page_title: USS Portland (CA-33)
section_title: Service history
hierarchical_section_title: USS Portland (CA-33) / Service history
caption_attribution_description: English: Postcard showing the U.S. Navy heavy cruiser USS Portland (CA-33) passing under St. John's Bridge, Portland, Oregon (USA), circa in the 1930s. Title: U. S. S. Portland passing under St. John's Bridge, Portland, Oregon Subjects: Bridges; Boats Places: Oregon &gt; Multnomah (county) &gt; Portland Notes: Title from item. Extent: 1 print (postcard)&#160;: linen texture, color&#160;; 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. Accession #: 06_10_017025
context_page_description: USS Portland was the lead ship of the Portland class of cruiser and the first ship of the United States Navy named after the city of Portland, Maine. Launched in 1932, she completed a number of training and goodwill cruises in the interwar period before seeing extensive service during World War II, beginning with the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942, where she escorted the aircraft carrier Yorktown and picked up survivors from the sunken carrier Lexington. She screened for Yorktown again in the Battle of Midway, picking up her survivors as well. She then supported the carrier Enterprise during the initial phase of the Guadalcanal Campaign later that year, and was torpedoed during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. The torpedo inflicted heavy damage which put her out of action for six months as she was repaired in Sydney, Australia, and later San Diego, California.
  Returning to combat in mid-1943, Portland saw action in many of the major engagements of the Pacific War, conducting shore bombardments in support of campaigns at the Aleutian Islands, Gilbert and Marshall Islands, Mariana Islands, and New Guinea.
context_section_description: Departing Boston on 1 April 1933, the cruiser arrived Gravesend Bay, New York late in the day on 3 April. The next evening, she was  dispatched on her first assignment to the scene of the airship Akron, which had crashed at sea. Thirty six minutes after receiving the message, she was underway and en route to the crash site. She was the first Navy vessel on scene, and began coordinating the search and rescue effort with other ships arriving. In spite of her efforts, 73 were killed in the crash, including Admiral William Moffett, Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics.
  Portland steamed from San Diego, California, on 2 October 1935 along with Houston, which was carrying President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The president spent much of his trip fishing with his party. After visiting Panama and several other ports, the two ships steamed to Charleston, South Carolina, where the President disembarked. Portland spent the remainder of the interwar era with the Scouting Force, Cruiser Division 5 and later in the United States Pacific Fleet conducting peacetime training and a number of goodwill missions. She crossed the equator for the first time on 20 May 1936 during fleet maneuvers.
  When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, Portland was two days away, en route to Midway Atoll as part of a carrier group escorting aircraft carrier Lexington. From December 1941 to 1 May 1942, she operated between the West Coast, Hawaii, and Fiji on patrol.
caption: USS Portland (CA-33) passing under St. John's Bridge, Portland, Oregon, in the 1930s
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