The USS Phoenix: Survived Pearl Harbor, Sunk In The Falklands

The USS Phoenix: Survived Pearl Harbor, Sunk In The Falklands

Launched in 1938, the Phoenix had received nine battle stars, one for each large-scale enemy confrontation. The 13,645-ton vessel spent most of World War II as a support cruiser for Gen. Douglas MacArthur's island-hopping from Australia to the Philippines. It was renamed the General Belgrana after being sold to Argentina In 1951, and was was torpedoed and sunk off the Falkland Islands by the British in 1982.

Ted Hechler, who was an Ensign on the USS Phoenix in 1941, wrote an account of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Comments

[Frank Martin]

Jason Robards, star of stage and screen was a radioman on the phoenix during the Pearl Harbor attack.

[Michael Keister]

Greetings,

My father, Harlin "Bud" Keister (USNA '40), was a junior gunnery office on the USS Phoenix at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Dad never talked much of the events of that morning, in fact he rarely spoke of his naval career at all (aside from his sword which hung over the mantle, you'd never have known that he spent 30 years in the Navy). I do know that his General Quarters station was in Sky Forward. Dad had 20-15 vision (at the Academy his classmates chidded him as being a "human range-finder") and he spotted the horizontal bombers in their v-formation as they began the bomb run that did in the Arizona. Dad kept redirecting his section's (starboard) 5 inch 35 AA battery on the formation as it made its slow and steady approach to battleship row, but the gunnery officer kept countermanding his orders and redirecting the battery's fire elsewhere. I suppose it didn't matter much as most of the fuses for the 5 inch ammunition was later found to be defective. I recall watching "Tora! Tora! Tora!" when it fist made its television debute on television, way back in the late 70s. Dad was about as inclined to watch TV as he was to reminisce on his navy days, so I really took notice when he sat down and began watching with me. He didn't say a word for a good two hours and at the end, as the movie concluded with a panoramic shot of battleship row in flames, his sole commentary was "Well, it was bad, but not quite that bad." Coming from a stoic old Spartan like Dad, that was one hell of a statement. Years later, as an 18-year-old, third-class petty officer temporarily beached at NAS Barbers Point, I found myself taking the visitors barge over to the USS Arizona memorial. That too was a quiet Sunday morning and it was difficult for me to comphrened that the serenity of so tranquil a place could be transformed so suddenly into a scene of destruction, confusion and carnage. I said a prayer for Dad's classmates entombed in the Arizona (I once heard my mother say that 6 or 8 of his classmates died on her) and considered myself fortunate that Dad got through that bleakest of days, and the many others that followed during those first demoralizing months of the war, unscathed.

Regards,

Michael Keister

[Juan Miramontes]

I have a small data about the USS Phoenix, when it was bought for the Argentina,firs was renamed as "17 de octubre", because this day was very important for our president Peron and his politic movement called "justicialista", when militar's hit Peron and remove he, was renamed as "ARA General Belgrano" and have these name as his sunk, a name that all argentine people remember for ever.
The sunk was a serius damage for argentine navy because was very traditional ship in our navy and die as aglorious warrior, as all the sailor on board at these time.
Greetings

Juan Miramontes

[Reg Hardy]

Reg Hardy here. I am founder of scale-modelers-handbook and had a request for plans for the USS Phoenix. Any idea where I might be able to send him?

[Jonathan Kisler]

How bad was the bombing of pearl harbor? Why do you think the Japnese bombed you?

[Robert J. Godfrey]

I was glad to find this site dedicated to USS Phoenix. My father, Howard Keith Godfrey (Keith), served aboard Phoenix, and was at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7th. He was a Chief Pharmacist Mate. I always wonder how many of you Pearl Harbor Phoenix veterans are left?
Dad always said he was the second member of Phoenix to set foot on Australian soil (following Dec. 7th). Somewhere I have a picture of my father on deck with Gen. MacCarthur in the background. Dad died May 6, 1976. God bless you all.

[James Bartlett]

My father, Homer J. Bartlett, served on the Phoenix from 1941 through decommissioning. He was intensely proud of his service on the ship, and thought the world of his shipmates. He served as a water tender, advanced to first-class petty officer, and left the Navy in 1948 after contracting tuberculosis that barred him from passing the physical exam. He recovered and lived a normal life, achieving great success as founder of Bartlett's Business Machines in Houston, Texas. He died in 1984 at age 60.

[Steve Brown]

My father (Tom Brown) still living here in Boise was aboard the Phoenix that fateful day. They actually had a reunion this year in Portland Oregon.