USS Biloxi, a 10,000-ton Cleveland class light cruiser built at Newport News, Virginia, was commissioned at the end of August 1943. Late in the year, after a training cruise along the U.S. East Coast and in the Caribbean area and post-shakedown overhaul, the new cruiser steamed to the Pacific to join the war against Japan. In 1944 she was primarily assigned to screen the carrier striking forces during their frequent attacks on Japanese-held islands and in the battles of the Philippine Sea in June 1944 and Leyte Gulf in October. She also used her guns to bombard enemy positions during the assaults on the Marshall Islands in January-February 1944, Northern New Guinea in April.
Ship's officers and crew pose on her forecastle and forward superstructure, during Biloxi's shakedown cruise, October 1943.
