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No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.

-- General George Patton Jr

USS Santa Fe (CL-60), 1942-1959

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USS Santa Fe, a 10,000-ton Cleveland class light cruiser built at Camden, New Jersey, was commissioned in late November 1942. She went to the Pacific in March 1943 and was assigned to the Aleutians war theater for her initial combat tour. During April-August 1943. Santa Fe patrolled in the North Pacific, shelled the Japanese-held islands of Attu and Kiska and took part in the unopposed invasion of Kiska. In September the cruiser began nearly two years of close association with the fast aircraft carrier task forces. During September and October 1943 she participated in strikes on the Gilbert Islands and Wake, using her guns to bombard the latter. Briefly detached from the carrier forces in early November, Santa Fe supported the Bougainville campaign and landings on Tarawa, in the Gilberts. She then screened the carriers as they hit targets in the Marshall Islands.

Following training off the U.S. West Coast, Santa Fe returned to the Central Pacific in January 1944 to take part in the invasion of the Marshalls late in that month and in February. During February-May, she played both screening and bombardment roles as the Navy raided the Carolines and Marianas, occupied Emirau Island and supported amphibious assaults along the northern New Guinea coast. Santa Fe was present during the invasion of Saipan in June, the resulting Battle of the Philippine Sea, the seizure of Guam in July and attacks on other Japanese positions elsewhere in the region. In September 1944 her task force struck the Palaus as U.S. ground forces landed there, and over the next month raided the Philippines, Formosa and Okinawa. During this time she also helped destroy a small enemy convoy and covered the withdrawal of the torpedoed cruisers Houston (CL-81) and Canberra (CA-70).

Santa Fe's next big operation was the invasion of Leyte, in mid-October 1944, and the Battle of Leyte Gulf a few days later. During the Battle off Cape Enga?o on 25 October, she used her guns to help sink the Japanese aircraft carrier Chiyoda and a destroyer. For the rest of 1944 and the first weeks of 1945, she continued her combat missions in the Philippines and the areas to the west and north. Santa Fe shelled Iwo Jima in Mid-February 1945 and, with her carrier task force, raided the Japanese home islands in both February and March. While off Japan on 19 March she provided vital firefighting and rescue support to the badly damaged aircraft carrier Franklin (CV-13).

Overhauled at San Pedro, California, during April-July 1945, Santa Fe arrived back in the war zone just before Japan capitulated. Sent on to Okinawa later in August, she assisted with the occupation of northern Japan and subsequently transported homeward-bound service personnel as part of Operation "Magic Carpet". Following several months of inactivity, USS Santa Fe was decommissioned in October 1946. She spent more than a dozen years as part of the Pacific Reserve Fleet, moored at Bremerton, Washington, and was sold for scrapping in November 1959.

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This Day in History
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