USS Chattanooga (C-16, later PG-30 & CL-18)

Figure 1: Port bow view of USS Chattanooga (C-16), date and place unknown. US Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 67526. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 2: Port bow view of USS Chattanooga (C-16) while in New York harbor, 1905. Copyright E. Muller, 1908. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 3: Starboard side view of USS Chattanooga (C-16) while at anchor, 12 October 1906. Photo 80-G-1035139 from The National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 4: Port side view of USS Chattanooga (C-16) while at San Diego, California, in 1915. Caption on the back of the photo reads, "This photo was taken in San Diego while we were coaling ship and taking on stores and mail for the other ships in Mexican waters." Courtesy Robert M. Cieri. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 5: Starboard side view of USS Chattanooga (C-16) while at San Diego, California, in 1915. Caption on the back of the photo reads, "This photo was taken after we were secured from coaling ship and were cleaning her up." Courtesy Robert M. Cieri. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 6: Members of the crew of USS Chattanooga (C-16) posed on deck during the early 1900s. Note the ship's bell in the left background. The original image is printed on postcard ("AZO") stock. Collection of BMC Philip A. Carey, donated by his widow, Mrs. Omah (Munier) Swanson, 1969. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Named after a city in Tennessee, the 3,200-ton USS Chattanooga (CL-16) was the third of six Denver class “protected cruisers,” which were ships that possessed armor protection on their main decks but not on their sides. Also known as “Peace Cruisers,” these slow, lightly-armed and armored ships were never meant for fleet actions. They were used as gunboats with the Asiatic Fleet and in the waters off Central America and South America, as well as in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. Because they were needed to patrol distant waters with little support, the Denver class ships were furnished with sails to extend their cruising range while economizing on coal, but they also had large coal bunkers, which increased their range and endurance. Their steel hulls were sheathed with pine and coppered for long service in tropical waters and they possessed roomy, well-ventilated quarters for their crews to ease the discomfort of sailing in hot climates. Each Denver class warship had a two-and-one-half-inch-thick armored deck and all of them were armed with ten 5-inch rapid-fire guns. USS Chattanooga was built by the Crescent Shipyard at Elizabethport, New Jersey, and was commissioned 11 October 1904. She was approximately 308 feet long and 44 feet wide, had a top speed of 16 knots, and had a crew of 339 officers and men.

After a shakedown cruise in the Caribbean, Chattanooga went to New York City and joined a squadron of US Navy warships that was leaving for Cherbourg, France, on 18 June 1905. At Cherbourg, the squadron obtained the remains of the American naval hero John Paul Jones, who died in France in 1792. The body was placed on board USS Olympia and the squadron returned to the United States, arriving at Annapolis, Maryland, on 23 July. The remains then were buried in a sarcophagus at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, where they lie to this day. For the rest of the year, Chattanooga was used as a training ship for the Maine and Massachusetts naval militias. After spending some time in the Caribbean, Chattanooga left San Juan, Puerto Rico, on 28 December 1905 for the Mediterranean. She sailed through the Suez Canal and joined the Asiatic Fleet at Cavite in the Philippines. From 1906 to 1910, Chattanooga remained with the Asiatic Fleet, making numerous trips to China as well as to other ports throughout Asia. Chattanooga returned to the United States on 10 August 1910 and was decommissioned at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Washington, on 17 September.

While at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Chattanooga was re-commissioned but placed in reserve on 31 August 1912. She was fully re-commissioned on 21 April 1914 and was sent to Mexico, which at that time was engulfed in political and civil turmoil. From 1914 to 1917, Chattanooga performed the usual duties associated with US gunboats, which included protecting American lives and property in Mexico. Chattanooga remained in Mexican waters after America entered World War I, but in 1917 she transited the Panama Canal and spent several months in the Caribbean searching for German surface raiders. In July 1917, Chattanooga began escorting Allied convoys that were heading for France from the United States. She also escorted two convoys from the United States to Nova Scotia. The cruiser continued her escort duties until the end of the war.

