History
Portland took part in the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Battle of Midway, and was heavily damaged by a Japanese torpedo in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on 13 November 1942. On 24 October 1944 she fought in the Battle of Surigao Strait, the last battle between battleships. She was decommissioned soon after the war ended and was sold for scrap in 1959.
Indianapolis hosted President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, 1934 and 1936. During World War II she was mainly used to screen aircraft carriers, besides operating in the Aleutians in 1943. In July 1945, Indianapolis carried parts and the enriched uranium for the atomic bomb Little Boy to Tinian island. The cruiser then left for Guam and was ordered to proceed to Leyte. On 30 July 1945, she was struck by two torpedoes from the Japanese submarine I-58 and was sunk, being the last major U.S. warship lost. Due to a communications error, only 316 of Indianapolisยด crew of 1,196 survived.
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—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
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“... in a history of spiritual rupture, a social compact built on fantasy and collective secrets, poetry becomes more necessary than ever: it keeps the underground aquifers flowing; it is the liquid voice that can wear through stone.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)