Charles William Schwartz, IV

Charles William Schwartz, IV ΘΔΧ

Charles William, IV /8 (Charles W.,/7: Preston, /6,:Charles Wheeler, Sr. /5; Henry P., /4: George Conrad, III /3: George Conrad , II/2: Conrad /1)Schwartz b. Nov. 23,1919.in Germantown, Pa. d. Apr. 24, 2014 in Lexington, N.C. m. Julia Barnett Flinn, b. Dec. 5, 1919 in Tuscaloosa, Al., dau. Charles Foster Flinn and Mary London Cowan Jun 27, 1942 in South Bend, IN. Graduated Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1942. U.S Naval veteran. Worked at Proctor and Schwartz, Inc.; 7th St and Tabor Rd., Philadelphia, Pa. (1946-1961), Proctor and Schwartz, Inc. Lexington, N.C. (1961-1983).

Born Nov 23, 1919 in Germantown, Philadelphia, Pa. Grew up in Providence, RI. Graduated from MIT Class of '42 with a BS in Engineering. Commissioned Ensign USNR at MIT May 22, 1941. Attended NROTC at Notre Dame, Indiana. Graduated in June 1942. Married Julia B. Flinn in South Bend, In. Served in WWII aboard USS Aylwin, DD-355 Fletcher Class Destroyer as communications officer, and USS Tuscaloosa (CA-37) Heavy cruiser. Took part in the siege of Attu-Kiska Aleutian Islands ,Alaska and the liberation of the Phillipine Islands. After the war, Tuscaloosa cruised the Chinese coast, engaging in talks between the cuomintang and the communists. in October of 1945, he was in the coastal town of Weihaiweh (historical) 威海衛／威海卫 (Wēihǎiwèi) when he was given a radio gram announcing the birth of a son.Upon being demobilized, went to work for Proctor and Schwartz at 7th St and Tabor Rd. Philadelphia,Pa.in sales. In 1961, removed to Lexington, N.C. to new plant as Sales Mgr. for the southern region. After an automobile accident in Dansville,Va. he retired. He lived out the rest of his days in Lexington,N.C. until his passing at advanced age in 2014 .

Children of Charles William Schwartz, IV and Julia Barnett Flinn:

1. Elizabeth Barnett , b. Dec. 29, 1943. Providence R.I.; d. Oct. 15, 2021, Limerick, Pa,
2. Charles William,V b. Oct. 4, 1945, Providence, R.I.
3. Preston Meredith , b.Feb. 2, 1953, Germantown, Philadelphis, Pa. d. Feb. 9, 2019, Lexington, N.C.

Charles William Schwartz IV

November 23, 1919 - April 24, 2014

Charles William Schwartz IV, 94, of Westover Drive joined his beloved Julia in eternal rest early Thursday (4-24-2014). A private memorial will be held at a later date.

Charles was born November 23, 1919 in Philadelphia Pa to Charles William Schwartz III and Marie Elizabeth Miller Schwartz. He graduated from MIT in 1942 with a degree in mechanical engineering and then married his childhood sweetheart Julia Flinn Schwartz. He attended officer candidate training at Notre Dame and was commissioned an officer in the US Navy. He served during WWII and obtained the rank of Lieut. Commander, after the war he worked in sales for Proctor-Schwartz Inc. He was preceded in death by Julia in 2007, his parents and a son in law William Murdoch.

He is survived by sons, Preston M. Schwartz (Andrea) of Lexington, Charles W. Schwartz (Artemis) of Biloxi MS and daughter Elizabeth S Murdoch of Limerick Pa; four grandchildren, Nekotarios Schwartz of Biloxi MS, Christos Schwartz of Pascagoula MS, Preston Owen Schwartz and James Paul Schwartz both of Lexington; and four great-grandchildren Dmitri, Olivia, Yannis, and Haley Schwartz and a great great-grandchild Christos Appollo Schwartz.

