CL-10 Concord
USS Concord, a 7050-ton Omaha class light cruiser, was built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Commissioned in November 1923, late in that year and into 1924 she made her shakedown cruise through the Mediterranean Sea and around Africa. For the next several years, Concord mainly served with the Atlantic-based Scouting Fleet, making occasional visits to the Pacific to participate in major U.S. Fleet maneuvers. Her homeport was changed to San Diego in 1932, and she operated mainly in the Pacific after that. As U.S.-Japan tensions increased in 1940, she moved with the Battle Fleet to the advanced base at Pearl Harbor.
When the United States entered World War II in December 1941, Concord was on the West Coast to undergo an overhaul. She served in the southern Pacific beginning in February 1942, escorting reinforcement convoys and patrolling off Central and South America. She was flagship of the explorer Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd in September-November 1943, during his survey of Southeastern Pacific islands. An accidental gasoline explosion during this cruise damaged the ship and took the lives of 22 of her crew.
Following repairs, Concord was transferred to the northern Pacific, where she spent the rest of World War II patrolling, interdicting enemy shipping and conducting bombardments of facilities in the Kuril islands area. During September 1945, just after the end of the fighting, she supported the occupation of northern Japan. Concord passed through the Panama Canal in October 1945 and was decommissioned late in the year at Philadelphia. She was sold for scrapping in January 1947.
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