USS Astoria ( CL - 90 ) The third USS " Astoria " ( CL - 90 ) was a " Cleveland " - class light cruiser of the United States Navy . The ship was laid down on 6 September 1941 at Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , by the William Cramp and Sons Shipbuilding Co . as the USS " Wilkes - Barre " . It was subsequently renamed to " Astoria " in honor of the heavy cruiser of the same name which was sunk on 9 August 1942 during the Battle of Savo Island . " Astoria " was launched on 6 March 1943 , sponsored by Mrs . Robert Lucas ( wife of the editor of the " Astorian - Budget " ) , and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 17 May 1944 , Captain George Carroll Dyer in command . Service history . World War II . " Astoria " conducted shakedown training in the vicinity of Bermuda between 6 June and 23 July 1944 and returned to Philadelphia on the latter day for post - shakedown overhaul . She departed Philadelphia on 19 September , bound for the Pacific . Steaming via the Panama Canal , " Astoria " arrived in San Diego on 3 October . Later in the month , she moved to the Mare Island Navy Yard and got underway for Hawaii on the 25th . She arrived at Oahu on the 31st and remained at Pearl Harbor until 16 November . On that day , she got underway for Ulithi Atoll in the Western Carolines . She made a stop at Eniwetok in the Marshalls before entering the lagoon at Ulithi on 25 November . There , the warship reported for duty with Task Group ( TG ) 38 . 2 of the Fast Carrier Task Force . " Astoria " sortied with TF 38 on 11 December 1944 for her first war cruise . Her mission was to serve in the antiaircraft screen of the carriers , while their planes supported the landings on Mindoro . The flattops launched air strikes between 14 and 16 December . Weather began turning bad on the 17th , and that night and the next day " Astoria " steamed with TF 38 through the infamous typhoon that sank , , and . However , the cruiser weathered the storm fairly well . After two days of searches for the survivors of the three lost destroyers , TF 38 headed back to Ulithi for a Christmas rest . She departed Ulithi again on the 30th , when TF 38 got underway to provide air support for the Luzon landings scheduled for 9 January 1945 . The carriers ' direct support for that operation lasted from 6 to 9 January . On the night of the 9th , Admiral Halsey led TF 38 – including " Astoria " – into the South China Sea to begin raiding Japan ' s inner defenses . For the next two weeks , the carriers pounded military targets in Japanese - held southern China and French Indochina pausing periodically to harass Formosa . While " Astoria " steamed in the screen , the carrier air groups bombed shipping and shore installations in the vicinity of Camranh Bay , Hong Kong , Canton , Formosa , and Hainan Island , before the task force returned to Ulithi on 25 January . Early in February , the cruiser again sortied with the carriers — now redesignated TF 58 with Admiral Raymond A . Spruance ' s assumption of command — to launch the first strikes against the Japanese home islands since the Doolittle Raid of 1942 . The force arrived off Honshū on 16 February and began two days of air raids on the Tokyo area . On the 18th , TF 58 headed south , took a passing punch at Chi Chi Jima in the Bonins , and arrived off Iwo Jima by mid - afternoon the next day . While the carrier aircraft provided air support for the landings , " Astoria " moved in close to shore on the 21st to begin a 26 - hour period of gunfire support for the troops ashore . She then steamed north to support the carriers in further strikes against Tokyo before returning to Ulithi by 3 March . On 14 March , she returned to sea with TF 58 to begin support of the impending campaign to capture Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands . During that operation , " Astoria " remained at sea with the fast carriers for 80 days while their planes struck at shipping , airfields , and other installations on and around Kyūshū , Shikoku , and Honshū as well as on Okinawa and the surrounding islands . The cruiser supplied antiaircraft defense for the carriers of her task group and claimed to have splashed 11 enemy planes and to have assisted in downing numerous others . She concluded her long cruise in support of the conquest of Okinawa when she arrived at Leyte in the Philippines on 1 June . There , she remained for a month of repairs with some opportunity for her crewmen to enjoy rest and relaxation . On 1 July , she returned to sea for her final combat of the war . She screened the carriers once more as they launched their planes at the Japanese home islands . During that time , she and Cruiser Division 17 conducted two unsuccessful anti - shipping sweeps along the coast of Honshū . The first came on the night of 17 and 18 July while the second occurred on the night of 24 and 25 July . The carriers continued strikes on Japan throughout July and during the first two weeks of August . After the Japanese agreed to capitulate and hostilities ceased on 15 August , she continued to patrol off Honshū with TF 38 . She remained on that assignment until 3 September when she received orders to return to the United States . The warship arrived in San Pedro , California , on 15 September and remained there until 24 November . On the latter day , she got underway for Hawaii . " Astoria " arrived in Pearl Harbor on the 30th and conducted type training for several days . She headed back to San Pedro on 10 December and arrived there on the 15th . Post war . For the next ten months , she ranged up and down the Pacific coast of North America from San Diego in the south to Vancouver , British Columbia , in the north . On 15 October 1946 , " Astoria " departed San Pedro on her way to the Central Pacific . Steaming via Pearl Harbor , she arrived at Guam in the Mariana Islands on 2 November . She operated in the Marianas , frequently visiting both Guam and Saipan , until mid - February 1948 . On the 19th , she departed Guam . Sailing by way of Kwajalein in the Marshalls and Pearl Harbor , the cruiser entered port at San Diego on 24 March . There , she resumed duty along the Pacific coast until October 1948 . On 1 October , the ship headed for the Far East . She made a three - day stop at Pearl Harbor before continuing on to Tsingtao , China , where she arrived on the 29th . For almost four months , she cruised Asian waters , visiting such ports as Incheon and Pusan in Korea , Sasebo and Yokosuka in Japan , and Shanghai and Tsingtao in China . On 16 February 1949 , " Astoria " departed Yokosuka to return to the United States . After the customary stops at Pearl Harbor , the warship arrived in San Francisco on 8 March . On 1 July 1949 , " Astoria " was placed out of commission and was berthed with the San Francisco Group , Pacific Reserve Fleet . There , she stayed until 20 May 1958 when she was transferred to the San Diego Group . The light cruiser remained in reserve for another 11 years . On 1 November 1969 , her name was struck from the Navy List . She was sold on 12 January 1971 to the Nicolai Joffe Corporation of Beverly Hills , California , for scrapping . Awards . " Astoria " ( CL - 90 ) earned five battle star s during World War II .