June 6, 1944

The USS Tuscaloosa, named for the city in Alabama, participated in the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France, a turning point in the Allied effort to defeat Germany in World War II. Built by the New York Shipbuilding Company beginning in 1931, the Tuscaloosa was the only ship in the seven-member New Orleans class to get through the war without suffering serious damage. The ship and its crew were awarded seven battle stars for their service. Following the war, the Tuscaloosa was decommissioned by the Navy but remained in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet until 1959. Its former mast and one of its five-inch guns are now part of the Tuscaloosa Veterans Memorial Park.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

The heavy cruiser USS Tuscaloosa hoists its Curtiss SOC scout observation planes aboard after a patrol while on a convoy to Iceland in September 1941. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy, Naval Historical Center)

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt poses with a fishing pole with the chief petty officers of the heavy cruiser USS Tuscaloosa (CA-37) in 1940. The ship participated in some of the most significant events of World War II. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy, Naval Historical Center)

USS Tuscaloosa (CA-37) at sea on Aug. 23, 1935. (U.S. Navy, Wikipedia)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.