USS Montpelier (CL-57) was one of 27 United States Navy Cleveland-class light cruisers completed during or shortly after World War II.

[1] Montpelier arrived in Nouméa, New Caledonia on 18 January 1943 from Norfolk, Virginia Rear Admiral A. S. Merrill chose her for the flagship of Cruiser Division 12 (CruDiv 12).

On the night of 5–6 March, she heavily bombarded the Vila‑Stanmore airfield on Kolombangara in the Solomons, and helped sink an enemy destroyer in the Battle of Blackett Strait.

On 1 November, Montpelier shelled the Buka‑Bonis airfields on the northern tip of Bougainville, and hit the Japanese defenses on the islands of Poporang and Balalae, in the Shortlands.

TF 39, consisting of cruisers and destroyers, engaged a superior Japanese force in the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay while guarding transports on the night of 2 November.

[2] On 1 October 1944, the US Navy's Special Air Task Force (SATFOR),[3] and began shelling Saipan on 14 June to support the Mariana Islands invasion.

From 17 June to 2 July, she sailed off the oil center at Balikpapan, providing support for minesweepers, underwater demolition teams, and amphibious forces.

Montpelier departed from Hiro Wan and Japanese waters on 15 November for the East Coast, having battled the enemy from their deepest point of advance to their very homeland.

[1] From the Pacific, Montpelier sailed first for Hawaii, then to San Diego, California, before heading south to pass through the Panama Canal, with her final destination being New York City.

The diary provides a first person account of the experience of a sailor on Montpelier throughout the war, from its first cruise from port to its final journey home.