page_title: USS Houston (CA-30)
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: USS Houston (CA-30) / World War II / Aftermath
context_page_description: USS Houston, was a Northampton-class cruiser of the United States Navy. She was the second Navy ship to bear the name "Houston".
  She was launched by Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia, on 7 September 1929, sponsored by Elizabeth Holcombe, and commissioned on 17 June 1930, Captain Jesse Bishop Gay commanding.
  The ship was originally classified as a light cruiser because of her thin armor. Houston was redesignated a heavy cruiser (CA-30) on 1 July 1931, as the provisions of the 1930 London Naval Treaty considered ships with 8-inch main guns to be heavy cruisers.
context_section_description: Houston's fate was not fully known by the world for almost nine months, and the full story of her last fight was not told until the survivors were liberated from prison camps at the end of the war. Before then, on 30 May 1942, 1,000 new recruits for the Navy, known as the Houston Volunteers, were sworn in at a dedication ceremony in downtown Houston, to replace those believed lost on Houston. On 12 October 1942 the light cruiser Vicksburg (CL-81), then under construction, was renamed Houston in honor of the old ship, President Roosevelt declaring:
  Our enemies have given us the chance to prove that there will be another USS Houston, and yet another USS Houston if that becomes necessary, and still another USS Houston as long as American ideals are in jeopardy.
  Captain Rooks received posthumously the Medal of Honor for his actions. Chaplain George S. Rentz, who had surrendered his life jacket to a younger sailor after finding himself in the water, was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. He was the only Navy Chaplain to be so honored during World War II.
  The crew of Houston is honored alongside that of Perth at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, and in St John's Anglican Church, Fremantle.
caption: George S. Rentz, Chaplain of Houston 1940–1942.
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