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collision at Anzio


namvet
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not long ago I found out my late dad's cruiser, the USS Philadelphia collided with the USS Laub during this fight. in an effort to avoid bombs falling from German dive bombers these ships, including transports, maneuvered at high speeds to avoid getting hit. the Laub was a destroyer which we call tin cans. so my dad's ship was then called the can opener. his cruiser retired to Malta for repairs. I would have to do research to find out what happened to the Laub, but i think she survived. I found out 2 died on the Laub. the Philly made it to Malta and was refitted with a bow from an English ship until she made it back to the states for a refit. he never told me about this:

 

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there is so much more I found out from a lady whose late dad also served on the philly. she has some really good photos and docs we have exchanged

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I checked online. The USS Laub (DD613) survived the collision. She was sent to the US for repairs and returned to the Med in Dec. 1944. She was then sent to the US to prepare to move to the Pacific Fleet when the war ended. USS Laub went into the mothball fleet until stricken in July 1971. She was sold in Jan, 1975.

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from George Patton. the Philly's squadron provided gunfire support on his drive across Sicily

 

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he was scheduled to take they Philly back home at war's end. but......

 

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  • 2 months later...

Interesting the U.S.S. Philadelphia(CL-41) and the U.S.S. Savannah(CL-42) are two tight knit crews. They served together in many campaigns in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations.

I never knew about the bow damage the Philadelphia suffered at Anzio. That is VERY interesting. The U.S.S. Philadelphia almost didn't come home at Salerno. She had a near miss with an FX-1400 Guided Bomb(Fritz X) on the 10th of Sept., '43. The FX-1400 dropped 200 yards off her port bow narrowly missing her. The U.S.S. Savannah(Philadelphia's sister) wasn't quite as fortunate on the 11th. The ruggedness of her construction and the superb damage control skills of her crew were the only things that saved her that bloody day.

Regards,
FRISCAN

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vostoktrading

Getting back to the Philadelphia, the collision at Anzio must have been censored. Here's a news clipping from when she got back to the States.

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You know the U.S.S. Savannah took part in the neutrality patrols and in early North Atlantic convoy duties as well. I wonder if she had camouflage like the U.S.S. Philadelphia?

Interesting article on the U.S.S. Philadelphia coming home... moreso for the photo, she's sporting a LOT of her modernized upgrades she wouldn't have sported in '43, more so as in if she were in '44 - '45. The other thing is she was commissioned in 1937... so that would have been over more than five years... five years for the U.S.S. Philadelphia would have been 1942. I'm wondering if the newspaper just grabbed a picture of a light cruiser and just ran with it? lol :D

The article may have been meant for another light cruiser but, they found a picture of the U.S.S. Philadelphia on file and used it figuring no one else would know it wasn't her.

Regards,
FRISCAN

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hey thanks guys for the pics. ill add them to my dad's file. he never talked about it like most vets. when i came back from Nam i tried many times to engage him but he just refused to talk. he's gone now so ive had to find a lot of this stuff myself. and now from you. and my mom who passed away last year. i was told the Philly pulled out of Pearl Harbor just a few days before the attack,

my dad enlisted the day after Pearl but had to get permission from his dad cause he was only 17. it created a heated argument amoung family members !!!

 

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one of his reunions. year unknown

 

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