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USS HOUSTON (CA-30)   Launched in 1929, this heavy Cruiser displaced 9,300 tons, and had a crew of 1,061.  She sailed from Hawaii to Manila on the eve of war, where she became the flagship of Admiral Thomas C. Hart, Commander Asiatic Fleet.  On the night of the Pearl Harbor attack, she departed from Panay Island, destination Australia.  After participating in battles at Makassar Strait and the Java Sea, she was sunk at Sunda Strait with 368 survivors. Her fate was unknown for almost nine months, and the details were discovered only after the end of the war when Houston's crew were released from their POW camps. Her Captain received a posthumous Medal of Honor, and her Chaplain a posthumous Navy Cross, the only Navy Chaplain so honored during WWII. Houston had passed through the Panama Canal in 1930, and its home port thereafter had been at Mare Islane, on the West Coast of California. This photo was probably taken during a visit to Panama. 

� 2010 Susan Stoger & 503d PRCT Heritage Bn