USS Milwaukee (CL-5) was an Omaha-class

Omaha class cruiser

The Omaha-class cruisers were a class of light cruisers built for the United States Navy. The oldest class of cruiser still in service with the Navy at the outbreak of World War II, the Omaha class was an immediate post-World War I design....

 light cruiser

Light cruiser

A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...

 in the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

. She was the third Navy ship named for the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Late in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, she was temporarily transferred to the Soviet Navy

Soviet Navy

The Soviet Navy was the naval arm of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have played an instrumental role in a Warsaw Pact war with NATO, where it would have attempted to prevent naval convoys from bringing reinforcements across the Atlantic Ocean...

 and commissioned as Murmansk.

Milwaukee was laid down on 13 December 1918 by Seattle Construction & Dry Dock Company, Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

, launched

Ship naming and launching

The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...

 by Todd Dry Dock & Construction Company, Seattle on 24 March 1921; sponsored by Mrs. Rudolph Pfeil; and commissioned

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...

 on 20 June 1923, Captain

Captain (naval)

Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....

 William C. Asserson in command.

Inter-war period

Shakedown took the new cruiser to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 via Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

, Samoa

Samoa

Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...

, Fiji Islands, and New Caledonia

New Caledonia

New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...

, for the Pan-Pacific Scientific Congress which opened in Sydney on 23 August. Fitted with the finest sonic depth–finding equipment, Milwaukee gathered knowledge of the Pacific on route. The Milwaukee Seamounts in the Northern Pacific are named after a set of soundings taken by Milwaukee in 1929.

Although she served primarily in the Pacific during the decades between the world wars, the highlights of her peacetime service came in the Caribbean. On 24 October 1926, Milwaukee and Goff arrived at the Isle of Pines

Isle of Youth

Isla de la Juventud is the second-largest Cuban island and the seventh-largest island in the West Indies . The island has an area and is 100 km south of the island of Cuba, across the Gulf of Batabanó...

 from Guantanamo Bay

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is located on of land and water at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba which the United States leased for use as a coaling station following the Cuban-American Treaty of 1903. The base is located on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the oldest overseas...

 to assist victims of a fierce hurricane which had devastated the island four days before. The American ships established a medical center at the city hall in Nueva Gerone, furnished the stricken area over 50 ST (45.4 t) of food, replaced telephone lines which had been swept away, and maintained wireless communication with the outside world. The efficient and tireless labors of the crews won the respect and gratitude of everyone in the area.

Over 10 years later, while steaming north of Hispaniola

Hispaniola

Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...

 and Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

 on 14 February 1939, Milwaukee recorded the greatest depth yet discovered in the Atlantic. The spot—which has a depth of 30246 ft (9,219 m)—is now known as the "Milwaukee Deep

Milwaukee Deep

Milwaukee Deep, also known as The Milwaukee Depth, is the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean and is part of the Puerto Rico Trench. It has a maximum depth of at least . It is just north of the coast of Puerto Rico at Punto Palmas Altas in Manatí.This ocean floor feature is named for the USS...

".

U.S. presence in the Orient had, at this time, been being challenged. Japanese aircraft had bombed the gunboat

River gunboat

A river gunboat is a type of gunboat adapted for river operations. River gunboats required shallow draft for river navigation. They would be armed with relatively small caliber cannons, or a mix of cannons and machine guns. If they carried more than one cannon, one might be a howitzer, for shore...

  in the Yangtze River

Yangtze River

The Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...

 near Hankow, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 on 12 December 1937, testing American determination to remain in the Orient. Milwaukee—as part of the U.S. Navy's response to the challenge—got underway from San Diego on 3 January 1938 on a cruise to the Far Fast, which took her to Hawaii, Samoa, Australia, Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, and Guam

Guam

Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...

. As tension abated she returned home on 27 April.

South Atlantic

Milwaukee, Captain Forrest B. Royal commanding, was in New York Navy Yard for overhaul when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor

Attack on Pearl Harbor

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...

. Departing New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 on 31 December 1941, Milwaukee escorted a convoy to the Caribbean and arrived at Balboa, Panama

Balboa, Panama

Balboa is a district of Panama City, located at the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal.- History :The town of Balboa, founded by the United States during the construction of the Panama Canal, was named after Vasco Núñez de Balboa, the Spanish conquistador credited with discovering the Pacific Ocean...

 on 31 January 1942, transited the Panama Canal

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

, and escorted eight troop transports to the Society Islands

Society Islands

The Society Islands are a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean. They are politically part of French Polynesia. The archipelago is generally believed to have been named by Captain James Cook in honor of the Royal Society, the sponsor of the first British scientific survey of the islands;...

. Returning to the Atlantic through the canal on 7 March, she stopped at Trinidad

Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

 en route to Recife

Recife

Recife is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in Brazil with 4,136,506 inhabitants, the largest metropolitan area of the North/Northeast Regions, the 5th-largest metropolitan influence area in Brazil, and the capital and largest city of the state of Pernambuco. The population of the city proper...

, Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, where she joined the South Atlantic Patrol Force.

For the next two years, Milwaukee made repeated patrols from ports of Brazil, steaming from the border of French Guiana

French Guiana

French Guiana is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department located on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west...

 down to Rio do Janeiro, and across the Atlantic Narrows almost to the African coast. On 19 May, while steaming from Ascension Island

Ascension Island

Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island in the equatorial waters of the South Atlantic Ocean, around from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America, which is roughly midway between the horn of South America and Africa...

 to Brazil, she received an SOS from the Brazilian cargo ship SS Commandante Lyra, which had been torpedoed by the Italian submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

  off the coast of Brazil. When she reached the scene that morning, Milwaukee found Commandante Lyra abandoned, burning forward and aft, and listing to port.

The destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

  picked up 16 survivors and Milwaukee rescued 25 others, including the ship's master. The cruiser's sister ship

Sister ship

A sister ship is a ship of the same class as, or of virtually identical design to, another ship. Such vessels share a near-identical hull and superstructure layout, similar displacement, and roughly comparable features and equipment...

  and the destroyer were soon on the rescue scene. While Milwaukee refueled at Recife, Omahas salvage party jettisoned deck cargo and ready ammunition for deck guns from the burning Brazilian merchantman. Milwaukee immediately returned to the scene. Her salvage party also jettisoned cargo to lighten the cargo ship. The fires were brought under control, and Commandante Lyra was towed to Fortaleza

Fortaleza

Fortaleza is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. With a population close to 2.5 million , Fortaleza is the 5th largest city in Brazil. It has an area of and one of the highest demographic densities in the country...

, Brazil, arriving on 24 May.

Milwaukee put out of Recife on 8 November in company with her sister and the destroyer , seeking German blockade runners. On 21 November, the task force encountered a strange ship which turned out to be the German blockade runner Annaliese Essenberger. Milwaukee challenged the unidentified ship, who replied with the call letters "L-J-P-Y", the international call of Norwegian freighter Sjhflbred. The Allied secret identification signal brought no reply. The two American cruisers maneuvered to cover Somers, chasing the enemy into a small rain squall. At 06:51, when Somers had closed to 4 mi (3.5 nmi; 6.4 km), smoke and flames poured from the enemy, who lowered boats. Minutes later, the first of three tremendous explosions hurled wreckage hundreds of feet in the air and the freighter settled by the stern. Then, the Norwegian flag was hauled down and the German merchant swastika flag was raised at the main. The German motorship heeled over to port and sank by the stern. Milwaukee took aboard 62 prisoners from four liferafts.

On the morning of 2 May 1943, while Milwaukee was under repairs at Recife, her crew showed great initiative and skill fighting a fire on tanker SS Livingston Roe which threatened the harbor.

Milwaukee continued her South Atlantic patrols until 8 February 1944, when she departed Bahia

Salvador, Bahia

Salvador is the largest city on the northeast coast of Brazil and the capital of the Northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia. Salvador is also known as Brazil's capital of happiness due to its easygoing population and countless popular outdoor parties, including its street carnival. The first...

, Brazil, for the New York Navy Yard. She stood out from New York on 27 February as a unit of the ocean escort for a convoy which reached Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

, Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

 on 8 March.

Arctic convoy

On 29 March, Milwaukee put to sea from Belfast, en route to Murmansk

Murmansk

Murmansk is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland...

, northwest Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, with Allied convoy JW58. A German submarine was sunk during the night. The following day enemy planes shadowing the convoy were shot down by fighter planes launched from the British

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 escort carrier . A wolfpack of German submarines tried to penetrate the convoy screen during the night of 31 March but was driven off. The following night, seven German submarines shadowed the convoy, but they were also driven off with the possible loss of one enemy submarine. That morning, carrier-based planes reported sinking a German submarine 10 mi (8.7 nmi; 16.1 km) astern.

Transfer to Soviet Navy

On 4 April, four escorts of the Soviet Navy joined the convoy now headed for Archangelsk. A few hours later Milwaukee left the convoy and headed for Murmansk and the Kola Inlet. There on 20 April, the ship was transferred on loan to the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 Northern Fleet in lieu of the Soviet share of the surrendered Italian warships. She commissioned in the Soviet Navy as Murmansk and performed convoy and patrol duty in the Arctic Ocean

Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...

 for the remainder of the war. Afterward, she became a training ship and participated in the 1948 fleet maneuvers. Transferred back to the U.S. on 16 March 1949, Milwaukee—the first of 15 American warships returned by the USSR—entered Philadelphia Naval Shipyard

Philadelphia Naval Shipyard

The Philadelphia Naval Business Center, formerly known as the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and Philadelphia Navy Yard, was the first naval shipyard of the United States. The U.S. Navy reduced its activities there in the 1990s, and ended most of them on September 30, 1995...

on 18 March, and was sold for scrapping to the American Shipbreakers, Inc., in Wilmington, Delaware on 10 December.

External links

Note on the Milwaukee Seamonts