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N7KTP > NAVNET 12.07.04 17:08l 62 Lines 3513 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 64806_N7WE
Read: GUEST
Subj: USS CONCORD (CL-10)
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Sent: 040706/2346Z @:N7WE.#WWA.WA.USA.NA #:64806 [Bremerton] $:64806_N7WE
From: N7KTP@N7WE.#WWA.WA.USA.NA
To : NAVNET@USA
Concord's guns bombarded the cold enemy Kurile Islands"
By FRED MILES WATSON - Managing Editor – Northwest Navigator
USS Concord (CL-10) was the fourth Navy ship to carry that name.
It was built by William Cramp and Sons of Philadelphia and was
commissioned Nov. 3, 1923 with Capt. O.G. Murfin as her first
commanding officer.
The Omaha class light cruiser had a draw of 13 feet, six-inches and
displaced 7,050-tons. At 555 and a half feet, Concord could reach a top
speed of 34 knots. Firepower consisted of 12, six-inch and four, 3-inch
gunmouts. In addition, she carried 10, 21-inch torpedo tubes.
Concord immediately sailed for Mediterranean ports in early 1924.
She passed through the Suez Canal to round the Cape of Good Hope, and
exercised with the fleet in the Caribbean before returning to
Philadelphia. As flagship of Commander, Destroyer Squadrons, Scouting
Fleet, she cruised the Caribbean and sailed through the Panama Canal to
exercise in the Hawaiian Islands in 1924 and 1925.
Returning to the Atlantic for operations she joined in the
Presidential Fleet Review taken by Calvin Coolidge in June of 1927.
Serving as flagship of Commander, Cruiser Division 3, Battle Force,
Concord cruised the Pacific from her base at San Diego after early
1932, exercising in the Canal Zone and the Caribbean in 1934. She took
part in Presidential Fleet Reviews taken by Franklin D. Roosevelt on
Sept. 30, and July 12, 1938, and joined in fleet exercises in the
Hawaiian area, in the Canal Zone, and off Alaska.
After operating on the East Coast in the winter of 1938-39, she
returned to Pacific operations, and from April 1, 1940 was based at
Pearl Harbor for a training schedule which intensified as war came
closer.
When the United States entered the war, Concord was at San Diego
preparing for a shipyard overhaul which she completed early in February
1942. Assigned to the Southeast Pacific Force, she escorted convoys to
Bora Bora in the Society Islands, exercised in the Canal Zone, and
cruised along the coast of South America and to the islands of the
southeast Pacific, serving from time to time as flagship of her force.
Between Sept. 5 and Nov. 24, 1943, she carried Rear Adm. R E. Byrd on a
tour to survey the potential use of a number of southeast Pacific
islands in national defense and commercial aviation. During this
cruise, she suffered a gasoline explosion which killed 22 men,
including her executive officer, and caused considerable damage, which
was repaired at Balboa.
With repairs completed in March 1944, the light cruiser set a
course northward, joining the Northern Pacific Force at Adak in April.
Serving as Task Force 94's flagship at the beginning of this duty, she
joined in bombardments of the Kuriles which continued at intervals
until the close of the war, preventing effective use by the Japanese of
their bases there. Harassing the northern shipping lanes of Japan, her
force sank several small craft, and on Aug. 25, 1944, the destroyers of
the force made an attack on a Japanese convoy.
On Aug. 31,1945, Concord stood out from Adak, covered the occu-
pation landings at Ominato, Japan and then sailed on to Pearl Harbor,
the Canal Zone, Boston, and finally Philadelphia, where she was
decommissioned Dec. 12, 1945. She was sold for scrap on Jan. 21, 1947.
USS Concord(CL-10) was awarded one battle star for its World War
II service.
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