The U.S.S. AUGUSTA,
affectionately known by her crew as the "Augie"
or "Augie Maru", carries a proud name. She is
the fourth ship in United States Naval history to bear
this name, The first AUGUSTA was a fourteen gun brig,
serving in the war with France as part of Commodore Silas
Talbots squadron and capturing the vessels L'Espoir, La
Victoire, La Jeanne, Le Republic and Le Mutine. The
second AUGUSTA was a paddle steamer, serving in the Civil
War. The third vessel of the name was a motor patrol
boat, serving in the World War from August 11th, 1917, to
December 12th, 1918.
The present U.S.S.
AUGUSTA, named for the city in Georgia, was contracted
for in 1927 as one of six treaty cruisers displacing less
than 10,000 tons. All were designed and fitted out as
Fleet Flagships, lightly protected and carrying four
seaplanes for scouting. The other five ships in the class
were the NORTHAMPTON, CHESTER, LOUISVILLE, CHICAGO, and
the HOUSTON. The HOUSTON was lost in the opening days of
the present war while serving as Flagship of the Asiatic
Fleet. The NORTHAMPTON and the CHICAGO were lost during
the grim battles to turn back the Japs at Guadalcanal.
The CHESTER and the LOUISVILLE have been badly damaged
during Pacific Fighting. The AUGUSTA is the only ship of
the six, which has never been damaged in battle, although
she has had her share of brushes with the enemy.
The AUGUSTA's keel was
laid in the yard of the Newport News Shipbuilding and
Drydock Company on July 2, 1928. Nearly two years later,
on the 1st of February 1930, she was launched into the
waters of Hampton Roads. A year after that, on the 30th
of January, 1931, at the Norfolk Navy Yard at Portsmouth,
Virginia, she was turned over to the Navy by her builders
and formally commissioned, under the command of Captain
J.O. Richardson, who later became Commander in Chief of
the U.S. Fleet.
The AUGUSTA had her
shakedown in the Atlantic and Caribbean waters and with
the Atlantic Fleet until March, 1932, when she passed
thru the Panama Canal to join the Pacific Fleet in San
Pedro, California. In February, 1933 she made a cruise to
Pearl Harbor and then returned to San Pedro until early
fall, when she went to Puget Sound Navy Yard for the Far
East and history.
On November 9th, 1933,
she dropped her hook in Whangpoo, off the Bund in
Shanghai, China, and in colorful ceremonies, proudly
hoisted the four star flag of Admiral F.B. Uptam,
Commander in Chief of the United States Asiatic Fleet.
Her compliment at the
time was 64 officers and 760 men. Her armament consisted
of three turrets of three 8" guns, four 5"
anti-aircraft guns, eight fifty-caliber machine guns and
two sets of triple 21" torpedo tubes.
It was the customary
routine for the Asiatic Flagship to spend nine months
each year in Chinese waters, visiting Shanghai, Tsingtao,
Chefoo and Chinwangtao. The remaining three months were
spent in the Manila area. So in December of 1933 the
AUGUSTA cruised to the Philippines, visiting Manila,
Cavite, Subic Bay, Olongapo and Mariveles Bay and
returned to her China stations in May 1934.
In the fall of 1934 she
made the famous "Long Cruise". The primary purpose of this
cruise was to visit Melbourne, Australia, to take part in
the Centenary Celebration. Under the command of Captain
C.W. Nimitz, the present five-starred Commander in Chief
of the Pacific Fleet, she sailed from Shanghai for Guam
and then to Sydney, Melbourne, then continued on around
Australia to Batavia, Bali, Makassar and back to
Zamboanga and Manila, to complete a 73-day cruise of
nearly 15,000 miles.
May, 1935 found the
AUGUSTA making her first visit to Japan, stopping in
Yokahoma and Kobe for official visits and then back to
her China station. On the 8th of October, 1935 she sailed
from Shanghai to visit Bangkok, Singapore, and British
North Borneo and returned to spend the winter in the
Philippines.