Memorials may be made to Hospice of Davidson County, 200 Hospice Way, Lexington, NC, 27292.

• Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Aylwin_(DD-355)
• Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Tuscaloosa_(CA-37)
• Reference: http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/355.htm
• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Nov 29 2018, 19:26:28 UTC
• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jan 13 2019, 20:38:02 UTC Snell
• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Apr 3 2019, 19:43:38 UTC Patterson
• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Nov 23 2020, 20:58:41 UTC Schwartz

U.S,S Aylwin DD 355

1942

Aylwin then underwent repairs and alterations in the Mare Island Navy Yard until 10 January, receiving new 20-millimeter machine guns to increase her close-in antiaircraft capability. Two days later, she sailed with USS Perkins to escort the liners President Coolidge, President Monroe, and Mariposa to San Francisco. Underway again on the 17th, Aylwin and Perkins escorted a convoy consisting of Neosho, USS Castor, USS Pyro, and USS Crescent City back to Oahu where they arrived on the 25th.

On the last day of January, the destroyer sortied with TF 11, formed around Lexington, and performed plane-guard duties for that carrier as she moved southwestward toward New Guinea. After accidentally firing a live torpedo in Hull's direction during surface attack maneuvers on 13 February, Aylwin warned her sister ship by blinker, enabling the latter to sheer away out of danger. Aylwin followed the errant "fish" at 28 knots until it sank at the end of a normal run.

Three days later, the ANZAC command cruiser force—Chicago, HMNZS Leander, HMNZS Achilles, and HMAS Australia, screened by Lamson and Perkins—pulled into sight. As the destroyers formed a circular screen, the heavy ships hove to and transferred officers for a conference. Shortly thereafter, TF 11 reformed and assumed a northwesterly course toward Bougainville Island and the Bismarck Archipelago.

Before a raid against the key Japanese base at Rabaul could be launched, Japanese reconnaissance planes discovered the task force. Accordingly, 17 land-based Mitsubishi G4M bombers set out from Rabaul, New Britain.

Lexington's radar picked up the incoming bombers at 10:30, and the task force increased speed to 21 knots. During the defense of the carrier, Lt. Edward H. "Butch" O'Hare reportedly downed five or six enemy planes in about as many minutes.

While Lexington's F4F Wildcats were fighting above, the ships' gunners were firing antiaircraft guns. Aylwin's spotters noted one enemy bomber falling in flames after bursts from their ship had exploded in its vicinity. Then, when a second wave attempted to breach the screen of the task force, Aylwin's 20-millimeter guns downed an enemy bomber attempting to crash into the stern of nearby Bagley. The remaining bombers returned to Rabaul. No ship in the Lexington formation was damaged.

However, since it had been discovered, the American force retired from the area. Aylwin soon left TF 11 to escort the fleet oiler USS Platte to Pago Pago, Samoa, and then back to Pearl Harbor, reaching port on 8 March.

Two days later, Aylwin began screening the 18 ships of convoy 4072 from Honolulu to San Francisco Bay where they arrived on 22 March. Following repairs at the Mare Island Navy Yard, she sortied on the 31st as part of the screen for Hawaii-bound convoy 2054.

Reaching Pearl Harbor on 12 April, Aylwin returned to sea on the 15th with TF 11. En route to the South Pacific on the 18th, Lexington flew off a squadron of 14 Marine Brewster F2A-3's (the reconstituted VMF-211) to Palmyra Island.

Meanwhile, intelligence reported a substantial enemy movement toward New Guinea and Australia, probably aimed at strategic Port Moresby. Accordingly, on 26 April, Lexington and her screen received orders to rendezvous with Task Force 17 (TF17) on 1 May. When they met that morning, the two forces came under the latter's commander, Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, in Yorktown. Aylwin was assigned to Lexington's plane guard.

On 7 May, Aylwin received word that an enemy force of two carriers and four cruisers was some 200 miles distant. At 09:55, Aylwin observed Lexington launch fighters and torpedo planes for the attack. Shortly thereafter, Yorktown's aircraft also took to the air.

