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Photo # 80-G-325746: USS Pittsburgh en route to Guam shortly after she lost her bow in a typhoon, June 1945

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

USS Pittsburgh (CA-72), 1944-1974 --
Loss of Bow, 5 June 1945

In the evening of 4 June 1945 Admiral William F. Halsey's Third Fleet, which had taken a replenishment break after pounding the Japanese on Okinawa and Kyushu, encountered a small, violent typhoon southeast of the Ryukyu Islands. By early the next morning Rear Admiral Joseph J. Clark's Task Group 38.1, of which USS Pittsburgh was a member, was enveloped by the storm. Ships were rolling heavily in the high wind and waves and, despite changing course and reducing speed, most received damage. Just before 6AM on 5 June, the floatplane on Pittsburgh's port catapult was blown off. About a half-hour later the cruiser was hit by two very large waves and her bow broke away in front of her forward gun turret. Fortunately, as a precaution all watertight bulkheads had been closed and the crew sent to battle stations, so no lives were lost in the incident. Prompt work by damage control parties prevented any significant flooding and the ship was able to ride out the rest of the storm by keeping her stern into the wind.

After the typhoon had passed, Pittsburgh made her way to Guam, arriving on 10 June. The shortened cruiser was fitted there with a temporary "stub" bow, similar to those used on the torpedoed cruisers Minneapolis and New Orleans during the Guadalcanal Campaign. This work, made possible by the extensive repair facilities the Navy maintained near the combat zone, was completed in about two weeks. Pittsburgh was then able to steam safely across the Pacific to the West Coast, where a new bow was made and attached.

Meanwhile Pittsburgh's original bow was still afloat. Between 6 and 11 June the fleet tug Munsee (ATF-107), assisted late in the operation by her sister ship Patana (ATF-108), slowly towed the more than 100-foot long structure to Guam, where salvage work was undertaken.

The loss of Pittsburgh's bow, as well as less severe structural damage suffered by the heavy cruiser Baltimore and the light cruiser Duluth, dramatically demonstrated both the power of nature and the sometimes unreliable strength of contemporary welding. The latter problem, which resulted from both a not-completely-mature technology and the pressures of wartime production, was one that reared its ugly head from time to time on other war-built ships, both during and after the conflict.

This page features all the views we have related to the breaking off of USS Pittsburgh's bow in a typhoon on 5 June 1945.

For more images of this ship, see:

  • USS Pittsburgh (CA-72), 1944-1974.


    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 #: 80-G-325746

    USS Pittsburgh (CA-72)


    En route to Guam for temporary repairs, shortly after she lost her bow in a typhoon on 5 June 1945.

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

    Online Image: 139KB; 740 x 600 pixels

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

     
    Photo #: NH 98249

    USS Pittsburgh (CA-72)


    At Guam, circa mid-June 1945, showing damage forward. She lost her bow in a typhoon on 5 June.

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

    Online Image: 104KB; 740 x 540 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98251

    USS Pittsburgh (CA-72)


    The cruiser's detached and capsized bow (at left) under tow toward Guam in June 1945. It had broken loose in a typhoon on 5 June.
    Two fleet tugs seen at right are probably USS Munsee (ATF-107) and USS Pakana (ATF-108).

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

    Online Image: 85KB; 740 x 615 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98250

    USS Pittsburgh (CA-72)


    The cruiser's detached and capsized bow under tow toward Guam in June 1945. It had broken loose in a typhoon on 5 June.
    While under salvage, Pittsburgh's bow was humorously called "USS McKeesport" and "suburb of Pittsburgh".

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

    Online Image: 191KB; 740 x 600 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98253

    USS Pittsburgh (CA-72)


    Sailors working on the cruiser's detached and capsized bow, during salvage operations at Guam, circa June 1945. It had broken away from the ship in a typhoon on 5 June.

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

    Online Image: 77KB; 585 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: 80-G-K-5929 (Color)

    USS Pittsburgh (CA-72)

    Divers working on the cruiser's severed bow, during salvage operations at Guam, circa June 1945. The bow had broken away from the ship in a typhoon on 5 June.

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

    Online Image: 111KB; 585 x 765 pixels

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

     
    Photo #: 80-G-K-5928 (Color)

    USS Pittsburgh (CA-72)

    Recovering the starboard anchor from the cruiser's severed bow, during salvage operations at Guam, circa June 1945. The bow had broken away from the ship in a typhoon on 5 June.

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

    Online Image: 98KB; 575 x 765 pixels

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

     
    Photo #: 80-G-K-5926 (Color)

    USS Pittsburgh (CA-72)

    Lifting the starboard anchor from the cruiser's severed bow, during salvage operations at Guam, circa June 1945. The bow had broken away from the ship in a typhoon on 5 June.

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

    Online Image: 96KB; 575 x 765 pixels

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

     
    Photo #: NH 98252

    USS Pittsburgh (CA-72)


    Lifting the starboard anchor from the cruiser's detached and capsized bow, during salvage operations at Guam, circa June 1945. The bow had broken away from the ship in a typhoon on 5 June.

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

    Online Image: 114KB; 740 x 625 pixels

     


    In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold other views related to the loss of USS Pittsburgh's bow. The following list features some of these photographs:

    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-700001
    View on board USS Pittsburgh (CA-72) during the typhoon which broke off her bow, 5 June 1945.
    View looks forward from the ship's bridge, showing huge waves breaking across her forward end.

  • Photo #: 80-G-325745
    USS Pittsburgh (CA-72) en route to Guam for repairs, 10 June 1945. She had lost her bow in a typhoon five days earlier.
    Starboard quarter aerial view, showing the ship underway, with a considerable white bow wave thrown up from her blunt front end.

  • Photo #: 80-G-700000
    USS Pittsburgh (CA-72) alongside USS Duluth (CL-87), at Guam, with her bow broken off. Photographed soon soon after she arrived there for temporary repairs, circa mid-June 1945.
    Starboard bow surface view, with Duluth moored to her port side.

  • Photo #: 80-G-352619
    USS Pittsburgh (CA-72) at Guam on 25 June 1945, after she had been fitted with a "stub" bow to allow her to steam back to the U.S. for permanent repairs.
    Starboard bow surface view (rather more starboard than bow).

  • Photo #: 80-G-352620
    As above, but much tighter on the bow, with two barges tied up to her starboard side.


    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".


  • For more images of this ship, see:

  • USS Pittsburgh (CA-72), 1944-1974.


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


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    Page made 17 December 2002