Northampton (CLC 1) - Naval Cruise Book

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1 1 Gibraltar-Gateway to the Mediterranean... a solid mass of rock known familiarly to us as Prudential Life lnsurance, but actually a pow. erfully fortified stronghold coveted by many since the rule of the Moors. On one side of our ship we could see Spain, on the other, the northwest coast of Africa. We roamed the narrow streets, lined with shops selling cameras, cashmeres, Chinese nightgowns and walking dolls. The halfcrowns, shillings, thruppence, and ha-pennies had most of us .con- fused. Some got bargains . . . others experiencing making change English style. . The contrast was quite noticeable between the dark-haired Spanish senoritas and the fair-haired English lassies and their tam 'o shantered English soldier lads. Cabbies didn't bang on the side of their doors as we expected, but raced at good clip through the streets using horns as last resort. When the last of the argyle socks were tucked away and we'd snapped our last photo of the Gib apes, we upped anchor and set sail from a very confined, but interesting first port of call. 1 i

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ln many ways the history of Northampton typifies the life and times of ofcontemporary America. Construction commenced as a heavy cruiser of the. Baltimore Class in T944 when the United States was still expanding her armed might -to subdue the Axis. When the conflict abated, America turned to thoughts of peace and so work on Northampton was terminated in August of l945. Not many years elapsed, however, before it became pain- fully clear that the world still needed a strong and militarily prepared A- merica. Northampton responded to that need as construction was recom- menced in l948. The four interim years had witnessed advances in both technology and doctrine of naval warfare. Incorporation of these advances proceeded forthwith in Northampton as she was redesigned as aTaskForce lnow Tacticali Command Ship with the new designation of CLC-l. Her in- troduction to the seas took place with the launching on 27 January l95'l, and on 7 March i953 she was officially commissioned. Under the command of Captain William D. lrvin, USN, Northampton completed her shakedown training and post-shakedown.availability. The first large-scale assignment for Northampton involved the conducting of technical tests of various installed experimental equipment under the op- erational control of Commander Operational Development Force. On the completion of these tests Northampton stood ready to join the Fleet -as an operating unit. On ll October l954, Vice Admiral Frank G. Fahrion, USN, Commander Amphibious Force, U. S. Atlantic Fleet, and his staff embarked aboard Northampton to participate in Atlantic Fleet Exercise 'l-55 and to conduct initial staff operational evaluation of Northampton as an Amphib- ious Command Ship. During the exercise Northampton carried a total of 18, stars, including Admiral .lerauld Wright, Commander-'ln-Chief, Atlantic Fleet. ' A short time later Northampton entered another first in her history - overseas employment as flagship for Commander Sixth Fleet. Four 'months of this duty, from December 1954 to March l955, took Northampton to Gi- braltar, Villefranche, Malaga,Algiers, Barcelona and Athens. The time spent at Lsea with -other units of the Sixth Fleet further developed North- ampton's ability to operate with the Navy's most modern team - the fast carrier task force. . With the end of this cruise, Northampton returns to Norfolk, Virginia to prepare herself and those who man her for 'future missions as an arm of, Democracy. ' ' '

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