After the war ended, Chattanooga participated in the Victory Fleet Review in New York Harbor on 26 December 1918. After an overhaul, Chattanooga carried Liberian officials to Monrovia and then proceeded north to Plymouth, England, where she arrived on 7 May 1919. She was designated flagship of US Naval Forces in European waters and visited English and French ports until June. On 29 June 1919, Chattanooga served as the leading honor escort for President Woodrow Wilson’s departure from France on the liner George Washington. After that, she visited several German and Belgian ports before going to the Mediterranean to serve as flagship for US Naval Forces in Turkish waters. Chattanooga primarily sailed in the Black Sea, but she also served in the Adriatic as well. From January to May 1921, Chattanooga was assigned to patrol duties in European waters before returning to the United States on 1 June. USS Chattanooga was decommissioned at Boston, Massachusetts, on 19 July 1921 and then was sent to the Portsmouth Navy Yard, New Hampshire. She remained there until sold for scrapping on 8 March 1930.

USS Preston (DD-795)

Figure 1: USS Preston (DD-795) arriving at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 19 March 1964. Picture was taken by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class B.J. Long. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 2: USS Preston (DD-795) off the San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard, Hunters Point, California, 22 October 1966. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 3: USS Preston (DD-795) off the San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard, Hunters Point, California, 22 October 1966. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 4: USS Preston (DD-795) off the San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard, Hunters Point, California, 22 October 1966. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 5: USS Preston (DD-795) off the San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard, Hunters Point, California, 22 October 1966. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 6: USS Preston (DD-795) at the San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard, Hunters Point, California, 22 October 1966. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 7: USS Preston (DD-795) anchored off Naples, Italy, circa 1955. USS Irwin (DD-794) is at right, beyond Preston's stern. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, from the Collection of Admiral Robert B. Carney, USN. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 8: USS Preston (DD-795) in the South Pacific, approaching USS Virgo (AKA-20) for replenishment. This photograph is from Marc Schenck, who obtained it from his father, Lt. JG. Bernard Schenck, when he served aboard USS Virgo. The year would be 1957, during Virgo's Seventh Fleet deployment. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 9: USS Preston (DD-795) during the Fleet Review at San Francisco, California, 13 June 1957. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Named after Lieutenant Samuel W. Preston, a Union naval hero who was killed at Fort Fisher, North Carolina, on 13 January 1865, USS Preston (DD-795) was a 2,940-ton Fletcher class destroyer that was built at the Bethlehem Steel Company at San Pedro, California, and was commissioned on 20 March 1944. This was the sixth ship to bear this name and it was approximately 376 feet long and 39 feet wide, had a top speed of 35 knots, and had a crew of 320 officers and men. Preston originally was armed with five 5-inch guns, ten 40-mm guns, seven 20-mm guns, ten 21-inch torpedo tubes, and numerous depth charges, although this armament changed significantly in later years.

Following a shakedown cruise off the coast of California as well as naval exercises in Hawaiian waters, Preston was sent to the Marianas combat zone on 1 July 1944. She participated in the invasion of Guam on 17 July and, during the last four months of 1944, Preston supported the US landings in the Palau Islands. Preston also escorted aircraft carriers during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines and she participated in raids against Japanese targets in the western Pacific and along the Asian mainland. Preston resumed escorting aircraft carriers during the first two months of 1945 as US forces attacked the island of Luzon in the Philippines and Iwo Jima. Preston went on to assist in raids on the Japanese home islands and in March 1945 participated in the assault on the Ryukyu Islands, providing gunfire support for troops ashore, guarding against Japanese suicide boats, and serving as a radar picket ship while escorting ships to and from Okinawa (which is the largest of the Ryukyu Islands).

Preston returned to the US west coast in September 1945, shortly after the Japanese surrendered. The destroyer remained inactive until it was officially decommissioned in April 1946. But with the start of the Korean War, Preston was brought back into service and was re-commissioned in January 1951. She was transferred to the Atlantic Fleet later that year and was deployed to the Mediterranean in 1952. But in 1953, Preston was sent to the Far East and participated in the Korean War. She arrived in Japan in early May and was assigned to the fast carrier Task Force 77. In June, Preston joined Task Force 95, which was the United Nations Blockade and Escort Force. Once the war ended on 27 July 1953, Preston returned to the United States via the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic, and arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, in October.

Following a major overhaul that lasted from May to September 1954, Preston was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet and then returned to the Mediterranean for yet another deployment in 1955. Preston steamed back to the Pacific in the spring of 1956 and spent the rest of her career in the Far East, although she did make regular trips back to America’s west coast for overhauls and training cruises.

