USS Helena (CL-50) was a 10,000-ton St. Louis class light cruiser, the second ship of the United States Navy to be named after the city of Helena, Montana. She was launched on August 27, 1939 by the New York Navy Yard; sponsored by Miss Elinor Carlyle Gudger, granddaughter of Senator Thomas J. Welch of Montana; and commissioned on September 18, 1939.

After serving in the Atlantic from 1939 to 1940, Helena was transferred to the Pacific, where she spent the rest of a short, eventful career. She was moored at 1010 Dock Navy Yard on the east side of Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked on December 7, 1941. As a result of being hit by a single torpedo, an engine room and a boiler room were flooded. Repair and modification work at the Pearl Harbor and Mare Island Navy Yards were not completed until June 1942.

In the summer of 1942, Helena was sent to the South Pacific, where she participated actively in the Guadalcanal campaign. On September 15, she rescued nearly 400 of USS Wasp's officers and men when the carrier was sunk by an enemy submarine. In the Battle of Cape Esperance on October 11 and 12, and the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on November 13, 1942, Helena engaged in night surface combat, making important contributions to thwarting Japanese bombardments of Henderson Field. In January 1943, late in the Guadalcanal campaign, she twice shelled Japanese bases on New Georgia and Kolombangara islands.

After a quick overhaul at Sydney, Australia, Helena returned to the combat zone in March 1943. She again bombarded enemy positions before and during the invasion of New Georgia and Rendova. In the early morning of July 6, 1943, she was part of a task force that fought Japanese destroyers in the Battle of Kula Gulf. Hit by three torpedoes in that action, the cruiser was broken into three parts and sunk, with the loss of 168 of her crewmen.

Helena was the first ship to receive the Navy Unit Commendation. Her actions in the Battles of Cape Esperance, Guadalcanal, and Kula Gulf were named in the citation. She also earned the Asiatic-Pacific Area Campaign medal with seven stars.

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