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The Erie is "gunboat", a flagship where a fleet Admiral resides. Before WWII it saw duty along the Spanish coast, where the Spanish Civil War was raging. Naval ships of many nations were in the area to evacuate citizens of their countries (my father was on one of these ships, the USS Omaha, see photos). In World War II the Erie was noted for battling U-boats in the Atlantic and rescuing crews from sunken ships. In 1942 it was struck by German torpedos near Curaçao, beached, and later it sank; all but 7 of the crew survived[1].