USS Phoenix (CL-46)

USS Phoenix (CL-46), a Brooklyn-class light cruiser, was the third Phoenix of the United States Navy. After World War II the ship was transferred to Argentina in 1951 and was ultimately renamed the General Belgrano. General Belgrano was sunk during the Falklands War in 1982 by the British nuclear-powered submarine HMS Conqueror (S48). She was the first (and so far only) ship to have been sunk in combat by a nuclear-powered submarine during wartime.

She was laid down on 15 April 1935 by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey; launched on 13 March 1938; sponsored by Mrs. Dorothea Kays Moonan; and commissioned at Philadelphia Navy Yard on 3 October 1938, Captain John W. Rankin in command. Her name was in honor of the capital city of the state of Arizona.

Inter-war period
Shakedown took her to Port of Spain, Trinidad. She continued to Santos, Brazil, then to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Montevideo, Uruguay, and finally to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The new cruiser returned to Philadelphia in January 1939.

World War II
Phoenix then operated off the West Coast and was later based at Pearl Harbor. On 7 December 1941 during the attack on Pearl Harbor she was anchored southeast of Ford Island near USS Solace (AH-5). Observers on board Phoenix sighted the rising sun of Japan on planes coming in low over Ford Island and a few seconds later the ship's guns took them under fire. Phoenix escaped the disaster unharmed and shortly after noon was underway to join USS St. Louis (CL-49), USS Detroit (CL-8) and several destroyers in an impromptu task force searching, unsuccessfully, for the enemy aircraft carriers.

Phoenix next escorted the first convoy to the United States from Pearl Harbor after the attack and returned at once with another convoy. After a month of convoy duty between the United States and Hawaii, she departed San Francisco with a force bound for Melbourne, Australia. For some time the cruiser operated in Australian waters escorting troop ships, once steaming as far north as Java. While Phoenix was steaming toward Ceylon in February 1942 with a convoy which included USS Langley (CV-1) and SS Sea Witch, these ships were ordered to leave the convoy and proceed at top speed to Java with precious airplanes needed to stem the Japanese invasion of the Netherlands East Indies. Langley was attacked and sunk by Japanese planes on 27 February, and Seawitch escaped the same fate only by being too slow to keep up with the carrier. During the following months, Phoenix patrolled in the Indian Ocean, escorted a convoy to Bombay, and was present at the evacuation of Java. Under the command of Captain Joseph R. Redman, Phoenix was a part of Task Force 44 in late 1942. With her accompanying destroyers USS Helm (DD-388), USS Mugford (DD-389) and USS Patterson (DD-392), she participated in Operation Lilliput, alternating with the Australian light cruiser HMAS Hobart and her accompanying destroyers to cover the convoys south of New Guinea.

Phoenix departed Brisbane, Queensland, Australia for overhaul in the Philadelphia Navy Yard in July 1943 before carrying Secretary of State Cordell Hull to Casablanca. She was then assigned to the 7th Fleet and sailed for the South Pacific.

On 26 December, in company with USS Nashville (CL-43), she bombarded the Cape Gloucester area of New Britain, smashing shore installations in a four-hour shelling. Phoenix covered landing forces as they went ashore and furnished support fire against enemy strong points which had not been demolished. On the night of 25–26 January 1944, the ship took part in a night raid on Madang and Alexishafen, New Guinea, shelling shore installations. Phoenix then moved to the Admiralty Islands to support the 1st Cavalry Division in a reconnaissance-in-force on Los Negros Island on 29 February. When the troops went ashore after the prelanding bombardment, enemy resistance was so weak that a withdrawal was not necessary and the island was occupied. General Douglas MacArthur was on board during the course of the operations.

On 4 and 7 March, Phoenix, Nashville, and HMAS Shropshire (1928) bombarded Hauwei Island of the Admiralty Group. Enemy guns on this island had threatened Allied positions in the Admiralties, particularly on Manus Island; and, although return fire from the beach was heavy, enemy batteries ceased firing when shells from the cruisers burst in their vicinity.

Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura), New Guinea, was next to fall to the mounting amphibious offensive. This largest assault till then undertaken by American forces, was launched by 200 ships. Phoenix shelled the shore in the Humboldt Bay-Hollandia area as the troops went ashore on 22 April, and supported them as they consolidated their gains and prepared for further attacks along the northwest coast of the big island. Phoenix shelled airfields and plane dispersal areas at Wakde and Sawar on the night of 29–30 April to neutralize the danger of air attack on newly-won Allied positions on New Guinea.

General Douglas MacArthur's troops next landed at Arare on 17 May to secure airfields to support further operations in the Netherlands New Guinea area. This beachhead was later extended to include Wakde Island by a shore to shore movement of troops. Phoenix bombarded the Toem area and escorted the troops to the landing beach.

An amphibious assault on Biak Island, Geelvink Bay, followed. There, MacArthur planned to establish a forward base for heavy bombers. With Nashville and USS Boise (CL-47), Phoenix sortied from Humboldt Bay on 25 May and two days later supported the landing. Resistance was stubborn. While the task force fired on shore installations, two of the escorting destroyers were hit by shells from shore batteries. Phoenix wiped out the gun emplacement with two salvos from her 5 in/25 cal batteries.

