USS Houston (CL-81)

USS "Houston" (CL-81), a "Cleveland"-class light cruiser, was the third vessel in the United States Navy named after the city of Houston, Texas. She was active in the Pacific War for several months, then crippled in an attack in October 1944.

She was launched by Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Virginia, 19 June 1943, sponsored by Mrs. C. B. Hamill. Originally named "Vicksburg", her name had been changed 12 October 1942 in honor of her fallen predecessor USS "Houston" (CA-30). The ship commissioned 20 December 1943, with Captain William W. Behrens, USN, in command.

World War II

"Houston" departed Norfolk 1 February 1944 for her shakedown cruise in the Caribbean Sea, and after a period of training out of Boston, she steamed for the Pacific on 16 April.

Pacific War

She arrived Pearl Harbor via the Panama Canal and San Diego 6 May, and after more training exercises arrived Majuro Atoll 31 May to join Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher's huge Fast Carrier Task Force. The "Houston" was to take part in the invasion of the Marianas, a spectacular amphibious operation and another important step in the drive across the Pacific Islands to Japan. Departing 5 June 1944, the "Houston" screened carrier strike units which pounded the Marianas on 12 June–13 June and the Bonin Islands on 15 June–16 June.

As the forces of Adm. Richmond Kelly Turner landed on Saipan on 15 June, the Japanese made preparations to close onto that island for a "decisive" naval battle. The great fleets approached each other 19 June for the largest aircraft carrier battle of the war, and as four large air raids hit the American fleet, the covering fighter planes, with some help from antiaircraft fire from the "Houston" and the other screening warships erased the attacking Japanese formations.

In this great Battle of the Philippine Sea, the first phase of which was called "The Marianas Turkey Shoot", Japan's naval air power was struck a severe blow from which it never recovered, and the invasion of the Marianas Islands was secured. After offensive raids had sunk the Japanese aircraft carrier "Hijo", and with two Japanese large carriers being sunk by USN submarines, the battle ended with the task force returning to protect the Marianas. The "Houston" remained to screen carrier strikes and engaged on 26 June in shore bombardment on Guam and Rota, destroying a radar station, an airstrip, and about 10 aircraft on the ground. She then returned to Eniwetok Atoll on 12 August to prepare for the next operation.

Assigned to the newly-designated Task Group 38.2 under Rear Admiral Gerald F. Bogan, the "Houston" steamed on 30 August for air attacks on the Palau Islands on 6 September, after which she and a group of destroyers bombarded Peleliu and other islands in preparation for the upcoming amphibious landings by US Marines and Army troops. The carrier group next turned to the Philippines for strikes against airfields and shipping, and then returned to Peleliu to support the forces ashore in 17 September–19 September.

Returning to Ulithi Atoll on 1 October 1944, the "Houston" and her task group steamed 5 days later for an important operation into the western Pacific. With preliminary air strikes against Okinawa on 10 October, then on 12 October the carrier task force moved toward its real objective: Formosa.

In a devastating 3 days of attacks, the Battle of Formosa, the US naval air force did much to destroy Formosa as a supporting base for the Japanese, for the island battles still to come. Japanese forces retaliated with heavy and repeated land-based aircraft attacks. The "Houston" splashed about four aircraft in one attack on 12 October, and then helped repel another air attack next day, in which the heavy cruiser USS "Canberra" (CA-70) was torpedoed with an aerial torpedo. Taking the "Canberra"'s old station on 14 October, the "Houston" and other ships encountered another heavy air raid. Her gunners shot down three of the attacking torpedo bombers, but a fourth's torpedo hit her engine room, causing the loss of propulsive power.

Damage Control

(CA-69).

By midnight both the "Canberra" and the "Houston" were under tow towards the Ulithi base for repairs. The "Pawnee" (ATF–74) , a fleet tug, assumed the tow on 16 October. Late that afternoon one of the Parthian torpedo plane strikes from Formosa, still trying to sink the USN cruiser struck the USS "Houston", directly in her stern, from the rear. This flooded the hangar for the "Houston's" scout planes.

Evacuating all surplus sailors to the escorting ships, the Captain and the damage contol officer kept the damage control parties working, and they managed to keep the "Houston" afloat, and traveling slowly toward Ulithi. Learning that the Japanese believed "CripDiv I", as it was called, to be the battered remnants of Task Force 38, Admiral William F. Halsey set a trap for the enemy fleet, hoping to lure them into an attack on the two damaged cruisers. [This formation of ships was also called the "BaitDiv", to the consternation of some sailors.]

Part of the Japanese fleet did sortie from the Inland Sea, Japanese home islands, but after an air attack, their commanders evidently thought better of the idea, and then retired back to port. The "Houston" and the "Canberra" were shortly out of range of Japanese land-based air power, and they arrived at Ulithi on 27 October 1944. After temporary repairs, the "Houston" then proceeded to Manus Island, where there was a floating dry dock available for repairs. She arrived there on 20 December and eventually, she steamed first to Pearl Harbor, and then to the New York Navy Yard, because there was insufficient repair capacity available on the West Coast, due to the large number of damaged ships and ships undergoing overhauls. She arrived in New York on 24 March 1945.

Atlantic Fleet operations

After extensive rebuilding work in New York, the USS "Houston" steamed out of New York harbor on 11 October 1945. Following refresher training in the Caribbean Sea, she took part in training exercises from Newport, Rhode Island. She steamed on 16 April 1946 for an extended goodwill tour of European and African ports, visiting cities in Scandinavia, Portugal, Italy, and Egypt.

ixth Fleet Support

The USS "Houston" returned to the US on 14 December 1946, and then engaged in training and readiness operations until 17 May 1947, when she steamed with the Cruiser Division 12 for a Mediterranean Sea voyage. Returning to Philadelphia on 16 August 1947, the "Houston" was decommissioned on 15 December 1947, and then was placed in reserve for over a decade, and then finally stricken from the Navy List on 1 March 1959 and scrapped.

Awards

"Houston" received three battle stars for World War II service.

External links

* [http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/h8/houston-iii.htm history.navy.mil: USS "Houston"]
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/04/04081.htm navsource.org: USS "Houston"]
* [http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/cruisers/cl81.txt hazegray.org: USS "Houston"]
* [http://texashistory.unt.edu/permalink/meta-pth-2419 Texas Navy] hosted by [http://texashistory.unt.edu/ The Portal to Texas History] . A survey of the Texas Navy during the Texas Revolution and the Republic Era. Includes maps, sketches, a list of ships of the Texas Navy, and a chronology. Also includes photographs of 20th century U.S. Navy ships named after Texans or Texas locations. See photo of the USS Houston
* [http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/wbehrens.htm Biography of "Houston's" first CO]