WWII USS NEW ORLEANS ROSTER

[BEAST]

Does anyone have the WWII roster for the USS New Orleans? I have a uniform ID'd to a R. Faust who served aboard the New Orleans. He may be pre-WWII as he has the Donald Duck hat with the "USS NEW ORLEANS" talley. Any help would be appreciated.

[SARGE]

Does anyone have the WWII roster for the USS New Orleans? I have a uniform ID'd to a R. Faust who served aboard the New Orleans. He may be pre-WWII as he has the Donald Duck hat with the "USS NEW ORLEANS" talley. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Beast,

 

There is a USS New Orleans Association. I think you will find it if you google it online.

 

My Father-in-law is a Pearl Harbor Survivor from the Heavy Cruiser New Orleans. The ship has an interesting history. It was only lightly damaged (relatively) during the December 7, 1941 attack as it was tied up at the dock inboard of another vessel. However it was heavily damaged and almost sunk later in the war. The bow was blown off between the front turrets but the ship was saved with a large loss of life when the bow broke off and sank. This detaching of the bow and front turret saved the ship according to my Father-in-law who helped to close one of the last watertight doors.

 

Here is the ship without its bow and prior to repair.

 

[BEAST]

Sarge,

Thanks for the info and that is a great photo! I will check with the association and see if they can help. I wonder how many R.Faust you can find on a ship!

[SARGE]

Sarge,

Thanks for the info and that is a great photo! I will check with the association and see if they can help. I wonder how many R.Faust you can find on a ship!

 

 

I think the ship's complement was just under 1,000 hands and they had to replace several hundred KIA in this battle alone. The stuff hanging from the tops is camouflage netting since the ship was dead in the water during the battle and later could barely make way. They had to hide it at Tassafaronga until they could tow it to Australia to rig a temporary bow. They finally got it back to a US shipyard where they rebuilt the bow and gun in around 30 days. Try doing that today!

 

They called the New Orleans the "miracle ship" since it seemed to be a miracle that it did not sink with this kind of damage. This ship was the one on which the Chaplain famously said "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition" as he was helping schlep shells and powder bags to the remaining gun turrets since the ammunition elevators were knocked out during the battle. The crew continued to fight the ship after losing the bow but the main electrical systems were gone and they reverted to manual operation of the armament.

 

Interestingly, the whole incident was hushed up due to wartime censorship. The cat was finally let out of the bag during the later stages of the war when an article on the New Orleans was published in Life or Look or one of the magazines of the day.

 

Here is another shot of the battle damage.