USS ASTORIA CA-34
The Official Home of 'Nasty Asty'
Fleet Problem XVI 1935
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USS MARYLAND BB-46 in drydock for overhaul at Puget Sound Navy Yard in early 1935. ASTORIA also underwent overhaul at Bremerton during this period.
-photo courtesy of Steve Schutt
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USMC Detachment on maneuvers near Bremerton, WA in early 1935. This image came from Marine Private Samuel R. Schutt, who transferred to ASTORIA from USS MARYLAND during this time.
-photo courtesy of Steve Schutt
Marines pose in front of marquee posters in Bremerton, Washington circa 1935. The films showing are Lucky Devils (1933) and She Done Him Wrong (1934) starring Mae West and a young Cary Grant. This image is a wonderful example of Sam Schutt's ability to capture the era in his photographs.
-photo courtesy of Steve Schutt
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ASTORIA CA-34 leaving Bremerton on 29 March 1935 post-overhaul. She steamed to Los Angeles to join Cruiser Division 7 in the Pacific Fleet.
-U.S. Navy photo from Brent Jones collection
Following her shakedown cruise, USS ASTORIA entered a yard period at Puget Sound Navy Yard where she underwent extensive overhaul. Her Mk 28 main battery directors were fitted, teakwood decking was applied to the well deck and fantail, and her signal bridge was enclosed and fitted with flag quarters. These modifications took the cruiser significantly over her treaty weight. The only significant reduction in weight came from her searchlight platform, where two lamps were removed.
ASTORIA departed Bremerton on 29 March 1935 and reported for duty with Cruiser Division 7, Scouting Force based at San Pedro, California.
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USS ASTORIA Sailors and Marines at attention on the ship's fantail. The photo was taken in 1935 at San Pedro, CA.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
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The Marine Detachment aboard USS ASTORIA circa 1935. This photograph shows two post-shakedown modifications to the ship; the addition of teakwood decking on the fantail and motor launch storage on the starboard aft superstructure.
-U.S. Navy photo from Brent Jones collection
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USS ASTORIA in San Diego harbor on 10 April 1935. Vought O3U-3 seaplanes are on her catapults. Note the colored panel painted atop turret two. The U.S. Navy experimented with numerous aerial identification methods during this period.
-U.S. Navy photo from NARA collection 80-G-456410
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Port beam view of USS ASTORIA in San Diego harbor on 10 April 1935. She is joining up with other Pacific Fleet elements for the first phase of Fleet Problem XVI.
-U.S. Navy photo from NARA collection 80-G-456411
From 29 April through 10 June, USS ASTORIA and the Pacific Fleet conducted Fleet Problem XVI between Alaska, Hawaii, and the U.S. West Coast. For most of the wargame exercises ASTORIA took the role of an aggressor ship as part of a simulated Japanese fleet. Much of her operational period was spent in Alaskan waters before grouping with the fleet in Hawaii.
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A view of Unalaska from Dutch Harbor, taken from USS ASTORIA CA-34 in May 1935. ASTORIA was one of several cruisers assigned to the "Black Force," simulating an aggressor nation (which could only be Japan) preparing for an assault on the Hawaiian Islands.
-photo courtesy of Steve Schutt
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A humorous photo of an overloaded dinghy alongside a motor launch from USS SAN FRANCISCO CA-38 approaching the landing at Unalaska, Alaska in May 1935. SAN FRANCISCO was another cruiser participating as part of the "Black Force."
-photo courtesy of Steve Schutt
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USS ASTORIA motor launches alongside an Alaskan fishing boat at Unalaska in May 1935. Note the rolled American flag visible at right.
-photo courtesy of Steve Schutt
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Sailors walk past the U.S. Post Office along the waterfront at Unalaska in May 1935. Note the "U.S. Government Reservation" sign, as Alaska was an American Territory at the time.
-photo courtesy of Steve Schutt
An arctic fox in an image from the sequence taken by USS ASTORIA Marines, May 1935.
-photo courtesy of Steve Schutt
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Unalaska locals walk past Pat's Cafe, an American watering hole next to the Russian Orthodox church. From the sequence taken by ASTORIA Marines in May 1935.
-photo courtesy of Steve Schutt
Local Aleut children enjoy candy given by ASTORIA shipmates in May 1935.
-photo courtesy of Steve Schutt
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Dutch Harbor, Territory of Alaska in May 1935.
-photo courtesy of Steve Schutt
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Radio towers along the shoreline of Unalaska, taken from USS ASTORIA.
-photo courtesy of Steve Schutt
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Rounding Diamond Head late in the afternoon during a return to Pearl Harbor.
-photo from Brent Jones collection
A philatelic collector's envelope sent from ASTORIA anchored at Pearl Harbor when she and the fleet descended upon the Territory of Hawaii for liberty periods during Fleet Problem XVI.
-from Brent Jones collection
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USS ASTORIA CA-34 as she appeared in 1935. In June she visited San Diego for the first-ever Fleet Week, one of 114 American warships in the "mightiest fleet ever assembled under the U.S. flag."
-photo courtesy of Steve Schutt
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While the U.S. Pacific Fleet simulated naval warfare with the Empire of Japan, a new Japanese ambassador was appointed in Washington. Hirosi Saito received much attention with the appointment;
he had spent 14 previous years in America and was very comfortable with the culture of the United States. Saito is shown here on the cover of the May 20th, 1935 issue of Time magazine. At right is a poetic verse he inscribed in English and Japanese on embassy letterhead.
-from Brent Jones collection
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USS ASTORIA (left) moored alongside USS CHAUMONT AP-5 circa 1935. CHAUMONT would play an instrumental role in the deployment of U.S. Marines to protect American nationals during the Japanese invasion of Shanghai two years later.
-U.S. Navy photo from Brent Jones collection
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USS ASTORIA sailors in parade formation dockside circa 1935.
-U.S. Navy photo from Brent Jones collection
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The Oakland Bay Bridge under construction in June 1935 as photographed by a USS ASTORIA Marine. Ferries are present at multiple piers on the San Francisco waterfront, including M/V EL PASO.
-photo courtesy of Steve Schutt
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The Oakland Bay Bridge under construction in June 1935. USS ASTORIA CA-34 (circled) lies at anchor off the San Francisco waterfront.
-photo courtesy of Steve Schutt
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Chinatown, San Francisco in June 1935.
-photo courtesy of Steve Schutt
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Port beam view of USS ASTORIA in 1935. All four O3U-3 floatplanes are on her catapults.
-Winstead photo from Brent Jones collection
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Starboard beam view of USS ASTORIA in 1935. All four O3U-3 floatplanes are on her catapults.
-Holcombe photo from Brent Jones collection
A closeup view of Vought O3U-3 floatplanes on ASTORIA's catapults.
-photo courtesy of Sue Bandeen
Sources
Bandeen, Sue. Private photo collection.
Estrup, Carole and Jan. Private photo collection.
Jones, Brent. Private photo and document collection.
Jones, Pat (ed.) The USS ASTORIA (CA-34) and the Men Who Sailed Her. USS ASTORIA Reunion Association. Privately printed, 1992.
Mooney, James L. (ed.) Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Washington, D.C.: Naval History Division, 1958-1981.
National Archives and Records Administration. http://www.archives.gov/research/
Nofi, Albert A. To Train the Fleet for War: The U.S. Navy Fleet Problems. Newport, RI: Naval War College Press, 2010.
Schutt, Steve. Private photo and document collection.
Continue to Fleet Problem XVII and East Coast Tour 1936
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