Pensacola rejoined the screen of Enterprise to pursue the retiring Japanese. ĭespite all that could be done, Yorktown received two torpedo hits amidships and had to be abandoned. Yorktown was dead in the water when Pensacola arrived, and the cruiser assisted in shooting down four enemy torpedo bombers during a second attack. While trying to assist Yorktown, the ship was struck with a torpedo and hit in the galley. Pensacola raced from Enterprise′s screen to aid the stricken carrier. Meanwhile, Yorktown-hit by three bombs-was fighting for her life. A fourth enemy carrier- Hiryū, still at large-launched strikes at Yorktown and the American flattops struck back, leaving the enemy carrier hit many times, in a mass of flames. Akagi and Kaga went up in flames, and Sōryū was badly damaged. Īdmiral Spruance's torpedo planes and dive-bombers attacked the Japanese carriers. Two days later, when the Japanese armada came within range of the American carriers, the battle of Midway commenced. Pensacola departed Pearl Harbor on 28 May with the Enterprise task force for a rendezvous on 2 June northeast of Midway with units of TF 17. She carried Marine Fighting Squadron 212 (VMF-212) to Efate in the New Hebrides Islands and returned to Pearl Harbor with Enterprise on 26 May. Pensacola patrolled with Yorktown 's task force until 8 April, then headed, via Samoa, for Pearl Harbor, arriving on 21 April. The task force then turned toward Nouméa, New Caledonia, to replenish. A complete surprise, the raid caused heavy damage. The American ships steamed for the Gulf of Papua where-on 10 March- Lexington launched planes for a surprise strike over the Owen Stanley Mountains at Japanese shipping and installations at Salamaua and Lae. Pensacola continued to help guard Lexington on offensive patrol in the Coral Sea until Yorktown joined the task force on 6 March. Anti-aircraft fire and Lexington Combat Air Patrol planes shot down 17 of the 18 attackers. Near Bougainville Island, Pensacola 's gunners helped repel two waves of Japanese bombers on 20 February. On 17 February 1942, she rendezvoused off Samoa with Carrier Task Force 11 (TF 11), built around Lexington. Pensacola returned to Pearl Harbor on 19 January 1942, and put to sea on 5 February to patrol the approaches to the Samoan Islands. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the convoy was diverted to Australia, entering Brisbane harbor on 22 December. Pensacola departed Pearl Harbor on 29 November 1941, with the so-called " Pensacola Convoy", bound for Manila, in the Philippines. Maneuvers frequently found the cruiser off Midway and French Frigate Shoals, and she made one voyage to Guam. Pensacola was one of six ships to receive the new RCA CXAM radar in 1940. Fleet problems ranged to Hawaii, one cruise took her to Alaska, and combined fleet maneuvers returned her briefly to the Caribbean Sea before she sailed on 5 October 1939 to base at Pearl Harbor, arriving on the 12th. Pensacola departed Norfolk on 15 January 1935, to join the Pacific Fleet arriving San Diego, her new home port, on 30 January. Originally CL-24, effective 1 July 1931, Pensacola was redesignated CA-24 in accordance with the provisions of the London Naval Treaty of 1930. For the next four years she operated along the eastern seaboard and in the Caribbean Sea, several times transiting the Panama Canal for combined Fleet battle practice ranging from California to Hawaii. Pensacola departed New York on 24 March 1930, and transited the Panama Canal to Callao, Peru, and Valparaíso, Chile, before returning to New York on 5 June. Seligman, and commissioned on 6 February 1930, Captain Alfred G. She was laid down by the New York Navy Yard on 27 October 1926, launched on 25 April 1929, sponsored by Mrs. She received 13 battle stars for her service. The third Navy ship to be named after the city of Pensacola, Florida, she was nicknamed the "Grey Ghost" by Tokyo Rose. She was the lead ship of the Pensacola class, which the navy classified from 1931 as heavy cruisers. USS Pensacola (CL/CA-24) was a cruiser of the United States Navy that was in service from 1929 to 1945.
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