USS Houston, a 9050-ton Northampton class light cruiser, was built at Newport News, Virginia. She was commissioned in June 1930 and reclassified as a heavy cruiser a year later, at which time her hull number was changed from CL-30 to CA-30. After initial operations in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, Houston steamed to the western Pacific in early 1931 to become flagship of the Asiatic Fleet. She served in that role until November 1933, spending considerable time in Chinese waters protecting U.S. interests during the conflict between China and Japan.

Following her Asiatic Station tour, Houston crossed the Pacific to join the Scouting Force. During the rest of the decade, she regularly partcipated in exercises, including the periodic Fleet Problems that tested the Navy's war plans and readiness. She was flagship of the United States Fleet during September-December 1938 and also carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt on a number of occasions in 1934, 1935, 1938 and 1939.

In November 1940, Houston returned to the Philippines for her second deployment as Asiatic Fleet flagship. When Japan escalated its disputes with the U.S. into open warfare in December 1941, the cruiser was sent south to Australian and Netherlands East Indies waters. As the heaviest unit of the Allied naval force in that area, she was actively employed in the desperate struggle against the Japanese East Indies' offensive. A enemy bomb disabled her after gun turret on 4 February 1942, but she remained in the combat zone, fighting off air raids and taking part in the Battle of the Java Sea on 27 February.

The next day, with the situation in the East Indies now hopeless, Houston was ordered to leave the area. Steaming in company with the Australian light cruiser Perth, she encountered a strong Japanese navy force supporting an amphibious landing on western Java, near the Sunda Strait. In a valiant night battle against overwhelming odds, Houston and Perth were sunk by enemy gunfire and torpedos.