On the 8th, Aylwin had been at general quarters since 0844 and, when enemy planes were reported closing two hours later, took station between the heavy cruisers Chester and USS New Orleans, 3,000 yards from Yorktown. She maintained that position during the ensuing battle, conforming her movements to those of Yorktown.

Yorktown was damaged, as was Lexington, the latter fatally. After an SBD-3 of Scouting Squadron 5 (VS-5) ditched near Aylwin, the destroyer altered course to pick up the pilot, Ens. J. H. Jorgenson, USNR, and his rear-seat man, Radioman 3d Class A. W. Brunetti.

The task force retired from the scene of battle toward the Tonga Islands. While alongside New Orleans to refuel two days later, Aylwin rigged breeches buoys forward and aft, and took on board 37 officers and 92 enlisted men from Lexington and one Yorktown pilot, Lt. (jg.) E. S. McCuskey, of VF-2, who would later become an "ace" in the Battle of Midway. The destroyer cast off and resumed her screening duties.

On the morning of 15 May, Aylwin drew alongside Yorktown, and transferred charts of the Tonga Islands to the carrier. Less than an hour later, while the carrier's planes flew protective cover, TF 17 entered Nukualofa Harbor, Tongatapu, where Aylwin transferred her passengers to Portland while fueling from the heavy cruiser. She then served as channel entrance guard until relieved by USS Anderson the following day.

In turn relieving USS Hammann on the morning of the 17th, Aylwin patrolled off the entrance to the harbor during the sortie of TF 17 from Nukuʻalofa and then joined USS Astoria in escorting transport USS Harriett—carrying Lexington survivors gathered from all rescue ships of the task force—on the first leg of her voyage back to the west coast of the United States. Later that day, after Burnett suffered an engine casualty, Aylwin remained with the transport until she completed the repairs. Six days later, TF 17 reached Pearl Harbor.

The following day, 28 May, Aylwin got underway to sortie in the screen of Enterprise and USS Hornet as those carriers proceeded to waters north of Midway await a Japanese armada. On 4 June, she participated in the Battle of Midway.

On 11 June, Aylwin broke off from Hawaii-bound TF 16 to escort oiler USS Kaskaskia northward toward the Aleutian Islands to fuel the warships of TF 8. Over the next five days, the two ships proceeded through foggy and rainy weather until meeting USS Humphreys and USS Gilmer on 16 June. Aylwin screened while the older "flush-deckers" fueled from Kaskaskia.

The following day, Aylwin joined TF 8 which included heavy cruiser USS Louisville, three light cruisers, and six destroyers. But for two escort runs to Women's Bay, Kodiak Island, Alaska, she worked with that task force until getting underway on 10 July to escort Kaskaskia back to the Hawaiian Islands. On the 13th, the oiler transferred her remaining fuel to USS Guadalupe and the two ships reached Oahu four days later. The destroyer spent the remainder of July in the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard undergoing repairs.

Aylwin completed her post-repair trials and then departed Pearl Harbor on 2 August to screen the escort carrier USS Long Island which had embarked the marine air units earmarked to operate from the airfield on Guadalcanal after its capture.

On 7 August, as Aylwin and her charge headed across the Pacific, the marines of the 1st Marine Division went ashore on Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Gavutu.

On the 8th, a Japanese cruiser force destroyed four Allied heavy cruisers and damaged a fifth in the Battle of Savo Island. That news, combined with the withdrawal of the three carriers supporting Operation Watchtower, prompted orders on the 10th for Aylwin and her charge to put into Suva, Fiji, to fuel and there await further instructions.

