I found the attached photo at a second hand store in a huge bundle of WW2 era photos. Most of the photos had no writing on the back, this photo included. The photos that did have writing had dates such as 1938 or 39, and in locations such as Panama, Cuba, and Hawaii. All the photos of sailors I found that had info on the back said USS New Orleans. All the circumstantial evidence points to this being the New Orleans but I'm still a bit skeptical. Is there enough evidence in the photo itself to point me in one way or another?
Edited: It is taken from underneath the after 8-inch turret and facing out over the stern. If it is not from the USS New Orleans, it is certainly taken aboard a New Orleans class cruiser.
How can you tell? I'm somewhat of a novice at this. I did look up pictures of the New Orleans. I noticed on the turret, some battleships had two barrels and some had 3. Also, the photo of the New Orleans that I found had a flag at the end of the bow.
I'm not sure how Takao identified this, but he did mention it's looking at the stern, or back end, not the bow. BTW, welcome to the forum.
Simple answer...That is the US Flag...Which is never flown from the jack staff(flag pole on the bow). Complex answer...The two rectangular boxes on the flag staff are her formation lights. This was unique to the New Orleans class, as the previous classes were housed in a single cylinder, thus not separated. Also, I believe use of the two short railing stanchions on either side of the flag pole was unique to the class.