USS NASHVILLE (LPD 13) is not the first ship to bear this proud
name but is the third United States Ship and the fifth warship to be
named for the capital city of Tennessee.
States Ship Nashville (Ironclad)
The ship, and the city
of Nashville, are named in honor of Francis Nash. Nash was born in
Prince Edward County, Virginia in 1742. At an early age he became
prominent as a North Carolina merchant, attorney, and justice of
the peace; experiences which eventually lead to a seat in the
House of Commons in North Carolina. In 1775, the Provincial
Congress elected Nash Lieutenant Colonel of the First North
Carolina Regiment, Continental Army. After taking part in the
expedition to aid Charlestown in 1776 and 1777, Nash (now in
command of the North Carolina Brigade) marched north to join
General George Washington’s Army. He was mortally wounded while
leading his brigade in the Battle of Germantown, October 4, 1777.
Nash was regarded by Washington as a
brave and valuable soldier. The governor of North Carolina
described him as "the ablest North Carolina officer in the field."
In honor of both the city of
Nashville, TN and Francis Nash, the Confederate Navy chose to name
a ship after them. The Confederate steamer NASHVILLE was the first
warship to bear the proud name. Originally a brig-rigged passenger
steamer, she was seized by the Confederates after the fall of Fort
Sumter and fitted out as a cruiser armed with two 12-pounder guns.
After successfully running the Federal blockade on October 21,
1861, she sailed to England and became the first warship to fly
the Confederate flag in European waters.
NASHVILLE eluded the blockade and
returned to Beaufort, North Carolina on February 28, 1862, having
captured two prizes valued at $66,000 during her cruise. For the
rest of the year, she served as a blockade runner and a privateer.
On February 28, 1863, after an unsuccessful attempt at running the
blockade, she was destroyed in the Ogeechee River, Georgia by
ships in the Union blockading Squadron.
The second warship, the Confederate
Ironclad Ram NASHVILLE was built in 1864. She was originally armed
with three 7-inch rifles and one 24-pounder smoothbore gun. She
was covered with 2 inches of plating for armor. On August 5, 1864
while still fitting out in Mobile, Alabama, the Battle of Mobile
Bay began. By running up the Tombigbee River she managed to evade
capture. Surrounded, she was forced to surrender to Union forces
on 10 May 1865. Near the end of the Civil War, NASHVILLE’s iron
sheathing was removed for naval use. Her stripped hulk was later
sold at public auction.
The next ship built was actually the
first to bear the additional title of United States Ship. The USS
NASHVILLE (PG-7) was a gunboat commissioned at Norfolk, Virginia
in 1897. She was originally armed with eight 4-inch 40-caliber
guns, two 6-pounder guns, two 3-pounder guns, and two 1-pounder
Shortly after the battleship USS MAINE
mysteriously blew up and sank in Havana harbor, NASHVILLE began
patrolling near Key West, Florida. After the President proclaimed
a blockade of Cuban ports on April 22, NASHVILLE fired the first
shot of the war across the bow of the Spanish steamer
BUENAVENTURA. This ship was sent as a prize to Key West and
NASHVILLE remained on the blockade for the duration of
NASHVILLE arrived in Manila on
December 31, 1899. At the commencement of the Philippine
Insurrection, NASHVILLE acted as a flagship and coordinated
several amphibious assaults. Operating in an area where the second
USS NASHVILLE (CL 43) would cruise nearly 40 years later, she
conducted missions that the third USS NASHVILLE (LPD 13) would
perform nearly 100 years later.
In June 1900, NASHVILLE sailed for
China and the Boxer Rebellion with a detachment of Marines. Upon
arrival, she visited many ports including Shanghai and Nagasaki.
Her Asiatic duties ended July 3, 1901 when she sailed for the
Mediterranean where she would be based at Genoa. She returned to
Boston on January 16, 1903 only to be decommissioned on June 30,
Recommissioned in 1911 as a result of
the deteriorating situation in Europe and on the Atlantic Ocean,
NASHVILLE protected convoys in the Caribbean. On August 2, 1917,
she departed for Gibraltar to conduct antisubmarine patrols. After
World War I ended, NASHVILLE arrived in Charleston, South Carolina
on August 3, 1918. She was decommissioned for the final time on
October 20, 1918.
|The light cruiser
NASHVILLE (CL 43)
The second USS NASHVILLE (CL 43), a
light cruiser of the BROOKLYN class, was commissioned in 1938. She
originally was armed with fifteen 6-inch 47-caliber guns, eight
5-inch 25-caliber guns, and eight .50 caliber antiaircraft machine
Before the start of World War II,
NASHVILLE sailed from port to port with various missions ranging
from escorting US Marines to Iceland to carrying $25 million of
gold bullion from England to New York. Immediately after the
outbreak of hostilities, she began escorting troops to Europe. In
early 1942, one of the wildest plans of the war as launched.
