October and hoisted his flag aboard Milwaukee. On 21 November, Milwaukee, her sister and the destroyer Somers intercepted the German blockade runner . When Somers had closed to , the German ship scuttled herself to prevent capture. Milwaukee rescued 62 of the ship's crew. On 2 May 1943, while the ship was under repair at Recife, her crew helped to fight a fire on the oil tanker . Milwaukee and Omaha collided on 31 May off the coast of Brazil, although the extent of the damage is not known. The ship sailed for the Brooklyn Navy Yard on 8 February 1944, preparatory to her temporary transfer to the Soviet Union in lieu of Italian ships allotted after the Italian surrender that could not be delivered. She escorted a convoy to Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 8 March before forming part of the escort of Convoy JW 58 during her voyage to Murmansk beginning on 29 March. Soviet service On 20 April, the ship was transferred on loan to the Soviet Northern Fleet in Murmansk. She was commissioned in the Soviet Navy as Murmansk and performed convoy and patrol duty in the Arctic Ocean for the remainder of the war. Afterward, she became a training ship and participated in the 1948 fleet maneuvers. On 16 March 1949, Milwaukee was transferred back to the United States. She was the first of 15 American warships returned by the Soviet Union. She entered the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on 18 March 1949, and was sold for scrapping on 10 December to the American Shipbreakers, Inc. of Wilmington, Delaware. Footnotes References Further reading External links Navy photos of Milwaukee Omaha-class cruisers Ships built in Tacoma, Washington 1922 ships World War II cruisers of the United States Ships transferred from the United States Navy to the Soviet Navy Cruisers of the Soviet Navy World War II cruisers of the Soviet Union