USS Omaha (CL-4)
| USS Omaha, WWII configuration |
USS Omaha, WWII configuration | | Career | |
|---|
| Ordered: |
| Laid down: | December 6 1918 |
| Launched: | December 14 1920 |
| Commissioned: | February 24 1923 |
| Decommissioned: | November 1 1945 |
| Fate: | Scrapped in February 1946 |
| Struck: |
| General Characteristics |
|---|
| Displacement: |
| Length: | 556 ft 6 in |
| Beam: | 55 ft 4 in |
| Draft: |
| Propulsion: |
| Speed: | 35 knots |
| Range: |
| Complement: | 458 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: | 12 × 6 in, 4 × 3 in6 × 21 in torpedo tubes |
| Aircraft: |
| Motto: |
USS Omaha (CL-4) was the
lead ship of
her class of
light cruiser of the
United States Navy. She was the second Navy ship named for the city of
Omaha, Nebraska.
Omaha was laid down
6 December 1918 by the Todd SB & DD Co.,
Tacoma, Washington;
launched 14 December 1920; sponsored by Miss Louise Bushnell White; and
commissioned 24 February 1923, Captain David C. Hanrahan in command.
Following her commissioning,
Omaha joined the
Atlantic Fleet under peace-time conditions. At this time her primary mission was training, and she proved to be very capable by consistently winning fleet awards in gunnery and communications. She made many ports-of-call throughout the
Mediterranean and
Caribbean during her peacetime cruises, displaying the
Stars and Stripes.
Just prior to the U. S. entry into
World War II, on
6 November 1941, while on neutrality patrol with
Somers (DDâ€"381) in mid-Atlantic near the
Equator,
Omaha sighted a vessel which aroused much suspicion by her actions. Refusing to satisfactorily identify herself, and taking evasive actions, the stranger was ordered to heave to. She flew the American flag and carried the name
Willmoto of
Philadelphia on her stern.
|
Omaha crew members posing on the deck of the Odenwald |
As
Omaha's crew dispatched a boarding party, the freighter's crew took to lifeboats and hoisted a signal which indicated that the ship was sinking. When the
Omaha party pulled alongside they could hear explosions from within the hull, while one of the fleeing crewmen shouted "This is a German ship and she is sinking." In short order the men of the
Omaha, in spite of extreme dangers, salvaged the vessel, rendered her safe and had her underway for
Puerto Rico. The freighter, as it turned out, was the German
commerce raider Odenwald, and her capture was one of the great dramas of American seamanship.
After the United States entered the war,
Omaha continued her South Atlantic patrol, instructed to stop Nazi blockade runners. While patrolling out of a base in
Brazil, on
4 January 1944, with
Jouett (DDâ€"396), she spotted a ship which immediately showed signs of being scuttled. The ship's crew took to the boats and she began settling by the stern. The following day another ship was sighted and its crew set her afire.
Omaha opened fire and the vessel disappeared beneath the waves. Both ships carried cargos of rubber which the Germans desperately needed.
In March,
Omaha proceeded to
Naples to prepare for landings in Southern France. On
19 August she protected the flank of the units bombarding
Toulon, and three days later took part in the operations that resulted in the surrender of the German garrison on the island of
Porquerolles.
Omaha was present at the surrender of
Giens on
23 August, and on
August 25 she delivered a sustained bombardment on targets in the
Toulon area. Shortly thereafter she was detached from the operation and returned to patrol duties. The termination of hostilities (
15 August 1945) found her patrolling in the South Atlantic.
Omaha sailed for
Philadelphia upon detachment from patrol, arriving
1 September. By
17 October she was slated for retirement, and she decommissioned
1 November 1945.
Omaha was struck from the
Naval Register 28 November 1945, and scrapped in February 1946 at the
Philadelphia Navy Yard.
Omaha earned one
battle star for service in
World War II.
See
USS Omaha for other ships of the same name.
