War Service
Several Brooklyns were seriously damaged during the war, but all of the cruisers survived. Boise was severely damaged by a shell in her forward turret magazine during the Battle of Cape Esperance on 11 October 1942, suffering many casualties but luckily the shell did not explode. Nashville was hit by a kamikaze attack on 13 December 1944 off Mindoro which killed or wounded 310 crewmen. Honolulu was torpedoed at the Battle of Kolombangara on July 12-13, 1943, as was her near-sister St. Louis. After being repaired in the United States, Honolulu returned to service only to be torpedoed by a Japanese aircraft on 20 October 1944 during the invasion of Leyte. On 11 September 1943 Savannah was hit by a German Fritz X radio guided bomb which penetrated her #3 turret and blew out the bottom of the ship. Skillful damage control by her crew saved her from sinking. While under repair in the United States, Savannah was rebuilt with a bulged hull that increased her beam by nearly 8 feet and her 5 inch guns were reinstalled as four twins.
Read more about this topic: Brooklyn Class Cruisers
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