On 4 June, off the northwest coast of New Guinea, eight Japanese fighter bombers attacked Phoenix's task force. Two confined their attention to Phoenix. Although the ship's gunfire did not hit the planes, it diverted their bomb runs. Both planes dropped bombs, one of which burst in the water close to Phoenix, killing one man and wounding four others with fragments. The ship also suffered some underwater leakage and damage to her propellers. The following night, aircraft again attacked Phoenix. This time, low-flying torpedo bombers struck as she proceeded through Japan Strait, between Biak Island and New Guinea, but her gunfire and evasive tactics prevented damage.

Phoenix and her task force frustrated an enemy attempt to reinforce their garrisons on the night of 8–9 June. When they contacted the American ships, the Japanese destroyers turned and fled at such high speed that only one US destroyer division was able to get within firing range. After a running fight of three hours at long range, Phoenix and her sisters broke off action.

With Boise and ten destroyers, Phoenix sortied from Seeadler Harbor in the Admiralties and bombarded shore defenses before American forces landed on Noemfoor Island on 2 July. After the battle, many dead Japanese and wrecked planes were found in the target area assigned to Phoenix.

Boise, Nashville, Shropshire, Phoenix and HMAS Australia (1927) joined for the occupation of Morotai in the Molucca Islands on 15 September. The cruisers shelled nearby Halmahera Island to cover the landing and protect the assault forces as they went ashore against continuing light opposition.

The long-awaited re-conquest of the Philippines began with the landing on Leyte. Phoenix, attached to the Close Covering Group, heavily bombarded the beaches before the highly successful landing on 20 October. Her batteries silenced an enemy strong point holding up the advance of a battalion of the 19th Infantry Regiment and continued to furnish effective callfire.

In the battle of Leyte Gulf, Phoenix was a unit of Rear Admiral Jesse Oldendorf's group which annihilated the Japanese Southern Force in the battle of Surigao Strait. Phoenix fired four spotting salvoes, and when the fourth hit, opened up with all of her 6" (152mm) batteries. The target later proved to be JAPANESE BATTLESHIP Yamashiro, which sank after 27 minutes of concentrated fire from the American fleet. The Japanese also lost JAPANESE BATTLESHIP Fusō and three destroyers in the battle, and American planes sank JAPANESE CRUISER Mogami the next day.

Phoenix then patrolled the mouth of Leyte Gulf to protect Allied positions on shore. On the morning of 1 November 1944, ten enemy torpedo-bombers attacked her and accompanying ships. At 0945, Phoenix opened fire and five minutes later, USS Claxton (DD-571) was hit by a kamikaze. Almost at the same instant, hits from Phoenix's 5 in guns set another plane afire but could not prevent it from diving into the starboard bow of USS Ammen (DD-527). At 0957, a plane making a torpedo run on Phoenix was shot down by the ship's machine-gun fire, but in a few minutes a bomber hit USS Killen (DD-593).

After a lull of two and a half hours, more kamikazes arrived and, at 1340, scored a hit on USS Abner Read (DD-526). Japanese aircraft attacked the other destroyers as they stood by the sinking ship, but Phoenix shot down one of the raiders.

Phoenix was attacked again by enemy planes on 5 December and was credited with assisting in the destruction of two attackers. Five days later, a kamikaze attempted to crash into the ship but was brought down by 40mm fire when only 100 yd away.

While proceeding to the assault area off Mindoro on 13 December, the ship was constantly under air attack by single kamikazes. That day, a lone kamikaze hit Nashville. On 15 December, a 5" (127mm)shell from Phoenix brought down a circling plane at 8,500 yd (7.8 km). The ship then furnished her usual fire support and covered the landing forces. This gave the Allies a base from which to strike at Japan's shipping lanes through the South China Sea and to soften up Luzon for forthcoming landings.

En route to Lingayen Gulf for the invasion of Luzon, lookouts on board Phoenix sighted the conning tower of a diving submarine in the Mindanao Sea off Siquijor. The submarine submerged and fired two torpedoes which Phoenix dodged. USS Taylor (DD-468) blew the midget sub to the surface and rammed her.

Next came Bataan and Corregidor, taken from 13–28 February 1945. Phoenix covered minesweeping operations at Balikpapan, Borneo, from 29 June to 7 July. Resistance from coastal guns was unusually heavy. Mines and shellfire sank or damaged 11 minesweepers. Phoenix furnished supporting fire and the assault waves landed.

Phoenix was en route to Pearl Harbor for overhaul when Japan capitulated. She headed home and, upon reaching the Panama Canal on 6 September, joined the Atlantic Fleet. Her status was reduced to in commission, in reserve, at Philadelphia on 28 February 1946.

Argentine service


She was decommissioned on 3 July 1946, and remained at Philadelphia until sold to Argentina on 9 April 1951. She was commissioned in the Argentine Navy as Diecisiete de Octubre (C-4) on 17 October 1951, renamed ARA General Belgrano in 1956, and sunk during the Falklands War on 2 May 1982 by the nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror (S48).

Awards
Phoenix earned nine battle stars for World War II service.