USS San Juan (CL-54)
Service
- as San Juan28 February 1942 — 9 November 19461,282 days of the war
- Name
- USS San Juan
- Pennant / hull number
- CL-54
- Namesake
- The Municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Builder
- Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation's Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts
- Laid down
- 15 May 1940
- Launched
- 6 September 1941
- Commissioned
- 28 February 1942
- Decommissioned
- 9 November 1946
- Struck
- 1 May 1959
- Fate
- Sold for scrapping, 31 October 1961 (1961)
- Status
- Scrapped
Specifications — As built
- Displacement, standard
- 6,718 long tons (6,826 t)
- Displacement, full load
- 8,340 long tons (8,474 t)
- Length
- 164.9 m (541 ft) OA
- Beam
- 16.15 m (53 ft)
- Draught
- 6.1 m (20 ft)
- Speed
- 32.5 knots (60.2 km/h, 37.4 mph)
- Complement
- 820
- Main gun
- 127 mm (5 in)
The second San Juan (CL-54) was laid down on 15 May 1940 by the Bethlehem Steel Co. (Fore River), Quincy, Mass.; launched on 6 September 1941; sponsored by Mrs. Margarita Coll de Santori; and commissioned on 28 February 1942, Capt. James E. Maher in command.
After shakedown in the Atlantic, San Juan departed from Hampton Roads, Va., on 5 June 1942 as part of a carrier task group formed around Wasp (CV-7) and bound for the Pacific. The group got underway from San Diego on 30 June escorting a large group of troop transports destined for the Solomon Islands where the Navy was about to launch the first major American amphibious operation of the war.
Following rehearsal in the Fiji Islands, San Juan provided gunfire support for the landings at Tulagi on 7 August 1942. On the night of 8 and 9 August, she was patrolling the eastern approaches to the transport area between Tulagi and Guadalcanal when gun flashes indicated that fighting was taking place in the western approaches. The action turned out to be the Battle of Savo Island , in which an enemy cruiser force sank four Allied cruisers. San Juan retired from the forward area with the empty transports on the 9th and escorted them to Noumea.
Continue to the full service history About 1,375 words
From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (San Juan II (CL-54)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.
Armament and machinery
This vessel is recorded in 2 configurations. Wartime refits changed armament and complement substantially, so each is kept separately rather than averaged into one set of figures. The figures above are as built.
As built
- Propulsion
- 2 × geared turbines
- 2 × screws
- Power
- 4 × Steam boilers
- 75000 shp
- Armament
- 16 × 5 in/38 caliber Mark 12 guns (8×2)
- 16 × 1.1 in/75 anti-aircraft guns (4×4)
- 8 × single 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons
- 8 × 21 in torpedo tubes
- 6 × depth charge projectors
- 2 × depth charge tracks
- Armour
- Belt: 1.1 - 3+3/4 in
- Deck: 1+1/4 in
- Turrets: 1+1/4 in
- Conning Tower: 2+1/2 in
1945
- Main gun
- 127 mm (5 in)
- Armament
- 16 × 5 in/38 caliber Mark 12 guns (8×2)
- 1 × quad 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns
- 5 × twin 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns
- 13 × 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons
- 8 × 21 in torpedo tubes
- 6 × depth charge projectors
- 2 × depth charge tracks
Sister ships
Sources
- Facts harvested from USS San Juan (CL-54) on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
- Service history reproduced verbatim from San Juan II (CL-54) , Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships — public domain, a work of the United States Government.
- Photograph: U.S. Navy — U.S. Navy photo [1] from the USS San Juan (CL-54) World War II cruise book available at Navysite.de — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons