Stuff You Should Know
USS Astoria was a New Orleans-class cruiser laid down on September 1, 1930 and launched on December 16, 1933. It was commissioned on April 28, the following year under Capt. Edmund S. Root’s command as CA-34 and served in the US Navy for 8 years until it sank during the Battle of Savo Island on August 9, 1942. During its activities, the ship carried a complement of 899 people on board and had the main missions in San Pedro, West Indies, Pearl Harbor, Samoa, Fiji, Sydney, Midway, Yokohama, Guadalcanal, Lae or the Solomons. For the services brought to the country during the World War II, USS Astoria received 3 battle stars.