Pacific ships

Photos and the story

Chicago

Back to Chicago

ClassNorthampton class
TypeHeavy cruiser (CA)
HullCA-29
FateSunk. Torpedoed at Savo Island, 9 August 1942, and not sunk there. This is CA-29, not the later Chicago. Sunk by Japanese aircraft torpedoes at the Battle of Rennell Island, 30 January 1943.
Armament (class)Three triple 8-inch turrets and two funnels.
Command

Laid down, displacement, length, beam, draft, speed, and complement are not stored for each hull, so this table leaves them out.

The armament line is the class drawing, not a measurement of this hull.

Chicago
U.S. Navy photo NH 715. Chicago (CA-29) underway off New York City, 31 May 1934. This is not a later Chicago. Public domain.

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.