norman Kiland, USN19 Jul 19408 Aug 1940
5Capt. Andrew Carl Bennett, USN8 Aug 194010 Jun 1942
6Capt. Leon Sangster Fiske, USN10 Jun 194217 Feb 1943
7Robert Webster Carey, USN17 Feb 194312 Oct 1943
8T/Capt. Philip Daniel Lohmann, USN12 Oct 194322 Jan 1944
9T/Cdr. David Darwin Scott, USN22 Jan 194427 Mar 1944
10T/Cdr. Charles Mortimer Holcombe, USN27 Mar 19446 Apr 1944
11T/Cdr. Ernest Judson Davis, USN6 Apr 194426 Jun 1944
12T/Capt. James Hicks Foskett, USN26 Jun 19449 Jun 1945
13T/Cdr. Edward Earl Hoffman, USN9 Jun 194514 Jun 1945
14T/Capt. Bryan Cobb Harper, USN14 Jun 19451 Mar 1946

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Notable events involving Savannah include:


11 Sep 1943
(Captain Robert Webster Carey, USN)A German glider bomb hit USS Savannah off Salerno, exploding into the hull below the waterline, and causing serious damage to the ship.

The glider bomb pierced through the armoured turret roof of the number 3 gun turret, passed through three decks into the lower handling room where it exploded leaving a gaping hole in the bottom, and tore open a seam in the ship's port side. Also 197 men lost their lives in this attack.

The badly damaged Savannah was back in the United States on 23 December 1943 and was repaired and refitted at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. This being completed on 4 September 1944.


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