Aylwin and Long Island reached Suva on 13 August, covered on the last leg of their voyage by a PBY flying boat. The "further orders" came soon enough, directing the destroyer and the carrier to the New Hebrides. They arrived at Vila Harbor, Efate, during the forenoon watch on 17 August. Reaching Mele Bay, Efate, on the 17th, the ships soon received their new sailing directions. On the following afternoon, Aylwin, USS Dale, and USS Helena got underway to screen Long Island during the carrier's passage to Guadalcanal.

Two days later, the squadron arrived back at Efate, where USS Cimarron replenished Aylwin. Over the ensuing days, the destroyer conducted offshore patrols at Efate before receiving orders on 30 August to escort Long Island to Espiritu Santo to embark survivors of the sunken destroyer USS Tucker (DD-374)—which had struck a mine.

After refueling at Pago Pago, Samoa, on 6 September, Aylwin met USS Conyngham, USS Raleigh, and USS Wharton off Canton Island on 11 September and screened the latter as that transport disembarked troops there.

Forming TG 15.4, Aylwin and Conyngham shepherded Wharton, via Suva, toward Nouméa before Aylwin was directed on the 18th to proceed to Tongatapu to join USS North Carolina for duty and to escort that torpedo-damaged battleship back to Pearl Harbor for repairs. Late on the afternoon of the 30th, she and Dale safely reached Hawaiian waters with their charge; and Aylwin moored alongside USS Dixie for upkeep.

Aylwin spent most of October training in Hawaiian waters and then escorted a convoy to Espiritu Santo which she reached on 7 November.

Because of Japanese submarine activity in the Santa Cruz Islands, Aylwin arrived at Vanikoro Island on the 10th to protect USS Ballard. After protecting that seaplane tender, four days later, she escorted Ballard to Vanua Levu to pick up sick Army coastwatchers before returning to Espiritu Santo for fuel from the oiler USS Tappahannock.

During a brief patrol out of Espiritu Santo, Aylwin developed trouble in her steering engine. Once repaired, the ship conducted channel entrance patrols there, before joining USS Russell in planeguarding USS Nassau between 19 and 22 November.

After reaching Nouméa, Aylwin escorted the damaged battleship USS South Dakota from Tongatapu before refueling at Bora Bora, in the Society Islands, on 1 December. The destroyer then steamed to California, and underwent repairs at the Mare Island Navy Yard into the new year. She departed San Francisco on 8 January 1943, bound for Alaska in company with USS Bancroft and Dale, and arrived at Dutch Harbor five days later. Over the next three months, Aylwin conducted escort missions in the Aleutians.

1943

Shifting southward, she then worked with Nassau during flight training before shifting north to Dutch Harbor to take part in the invasion of Attu. The landings commenced on 11 May 1943.

Some two months later, Aylwin shelled antiaircraft gun positions on Kiska on the night of 8 and 9 July. The destroyer made two passes at that island. She subsequently bombarded the enemy's main camp on Kiska on the evening of 2 August, unaware that shortly before—on 28 July—the Japanese had evacuated their entire force.

Departing Adak on 31 August, Aylwin steamed to San Francisco and remained in the Bay area through mid-October. Leaving the west coast on the 19th, the destroyer served as part of the screen for the escort carriers USS Sangamon, USS Chenango, and USS Suwannee as they sailed toward the New Hebrides and arrived at Espiritu Santo on 5 November.

From mid-November through the first week of December 1943, Aylwin screened carriers Sangamon and Suwannee during the operations to capture the Gilbert Islands. Detached on 8 December, she joined USS Bailey (DD-492) in escorting USS Maryland to Pearl Harbor where they arrived on the 14th. She then helped to screen that battleship along with Tennessee and Colorado to San Francisco which they reached four days before Christmas.

1944

Following repairs at Alameda, California, Aylwin picked up a convoy of tank landing ships and motor minesweepers at San Diego to escort to Hawaii. After tarrying at Kauai between 16 and 20 January 1944, she moved on to the Marshall Islands, reaching Kwajalein on the last day of the month. But for a run to Majuro and back between 8 and 11 February, she served there until shifting to Eniwetok on the 21st to join USS Hall, MacDonough, and Monaghan in delivering fire support that night on Parry Island.