NASHVILLE was to protect the USS HORNET and the 16 Army B-25
bombers on her deck as she crossed the Pacific Ocean and targeted
Tokyo, Japan. Colonel Doolittle led this famous first bomber
attack on the Japanese home islands that was eventually made into
the book and movie 60 Seconds over Tokyo.
After returning to Pearl Harbor,
NASHVILLE was detached to help defend against the Japanese attack
on the Aleutian Islands. She conducted shore bombardments of enemy
coastal positions. In November, she left the frigid Arctic to head
to the hot South Pacific Ocean. With the start of the island
hopping tactic, NASHVILLE’s heavy guns provided much needed naval
gunfire support (NGFS). Her radar-controlled guns enabled a
massive expenditure of ordnance with devastating accuracy. On the
night of May 12-13, an explosion in her forward gun turret caused
18 deaths and 15 serious injuries. This did not prevent NASHVILLE
from finishing her mission, and the bombardment continued from her
After a more complete evaluation of
the damage, NASHVILLE was sent to Mare Island Navy Yard for a
repair and modernization period beginning June 4 1943. Departing
the yard on August 4, she cruised up and down the Pacific,
escorting convoys and providing NGFS. During one convoy, she
suffered severe damage from a near-miss in the middle of an
aircraft attack. Even with extensive flooding and oil trailing
astern, she could not be stopped or diverted from her duties. Upon
the conclusion of this battle, she made quick repairs and
continued proudly on.
In October 1944, with General Douglas
MacArthur embarked, she led the assault to recapture the
Philippine Islands. With victory assured, NASHVILLE disembarked
General MacArthur and headed south to join the Battle of Leyte
Gulf already in progress. The Japanese had intended to inflict a
decisive defeat on the Americans. Much to their dismay, they were
the ones decisively defeated.
On December 13, while escorting an
amphibious convoy, a Kamikaze carrying two bombs descended toward
her bridge. The plane struck one of the after gun mounts and
cartwheeled into the port 5-inch battery amidships, spraying
gasoline from its ruptured tanks. Both the plane’s bombs were
hurled loose, one exploding over the port 5-inch guns and the
other over the starboard. Intense gasoline fires instantly broke
out topside from NASHVILLE’s foremast to her mainmast.
Antiaircraft ammunition, stowed for immediate use in magazines and
lockers on deck, began exploding along with ammunition from the
crashed plane. But the cruiser’s crew was already fighting back.
In less than two minutes from the crash, fire-fighting equipment
was on the scene and the men risked their lives in the burning,
exploding inferno to jettison unexploded ammunition and smother
the flames. Within ten minutes, the fires were under control;
before twenty minutes had passed, NASHVILLE’s men had all fires
out and continued to fight off aircraft attacks. After this
battle, NASHVILLE return stateside for a major overhaul.
Returning to Subic Bay in May, 1945,
NASHVILLE finished out the war escorting convoys and providing
NGFS. An August 11, 1945 log entry reads, "Anchored in Subic Bay.
Received radio press reports of a Japanese offer to surrender. All
hands took report in stride and continued to be on alert for
surprise attack." August 15 reads, "Received official word of
surrender of Japan and an order to cease offensive action."
NASHVILLE’s final assignment was
"OPERATION MAGIC CARPET," the return of American veterans to the
United States. In two transpacific voyages, she carried more than
1300 soldiers home. On June 24, 1946, one stroke of a pen did what
the entire Japanese fleet had tried to do during war: NASHVILLE
was removed from naval service and decommissioned. Her story did
not end there however. With communism on the rise, on January 9,
1951, she was sold to Chile (renamed CAPITAN PRAT) to help curb
against Soviet aggression. NASHVILLE had truly served her country.
She earned ten battle stars in World War II and a proud heritage.
It is a legacy that all ships named
NASHVILLE - past, present, future - carry on this proud tradition
of excellence and will forever remain on the side of "Liberty and