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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
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Photo # 80-G-384393:  USS Montpelier at Efate, New Hebrides, 22 April 1943

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

USS Montpelier (CL-57), 1942-1960

USS Montpelier, a 10,000-ton Cleveland class light cruiser, was built at Camden, New Jersey. She was commissioned in September 1942 and, after shakedown and training in the western Atlantic area, arrived in the South Pacific in January 1943. Late in that month, while involved in the last phases of the Guadalcanal Campaign, she participated in the air-sea Battle of Rennell Island. As the Allies began to move up the Solomon Islands chain, Montpelier supported the occupation of the Russell Islands in February 1943, bombarded the Japanese airfield at Vila, Kolombangara, on 5-6 March, and covered the New Georgia invasion during the following summer. In early November 1943 she shelled enemy positions during landings on Bougainville and engaged Japanese warships in the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay.

During the first months of 1944 Montpelier participated in operations to seize bases in the Bismarck and Admiralty Islands. She used her guns to support the invasion of Saipan in June, then took part in the Battle of the Philippine Sea and in the subsequent conquests of Tinian and Guam. Following a shipyard overhaul at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, the cruiser returned to the Western Pacific in November 1944. In the last month of that year and first six months of 1945 she covered landings on Mindoro, Luzon, Corregidor, Palawan, Mindanao and Borneo. In July and August, Montpelier steamed in the East China Sea, hunting for enemy shipping. After Japan capitulated in mid-August, she supported the recovery of Allied Prisoners of War and the occupation of Japan.

Montpelier went home to the United States in late 1945. In January 1947, following brief service with the Atlantic Fleet, she was decommissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she was part of the Reserve Fleet for more than a decade. USS Montpelier was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in March 1959 and sold for scrapping in January 1960.

This page features nearly all the views we have related to USS Montpelier (CL-57).


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 #: NH 98083

USS Montpelier (CL-57)


Photographed circa early December 1942, probably in the vicinity of the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania.

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

Online Image: 91KB; 740 x 575 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98084

USS Montpelier (CL-57)


Photographed by the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, probably in the Delaware River or Delaware Bay on 12 December 1942.
Note the seaplane floats on her catapults.

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

Online Image: 146KB; 740 x 585 pixels

 
Photo #: 80-G-384393

USS Montpelier (CL-57)


Enters Havannah Harbor, Efate, New Hebrides, as seen from USS Columbia (CL-56) on 22 April 1943.
Note the Curtiss SOC "Seagull" floatplane in the right foreground, and the worn paintwork on Montpelier's hull, forward and amidships, with apparently fresh paint further aft.

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

Online Image: 102KB; 740 x 620 pixels

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

 
Photo #: NH 98085

USS Montpelier (CL-57)


En route from the Marshall Islands to take part in the invasion of Saipan, 11 June 1944.
Photographed from USS Gambier Bay (CVE-73).

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

Online Image: 112KB; 740 x 620 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98086

USS Montpelier (CL-57)


Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, following overhaul, 18 October 1944.
Her camouflage scheme is Measure 32, Design 11a.

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

Online Image: 79KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98087

USS Montpelier (CL-57)


Off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, following overhaul, 18 October 1944.
Her camouflage scheme is Measure 32, Design 11a.

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

Online Image: 70KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98088

USS Montpelier (CL-57)


At the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, at the end of an overhaul, 21 October 1944.
The ship in the background, with weathered Measure 32, Design 7d camouflage, is USS Indianapolis, which had recently arrived at the Navy Yard for overhaul.
Circles mark recent alterations to Montpelier.

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

Online Image: 139KB; 610 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 100389

Action in Kula Gulf, 6 March 1943


USS Denver (CL-58) SG radarscope image, showing the situation at time 0117, as the U.S. force begins to turn north after firing on the Japanese destroyers Murasame and Minegumo.
Denver is the bright spot in the center of the scope, with USS Cleveland (CL-55) and USS Montpelier (CL-57) ahead of her, still heading SSW. USS Conway (DD-507) and USS Waller (DD-466) are further ahead, starting to turn north. Kolombangara is the large white patch at left, with one of the Japanese ships showing as a faint spot offshore in the upper left center. Arundel Island is in the lower left and New Georgia is on the right.
Both Japanese destroyers were sunk in this engagement.

Copied from a photograph in Denver's 9 March 1943 Action Report, 1985

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 53KB; 600 x 725 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 78967

Navy Unit Commendation letter


Signed by Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal, circa 1944. It commends Cruiser Division Twelve and the crews of the division's cruisers -- USS Cleveland (CL-55), USS Columbia (CL-56), USS Montpelier (CL-57) and USS Denver (CL-58) -- for their performance in the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay, on 2 November 1943.

Courtesy of John R. Henry, 1973.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 111KB; 530 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: 80-G-K-2432 (Color)

Rear Admiral Aaron S. Merrill, USN

Receives the Navy Cross medal from Vice Admiral Aubrey W. Fitch, in ceremonies held on the after deck of USS Montpelier (CL-57), 11 December 1943.
Probably taken in Tulagi Harbor, Solomon Islands.

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

Online Image: 110KB; 740 x 510 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 80-G-57539

Rear Admiral Aaron S. Merrill, USN
(left)

Working with a maneuvering board on USS Montpelier (CL-57), during operations in the Solomon Islands, 23 December 1943. Captain W.D. Brown is also present.
Note the binoculars worn by both officers.

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

Online Image: 93KB; 740 x 615 pixels

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

 
Photo #: NH 75597

USS Montpelier (CL-57)


Launching, at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation shipyard, Camden, New Jersey, 12 February 1942.

Courtesy of James Russell, 1972.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 115KB; 595 x 765 pixels

 


In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views of USS Montpelier (CL-57). The following list features some of these images:

The images listed below are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections.
DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".



  • Photo #: 80-G-17343
    USS Montpelier (CL-57) underway on 27 November 1942.
    Port broadside aerial view. The ship wears a pattern camouflage scheme that had been painted over by 12 December 1942.

  • Photo #: 80-G-17344
    As above, but port bow aerial view.

  • Photo #: 80-G-40845
    USS Montpelier (CL-57) underway in 1942.
    Starboard broadside surface view, retouched by the wartime censor to remove radar antennas from gun directors and masts. The ship is wearing a pattern camouflage scheme that had been painted over by 12 December 1942.


    Reproductions of these images should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval Historical Center.

    The images listed in this box are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".


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


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    Page made 2 October 2002