The Portland or Sweet Pea as she was nicknamed, was a busy ship. She fought all over the Pacific. First with carrier Lexington at the battle of the Coral Sea. When the carrier was sunk Portland took on 722 survivors. Portland was part of Task Force 17  at Midway and after that battle sailed for the Solomon Isles to stop there Japanese from building an air base on Guadalcanal. She participated in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons August 23-25, and the Battle of Santa Cruz October 26–27. Portland was detached from her carrier and formed up with the other available ships as Task Group 67.4 and sailed into Iron Bottom Sound to stop the latest Japanese bombardment of the Marines defending Henderson field. 

The battle that ensued is often referred to as a "bar room brawl after the lights have been shot out". Soon after contact with the enemy fleet was made the two opposing forces sailed right into each other and tangled point blank. Portland engaged ships all around and took some 14" shell fire. Fortunately the Japanese had not expected them and had high explosive rounds loaded instead of armor piercing rounds. While she escaped major damage due to shell fire Portland took a torpedo to the stern that put her out of action. Thanks to the determined damage control the ship was kept afloat. Her stern was practically blown off and she could do no more than steam in circles. A couple of Higgens boats and the YC-239 tried to help her but it finally took an assist from the ATF Bobolink to get her to the relative safety of Tulagi harbor. Even then a torpedo attack by two PT boats was launched on her. Fortunately they overestimated the 2-3 knot speed and fire way in front of her before proper identification was made. Sweet Pea tied up alongside the shore and the crew set about camouflaging her with foliage from the jungle. Temporary repairs were made and Sweet Pea sailed for Sydney, Australia where she was dry-docked and more permanent repairs were made. The damage however was extensive and Sweet Pea was sent home for repairs and  a massive refit and upgrade that dramatically upgraded her anti aircraft fit. To compensate for this extra weight, she had her superstructure and bridge area remodeled. She emerged with a sleek new look similar to her sistership Indianapolis in her final configuration. 

Portland rejoined the fight in the Pacific and made her way from the Aleutians to the Gilberts and again found herself screening carriers. She occasionally was detached to bombard enemy forces on the remaining Japanese held islands. When Americans returned to the Philippines, Sweet Pea was there to soften up the beach heads at Leyte Gulf.. Later on the night of October 24th 1944 she would again engage enemy ships. This time the odds were clearly stacked in her favor as she and numerous other US warships crossed the enemies T at the entrance of Surigao Strait. Two enemy battleships and three destroyers were sunk that night with no losses on the US side. She remained in the area until the the islands were securely back in US hands and then headed north to Okinawa where she was when the war ended. 

Portland helped return US troops home before reporting to Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for inactivation. She was assigned to the Reserve Fleet. She decommissioned at Philadelphia July 12, 1946 and lingered in reserve status until finally being scrapped in 1959. 

Portland received sixteen battle stars for World War II service.

This new kit from Midship is actually the old Classic Warships kit. I am pretty sure I have the last kit that Steve Wiper cast from the old molds. When I saw them during my tour of his casting facility they were in really bad shape. But since this is the only kit that represents the Portland in her 1942 configuration I begged him to try to cast me one more. I had toyed with the idea of putting my kit on E-bay. But when Chris Decker of Midship purchased Classic Warships, he ruined my plan. Now this kit is plentiful again with some upgrades.