USS Milwaukee (CL-5)
History of the USS Milwaukee Cruiser
The USS Milwaukee (CL-5) was ordered for the U.S. Navy during World War I. Her keel was laid down by the Seattle Construction and Dry Dock Company in Washington on December 13, 1918. She was launched by Todd Shipyard on March 24, 1921 and commissioned on June 20, 1924 under the command of Captain William C. Asserson.
During her shakedown cruise, USS Milwaukee headed to Sydney for the Pan-Pacific Scientific Congress on August 23, 1923, gathering knowledge of the Pacific Ocean along the way. In October 1926, she provided disaster relief to the victims of a hurricane at the Isle of Pines, helping to establish a medical center, provide food, replace telephone lines, and maintain communication with the outside world.
In January 1938, the USS Milwaukee departed San Diego, California for a Far East cruise that brought her to Hawaii, Samoa, Australia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Guam. On Valentine’s Day 1939, the cruiser recorded the greatest depth in the Atlantic at the time, now known as the Milwaukee Deep.
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, USS Milwaukee was undergoing overhaul at Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York. She departed on New Year’s Eve to escort a convoy to the Caribbean. From there, she transited the Panama Canal and escorted a convoy of eight troop transports to the Society Islands.
On March 7, 1942, the USS Milwaukee transited the Panama Canal and returned to the Atlantic, joining the South Atlantic Patrol Force. She served with the patrol force for two years, cruising the waters off Brazil, French Guiana, and across the Atlantic Narrows. The cruiser received an SOS from the Brazilian merchant ship SS Commandante on May 19 after it was torpedoed by the Italian submarine Barbarigo, and she arrived to rescue 25 survivors, including the ship’s master. Her cargo part helped save the ship by jettisoning cargo as the damage control parties put out the first.
USS Milwaukee got underway from Reclife, Brazil on November 8, searching for German blockade runners with the USS Cincinnati and the USS Somers. On November 21, she helped sink the blockade runner Annaliese Essenberger, taking aboard 62 prisoners.
In early February 1944, the USS Milwaukee got underway from Brazil for the Brooklyn Navy Yard. From there, she departed on February 27 to escort a convoy to Belfast. Later that month, the cruiser sailed from Belfast to Murmansk, escorting an Arctic convoy. Enemy fighter planes and German submarines tried to attack the convoy, but they were driven off. The convoy’s escort may have scored a U-boat kill, but the sinking was not confirmed.
The USS Milwaukee was transferred to the Soviet Navy on April 20, 1944 under the Lend-Lease Act. She served the Soviet Union as the Murmansk, continuing to escort convoys and patrol the shipping lanes in the Atlantic until the end of World War II. The cruiser was transferred back to the United States on March 16, 1949. She was decommissioned and struck from the Naval Vessel Register two days later, and sold for scrap on December 10, 1949.
The use of asbestos was common in shipbuilding components for much of the 20th Century because of its resistance to heat, fire, water and corrosion. Because of their asbestos exposure onboard ship and in the shipyards, seaman, shipyard workers and longshoreman are at risk for developing asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma.
Sources include:
Asbestos and Ship-Building: Fatal Consequences, by John Hedley-Whyte and Debra R Milamed