The destroyer then reported to Commander, Southern Screen, for duty. Steaming back to Kwajalein on 26 February, Aylwin patrolled off Eniwetok and Majuro through mid-March as mop-up operations continued at those places. She was assigned next to TG 58.2, including USS Bunker Hill, USS Hornet, USS Monterey, and USS Cabot. On 30 March, the Fast Carrier Task Force commenced intensive bombing of Japanese airfields, shipping, fleet servicing facilities, and other installations in the Carolines, continuing the raids until 1 April. Aylwin helped to drive off planes during the approach of the carriers on the 29th and 30th and, at 13:43 on the latter day, sighted a damaged Curtiss SB2C "Helldiver" from Bunker Hill's air group ditch a short way off. The destroyer altered course and soon thereafter picked up the pilot and his radioman.

Returning to Majuro to replenish, Aylwin sortied once more on 13 April in the screen of Rear Admiral Alfred E. Montgomery's TG 58.2, bound for waters off New Guinea to support Army landings at Aitape, Tanahmerah Bay, and Humboldt Bay, from 21 April through the 24th. Aylwin returned to Majuro on 4 May for tender repairs alongside USS Prairie which ended on the 21st.

After screening Bunker Hill and Cabot during training in late May and early June, the veteran destroyer departed Majuro on 6 June bound for the Marianas Islands in company with TF 58. On the 12th, the planes from the carriers bombed air facilities and coast defenses in the Marianas and damaged two Japanese convoys.

On the 13th, Aylwin was part of the Northern Bombardment Unit (TU 58.7.2) which shelled defense positions on the northern coast of Saipan and also served in the antisubmarine screen for the battleships Alabama and South Dakota. When the shelling ended at 17:15, she rejoined the carriers and guarded them as they refueled the next day. During that operation, the destroyer received orders to rescue a pair of Bunker Hill aviators and, less than an hour later, picked up Ens. G. W. Snediker, USNR, and Aviation Radioman 3d Class R. E. Lincoln, USNR. The destroyer made another rescue on the 16th while covering the cruiser bombardment of Guam when a plane piloted by Ens. F. P. Kleffner, USNR, crashed 1800 yards astern.

On the 17th, Aylwin was ordered to help screen the transports, and she missed the Battle of the Philippine Sea on the 19th and 20th which almost wiped out Japanese carrier-based aviation. Aylwin next proceeded to Eniwetok where she arrived on 28 June for a fortnight's upkeep.

Aylwin screened USS Wichita and USS St. Louis as those cruisers shelled installations on Guam on 18 and 19 July before taking part in a bombardment of the northern shores of the island, concentrating her fire on Japanese defensive positions near Asan Beach.

At the outset of the mission, Dewey and two LCI's provided harassing fire into that area. USS Minneapolis and Dewey stood in close to the beach, lying close to Adelup Point and covered the night beach obstruction demolition work of underwater demolition teams (UDTs), screened to seaward by Aylwin, Dale, and USS Dickerson.

Aylwin relieved Dewey on station on 21 July, off Asan Beach. Dale in turn relieved Aylwin on station.

Relieved at 05:30, Aylwin and her colleagues retired to the transport screen northwest of Orote Point and Agana Bay. On 25 and 26 July, the destroyer screened a cruiser bombardment of Rota Island and departed the area on the 30th, bound for Eniwetok on the first leg of a voyage home. Aylwin stopped at Pearl Harbor from 9 to 11 August and reached Bremerton, Washington, on the 17th for an overhaul.

Aylwin then went down the coast with USS Colorado and Farragut, reached San Pedro on 10 October, and set out for Hawaii the next day. Aylwin then trained in Hawaiian waters until 11 November, when she sailed for the western Pacific in company with USS Baltimore, USS San Juan, and three destroyers. She reached Ulithi on 21 November and operated between there and the Philippines into the first week of December 1944.

