1945 Bennett Manuscript Map of the WWII Pacific Theater Cruise of the U.S.S. <i>Salt Lake City</i>

This is a unique 1945 manuscript map of the U.S.S. Salt Lake City's World War II cruises, covering from February 1942 until August 4, 1945. It was hand drawn on cloth by Ralph Bennett, a crewman.

A Closer Look

The U.S.S. Salt Lake City was in most of the major actions of the early Pacific War (except the Battle of Midway). Both the Marcus Island and Wake Island raids are illustrated in black. The Doolittle Raid appears in red and is simply labeled 'April 1942'. The rest of the routes are all labeled by month and date, with the most detail appearing around Guadalcanal, Espiritu Santo, and in the region between the Philippines, Ulithi, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. Islands are named throughout, with the U.S.S. Salt Lake City itself in the lower right, just below the title. King Neptune and a mermaid form an elaborate cartouche in the eastern Pacific.

The U.S.S. Salt Lake City

The U.S.S. Salt Lake City was built in Camden, New Jersey, and launched on January 23, 1929, and commissioned on December 11, 1929. Salt Lake City operated in the Atlantic and Caribbean from 1930 until early 1932, when she departed for fleet maneuvers in the Pacific. Following these exercises, she was reassigned to the Pacific Fleet. She operated in the Pacific throughout the rest of the 1930s, with only two trips to the Caribbean and Atlantic: May - December 1934 and January - April 1939. On December 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Salt Lake City was 230 miles west with the Enterprise task group returning from Wake Island. The task group returned to Pearl Harbor around sundown on the 8th, refueled overnight, and left before dawn to hunt for submarines north of Hawaii. Salt Lake City was part of the Enterprise task force that struck Wotje in the Marshall Islands on February 1, 1942, where it fired the first rounds from an American naval vessel to strike against the Japanese. Later, Salt Lake City was part of the escort for the Doolittle Raid, the first American attack on the Japanese home islands. After the Doolittle Raid, Salt Lake City headed for the South Pacific and operated around the Coral Sea, New Zealand, and Australia from April until the end of July 1942. Then, she participated in the landings on Guadalcanal in August and was escorting the Wasp (an American aircraft carrier) when Japanese torpedoes sank her on September 15, 1942. Salt Lake City played an important role in the Battle of Cape Esperance on the night of October 11-12, 1942, and protected the stricken U.S.S. Boise. She suffered three major caliber hits during the battle, and returned to Pearl Harbor for repairs and overhaul, sitting in dry dock from November 1, 1942 until March 11, 1943.

After her repairs were completed, Salt Lake City joined a task force tasked to prevent the resupply of Japanese troops on Attu in the Alaskan Aleutian Islands. This American task force faced a Japanese force twice its size in the Battle of the Komandorski Islands, with Salt Lake City as the largest vessel in the American group. Salt Lake City's crew fought valiantly, with the ship sustaining serious damage. Five direct hits stopped her engines, and she lay dead in the water, but her crew got her engines started again. Despite the damage the American task force suffered, they prevented the resupply of the Japanese troops. Salt Lake City limped back to Mare Island Navy Yard.

After another round of repairs, Salt Lake City returned to the Aleutians and covered the occupation of Attu. By November 1943, she was back in Hawaii and, not long after, took part in the invasions of Tarawa and the Marshall Islands. From there, she raided throughout the Pacific, and in October 1944, took part in the second Battle of the Philippine Sea. From January through May 1945, she operated off Iwo Jima, the other Volcano Islands, and the Philippines. On August 8, 1945, she left for the Aleutians but was rerouted to northern Honshu for occupation duty. Salt Lake City returned to the U.S. West Coast in October 1945 and, in March 1946, was one of the test vessels assigned to the Atomic Bomb tests at Bikini Atoll. After a full career, Salt Lake City was finally decommissioned on August 29, 1946. She was sunk on May 25, 1948, off the Southern California coast as a target hull. During the war, Salt Lake City earned 11 battle stars and was awarded a Navy Unit Commendation for actions during the Aleutians Campaign.

Publication History and Census

This map was drawn by hand by Ralph T. Bennett and is dated August 4, 1945. (8-4-45 appears below Bennett's signature in the lower left corner.) As a manuscript map, this piece is unique. It records the movements of one of the most important and active naval vessels in the Pacific during World War II. American soldiers in the European theater made route maps for units of all sizes, but it is rare to see a map dedicated to a naval ship.