Pacific ships

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Chicago

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Chicago was a Northampton-class heavy cruiser, hull CA-29. This is not a later Chicago.

At the Coral Sea she was with Rear Admiral Crace. His flag was in Australia, and Hobart was with them. They had been sent toward the invasion passage, away from the carriers. Japanese land-based aircraft attacked that group and did not sink it. Chicago was not sunk.

On the night of 9 August 1942 she was on the southern patrol off Savo Island, with Canberra. Captain Bode was aboard her. Crutchley had taken Australia to a conference, so the flagship was not in the fight. Mikawa's cruisers came in the dark. A torpedo blew in Chicago's bow. A second torpedo did not explode. The ship that fired them is not known. She was not sunk there.

Canberra was wrecked in that same pass, before she could fire a gun. The loss is not pinned to one Japanese ship. On the northern side, Quincy and Vincennes were sunk, and Astoria sank that afternoon. Those losses are not pinned to one ship either.

Japanese aircraft torpedoes sank Chicago off Rennell Island on 30 January 1943. The sinking is not pinned to one plane.

Chicago at anchor off Suva in February 1942, one of three distant ships
February 1942, off Suva, photographed from Curtiss. Leander, Chicago, and Niagara. Chicago is one of the three ships in the distance. This is CA-29, not a later Chicago. U.S. Navy photo 80-G-7293. Public domain.