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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Marblehead (CL-12), 1924-1946

USS Marblehead, a 7050-ton Omaha class light cruiser built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was commissioned in September 1924. She made her shakedown cruise to Europe and in 1925 steamed through the South Pacific on a voyage to and from Australia. During 1927-28, Marblehead served off troubled Nicaragua, crossed the Pacific to war-torn China and returned to Nicaragua during that nation's elections. The cruiser served with the U.S. Fleet in the Atlantic and Pacific during the remainder of the 1920s and most of the 1930s.

Marblehead was assigned to the Asiatic Fleet from early 1938 until early 1942. During most of that time, as tensions rose over Japan's aggression in China, she cruised through Far Eastern waters in support of U.S. interests. After the Pacific War began in December 1941, Marblehead operated in the Netherlands East Indies as part of a greatly outnumbered Allied naval force. On 24 January 1942 she covered the Battle of Balikpapan, in which U.S. destroyers made a daring and successful attack on Japanese invasion shipping off Borneo. While steaming in the Java Sea on 4 February, en route to again attack the Japanese, Marblehead was hit and near-missed by several enemy bombs. With great difficulty the severely damaged ship was able to make port at Tjilatjap, Java, for immediate repairs, then went back to the U.S. by way of Ceylon and South Africa.

Following several months of shipyard work at New York, in the autumn of 1942 Marblehead went to the South Atlantic, where she patrolled between Brazil and Africa until February 1944. Convoy service in the North Atlantic followed. In July and August 1944 she was in the Mediterranean Sea to participate in the invasion of Southern France, during which her six-inch guns bombarded German defensive positions ashore. Marblehead's final active service, in mid-1945, was as a training ship for Naval Academy midshipmen. She was decommissioned at the beginning of November 1945 and scrapped in 1946.

This page features selected views of USS Marblehead (CL-12).

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 46638 USS Marblehead (CL-12) Steaming at top speed during trials, 15 August 1924. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 595 pixels
Photo #: NH 64633 USS Marblehead (CL-12) In harbor, circa the early 1930s. The location may be San Diego, California. Donation of Franklin Moran, 1967. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 98KB; 740 x 610 pixels
Photo #: NH 64611 USS Marblehead (CL-12) Underway in San Diego harbor, California, 10 January 1935. Photographed from USS Dobbin (AD-3). Donation of Franklin Moran, 1967. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 97KB; 740 x 615 pixels
Photo #: NH 105793 USS Marblehead (CL-12) In a Far Eastern harbor, circa the later 1930s. Donation of Charles R. Haberlein Jr., 2008. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image size: 66KB; 900 x 535 pixels
Photo #: 19-N-36901 USS Marblehead (CL-12) Off New York City, 11 October 1942. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 87KB; 740 x 605 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.
Photo #: 19-N-34910 USS Marblehead (CL-12) Off New York City, 14 October 1942. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 140KB; 740 x 610 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.
Photo #: 19-N-34914 USS Marblehead (CL-12) Off New York City, 14 October 1942. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 130KB; 740 x 615 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.
Photo #: 19-N-69394 USS Marblehead (CL-12) Off New York City, 6 May 1944. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 77KB; 740 x 605 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.
Photo #: NH 98035 USS Marblehead (CL-12) Underway at sea, 10 May 1944. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 90KB; 740 x 565 pixels
Photo #: 80-G-K-4777 (Color) USS Franklin (CV-13) (at left) Steams past USS Marblehead (CL-12), in New York Harbor, circa 28 April 1945, after her arrival from the Pacific for battle damage repairs. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 75KB; 740 x 605 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.
Photo #: 80-G-237439 USS Marblehead (CL-12) At Tjilatjap, Java, after she had been damaged by Japanese high-level bombing attack in the Java Sea on 4 February 1942. This view shows the effect of an enemy bomb which struck her stern. Her after 6"/53 gun turret is at left. Note the blanked off portholes on her hull side. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 101KB; 740 x 605 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.
Photo #: 80-G-254938 USS Marblehead (CL-12) Under repair at the New York Navy Yard, circa June 1942, after she had been damaged by Japanese high-level bombing attack in the Java sea on 4 February 1942. This view shows new deck plating on the cruiser's stern. Her after 6"/53 gun turret is in the center. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 92KB; 740 x 610 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.
Photo #: NH 69021 USS Marblehead (CL-12) Being prepared for launching at the William Cramp & Son shipyard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 9 October 1923. Courtesy of the San Francisco Maritime Museum, San Francisco, California, 1969. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 119KB; 555 x 765 pixels

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Page made 26 August 2002
New image added 10 May 2008