On 10 December, Aylwin—flagship of Commander TG 30.8 (a replenishment group), Captain Jasper Acuff—left Ulithi as the 3rd Fleet put to sea. Three days later, Aylwin rendezvoused with TF 38 and, upon completion of fueling operations early the following afternoon, cleared the area.

On the morning of the 17th, TG 30.8 joined TF 38 and again commenced fueling. However, the weather soon began growing worse as a typhoon came into the Philippine Sea.

After Aylwin rolled 70 degrees to port for the first time, her engines were ordered to be stopped. At 12:45, Machinists Mate 1st Class Theodore Sarenski was swept overboard; followed 10 minutes later by the chief engineer, Lt. E. R. Rendahl, USNR. Neither was rescued.

A leak in the engine room at 19:30 drew all pumps into action. Aylwin survived the typhoon, but other ships had not fared so well. The storm claimed Hull, Monaghan, and Spence, each with heavy loss of life.

Her flooding under control, Aylwin arrived at Ulithi three days before Christmas. There, she received repairs alongside USS Markab that lasted into January 1945. While at Ulithi, Aylwin conducted a brief patrol of the harbor after an explosion in USS Mazama—believed to have been caused by a submarine torpedo—but found no evidence of submarine activity.

U.S.S. Tuscaloosa CCA 37

August 1944 - January 1945

Following preliminary bombardment exercises off Oran, French North Africa, Tuscaloosa was based at Palermo, Italy, and got underway on 13 August. Two days later, Tuscaloosa commenced fire at 0635 and continued to pound targets ashore until the combined Allied forces stormed onto the beaches at H-Hour, 0800. Then, moving off the 100 fathom (180 m) curve, Tuscaloosa leisurely cruised the shoreline, visually inspecting it for targets of opportunity. A troublesome pillbox at the St. Raphel breakwater provoked Tuscaloosa's attention, and the cruiser's 8 in (200 mm) shells soon destroyed it. Air spotters located a field battery, and Tuscaloosa's gunners promptly knocked it out of action with three direct hits.

For the next 11 days, the cruiser delivered fire support for the right flank of the Army's advance to the Italian frontier. She engaged German shore batteries and fought off air attacks. The raids—conducted by Junkers Ju 88s and Dornier Do 217s singly, or in small groups—usually occurred during the covering force's nightly retirement from the beachheads. Of the high altitude variety, these aerial assaults included the use of radar-controlled glider bombs. However, radar counter-measures and jamming devices, as well as effective evasive action and gunfire, thwarted these twilight and nocturnal attacks.

In September, when Allied forces had secured footholds in both western and southern France, Tuscaloosa returned to the United States for refitting at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. After a short exercise period in Chesapeake Bay, she steamed via the Panama Canal to the west coast and reported to the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet. After stopping briefly at San Diego, she proceeded on westward to Pearl Harbor, where she conducted various exercises before steaming to Ulithi to join Commander, 3rd Fleet in January 1945.

February 1945 - August 1945

USS Tuscaloosa and USS Arkansas (background) bombarding Iwo Jima, February 17, 1945. A Vought OS2U Kingfisher is flying in the foreground.
Following her sortie from Ulithi, she joined the bombardment group off Iwo Jima at dawn on 16 February. Three days later, as waves of landing craft bore marines shoreward to invade the island, Tuscaloosa's guns pounded Japanese positions inland. Then, after the Americans had reached land, her batteries supported their advances with incessant fire and illumination. This continued from 19 February to 14 March, throughout all phases of the bitterly fought campaign to wrest the island from the Japanese.

After the Iwo Jima operation, she returned to Ulithi to join Task Force 54 (TF 54), spending four hectic days replenishing stores, ammunition, and fuel in preparation for the next operation: Okinawa, at the end of the chain of the Japanese home islands. On Palm Sunday, 25 March, Tuscaloosa's main and secondary batteries opened fire on shore targets pinpointed by aerial reconnaissance. Time considerations only allowed a six-day respite in the middle of the arduous campaign for replenishment purposes, Tuscaloosa stood on duty for the entire operation.

