What happened to the crew of the Princeton CVL-23

Trublue · #1 (**permalink**) August 22nd, 2007, 12:27 PM

When the Princeton was sunk during the battle of Leyte Gulf where did the survivors end up? Could they have ended up in Australia on R & R?.
Family speak of a William Schmidt in Brisbane in 1945.Information I received ,William C Schmidt on board US Navy Aircraft carrier, USS Princeton, #Cvl-23 on the muster roll dated 20th Sep 1943.
Much obliged for anymore information

Bob

lwd · #2 (**permalink**) August 23rd, 2007, 01:07 AM

Loss of USS Princeton, 24 October 1944
list the following ships as helping with damage control:

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light cruisers Birmingham and Reno, plus the destroyers Irwin (DD-794) and Morrison (DD-560)

USS Morrison (DD-560 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
list Morrison as picking up about 400 survivors
it further states that

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Morrison debarked the Princeton survivors at Ulithi 27 October

Similarly from: USS Irwin (DD-794 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Irwin

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rescued 646 men from the sea and from the decks of Princeton...
Irwin headed for Ulithi

Reno apparently didn't have many survivors on board and took longer to reach Ulithi according to:

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While Reno evacuated wounded men ...Reno proceeded north to engage the northern Japanese task force closing for the Battle of Cape Engaño—.... On the night of 3 November, ... Reno was torpedoed .... Towed 1,500 miles to Ulithi

As for Birmingham:
USS Birmingham (CL-62 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

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she suffered great topside damage from explosions on board the aircraft carrier USS Princeton ... retired to Mare Island Navy Yard for repairs ...

Not sure this helps much as far as info on them being in Australia however. Here's the Wiki page on her not sure it helps much more though.
USS Princeton (CVL-23 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Here's a page on a survivors reunion
Princeton Sailors Remember Those Who Came Before

Trublue · #3 (**permalink**) August 23rd, 2007, 02:13 PM

I may not be finding what I am looking for but sure learning a lot on WW2 I didn't know about.