Columbus (CG 12) - Naval Cruise Book

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SHIPS HISTORY ' x HISTORY or Uss COLUMBUS KCG-12D Built at Bethlehem Steel Company's Quincy Massachusetts shipyard, the seventh of the 13,000-ton Baltimore Class cruisers,USS COLUMBUS was launched on 30 November 1944 with Mrs. Edward G. Meyers of Co- lumbus, Ohio acting as sponsor. Mrs. Myers who had lost two sons in combat christened, the ship in honor of Ohio's capital city. ' fiediately 2-ftel' being floated, workmen began the arduous task of outfittiirg, rigging and arming the new heavy cruiser for eventual acceptance by the Navy. In the course of Naval History, two other ships have seen commis- sioned service under the name COLUMBUS. These ships,however, were named for the most famous of all explorers, Christopher Columbus, rather than for the city.of Cicgliirnbus, Ohio. Q The ffirst ship naInecii:'COLUMBUS was a 28-gun brig which was one of the four ships purchased ite form the regular Continental Navyz On 30 October 1775 1 sriecialcommittee headedby the able John Adams, voted funds for the purchase and commission of the good ships COLUM- BUS, CABOT, ALFRED,andANDREW DORIA. These sailing vessels aided in the capture of Nassau, New Providence in 1776 which was important in that it provided supplies and alnmunition ,for the Revolutionary forces. Later thapyear, under .,:Qonun'and'C5fCapta'in Whipple, COLUMBUS took four prizes at sea. Herfcareer C8.lllv6.'fO', an end on 1 April 1778 when she was chased ashore by British and burned by the crew to pre- vent her falling into the hands of the enemy. ' A ' ' Ship-of-the-line COLUMBUS--second ship named for Christopher Columbus--mounted 74, guns- and was 191 feet long and hada displace- ment 'of .,2,480. tonslapproximately the ,same tonnage as our modern de- stroyerl. ,Bui.ltfat the Washingtoii, Navy'Yard in,1816-19, shelserved in both the Atlantic and Pacific' and sailed some 69,000 miles during her career. After participation in the Mexican War, she returned to Norfolk Navy Yard, in A1848 and was laid .up in the ordinary, Her end came in the same fais1iion'as,,th,1t of her forerunner, when on 20 April' ' 961 she was burne d by'Union farce s to preve. er f alling into the hands of the Confederates. , 3 Q ,H The third CO-, S QCA-'I4j was moved to Boston Navy Yard on 8 June 1945 and place-L ommission by Rear,Admiral Felix X. Gygax, USN, C,0mmaiirEght, of ' - ' 'L-1 Distric' Captain Allen Hobbs, USN, becaiiiesizifl f-f'19Ccvmm,a.no.-one cl.. , Some three months later, 7 September, the cruiser departed Boston for the sunlit proving grounds in the Caribbean where she operated out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. During ner seven weeks of intensive training, the -crew gained practice in shipboard drills, and gunnery teams re- ceived vigorous workouts in firing exercises. Upon securingfrom shake- down, the ship returned to New York'and participated in the Navy Day programs from 25 to 30 October 1945. g Upon completion of a post shakedown availability, she returned to Guantanamo Bay for a ten-day refresher training period, during which time she fired shore bombardment exercises at Culebra, Virgin Islands. Securing fromrthis training on 7 December COLUMBUS sailed for the Panama Canal iaith f.-rders to report to Commander Pacific Fleet for duty and ultimate assignment to Us S ' ieet at Shanghai, China. While operating in this area she visited Okinawa, Pearl Harbor, Tsingtao, Shanghai, Yokosuka and Sasebo. From April-1946 to April 1948 the cruis-. er operated along the West Coast in the Pacific and the Orient. The COLUMBUS first joined the U.S. SIXTH FLEET in the Mediter- ranean in September 1948 to serve as flagship. During assignment there she visited Norway, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, Portugal and England and was host to many distinguished guests, among whom were King Paul and Queen Fredricka of Greece, Prince Bernhardt of Holland and the late King George of Great Britain. During her 15-month or lise to the Mediterranean in 1950 and 1951 as Flagship of Admiral 'Robert B. Carney, COLUMBUS visited 55 ports and 18 countries and possessiflns. ' The COLUMBUS departed Boston in August 1952 for another Medi- terranean cruise, crossing tne Arctic Circle while participating in the NATO exercise MAINBRACE, and visited Scotland and Norway and other ports in Europe and Africa. His Royal Highness Prince Olaf of Norway was guest aboard ship during COLUMBUS' visit to his coLu1try.4,,,.,, From February 1953 andthroughher Midshipman Cruise in the sum- mer of that year, COLUMBUS participatedinvarious drills and observed a leave and