Astoria was a New Orleans-class heavy cruiser, hull CA-34. Puget Sound Navy Yard laid her down on 1 September 1930. She was reclassified as a heavy cruiser on 1 July 1931. She was launched on 16 December 1933 and commissioned on 28 April 1934. Seven ships were built in the class. A later light cruiser also carried the name Astoria. This is the heavy cruiser.
In the spring of 1939 she carried the ashes of Hirosi Saito, the Japanese ambassador, from the United States to Yokohama. That voyage was a funeral, not a battle.
At the Coral Sea she was in the cruiser screen with Minneapolis, New Orleans, Portland, and Chester. On 7 May aircraft from Yorktown and Lexington sank the light carrier Shoho. On 8 May Japanese aircraft wrecked Lexington. Phelps scuttled the abandoned ship. Yorktown took one bomb and was not sunk. Astoria was not sunk.
At Midway she was in Yorktown's screen, with Portland. On 4 June Hiryu's aircraft crippled Yorktown. Fletcher shifted his flag to Astoria. I-168 sank Hammann on 6 June and the abandoned Yorktown on 7 June. Astoria was not sunk.
On the night of 8-9 August 1942 she was in the northern patrol off Savo Island, with Quincy and Vincennes. Mikawa's cruisers set her on fire. The damage is not credited to one Japanese ship. One of her last shots hit a forward turret on Chokai. She sank that afternoon.
