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USS Biloxi (CL-80)

Please see below for item level images and donated collections containing photographs of USS Biloxi (CL-80)

USS Biloxi (CL-80) was laid down on 9 July 1941 at Newport News, Va.; by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co.; launched on 23 February 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Katharine G. Braun, wife of the Mayor of Biloxi; and commissioned at the Norfolk Navy Yard on 31 August 1943, Capt. Daniel M. McGurl in command.

The light cruiser fitted out at Norfolk until 17 September when she began shakedown training in the Chesapeake Bay. Passing through the Panama Canal on 24 November, USS Biloxi (CL-80) arrived in San Francisco on 4 December. USS Biloxi (CL-80) put to sea on 13 January and, after joining Task Group (TG) 53.5 in Hawaii, sailed for the Marshall Islands. On 12 January, Biloxi joined TG 58.1, built around Enterprise (CV-6), Yorktown (CV-10), Belleau Wood (CVL-24), and sailed west for a carrier raid against the Japanese base at Truk in the central Pacific. Biloxi rearmed and replenished and got underway on 7 March in company with Enterprise, Belleau Wood, two other light cruisers and eight destroyers.

The task group headed north and struck the Japanese base at Truk on 29 April. USS Biloxi (CL-80) covered the carriers during these strikes and those launched against Ponape in the Caroline Islands the next day. USS Biloxi (CL-80) joined TG 58.2, which was built around the carriers Bunker Hill (CV-17), Wasp, Monterrey, and Cabot (CVL-28) and covered the carriers during air strikes against the Saipan and Tinian on the 12th. After rendezvous with the other three carrier groups about noon on 18 June, the warships took up a patrol station some 150 miles west of Saipan. From that position, on the southern flank of the carrier forces, USS Biloxi (CL-80) participated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

After taking on supplies and ammunition,USS Biloxi (CL-80) sailed to Kossol Passage on 24 September and joined TG 38.1. On 10 February, USS Biloxi (CL-80) joined TG 58.4 and sailed for operations against Iwo Jima. Biloxi departed Okinawa on 20 April and steamed east to Ulithi, where she arrived on the 24th. After receiving battle repairs alongside Vulcan (AR-5), the light cruiser continued east, arriving at San Francisco via Pearl Harbor on 11 May. The warship moved to Port Angeles, Wash., 15 January 1946 and reported to Commander, 19 Fleet, for inactivation. On 18 May 1946 she was placed in commission in reserve at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and on 29 October 1946 went out of commission in reserve. Her name stricken from the Navy list on 1 December 1961. 

For a complete history of USS Biloxi (CL-80) please see its DANFS page.