Pittsburgh was a Baltimore-class heavy cruiser, laid down at Quincy on 3 February 1943 as Albany and renamed before launch. Bethlehem launched her on 22 February 1944. She was commissioned at Boston on 10 October 1944 with Captain John E. Gingrich in command.
The ship's history says she joined Task Force 58 at Ulithi on 13 February 1945, in the group formed around Lexington (CV-16), and that the force had sailed on 10 February. It also says that on 19 February planes from her group began direct support of the Marines on Iwo Jima. Both sentences are in that history.
On 19 March she went to Franklin at 30 knots, took 34 men from the water, and with Santa Fe got a tow line onto the burning carrier. Gingrich stayed at the conn for 48 hours. At noon on 20 March Franklin cast off and went on under her own power. The history still has Gingrich in command that day. It gives no day for his relief, so the command line stays open.
On 4 June 1945 she met a typhoon that by the next morning was blowing 70 knots. The bow tore away. No one was lost. The crew shored the forward bulkhead and she made Guam on 10 June at 6 knots. The bow was nicknamed McKeesport. Munsee salvaged it. A false bow took Pittsburgh to Puget Sound. She was still under repair at the end of the war, went into reserve on 12 March 1946, and was decommissioned on 7 March 1947. She was recommissioned on 25 September 1951 with Captain Preston V. Mercer in command. The same officer had Lamson in 1941 and 1942. The bracketed note in the history says she was struck on 1 July 1973 and sold on 22 July 1974.