80 years ago today: The Cleveland-class light cruiser USS Miami (CL 89) at Trinidad during her shakedown, 19 February 1944, photographed from heavy cruiser USS Quincy (CA-71). Note her crew at quarters on deck in crackerjacks, the very weathered paint of her new Measure 32, Design 1D camouflage on her hull, and a pair of Vought OS2U-3 Kingfishers of Cruiser Scouting Squadron 8 perched on her catapults at the fantail.
Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph NH 98404
Commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 28 December 1943, Miami had been in the fleet for just six weeks in the above image.
And from the same cruise, a great photo of the new cruiser with a bone in her teeth.
View of USS Miami (CL 89). Note spray coming over the bow, February 17, 1944. Photographed by crew of USS Quincy (CA 71). Official U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-367898
As detailed by DANFS:
On 12 February 1944, Miami got underway from the Chesapeake Bay and in the late afternoon moored at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Va. Underway again on the 14th, at 0835 she weighed anchor and shaped a course for Trinidad, British West Indies, to conduct her shakedown. She steamed to the Caribbean in company with the heavy cruiser Quincy (CA-71) and the destroyers Carmick (DD-493) and Doyle (DD-494). On the second day of her voyage she encountered heavy seas and at approximately 0415, Sea2c Leonard S. Dera, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., fell overboard. Despite a search for him for over an hour, Dera was never recovered.
Miami passed through the Boca de Navios Channel on 18 February 1944 and shortly thereafter anchored inside the submarine net off Trinidad. From 19 February to 1 March, the cruiser shifted between Trinidad and the Gulf of Paria to participate in drills and exercises. On 3 March, at 0522 she departed Trinidad and began her voyage back to Norfolk accompanied by Quincy and the destroyers Baldwin (DD-624) and Thompson (DD-627). She arrived at Norfolk without incident on the 7th.
Repainted and given a quick post-shakedown maintenance availability, Miami soon passed through the Canal Zone and headed to the war in the Pacific. In early June 1944, Miami joined the Fast Carrier Task Force conducting air strikes on Japanese-held islands in the Marianas on her way to earn six battle stars in 13 months for her service in World War II.
Post-war, she operated on the California coast training naval reservists until her decommissioning on 30 June 1947, at which point she entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet. Miami’s name was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 September 1961 and her hulk was sold for scrapping to Nicholai Joffe Corp., Beverly Hills, Calif., on 26 July 1962.