A heavy cruiser, the USS New Orleans participated in nearly every major World War II battle in the Pacific. As demonstrated in the new changing exhibition “Come Back Fighting: USS New Orleans at War” at the National WWII Museum, her combat history tells just part of the story.
Christened in 1933 at Brooklyn Navy Yard (with water from the Mississippi River), the cruiser’s prewar duty included voyages to Europe, South America, and the US territories of Alaska and Hawaii. It was undergoing repairs at Pearl Harbor when Japan attacked on December 7, 1941. Without power onboard, the crew worked antiaircraft guns manually and hauled without powered lifts or dumb waiters, prompting the ship’s chaplain to exclaim, “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.” The phrase was later crafted into song by Frank Loesser, and became a No. 1 chart hit for Kay Kyser and his Orchestra.
Surviving that attack with minor damage, the ship served in the naval battles at Coral Sea, Midway, and the Solomon Islands. In late November 1942, however, the New Orleans was hit by a Japanese torpedo off of Guadalcanal. The bow was completely separated from the rest of the ship and dropped to the bottom of what came to be known as Iron Bottom Sound due to the wreckage of the many vessels that accumulated there through five major battles.
Somehow, the remaining portion of the ship was temporarily repaired with logs and made it to Australia, sailing backwards part of the way, for repairs. All patched up, it returned to serve in combat again at Wake Island, the Marianas, the Philippines, and Okinawa, among other engagements. It survived the war and in 1946 made a triumphant visit, journeying from San Francisco through the Panama Canal, to New Orleans for the first postwar Mardi Gras. She was sold for scrap in 1959.
In July 2025, a team of deep-sea researchers exploring Iron Bottom Sound discovered her original bow, the final resting place for the more than 180 sailors lost in 1942. The exhibit — which includes uniforms, archived newsreels, oral histories from crewmembers, a scale model of the ship, and a piece of the improvised coconut log replacement bow – was in the works before last year’s discovery, though it does provide a poignant final chapter to the story.
The exhibit will be on view through February 14, 2027.
For the Museumgoer Podcast, I did a preview walk-through with Cory Graff, Museum Curator and Restoration Manager. Listen here. A few photos, courtesy of the National WWII Museum, are above and below. Print coverage will be here as soon as it posts online.