In May 1936 she again
visited China and Japan and in November took another
southern cruise. Captain Gygax was her Commanding Officer
and Admiral Yarnell was embarked as Commander in Chief of
the Asiatic Fleet. Her cruise took her again as far south
as Batavia.
The year 1937 brought
the "Augie Maru" - now six years old- her
baptism of fire. August of that year found her back in
China station, with the "China Incident" in
full swing and the inter-national situation tense. On
"Bloody Saturday", the 14th of August, she
moored off the Bund of Shanghai after bucking a typhoon
at high speed enroute from Tsingtao. She was hardly
secured to her mooring buoy in the Whangpoo when two
bombs fell close alongside. Fortunately, no one was
killed. During the following hectic week the air was full
of screaming Jap shells falling in Shanghai until, on the
afternoon of August 20th, a
stray shell exploded on the AUGUSTA, killing one seaman and
wounding 17 others.
During the next three
years she sailed the Asiatic waters, diligently watching
the great cauldron of war come to a boil. In 1939 she
made a last southern cruise to Bangkok, Singapore, and
Saigon. In April 1940, making the passage from Manila to
Shanghai, she carried as passengers the Honorable Francis
B. Sayre, American High Commissioner to the Philippine
Islands, and Mrs. Sayre.
But all was not work.
While swinging at her mooring off the Bund, her crew
competed in the vast sports program of the Asiatic Fleet,
which the Navy encouraged to keep it's men fit.
Competition was keen and the standards high. In 1935,
1936, and 1937 she had won the coveted "Iron
Man" - the trophy for all around excellence in
Athletics. In 1940, at gala ceremonies held on the
Quarter Deck, she was presented with the Admiral Anderson
Swimming Trophy, the Admiral Washington Wrestling Cup -
for the fourth straight year - and as a finale, Admiral
Hart, then in Command of the Asiatic Fleet, presented the
famous "Iron Man" to Captain Magruder for the
"Augie's" fourth win in seven years.
Finally, in November,
1940, after seven years as Flagship of the Asiatic Fleet,
she turned over her job to her sister, the U.S.S.
HOUSTON, and sailed for the United States, flying a
"home-ward bound" pennant over 700 feet long.
From December 1940
until early April of 1941, the AUGUSTA was overhauled at
the Mare Island Navy Yard. During her stay there many of
the men who had served with her in China were transferred
to other stations. When she departed for the East Coast
in April, many new faces were along. By this time there
also were four more five inch guns.
On April 23rd Admiral
Ernest J. King, then CinClant, hoisted his flag in the
AUGUSTA, riding to her new buoy at Newport, R.I. In
Newport the AUGUSTA swung at her mooring eight months,
practically unbroken except for the most important
mission of her career. In early August, the Presidential
yacht Mayflower rendezvoused in Buzzards Bay to transfer
President Roosevelt and his party for the journey in the
AUGUSTA to meet Prime Minister Churchill at
Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. It was in the famous admiral's
cabin of the AUGUSTA that most of the parlays were held.
During that summer, also, trips were made to carry
Secretary of the Navy Knox and Secretary of the Treasury
Morganthau to Bermuda.
In December of 1941
Admiral King was relieved by Admiral R.E. Ingersol, the
new CinClant. Soon after war was declared, CinClant
transferred his staff to the CONSTELLATION, and the
AUGUSTA joined a carrier task force operating from
Bermuda.
In February of 1942 a
sweep was made around Martinique with the task force to
show the local French authorities that we meant business,
and then between April and early August, two trips to
Africa's Gold Coast were made to guard the carrier loaded
with P40's which were headed for Egypt and India. In
August, training was started for the invasion of French
Morocco.
In October 1942 the
AUGUSTA set out carrying the flag of Admiral Henry K.
Hewitt, who was in command of Moroccan invasion forces. Major General George S. Patton went along to watch us shoot
his way ashore. When the armistice was arranged with the
French, the AUGUSTA was the first ship to enter Casablanca
Harbor to
assist in clearing the way for our troops. "Le
D'emon", as she was called by the natives, carries
pictures testifying to the ferocity of the resistance put
up by the French forces. Two destroyers sunk, one badly
damaged and beached, plus an assist in damaging badly one
heavy cruiser and one destroyer, had been chalked up by
her guns.
