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Photo # 80-G-272783:  USS Houston under tow after she was torpedoed, October 1944

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Houston (CL-81), 1943-1961 --
Torpedoed, 14-16 October 1944

On 12-14 October 1944 USS Houston participated in Task Force 38's carrier air raids on Japanese air bases on Formosa. The enemy responded with night torpedo plane counterattacks that stopped the heavy cruiser Canberra (CA-70) on the evening of the 13th. The next evening, as Canberra was being slowly towed away, Houston was also hit. A Type 91 aerial torpedo caught her amidships, below the turn of the starboard bilge, causing very severe damage that flooded all four of her machinery spaces and brought her to a halt. Her captain initially believed his ship was doomed, and requested that her crew be taken off. However, damage control parties managed to contain the inrushing water, and abandonment ceased. Instead, in the darkness and not without difficulties, the ship was taken under tow by USS Boston (CA-69).

The two crippled cruisers were slowly towed towards safety, but remained within striking distance of Japanese airfields for several days. To protect them, a task force of two light carriers, with several cruisers and destroyers, maneuvered nearby. Fleet tug Pawnee (ATF-74) took over Houston's tow on the 16th, while her sister tug Munsee (ATF-107) picked up the Canberra. That afternoon a large enemy air raid came in from Formosa. Fighters from the escorting light carriers and shipboard anti-aircraft guns shot down many Japanese planes, but a few got near enough to launch torpedos. One of these hit Houston's starboard quarter, blowing her aircraft hangar hatch into the air and making another large hole in her hull.

Tug Pawnee kept towing and, despite having more than 6000 tons of water in her ruptured and weakened hull, Houston's damage control parties kept her afloat during the eleven additional days required for the tugs and their reliefs to bring her and Canberra to the advanced base at Ulithi, more than 1300 nautical miles from where they were torpedoed. There, and subsequently at Manus in the Admiralty Islands, Houston's holes were patched, her hull reinforced and enough machinery repaired to allow her to proceed under her own power to the U.S. for permanent repairs. Few, if any, U.S. Navy ships operating in the open sea had survived such massive underwater damage and flooding.

This page features, and provides links to, selected views related to the torpedoing of USS Houston on 14-16 October 1944.

For more photographs concerning this incident, see:

  • USS Houston (CL-81) -- Torpedoed, 14-16 October 1944 (Part II)

    For other images related to this ship, see:

  • USS Houston (CL-81), 1943-1961.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: 19-N-106304

    USS Houston (CL-81)


    View looking aft, showing damage to the ship's stern area resulting from a torpedo hit amidships received off Formosa on 14 October 1944.
    This photo was taken while Houston was under tow, but prior to the second torpedo hit on 16 October.
    Note OS2U floatplane that had been jarred off the port catapult, breaking its wing on impact with the aircraft crane.

    Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

    Online Image: 137KB; 620 x 765 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 80-G-272781

    Task Force 38 Raids on Formosa, October 1944


    A destroyer alongside the damaged USS Houston (CL-81) on 15 October 1944, removing excess crewmen after she was torpedoed by Japanese aircraft off Formosa. Photographed from USS Boston (CA-69).
    Note OS2U floatplane on Boston's port catapult.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 81KB; 740 x 610 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: 19-N-110835

    USS Houston (CL-81)


    Burial at sea for crewmen killed when the ship was torpedoed off Formosa on 14 October 1944.
    Photographed while Houston was under tow on 15 October. The following day, 16 October, she was hit in the starboard quarter (just aft of where this view was taken) by another aerial torpedo.

    Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

    Online Image: 86KB; 740 x 600 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: NH 98825

    USS Houston (CL-81)


    Japanese aerial torpedo explodes against the ship's starboard quarter, during the afternoon of 16 October 1944.
    Houston had been torpedoed amidships on 14 October, while off Formosa, and was under tow by USS Pawnee (ATF-74) when enemy torpedo planes hit her again.
    USS Canberra (CA-70), also torpedoed off Formosa, is under tow in the distance.

    The original photograph is in the USS Santa Fe (CL-60) "Log", a very large photo album held by the Navy Department Library.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 59KB; 740 x 630 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98826

    USS Houston (CL-81)


    Japanese aerial torpedo hits the ship's starboard quarter, during the afternoon of 16 October 1944. This view shows burning fuel at the base of the torpedo explosion's water column.
    Houston had been torpedoed amidships on 14 October, while off Formosa, and was under tow by USS Pawnee (ATF-74) when enemy torpedo planes hit her again.
    USS Canberra (CA-70), also torpedoed off Formosa, is under tow in the distance.

    The original photograph is in the USS Santa Fe (CL-60) "Log", a very large photo album held by the Navy Department Library.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 64KB; 740 x 605 pixels

     
    Photo #: 80-G-272783

    USS Houston (CL-81)


    Under tow on 17 October 1944, after she had been torpedoed twice by Japanese aircraft during operations off Formosa. The first torpedo hit Houston amidships on 14 October. The second struck the the cruiser's starboard quarter while she was under tow on 16 October. Damage from that torpedo is visible in this view.
    USS Canberra (CA-70), also torpedoed off Formosa, is under tow in the distance.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 66KB; 740 x 600 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: NH 98342

    USS Houston (CL-81)


    View of the ship's torpedo-damaged stern, taken while she was under tow toward Ulithi Atoll in October 1944.
    Houston was hit by two Japanese aerial torpedos during operations off Formosa. The first struck her amidships on 14 October and the second hit her starboard quarter on 16 October.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 93KB; 740 x 600 pixels

     
    Photo #: 19-N-110859

    USS Houston (CL-81)


    View looking aft, showing damage to the ship's stern area resulting from a torpedo hit in the starboard quarter received off Formosa on 16 October 1944.
    Houston had previously been torpedoed, amidships, on 14 October and was being towed out of the area when hit by the second torpedo.
    Note missing aircraft hangar cover and broken aircraft crane, with severe distortion of structure to starboard. The ship's number three 6"/47 triple gun turret is in the middle of the view.

    Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

    Online Image: 103KB; 590 x 765 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: NH 98343

    USS Canberra (CA-70)


    Under tow toward Ulithi Atoll after she was torpedoed while operating off Okinawa. USS Houston (CL-81), also torpedoed and under tow, is in the right background.
    Canberra was hit amidships on 13 October 1944. Houston was torpedoed twice, amidships on 14 October and aft on 16 October.
    The tugs may be USS Munsee (ATF-107), which towed Canberra, and USS Pawnee (ATF-74).

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 106KB; 740 x 605 pixels

     

    For more photographs concerning this incident, see:

  • USS Houston (CL-81) -- Torpedoed, 14-16 October 1944 (Part II)

    For other images related to this ship, see:

  • USS Houston (CL-81), 1943-1961.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 16 February 2003
    New images added and page divided 12 September 2003