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Photo # 80-G-301357:  USS Santa Fe at sea during the Philippines campaign, 12 December 1944

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

USS Santa Fe (CL-60), 1942-1959

USS Santa Fe, a 10,000-ton Cleveland class light cruiser built at Camden, New Jersey, was commissioned in late November 1942. She went to the Pacific in March 1943 and was assigned to the Aleutians war theater for her initial combat tour. During April-August 1943. Santa Fe patrolled in the North Pacific, shelled the Japanese-held islands of Attu and Kiska and took part in the unopposed invasion of Kiska. In September the cruiser began nearly two years of close association with the fast aircraft carrier task forces. During September and October 1943 she participated in strikes on the Gilbert Islands and Wake, using her guns to bombard the latter. Briefly detached from the carrier forces in early November, Santa Fe supported the Bougainville campaign and landings on Tarawa, in the Gilberts. She then screened the carriers as they hit targets in the Marshall Islands.

Following training off the U.S. West Coast, Santa Fe returned to the Central Pacific in January 1944 to take part in the invasion of the Marshalls late in that month and in February. During February-May, she played both screening and bombardment roles as the Navy raided the Carolines and Marianas, occupied Emirau Island and supported amphibious assaults along the northern New Guinea coast. Santa Fe was present during the invasion of Saipan in June, the resulting Battle of the Philippine Sea, the seizure of Guam in July and attacks on other Japanese positions elsewhere in the region. In September 1944 her task force struck the Palaus as U.S. ground forces landed there, and over the next month raided the Philippines, Formosa and Okinawa. During this time she also helped destroy a small enemy convoy and covered the withdrawal of the torpedoed cruisers Houston (CL-81) and Canberra (CA-70).

Santa Fe's next big operation was the invasion of Leyte, in mid-October 1944, and the Battle of Leyte Gulf a few days later. During the Battle off Cape Engaņo on 25 October, she used her guns to help sink the Japanese aircraft carrier Chiyoda and a destroyer. For the rest of 1944 and the first weeks of 1945, she continued her combat missions in the Philippines and the areas to the west and north. Santa Fe shelled Iwo Jima in mid-February 1945 and, with her carrier task force, raided the Japanese home islands in both February and March. While off Japan on 19 March she provided vital firefighting and rescue support to the badly damaged aircraft carrier Franklin (CV-13).

Overhauled at San Pedro, California, during April-July 1945, Santa Fe arrived back in the war zone just before Japan capitulated. Sent on to Okinawa later in August, she assisted with the occupation of northern Japan and subsequently transported homeward-bound service personnel as part of Operation "Magic Carpet". Following several months of inactivity, USS Santa Fe was decommissioned in October 1946. She spent more than a dozen years as part of the Pacific Reserve Fleet, moored at Bremerton, Washington, and was sold for scrapping in November 1959.

This page features selected views concerning USS Santa Fe (CL-60).


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-40686

USS Santa Fe (CL-60)


Off the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, 9 January 1943.

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

Online Image: 82KB; 740 x 610 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 19-N-40685

USS Santa Fe (CL-60)


Off the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, on 9 January 1943.

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

Online Image: 70KB; 740 x 610 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 19-N-41337

USS Santa Fe (CL-60)


Operating out of the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, on 7 March 1943, at about the time she went to the Pacific.

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

Online Image: 90KB; 740 x 610 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 80-G-439783

USS Santa Fe (CL-60)


Underway off the U.S. West Coast on 13 January 1944, the day she sailed to take part in the Marshalls operation.

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

Online Image: 147KB; 740 x 610 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 80-G-301357

USS Santa Fe (CL-60)


At sea during the Philippines campaign, 12 December 1944.
USS Washington (BB-56) is alongside an oiler in the center background.
Photographed from USS Essex (CV-9).

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

Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 610 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 19-N-87282

USS Santa Fe (CL-60)


Off San Pedro, California, in July 1945, after an overhaul.

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

Online Image: 90KB; 740 x 600 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 80-G-342244

USS Santa Fe (CL-60)


View on the foredeck, looking aft from the bow, with crewmembers cleaning the deck and maintaining gear, circa early 1943.
Note windlass, anchor chain and triple 6"/47 gun turrets.

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

Online Image: 70KB; 595 x 765 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 80-G-K-8160 (Color)

USS Santa Fe (CL-60)

Silhouetted against an Aleutians sunset, while operating in the North Pacific circa April-August 1943.

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

Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 605 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 80-G-342242

USS Santa Fe (CL-60)


Crewmen show off beards they grew during a 138-day period when no one was off the ship. Possibly taken during Santa Fe's Aleutians tour, circa summer 1943.

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

Online Image: 88KB; 740 x 600 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 80-G-342241

USS Santa Fe (CL-60)


Crewmembers attend Thanksgiving Day services on the ship's after deck, probably during the Gilberts campaign in November 1943.
Note aircraft catapult at right, and triple 6"/47 gun turrets in the upper left.

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

Online Image: 151KB; 740 x 605 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 80-G-700024

USS Santa Fe (CL-60)


Rolling about 35 degrees to starboard as she rides out a typhoon encountered in the South China Sea, probably on 18-19 December 1944.
Note that her forward 6"47 gun turret is trained to one side to avoid shipping water through its gun ports.
The photograph was released for publication on 26 July 1945.

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

Online Image: 95KB; 740 x 600 pixels

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

 
Photo #: 80-G-273888

USS Franklin (CV-13)


Burning off the Japanese coast after she was hit by air attack, 19 March 1945.
Photographed from USS Santa Fe (CL-60), which was alongside to help with firefighting and rescue work.

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

Online Image: 100KB; 740 x 605 pixels

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

 


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


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Page made 19 October 2002
Link added 31 December 2006