USS AUGUSTA in Sydney Harbour
Photographer
Frederick Garner Wilkinson
(1901-1975)
Date1934
Object number00037694
NameGlass plate negative
MediumEmulsion on glass
DimensionsOverall: 82 x 103 mm, 2 mm, 0.04 kg
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineANMM Collection Purchased with USA Bicentennial Gift funds
DescriptionUSS AUGUSTA is depicted at naval buoy number 1 Farm Cove on 27 October 1934. This photograph was taken by Frederick Wilkinson from the Man o' War steps. AUGUSTA was present in Sydney Harbour during its Long Cruise, a tour designed to coincide with the centenary celebrations in Victoria.HistoryUSS AUGUSTA was an American Northampton class heavy cruiser launched on 1 February 1930. It conducted its shakedown cruise in the Atlantic and Caribbean before joining the Pacific Fleet in California. From 1933 to 1944 it was stationed in China as Asiatic flagship.
In 1934 AUGUSTA visited Sydney for the first time, arriving on 20 October and staying for one week before travelling on to Melbourne to take part in Victoria's centenary celebrations. This was part of its Long Cruise of 15,000 miles to ports including Shanghai, Guam, Sydney, Melbourne, Batavia, Bali, Makassar, Manila and back to Shanghai.
During World War II AUGUSTA served in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, while also acting as the Presidential flagship for Franklin D Roosevelt and Harry S Truman. It underwent a refit in 1940 in the United States. In 1941 it was operating with a carrier task force out of Bermuda and in 1942-1943 took part in the invasion of French- Morocco and protected troop convoys across the Atlantic, and then joined the British Fleet at Scapa Flow. In 1944 it underwent an overhaul in the USA and took part in the landings at Normandy where it provided gunfire support for 26 days. It then sailed for the Mediterranean for the invasion of Southern France. Around Marseille AUGUSTA bombarded German coastal defence batteries.
From 1946 to 1959 it was part of the Philadelphia group of the Reserve Fleet. The ship was scrapped at New Jersey in 1960.SignificanceThis photograph is representative of USS AUGUSTA's one week visit to Sydney Harbour in October 1934.
The print is part of the F G Wilkinson Photograph Collection, comprising more than 700 glass plate negatives of ships in Sydney Harbour between 1919 and 1936. The collection provides an extensive and well-documented coverage of the changing styles of shipping in the port of Sydney before the decline of the coastal trade. The backgrounds also reveal the changing face of the city and harbour foreshores.