Preston’s work in the Far East included four Vietnam War cruises between 1964 and 1968, during which she performed naval gunfire support missions, served as a plane guard and escort for Seventh Fleet aircraft carriers, and participated in search and rescue missions. USS Preston was decommissioned on 15 November 1969, but then was transferred to Turkey. She was renamed Icel and remained in the Turkish Navy until she was broken up and sold for scrap in 1981.

USS Preston served in three wars and in two navies in a career that spanned roughly 37 years, proving how well-armed, durable, and versatile the Fletcher class destroyers were.

USS Columbus (CA-74, later CG-12)

Figure 1: USS Columbus (CA-74) anchored in the Hudson River, off New York City, at the time of the Navy Day Fleet Review, circa 27 October 1945. A Ford Motor Company facility is in the background. Collection of Warren Beltramini, donated by Beryl Beltramini, 2007. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 2: USS Columbus (CA-74) hosing down her starboard anchor cable while in New York Harbor during the post-World War II Navy Day Fleet Review, circa 27 October 1945. Note the harbor oiler at right. Courtesy of Lieutenant Gustave J. Freret, USN (Retired), 1972. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 3: USS Columbus (CA-74) off the coast of Spain, 12 July 1948. Note that she still has her catapults and Curtiss SC "Seahawk" seaplanes. These were landed and replaced with helicopters within a year. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 4: USS Columbus (CA-74) off the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington, 14 March 1959. The ship was soon decommissioned to begin conversion to a guided-missile cruiser (CG-12). Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 5: USS Columbus (CA-74) off the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington, 14 March 1959. The original print has been signed by Admiral Arleigh A. Burke, who served on this ship while he was Commander, Cruiser Division Six from March 1954 to January 1955. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 6: USS Columbus (CG-12) maneuvering during a readiness demonstration by Task Force 10 for President John F. Kennedy on 25 May 1963. The President was then embarked on USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63), operating in the eastern Pacific. The picture was taken after Columbus was converted into a guided-missile cruiser. Photographed by PHC R.W. Smith, of USS Kitty Hawk. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 7: USS Columbus (CG-12), at left, and USS Oklahoma City (CLG-5) moored to Buoys 21, 22 & 23, at San Diego, California, 14 March 1964. Photographed by PH2 R.D. Fennell, USN. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 8: USS Columbus (CG-12) Talos guided missiles on one of the cruiser's launchers, 1962. This photograph was received by "All Hands" magazine on 27 November 1962. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 9: ASROC (Antisubmarine Rocket) launcher on board USS Columbus (CG-12), 1962. Note the shipping canister on deck by the launcher, probably containing an ASROC rocket. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 10: USS Columbus (CG-12) fires a Tartar guided missile. Note the single Talos missile on the ship's after launcher, and the variety of radar antennas pointed to port. This photograph was received by the Naval Photographic Center on 5 October 1965. Official US Navy Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 11: USS Columbus (CG-12) steams astern of USS Independence (CVA-62), while operating in the Mediterranean Sea with Task Group 60.2, December 1970. Photographed by PH3 J. Rose, of USS Independence. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 12: USS Columbus (CG-12) underway in the Mediterranean Sea, during her last Sixth Fleet cruise, 1974. This photograph was received from the ship's Executive Officer in December 1974. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Named after the capital of Ohio, USS Columbus (CA-74) was a 13,600-ton Baltimore class heavy cruiser that was built at the Bethlehem Steel Company at Quincy, Massachusetts, and was commissioned on 8 June 1945. The ship was approximately 674 feet long and 70 feet wide, had a top speed of 32 knots, and had a crew of 1,902 officers and men. Columbus’ original armament consisted of nine 8-inch guns, 12 5-inch guns, 48 40-mm guns, and 32 20-mm guns.

Commissioned roughly two months before the end of World War II, Columbus was sent to the Far East in January 1946. She participated in the occupation of Japan and China and on 1 April 1946 Columbus was assigned to “Operation Road’s End,” where she assisted in the sinking of 24 Japanese submarines captured at the end of the war. Included in this batch of submarines was I-58, the ship that was responsible for sinking the American cruiser Indianapolis during the last days of the war. Columbus returned to the United States in late 1946, but was back in the Far East from 15 January to 12 June 1947. She became the flagship for American cruisers serving in Chinese waters.

