CRUISER CHICAGO

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 February 1943, Page 4

CRUISER CHICAGO

FIGHT AGAINST TORPEDO PLANES TWELVE MACHINES SHOT DOWN. EARLIER ACTIONS RECALLED. (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright) WASHINGTON, February 18., The battle-scarred cruiser Chicago, which was lost in the recent operations near tne Solomons, shot down 12 of the torpedo planes which attacked it, but six others were able to launch their torpedoes, one or more of which struck the cruiser's battered hull, sinking her. William Tyree, the noted Press correspondent with the American South Pacific Fleet, says that the latest action in the Solomons zone was the Chicago's first battle cruise since she was repaired after being torpedoed in the Battle of Savo Island (southern Solomons) on August .9 last, in which the cruisers Canberra, Quincy, Astoria and Vincennes were sunk. Earlier the Chicago had been virtually a “one-ship fleet,” patrolling between Australia and New Guinea and being almost daily within range of the Japanese bombThe cruiser’s last action was with the task force which guarded the successful landing of American reinforcements on Guadalcanal on January 28, when Japanese planes in a bombing attack scored a direct hit astern on the worship, bringing her to a dead halt. It was hoped to save the stricken Chicago, but on the following day the enemy torpedo squadron sank ner. Destroyers rescued about 95 per cent oi the crew. .