Roanoke (CL 145) - Naval Cruise Book

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1ay the North Sea mine f1e1d in 1918. The third and present Roanoke, however, is a masterpiece of mod' ern science and engineering, capab1e of propelling 17,500 tons through the sea at 33 knots, or 37.5 mi1es per hour. On 25 june 1949, e1even weeks after commission' ing, during which time the ship was being fitted out and readied for sea, with her fu11 comp1ement aboard, the U.S.S. Roanoke nosed down the Delaware River under her own power for the first time, This was Ships officers and offl the beginning of the 12 weeks' Shakedown cruigg to ribbean Sea, where intensive drills, tria1s, and ba tt1e prob1ems were to take p1ace. We were on our way to coordinate the five ship'board depart- ments into one formidab1e fighting unit. After reporting to the Nava1 Cperating Base, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, our official shakedown began, under the instruction and supervision of the Training Command at Guantanamo. Each day we went to sea. We he1d man overboard dri11s, damage the Ca cial party render first Salute to the Roanokeys colors -H210

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Va 'fi Equipped for bi11etinv ov er 1400 othcers and men Us 9 o o is in itse1f 1 com e e se suthcient unit contiininv 111 the services ot1ered by Cobb1er Shop Ti11or Shop 1'1ospiti1 Post Qihce Liundry Print Shop Birber Shop Co1d btorave P11nt Photo Lib -Xrsen 11 1ce House Ridio Center VX iter xy orlss C1ener11 Store Six 0111eys Sodi Fountiin Vw dl i- . . . . 7 - N Q 551 cv Q ' ' Q' the ., .,. R .Iii hi' . S , 1 ' p1 t lff .ff - - - - . A . any modern community, 1nc1uc11ngi .4 . y 1, . i 5 1 ' v 7 . 1 L 1 i 1 - 'T . - 1. LO l 1 ' L Q . H ' . T L k i T 'Qi 1 YL T Y P: L 'Q' TTT!! . . r x V .. K Y 1 A. Oc I b A L L Carfiaixj. D. Kiisi-.Y, USN Tirst Cforvirvitimiirxg Offitcr officers stood at attention The Roanoke was now an integra1 fighting unit of the US, F1eet, a ship to maintain peace through strength. This commissioning ceremony cu1minated hfiteen years of p1anning and building an automatic sixfinch 1ight cruiser. Qrigina11y authorized by Congress in 1934, the actua1 construction of tae Roanolct did not begin unti1 eleven years 1ater in May, 1945, at the New York Shipbui1ding Corporation in Cam' den, New jersey. lr was another two years after the kee1 was 1aid before the ship was launched in june, 1947, by Miss 1u1ia Ann Henebry, daughter of the erstwhile mayor of Roanoke, Va. Two more years of construction were necessary before the Navy ac' cepted this 680 foot cruiser, which by this time was equiva1ent in va1ue to one'ha1f the assessed eva1uation of all rea1 estate in the city for which she is named. After one mi11ion manfdays of 1abor, the Roanolcg c1eared the Camden ways of wartime construction, as this was the 1ast ship ordered by the Navy during Wor1d War 11. 9? Movies are shown night1y in one of the three mess ha11s, weather permitting, topside on the main deck aft. The ship carries two trucks, nine sma11 boats, and one he1icopter. A11 this, of course, in addition to her defensive and aggressive potentiahtiesfher many guns. The main battery consists of six dua1'purpose, 6 47 ca1iber turrets. The two guns per turret can hre every few seconds, emitting a barrage of pro' jecti1es against either air or surface targets. These six turrets are semifautomatic and can be oper' ated with great 11exibi1ity. The secondary bat' tery is composed of ten twin 3 50 caliber mounts, each of which can be automatically contro11ed by radar. Supp1ementing these impressive batteries are six 20 mi11imeter antifaircraft mounts, manned by the Marine detachment on board. It is genera11y be1ieved that the USS. Roanoke is unsin14ab1e, for her hu11 is divided into hundreds of comp1ete1y iso1ated, watertight units. This 1atest type of hu11 construction is a1so incorporated in the Roaiiolctfs sister ship, the USS. Worcester, CL'144, commissioned severa1 months ear1ier. If all the e1ectrica1 wiring on board the Roanoke were 1aid end to end, it wou1d reach from Chicago to St. Louis. And if Annapo1is, Md., were sudden1y without e1ectricity, the Roanoke cou1d furnish the city amp1e e1ectrica1 power. And if Mr. Rockefe11er had S100,000,000 to invest in a sea'going yacht, he cou1d put in his bid for this vesse1. This ship is the third to bear the name Roano1ce, which, incidenta11y, is an o1d Indian word meaning she11 money. The hrst was a steam frigate, pres' ent during the historic engagement of the Monitor and Merrimac at Hampton Roads. Later she brought the hrst japanese mission to the United States fo1' 1owing the opening of Japan by Commodore Perry. The second Roanolcc was a minep1anter which he1ped