In December of 1942 and
January of 1943 the Navy Yard New York added most of the
present battery of 40MM and 20MM guns to bolster the
anti-aircraft battery. And in the spring of 1943 the
AUGUSTA went to Argentia, Newfoundland, to acclimate all
hands for a visit with the British Fleet.
In May a slight detour
was made to escort the Queen Mary, carrying Prime
Minister Churchill, to New York. Then a troop convoy was
escorted to the Clyde and another brought back as far as
Halifax.
In August, 1943, the
AUGUSTA sailed from Halifax with the heavy Cruiser
TUSCALOOSA, the carrier RANGER, and an escort of
destroyers to join the British Fleet as Scapa Flow. The
British had their hands full in the Mediterranean and the
Home Fleet was short of cruisers and carriers.
The American ships
assumed British code names, learned British signals and
British naval tactic with the Home Fleet and joined the
watch of the Norwegian coast, where the giant German
battleship TIRPITZ and battleships SCHARNHORST and
GNEISENAU awaited a chance to slip out. Twice the Germans
tried it and twice the Home Fleet raced to intercept, but
the cautious Nazis hurried back into port too soon. In
September, the Secretary of the Navy, visiting American
naval forces in Europe, came to Scapa Flow to inspect the
American ships turned British.
The AUGUSTA then joined
the heavy cruiser H.M.S. LONDON and sailed for Iceland to
guard the gate between Iceland and Greenland. Quietly the
two cruisers hid in the fjord at Reykjavik, but nothing
happened. Early in October the waiting became too
monotonous and the two fast ships sailed out. North they
went, beyond Bear Island, far above the northernmost tip
of Norway. Because a man's life expectancy in the
freezing water was no more than twenty minutes, the crew
needed no urging to watch the gray seas for the dreaded
periscopes. There was now no more destroyer escort, for
the were bait in a trap which Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser
hoped to spring on the SCHARNHORST. But the Nazis would
not bite and the watch in Iceland was resumed. Here the
AUGUSTA received her first mail in 57 days. She had been
traveling too fast for the Post Office.
In the latter part of
October, the trap was again set, baited this time with
ships making the deadly run to Murmansk. The AUGUSTA and
the LONDON took their stations in the far north, within
800 miles of the North Pole, to wait and watch. Again the
Germans were prudent. German patrol bombers were sent out
to investigate and the Nazi ships stayed safely under the
protection of their own powerful shore batteries and air
coverage. The AUGUSTA then sailed southward across the
wild northern seas to Scotland for a few days of liberty
and recreation.
By the middle of
November, other Allied warships came to Scapa Flow to
relieve the watch and the AUGUSTA sailed to Iceland for
Thanksgiving and then to the United States for overhaul
and modernization. In April of 1944, refreshed, rearmed,
and thoroughly drilled in shore bombardment techniques,
the AUGUSTA set sail for Europe. Down the Irish Sea, into
the English Channel, and into the shattered port of
Portsmouth she sailed. In simple ceremonies, Rear Admiral
Alan G. Kirk hoisted his flag as Commander of the Western
Task Force - that group of determined Americans who had
vowed to breach the walls of Fortress Europe. For weeks
there were conferences of admirals and generals, while
couriers hurried between the AUGUSTA and LONDON. Twice
the Germans bombed Plymouth, but the ship was unhit. No
mail arrived, for the location of the AUGUSTA was a
secret even to the Post Office.
The stay in Plymouth
was saddened by the news of the death of the Secretary of
the Navy. The ranking officers of the British and
American forces in Plymouth gathered aboard AUGUSTA for a
simple and beautiful memorial service.
Late in April the
AUGUSTA carried Admiral Harold R. Stark, Commanded of
Naval Forces in Europe, out to participate in practice
landings on a secluded beach of southern England.
Diligently she practiced for the great day. A month
later, as May was drawing to a close, she steamed up the
channel to Portland, were King George VI inspected the
ship and stayed for dinner.
