U.S.S. Louisville Reunion Association records
Collection
Identifier: 2001_023-UA
The records include a few copies of a shipboard newsletter from the U.S.S. Louisville from 1941 to 1943 and a program from a Christmas celebration on ship in 1939. One issue of the Guinea Gold, an Allied military field newspaper, dated December 24, 1943, is in the collection. Correspondence, newsletters, programs and printed material from the cruiser's reunion association, dating from 1962 to 1997, are also present. There are two artifacts among the materials, a reunion association T-shirt and a plaque. There is also a memoir entitled "An answer to the question: What did you do in the War, Daddy?".
In March 2005 a folder of material on the history of the U.S.S. Louisville along with The Lady Lou and her Valiant Crew, 1931-1946, compiled by Irma Caluwe, were added to the collection.
0.25 linear feet (1 half-manuscript box)
This U.S.S. Louisville (CA-28) was the third of four ships bearing that name. The first ship named the Louisville was an ironclad, center wheel steamer that was commissioned on January 16, 1862 and served continuously with the flotilla of the War Department on the western rivers during the Civil War, participating in the successful siege on Vicksburg on July 4, 1863.
The second Louisville was the formerly named St. Louis, an American Line steamship that was renamed on April 16, 1918 and served as a troop transport during World War I.
This U.S.S. Louisville (CA-28) was launched from the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington on September 1, 1930 and was commissioned on January 15, 1931. She participated in several naval campaigns during World War II, most notably the battle of Leyte Gulf. On January 5 and 6, 1945, two kamikazes scored direct hits on the Louisville, causing extensive damage. She was repaired and returned to sea duty, only to be struck again by a kamikaze on June 5, 1945. The ship was decommissioned in 1946.
Part of the University of Louisville Archives and Special Collections Repository