upkeep period, operating alongthe eastern Atlantic Coast and visited Central American ports. September 1954 to January 1955 foundthe COLUMBUS active in var- ious NATO exercisesg during that time she visited Portugal, Algeria, Italy, France, Greece, Turkey and Spain until relieved of her SIXTH FLEET duties by the USS IOWA QBB-615. ' , In November of 1955 the 17,500-ton cruiser left thefEast Coast to' :io TU participate in joint American-Peruvian naval maneuvers as Flagship for Rear Admiral Thomas M. Stokes, Commander Cruiser-Destroyer Force, U.S. Pacific,Fleet. Followinf' :short good-will visit to the Peruvian capi- tal City of Lima, COT' ,IS proceeded to its new home port of Long Beach, California to join the U.S. Pacific Fleet. f' .hrs ' -1 ' Alter at --long leave andupkeep period in Long Beach, the COL- UMBUS again said goodby to the U.S.A., this time heading westward to assume duties with the Pacific Fleet inthe Far East. Stopping in Hawaii, the COLUMBUS renewed her acquaintance with the Pacific Ocean, then joined the SEVENTH Fleet in Yokosuka, Japan. In the months that followed, the COLUMBUS steamed approximately 63,000 miles in deployed duty throughout the Far East. She visited .Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Hong Kong, Subic Bay, Zambarga, Manila, Nagasaki, Sasebo, Port Swettenham, -Penang and Guam before returning to the U.S. A. on 8 July. Late September found the COLUMBUS at Hunter 's Point Shipyard in San Francisco undergoing her regular shipyard over-haul. Followingher yard period, the heavy cruiser was engaged in underway training under Fleet Training Group in San Diego. On 10 April COLUMBUS deployed for a normal tour of rotational duty in the-fi esiern Pacific. October 1957 to July 1958 found the COLUMBUS in her regular up- keep period in Long Beach. COLUMBUS held training maneuvers off the coast of Long Beach and San Diego, California. On 4 April 1958 Captain G. A. Uehling was relieved as Commanding Officer by Captain Ralph C. Johnson. On 16 July 1958 the COLUMBUS deployed for a normal tour of duty in Western Pacific waters. The ports visitedby the ship on this tour in- cluded Pearl Harbor, Guam,M.l.,Keelung,Taiwan,Keohsiung,Yokosuka, Subic Bay, Manila, Hong Kong and Sasebo. Also on this tour the COLUMBUS, as a unit of the SEVENTH Fleet, operated in the Taiwan Straits- in support of Chinese Nationalist ships delivering supplies to the off-shore islands of Quemoy and Matsu. On 12 December 1958 Rear Admiral Miles H. Hubbard was relieved by Rear Admiral Vernon L. Lowrance as Commander Cruiser Division THREE, and on 19 December 1958, Captain R. C. Jolmson was relieved as Commanding Officer by Captain Thomas H. Morton. The year 1958 came to a close finding the COLUMBUS in Sasebo, Japan. I The COLUMBUS returned to her home port of Long Beach on 6 Feb- ruary 1959 for a brief leave and upkeep period. COLUMBUS departed Long Beach on 11 March and arrived in Bremerton, Washington on 14 March for preparations incident to conversion to aguided missile cruiser QCG-12j. The COLUMBUS was decommissioned 8 May 1959 and turned over to the custody of Commander, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Brem- erton, Washington. Puget Soimd Naval Shipyard under Bureau of Ships direction trans- ferred one of the finest conventional cruisers into the most modern and powerful cruiser in the missile age. Puget Sound Naval Shipyard's c onve r s io n of USS COLUMBUS to an all-guided missile cruiser is another example of the Navy's rapid embracing of the latest in 20th Century naval concepts. They once called her The Discoverer. The USS COLUMBUS QCA- 74J, a Baltimore class heavy cruiser, was first commissioned in June 1945 at Boston, Mass., and assigned as the flagship of SEVENTH Fleet in January, 1946. Through the years until her decommissioning in 1959, the ship touched her 'bow on many foreign ports and left in her wake thou- sands of nautical miles. Almost immediately after her release from active duty, COLUMBUS conversion plans from gunnery to missilery began. COLUMBUS' transition to a missile ship got underway in March 1959 with the adoption of Operation Cleansweep. This procedure was volved with removing everything above the main deck by crane-loading it on barges and shipping the residue to the scrap yards. A considerable amount of money was saved in this process. The previous plan was to have the scrap movedto supply,cutup,transferred to trains and shipped. With the completion of Operation Cleansweep in June 1959, oper- ations for COLUMBUS' conversion to an all-guided missile ship went into full swing. Shipyard workers at PSNS were already well 'acquainted with other