The opening days of
June saw the ship sealed and waiting. On the night of
June 5th she sailed out of Plymouth and headed for the
beaches of Normandy. Swiftly and silently she ran into
the darkness, past the vast vessels of the Western Task
Force and together they crept toward the Norman coast
behind heroic little mine sweepers. On her Admiral's
bridge, in the dawn, stood Rear Admiral Kirk and his
Chief of Staff, Rear Admiral Stuble, General Omar N.
Bradley, Commanding the Army Forces making the landings,
and Brig. General Royce, Deputy Commander of the Ninth
Tactical Air Force. Serious and determined, they were
prepared to lose one quarter of their forces.
Poised for the blow,
the AUGUSTA steamed to within 3,000 yards of the enemy
shore and dropped her anchor. Then the mighty fleet
roared it's defiance of German might and hurled it's tons
of steel against the beach.
The events of the next
month are history. For twenty-six days the AUGUSTA
steamed up and down the invasion beaches. For three days
she road out the worst June blow in English Channel
History, losing one man washed overboard in the midst of
it. By night her 5" guns blazed at the lone German
planes which penetrated the air cover and had the
satisfaction of shooting one down. On the 14th of June
the first mail in ten weeks arrived, brought from England
by a destroyer.
Finally on the 30th of
June the beachhead was secured beyond a doubt. Admiral
Kirk transferred his flag to another ship and the AUGUSTA
sailed back to Plymouth. But her stay was short. Five
days later she was on her way to the Mediterranean. After
stopping at Oran and Palermo, she edged to the crowded
harbor of Naples.
The AUGUSTA had not
been long in Naples before the Germans flew a night
photographic mission over the harbor and dropped
tremendous flares. After that night the "Augie
Maru" moved each evening across the bay to
Castellamare to spend the night and came back the next
morning. The flag of Rear Admiral Lyal A. Davidson, who
would command the Bombardment Support Group for the
invasion of Southern France, was now flying in the
AUGUSTA. Again there was much coming and going. Beneath
the blacked out docks, the lights burned far into the
night.
Finally on the evening
of August 12th the AUGUSTA slipped out of the nearly
deserted harbor of Naples and ran northward to Corsica,
where the landing forces were gathered. On D-1 day, in
company with fast attack transports, loaded with American
Special Service Troops and Special French Troops, and
escorted by destroyers and PT boats, she headed for the
French coast east of Toulon. The special force was
assigned the task of reducing the large batteries
covering the landing beaches before the main force
arrived. The AUGUSTA was to standby and reduce the
batteries by bombardment if the Special Service Troops
failed to do it by stealth.
The operation was a
success. H-hour found not a single heavy gun firing at
the landing forces. Admiral Davidson now gathered his
support group and began to reduce systematically the
defenses of the French coast in the path of the Allied
forces advancing westward. Only at Toulon, "Big
Willie", a fifteen inch coast defense battery
remained. "Big Willie", dropped shells around
the AUGUSTA too close for comfort when she approached
within range. He was finally silenced by the combined
guns of the bombardment group, in addition to a few
hundred tons of bombs.
On D+1 Secretary of the
Navy Forrestal came aboard to see how we were getting
along.
Around Marseilles the
AUGUSTA had more fun, playing hide-and-seek with a
battery of 150-mm coast defense guns. Each time these
guns opened up on mine sweeping forces, the guns of the
AUGUSTA drove the Germans back into their underground
shelters. After hours of quiet, the game would
recommence. Almost three days were spent in this manner,
and the Germans finally admitted they were beaten. Our
Marines were landed, together with those of the U.S.S.
PHILADELPHIA, to accept the surrender of about 800
Germans.
After the operations in
Southern France, the ship was taken to Philadelphia Navy
Yard for a further modernization. Four and a half months
work was required to complete the task, and the AUGUSTA
emerged with a new profile and much new equipment.
So today the light and
graceful AUGUSTA cuts swiftly through the waters, proud
of an historic past, eager for the future, and grateful
for the phenomenal good fortune. Her men name with pride
her past commanding officers:
