Ships the USS Helena CL-50, sailed with, during WWII.
Ships named below, are mentioned in a number of the CL-50 War Diary files.

USS Russell (DD-414) first found in USS Helena CL-50 War Diary on 7 September 1942 






  








USS Russell (DD-414) was a World War II-era Sims-class destroyer in the service of the 

United States Navy, named after Rear Admiral  John Henry Russell.



Russell was laid down on 20 December 1937 by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry-

dock Company, Newport News, Virginia; launched on 8 December 1938; sponsored by 

Mrs. Charles H. Marshall, granddaughter of Rear Admiral Russell; and commissioned on

 3 November 1939, Lieutenant Commander J. C. Pollock in command.



Commissioned two months after the outbreak of World War II in Europe, Russell cruised

 in the western Atlantic and in the Caribbean on neutrality patrol until the bombing

 of Pearl Harbor.



1942



Russell was ordered to the Pacific, and she transited the Panama Canal and proceeded to 

San Diego, where on 6 January 1942, she sailed west, screening reinforcements to Samoa. 

By the time of her arrival, 20 January, the Japanese had moved into British Malaya, 

Borneo, the Celebes and Gilbert Islandss, and the Bismarck Archipelago. Within the week, 

Rabaul fell and the Japanese continued on to New Ireland and the Solomons while further 

west they extended their occupation of the Netherlands East Indies.



On 25 January, Russell sailed north with Task Force 17 (TF 17), screened USS Yorktown 

(CV-5) as her planes raided Makin, Mili, and Jaluit on 1 February, then set a course for 

Pearl Harbor. In midmonth, the force sailed again. Diverted from its original destination, 

Wake Island, it covered forces establishing an airbase on Canton Island, important on the 

Hawaii-Samoa-Fiji route to Australia and less than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from Makin. 

Raids on Rabaul and Gasmata were next ordered to cover a movement of troops to New 

Caledonia, but on 8 March the Japanese landed at Salamaua and Lae in New Guinea and

 Port Moresby was threatened. The force, again joined by the Lexington force, steamed into 

the Gulf of Papua, where on 10 March, planes were sent over the Owen Stanley Range to 

bomb the newly established Japanese bases on the Huon Gulf.



Through April, Russell continued to screen the Yorktown force, operating primarily in the

 ANZAC area. Detached on 3 May to screen USS Neosho (AO-23) during fueling operations 

with TF 11, she rejoined TF 17 early on 5 May and resumed screening duties for the force's

 heavier units. On 7 May in the Coral Sea, she engaged enemy planes closing the formation 

to threaten Yorktown andLexington  and to support Japanese forces in an assault on Port 

Moresby. Lexington hit and heavily damaged, but still in action, continued to recover and 

launch planes. Three hours later, however, she reported a serious explosion. A second

 followed. Her fires were no longer under control. She soon commenced abandoning ship. 

Russell joined her screen, circled the crippled ship as rescue ships evacuated personnel, 

and with the completion of that work, departed the scene of the Battle of the Coral Sea.




Retiring to Tonga, Russell debarked 170 survivors from Lexington and sailed for 

Pearl Harbor. Arriving on 27 May, she headed out again on 30 May, this time toward

 Midway Island. On 4 June,TFs 16 and 17 again met the enemy in an air duel, through 

which Russell steamed in the screen of Yorktown. In the afternoon, enemy torpedo planes

broke through the screen and scored successfully on the carrier. The patched-up survivor 

of the Battle of the Coral Sea was abandoned. Russell took on 492 of her crew and aviation 

personnel.The next day she transferred 27 to Astoria to assist in salvage operations on the 

carrier, but Japanese torpedoes (from I-168) negated the effort and Yorktown and 

Hammann were lost.On 10 June, Russell covered the transferral of replacements from 

Saratoga to Hornet and Enterprise, and on 13 June, she returned to Pearl Harbor.



Engaged in training exercises for the next 2 months, Russell again sortied with TF 17 on 

17 August, took station screening Hornet, and headed southwest. On the 29th, TF 17 joined 

TF 61, becoming Task Group 61.2 (TG 61.2). On the 31st, Saratoga took a torpedo and

 Russell conducted an unsuccessful submarine hunt, the first of many in the long and costly 

campaign for Guadalcanal. On 6 September, one of Hornet's planes dropped an explosive

 off  Russell's starboard quarter to detonate a torpedo. Another submarine search 

commenced. At 1452, she established contact and dropped six 600-pound depth charges. 

At 1513, she sighted an oil slick 1 mile by one-half-mile, but contact was lost at 700 yards 

and never regained.



Through the remainder of the year, and into the new, Russell continued to operate in 

support of the Guadalcanal campaign. On 25-26 October, she participated in the Battle 

of the Santa Cruz Islands, during which she again joined in rescue operations for a 

sinking carrier, this time Hornet, from which she transferred the commander of TF 17, 

Rear Admiral George D. Murray and his staff to Pensacola, seriously wounded personnel 

to USS Northampton (CA-26), and other survivors to Nouméa where Russell's 

superstructure, damaged during rescue work, was repaired.



1943



In December 1942 – January 1943, she screened convoys to Guadalcanal and Tulagi,

 then to Rennell. In February, she screened Enterprise, then in March, resumed convoy 

escort work, making one run to Australia and back by mid-April.




On 1 May, the destroyer set a course for the west coast. At the end of July, after overhaul 

at Mare Island, she steamed north to join forces staging for the "invasion" of Kiska Island.

 Aleutian patrol duty followed, and with the arrival of autumn, she turned south to escort 

landing craft to Hawaii. In October, she continued on to Wellington, New Zealand; and, in 

early November, she escorted transports to the New Hebrides where she joined TF 53,

 then preparing to push into the Gilberts. Underway on 13 November with the Task Force,

 she arrived with the troop transports off Betio, Tarawa  AtollTarawa, on 20 November, 

then screened heavier units as they shelled the shore. Remaining in the area until 25 

November, she provided gunfire support and screened the transports as they filled with 

Marine casualties. On 27 November, she joined TG 50.3 and, with TG 50.1, sailed for the 

Marshall Islands. On 4 December, carrier planes raided Kwajalein and Wotje, and on 

9 December, the force returned to Pearl Harbor, whence Russell continued on to

 the west coast.



Original Plaque from he USS Russell (DD414)







Technical Specifications





USS Northampton (CA-26) first found in USS Helena CL-50 War Diary on 10 September 1942




  





USS Northampton (CA 26) entering the river at Brisbane, Australia, 5 August 1941.



USS Northampton (CA-26) Awards






USS Northampton (CL/CA-26) was the lead Northampton-class 

cruiser in service with the United States Navy. She was 

commissioned in 1930, originally classified a light cruiser 

because of her thin armor but later reclassified a heavy cruiser

 because of her 8-inch guns. During World War II she served in 

the Pacific and was sunk by Japanese torpedoes during the Battle 

of Tassafaronga on 30 November 1942. She was named after the 

city of Northampton, Massachusetts, the home of former

 President Calvin Coolidge.



Northampton was laid down on 12 April 1928, by Bethlehem Steel 

Corp.'s Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts; launched on 

5 September 1929; sponsored by Grace Coolidge (wife of the former

 President); and commissioned on 17 May 1930, Captain (later Vice

 Admiral) alter N. Vernou in command.



Joining the Atlantic Fleet, Northampton made a shakedown cruise

to the Mediterranean during the summer of 1930, then participated 

in the fleet training schedule which took her to the Caribbean, the 

Panama Canal Zone, and, occasionally, into the Pacific for exercises 

with other cruisers and ships of all types. Redesignated CA-26 in 

1931in accordance  with the London Naval Treaty, she operated 

primarily in the Pacific from 1932, homeported at San Pedro, and later 

at Pearl Harbor. Northampton was one of six ships to receive the 

new RCA CXAM radar in 1940.



World War II






Northampton was at sea with Admiral William Halsey, Jr. in 

Enterprise during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 

December 1941, returning to port the next day. On 9 December, the 

force sortied to search northeast of Oahu, then swept south to 

Johnston Island, then north again to hunt the enemy west of Lisianski

 Island and Midway Atoll. On 11 December, Craven was damaged 

when it collided with Northampton during underway refueling.




Through January 1942, Northampton joined in such searches until 

detached with Salt Lake City to bombard Wotje on 1 February. The 

bombardment not only demolished buildings and fuel dumps on the 

island, but also sank two Japanese ships. A similar assault was fired 

against Wake Island on 24 February when, despite serious enemy 

counterfire, the guns of Northampton and her force started large fires 

on the island and sank a dredge in the lagoon. As Northampton 

retired from the island, enemy seaplanes, landbased planes, and 

patrol craft attacked, but all were destroyed or repulsed.



On 4 March, the force launched aircraft for a strike on Marcus Island,
 
then turned east for Pearl Harbor. Early in April, Enterprise's task force, 

including Northampton, sortied once again, and joined Hornet 

force for the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo 18 April. Once again the ships 

replenished at Pearl Harbor, then sailed for the Southwest Pacific, 

arriving  just after the battle of the Coral Sea. Returning to Pearl Harbor, 

Northampton prepared for the action soon to come at the battle of 

Midway, when she screened Enterprise. On 4-5 June, the American 

carriers launched their planes to win a great victory, turning the 

Japanese back in mid-Pacific, and dealing them a tremendous blow by 

sinking four carriers. Throughout the Battle of Midway,

 Northampton protected her carrier and with her returned undamaged 

to Pearl Harbor on 13 June.



In mid-August, Northampton sailed for the Southwest Pacific to join in

 the Guadalcanal operation. She patrolled southeast of San Cristobal, 

where on 15 September her force was attacked by submarines, which 

damaged Wasp and North Carolina, and struck O'Brien 

only 800 yd (730 m) off Northampton's port beam. Now sailing with 

Hornet, Northampton screened the carrier during attacks on 

Bougainville Island on 5 October.



During the battle of the Santa Cruz Islands on 26 October, which took 

place without surface contact with the enemy, Northampton went to the 

aid of Hornet, mortally wounded by enemy aircraft, and provided 

antiaircraft cover while attempting to take the stricken carrier in tow. 

Obviously doomed, the carrier was later sunk by destroyer torpedo 

and gunfire, and the American force retired to the southwest.



Loss at the Battle of Tassafaronga




Northampton next operated with a cruiser-destroyer force, to prevent 

the Japanese from reinforcing their troops on Guadalcanal. The Battle 

of Tassafaronga began 40 minutes before midnight on 30 November, 

when three American destroyers made a surprise torpedo attack on 

the Japanese. All American ships then opened fire, which the startled 

enemy did not return for seven minutes. Two of the American cruisers 

took torpedo hits within the space of a minute, and 10 minutes later, 

another was hit, all being forced to retire from the action. Northampton 

and Honolulu, with six destroyers, continued the fierce action.



Close to the end of the engagement, Northampton was struck by two

 torpedoes, which tore a huge hole in her port side, ripping away 

decks and bulkheads. Flaming oil sprayed over the ship; she took on 

water rapidly and began to list. Three hours later, as she began to sink

 stern-first, she had to be abandoned. So orderly and controlled was 

the process that loss of life was surprisingly light, and the survivors 

were all picked up within an hour by destroyers.[5] While it was a 

tactical defeat, as three cruisers had been severely damaged and 

Northampton lost[5] in exchange for the loss of only one Japanese 

destroyer, nevertheless the Japanese had been denied a major

 reinforcement.



The senior officer killed on Northampton during the battle of 

Tassafaronga was Chief Engineer, Commander (select) Hilan Ebert of 

Alliance, Ohio. Ebert was awarded the Navy Cross. In honor of 

Commander Ebert, the Ebert was launched 11 May 1944 by Tampa 

Shipbuilding Co., Inc., Tampa, Florida; sponsored the widow of 

Commander Ebert; Mrs. Hilan Ebert



Technical Specifications







  









  

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