Columbus (CG 12) - Naval Cruise Book

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Wy . 6 . 4 Q67iZ7.!!!d'Jfi0:?z4!?fy UNITED STATES SHE? COLUMBUS CCG-121 Puget Sound Naval Shipyard n Bremerton, Washington

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The USS COLUMBUS KCG-125 was originally commis- sioned as a heavy cruiser KCA-741 and was-built at the Bethlehem Steel Company's Quincy, Mass. shipyard. The seventh of the 18,000 ton Baltimore Class cruisers, .she was turned over to the Navy on 8 June 1945. Hel' f1I'St Commanding Officer was Captain Allen Hobbs. Mrs. Edward G. Meyers of Columbus, Ohio was the ship's sponsor. Mrs. Meyers, who lost two sons in combat during the war, christened the ship inhonor of Ohio's cap- ital city. Throughout Naval history, two other ships have seen commissioned service under the same name COLUMBUS. The first was a 28-gun Brig fa two-masted shipj pur- chased in 1775 for the regular Continental Navy. She aided in the capture of Nassau, New Providence in 1776 and later that year took four prizes at sea. Her career came to an end on 1 August 1778 when she was chased ashore by Brit- ish squadrons and burned by her own crew to prevent her from falling into the hands of the enemy. The second ship named COLUMBUS - in honor of Christopher Columbus - mounted 74 guns, was 191 feet long and displaced 2,480 tons fapproximately the same tonnage as today's destroyerl. She sailed some 69,000 miles in both the Atlantic and Pacific between 1819 and 1860. Her end came in the same fashion as the first COLUMBUS. On 20 April 1860 she was burned by Union forces to prevent her from falling into the hands of the Confederates. The heavy cruiser COLUMBUS sailed for the Panama Canal on 7 December 1945 with orders to report to Com- mander Pacific Fleet for duty and ultimate assignment to the SEVENTH Fleet at Shanghai, China. While operating west she visited Pearl Harbor, Okinawa, Yokosuka and Sasebo, In September 1948 COLUMBUS returned to the East and joined the SIXTH Fleet in the Mediterranean. During the Mediterranean assignment she was homeported in Plymouth, England and visited ports in Norway, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, and Portugal. She hosted many visits of distinguished guests, among whom were King Paul and Queen Fredericka of Greece, Prince Bernhardt of Holland and King George of Great Britain. During her 15 months in the Mediterranean in 1950 and 1951, COLUMBUS visited 55 ports and 18 countries and possessions. In 1952, COLUMBUS crossed the 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 a guest aboard the ship during her visit to his country. In November 1955 COLUMBUS departed the East Coast to participate in joint American-Peruvian Naval maneuvers. Following a short good-will visit to the Peru- vian capital city of Lima, she proceeded to her new home- port of Long Beach, Calif. During her deployment in the Far East COLUMBUS steamed approximately 63,000 miles and visited ports in Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Hong Kong, Subic Bay, Zambarga, Manila, Nagasaki, Sasebo, Port Swetten- ham, Penang and Guam before returning to the United States on 8 July 1956. On 16 July 1958 COLUMBUS deployed for duty in the Western Pacific and during that tour, operated in the Taiwan Straits in support of Chinese Nationalist ships de- lxilvering supplies to the off-shore islands of Quemoy and atsu. In May of 1959 COLUMBUS was decommissioned and began her conversion to a guided missile cruiser at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington. The first Commanding Officer of COLUMBUS, as des- ignated CG-12 , was Captain Gideon M. Boyd. COLUMBUS departed for her first Western Pacific cruise as a guided missile cruiser on 5 August 1964 and operated extensively in the South China Sea off the coast of Vietnam. In January 1966 COLUMBUS departed San Diego, Calif. for her new homeport of Norfolk, Va. During her coastal transit, COLUMBUS visited Acapulco, Mexico, Panama Cityg Kingston, Jamaica and the Virgin Islands. On 15 October COLUMBUS relieved USS ALBANY in the SIXTH Fleet. On the 8th and 9th of December she had an unusual assignment in that she participated in search and rescue operations in the Aegean Sea after the sinking of the Greek Liner SS HERAKLION. During the Mediterranean cruise, COLUMBUSMEN visited many interesting ports: among them Naples, Italy, Izmir, Turkey, Athens, Greeceg Marseille, France and Palma, Mallorca. ' In September 1967 COLUMBUS was visited by Japa- nese Foreign Minister Takeo Miki as part of a tour of Norfolk military installations prior to a conference in Washington, D.C. COLUMBUS received notification of her winning E's following the end of her first competitive period as an operative unit of the Atlantic Fleet. The ship received an E for Weapons, and E for Operations and the Battle Ef- ficiency E designating COLUMBUS as one of the outstanding combat-ready units in the Atlantic Fleet. COLUMBUS deployed to the SIXTH Fleet in January of 1968, and participated in the NATO exercise Operation DAWN PATROL in April. Some of the ports visited by COLUMBUS included Athens, Greece, Valletta, Maltag Barcelona, Spain and Naples, Italy. COLUMBUS partici- pated in the SIXTH Fleet Twentieth Anniversary Parade before returning to Norfolk in July 1968. After spending the summer in Norfolk Naval Shipyard for regular maintenance and upkeep, COLUMBUS deployed to the Mediterranean in December 1968 and returned March 17, 1969. On the morning of her return COLUMBUS fired her missiles in an Armed Forces Day show of sea power for President Richard M. Nixon, Commander-in- Chief of the Armed Forces. During her five and a half month Mediterranean de- ployment th e Tall Lady carrieid Co m m and e r Cruiser Destroyer Flotilla TEN and visited such ports as Barce- lona, Spain, Athens, Greeceg Genoa, Gaeta, and Naples, Italy. The Christmas-New Year season was spent in one of the crew'sfavorite ports, Villefranche, France. Valletta, Malta was host to COLUMBUS for Easter. COLUMBUS again spent the summer in the shipyard U11de1'S0ing standard upkeep and repairs before deploying to the Mediterranean in October 1969 for the fourth time since coming to the East Coast in 1966. She returned on March 16, 1970.