Tuscaloosa's charmed life in the face of everything the Axis could throw at her still held through the maelstrom of the kamikazes which came at the invasion ships and their escorts from all quarters. The "Divine Wind" came down from the Japanese home islands, in the form of planes piloted by pilots so loyal to their Emperor that they unhesitatingly gave their lives to defend their home soil.

Tuscaloosa's gunners splashed two of the intruders. One, headed for the fantail of Texas, flew apart as the cruiser's shells splashed her in the old battleship's wake. The other headed for an escorting destroyer in the screen only to be splashed after hitting a curtain of fire from the cruiser's guns.

Only the mop-up of determined resistance ashore remained when Tuscaloosa departed from Okinawa on 28 June. Two days later, she arrived in Leyte Gulf, Philippine Islands; there reporting to Commander, 7th Fleet, for duty. Six weeks later, with Allied warships bombarding her shores with near impunity and Allied planes sweeping her skies clear of rapidly dwindling numbers of her defending aircraft, Japan surrendered.

On 27 August, Tuscaloosa, in company with other units of the 7th Fleet, departed Subic Bay in the Philippines, bound for Korean and Manchurian waters.

Post-war She touched at Tsingtao, China, en route, and proceeded to cruise off the newly liberated ports of Dairen and Port Arthur, Manchuria; Chefoo, Taku, Weihaiwei and Chinwangtao, China, before finally anchoring off Jinsen (now Incheon), Korea on 8 September to support the landings of Marines nearby.

After a stay 22 days, Tuscaloosa put to sea once more on 30 September, bound for Taku, China, to support Marines landing there. She next sailed for Chefoo on 6 October but, en route, received orders changing her destination to Jinsen to take on provisions.

As Chinese Nationalist and communist forces jockeyed for position to control formerly Japanese-held territory, American forces stood by in the uneasy role of observers. Tuscaloosa arrived off Chefoo, then held by the communists, on 13 October. Remaining until 3 November, she lay at anchor off the port, keeping well informed on the situation ashore through daily conferences with officials of the communist Eighth Route Army. During this period, collaborationist troops who had been loyal to the Japanese during the war, clashed with communist forces near Chefoo.

On 3 November, she put to sea, bound for Tsingtao, where the cruiser spent one evening before proceeding down the Chinese coast to call at Shanghai. There, she took on board 214 army and 118 navy passengers for "Magic Carpet" transportation home for demobilization.

She arrived in Hawaii on 26 November, where additional passenger facilities were installed, and took on board 206 more men before departing Hawaiian waters on the 28th and arriving at San Francisco on 4 December. After voyage repairs, the ship sailed for the South Pacific on 14 December, via the Solomon Islands, and proceeded to Nouméa, New Caledonia.

Tuscaloosa embarked troops at Guadalcanal, moved to the Russell Islands where she took on more passengers, and arrived at Nouméa on New Year's Day 1946. By that afternoon, the ship got underway for the west coast with more than 500 passengers.

She arrived at Pearl Harbor nine days into the new year, fueled, and picked up additional demobilized servicemen to transport home. She sailed for San Francisco on 10 January and arrived five days later. On 29 January, the men delivered, Tuscaloosa stood out of San Francisco bound for the east coast on her last cruise as an active member of the fleet.

Placed out of commission at Philadelphia on 13 February 1946, Tuscaloosa remained in reserve there until she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 March 1959. Her hulk was sold on 25 June to the Boston Metals Company of Baltimore, Maryland, for scrapping.

The ship's former mast is the centerpiece of the Tuscaloosa Veterans Memorial Park, which also features one of her five-inch guns.

Awards Tuscaloosa received seven battle stars for her World War II service.