War Cruise of the U.S.S. Vicksburg (CL-86)
Original 1946 cruise book — Cleveland-class light cruiser, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Tokyo Bay
Original wartime cruise book of the Cleveland-class light cruiser USS Vicksburg (CL-86), covering her service from shakedown in August 1944 through Pacific combat and occupation duty, ending with drydock at Long Beach in January 1946. Printed in Long Beach by Green’s, c. 1946 — the standard contemporary compilation for this ship. Softcover, about 6\" x 9\", cardboard wraps, staple-bound. 68 unnumbered pages (34 leaves); the last four are blank “Shipmates” pages. Over 100 photographs: officers, gun crews and divisions, action and bombardment scenes, sports, happy hour, the homecoming party, and candid shipboard life. Individual enlisted sailors are not named; the only printed names appear to be officers. One period inscription: on the photo of “The Fourth Division – Second Battery,” a sailor is circled in red ink with “My Dad” written below.
The ship and her war cruise
Laid down at Newport News as Cheyenne on 26 October 1942 and renamed Vicksburg a month later (the name Vicksburg had been freed when sister ship CL-81 became Houston), she was launched 14 December 1943 and commissioned at Norfolk on 12 June 1944 under Capt. William C. Vose (later rear admiral). After Chesapeake trials she shook down in the West Indies and Gulf of Paria (August 1944), then spent the fall as a training ship in Narragansett Bay and Long Island Sound before sailing for the Pacific on 1 January 1945. She transited the Panama Canal on 5 January and reached Pearl Harbor on the 17th.
Her first combat was Iwo Jima. From mid-February 1945 she bombarded the north end of the island at about 12,000 yards, spotting with her own OS2U Kingfishers, and stayed on the gun line supporting the Marines into early March. She then screened the fast carriers (TG 58.1) for the mid-March raids on Kyushu. On 18 March a Japanese “Betty” dropped a torpedo that missed by about 35 yards while she was in a tight turn; that same day the force claimed eight Japanese aircraft, and one dive-bomber was hit over Vicksburg before crashing. She recovered a downed American pilot with a Kingfisher.
At Okinawa she returned to shore bombardment, at one point firing nearly 2,300 rounds of 6-inch and 5-inch in six hours in support of the Army drive in the south. She spent weeks in kamikaze waters; a Japanese plane burning after being hit while trying to crash her was photographed off Okinawa on 14 May 1945. After Okinawa she supported minesweeping in the East China Sea, then covered the approaches to Tokyo Bay with TG 38.2 during the surrender ceremony aboard Missouri on 2 September. She entered the bay on 5 September and became flagship of Cruiser Division 10 under Rear Adm. Lloyd J. Wiltse. From Okinawa she embarked about 2,200 homebound servicemen, reached San Francisco for the 15 October fleet review, took part in Navy Day at Monterey and Armistice Day at Portland, and was drydocked at Terminal Island, Long Beach, on 17 January 1946 — the point at which this book closes. Vicksburg earned two battle stars.
She later served as Third Fleet flagship for Vice Adm. Frederick C. Sherman (the well-known carrier admiral of Lexington at Coral Sea and later Fast Carrier Task Force commands) and briefly for Vice Adm. Alfred E. Montgomery, then was decommissioned 30 June 1947, stricken in 1962, and scrapped in 1964. The notable names tied to her are the officers above — Vose, Capt. Lawrence C. Grannis (who took command in July 1945), Wiltse, Sherman, and Montgomery.
This is not a coffee-table reprint. It is the original crew souvenir of a cruiser that went from shakedown to Iwo, Okinawa, and the surrender anchorage in a single war cruise — scarce even in institutions (recorded copies at the Naval Academy and the Navy Department Library).
Condition (please study the photos)
Very worn original.
- Cover is detached from the two binding staples.
- Tears at the hinge; partial creases and general cover wear.
- Small stains on the cover and a few interior pages.
- At least ten leaves taped at the hinge; some of those taped leaves now project from the fore-edge and show extra edge wear.
- Liquid stain at the hinge on the blank “Shipmates” leaves and the back cover; it appears to have affected (in a minor way) only one photograph.
- No other writing except the red-ink “My Dad” circle and caption on the Fourth Division – Second Battery group photo.
This is a working veteran’s copy, not a shelf-fine example. The photographs remain the reason to own it.
A primary source for CL-86 researchers, Iwo/Okinawa naval-gunfire collectors, Cleveland-class students, and families of the 1000+ sailors complimenting the USS Vicksburg during its WWII cruise. Sold as a historic original in the condition described. See photos for content and wear.
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