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Z y i 'J The two early Roanokes before the days of radar, oil and gtdimks control and battle problems, ship's tactics, casualty drills, battle messing, signal drills, radio drills, radar navigation drills, and emergency drills. After a few weeks we became intimately acquainted with the complexities and capabilities of our ship. Each man developed pride in his job. A thousand men were integrated into one fighting ship. To break the intensive schedule of shakedown, we visited four Caribbean ports during our three months' training-Kingston, jamaica, Port'Au'Prince, Haiti, Cristobal, Panama Canal Zone, and San juan, Puerto Rico. These ports of call were welcomed reliefs, especially Kingston, where ship's dances were held at the beautiful Myrtle Bank Hotel, and tours ar' ranged to the new, luxurious hotel at Tower Isle. What money we did not spend on mahogany and native straw goods was spent on cold beer and tropi- cal rum drinks. After several more weeks at Guantanamo under the Training Command, we were finally graduated cum laude, and again we headed northward towards Philadelphia, on 25 September. Four weeks in the Naval Shipyard lay ahead, with leave for some of us, then on 1 November we were scheduled to participate in the cold weather maneuvers in the Arctic. We wondered if, perhaps, someone in the Bureau had a morbid sense of humor, sending us down to Cuba during the stifling summer months, then up to the Arctic Circle in the winter. Dperation Frigidaire was not as cold as we had expected it would be, but the seas were rough and treacherous. The purpose of this three weeks' cruise of over 100 naval ships was to test all shipboard Ili' equipment and personnel operating in extremely cold weather. Ice formed on deck and it snowed oc' casionally, but the temperature never went below 170 F. We returned to Philadelphia as ofhcial members of the Royal Drder of Blue Noses-an ex' clusive order of all persons who have sailed or steamed across the Arctic Circle. The month of December was spent on replenishing the ship for Mediterranean duty, for we had received orders to report to the U.S. SIXTH FLEET for a four' months' cruise, leaving Philadelphia on 6 january 1950. We were also designated as flagship for COMMANDER CRUISER DIVISION 2, RADM. H. CARSON, USN. During the middle of Christmas leave periods, our new skipper, CAPTAIN E. E. YEoMANs, USN, reported aboard relieving CAPTAIN J. D. KELSEY, USN. The remainder of the month of December was spent in ship repairs and alterations for our duty in the Mediterranean. QRDERS: Mediterranean Duty We were ordered to rendezvous at Gibraltar on 16january 1950 with the US. Sixth Fleet for four monthswrduty in the Mediterranean Sea. The Sixth Fleet comprises all US. Navy ships in the Medi' terranean, furnished on a trifannual rotational basis, our turn coming, fortunately, during the winter months in the sunny 'Medf After only nine months in com' mission we were ready to carry the American flag to Europe and the Near East. Prior to our departure, we embarked 180 Fleet Marines for confidential security reasons, and we realized that our cruise was not just for sightfseeing