In the spring of 1948, Columbus was transferred to the Atlantic Fleet. She was the US Navy’s flagship in European and Mediterranean waters from September 1948 to December 1949 and again from June 1950 to October 1951. In September and October 1952, Columbus served as the flagship for “Operation Mainbrace,” a large NATO exercise that took place in the North Atlantic. She then was assigned to the US Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean until the end of the year. From September 1954 to January 1955, Columbus once again served with the Sixth Fleet.

Columbus returned to the Pacific Fleet in December 1955. For the next three years, Columbus spent the bulk of her time in the Far East and in 1958 she steamed off the coast of Taiwan during the crisis over the islands of Quemoy and Matsu. In May 1959, Columbus arrived at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Washington, and was decommissioned for conversion into a guided-missile cruiser.

Columbus was stripped down to her main deck and was reclassified CG-12 on 20 September 1959. For the next three years, the ship was totally rebuilt and transformed into a modern guided-missile cruiser. All of the ship’s guns and upper decks were removed. Columbus was given a new (and much taller) superstructure that carried a vast array of radar antennas and other electronic equipment. Launchers and magazines for the long-range Talos missiles were installed fore and aft, while the smaller Tartar missile launchers were fitted on each side of the ship. An ASROC anti-submarine missile launcher also was installed amidships. Therefore, not only was the ship’s appearance dramatically altered, but so were its capabilities. Columbus was re-commissioned on 1 December 1962.

After she was re-commissioned, Columbus became a member of the three-ship 13,700-ton Albany class of guided-missile cruisers. The ship participated in extensive trials and training operations for more than a year and in August 1964 was assigned to the Western Pacific. Her tour of duty in the Pacific ended in February 1965 and she was transferred to the Atlantic Fleet in January 1966. In October, the now modernized Columbus returned to the Mediterranean as part of the US Sixth Fleet.

Columbus left the Sixth Fleet in early 1967 and was assigned to patrol duties in the Caribbean and off America’s east coast. She returned to the Mediterranean and served four more tours of duty there from January 1968 to February 1971, only occasionally returning to the United States for an overhaul. Her deployment from August 1970 to February 1971 also included service during the Jordanian crisis.

For the rest of 1971, Columbus underwent an extensive shipyard overhaul. She served in the Mediterranean from May to October 1972, during a period of expanding Soviet Navy activity in the region. Columbus completed her final deployment with the Sixth Fleet from November 1973 to May 1974. During the summer of 1974, the elderly cruiser gradually was de-activated and was decommissioned in January 1975. USS Columbus was stricken from the Naval Register in August 1976 and was sold for scrapping in October 1977.

Columbus was a classic example of a warship that had an extremely useful life after being completely rebuilt. Columbus went on to serve for almost twelve years after she was converted into a guided-missile cruiser. This was a fine record for a cruiser that served at the height of the Cold War, when the US Navy needed as many ships as possible. Columbus showed that for a relatively small investment (certainly when compared to building a new cruiser from scratch), an old and obsolete vessel still could provide years of valuable service.

USS Des Moines (C-15, later PG-29 & CL-17)

Figure 1: Post card photo of the USS Des Moines (C-15). Caption of the card reads: “USS Des Moines at anchor, Tompkinsville, New York.” Faded notation in the upper left-hand corner of the card says, “Copyright by Enrique Muller 1905.” The post card was published by the American News Company, New York. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 2: USS Des Moines (C-15), date and place unknown. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

The 3,200-ton USS Des Moines (CL-15) was the second of six Denver class “protected cruisers,” which were ships that possessed armor protection on their main decks but not on their sides. Also known as “Peace Cruisers,” these slow, lightly-armed and armored ships were never meant for fleet actions. They were used as gunboats with the Asiatic Fleet and in the waters off Central America and South America, as well as in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. Because they were needed to patrol distant waters with little support, the Denver class ships were furnished with sails to extend their cruising range while economizing on coal, but they also had large coal bunkers, which increased their range and endurance. Their steel hulls were sheathed with pine and coppered for long service in tropical waters and they possessed roomy, well-ventilated quarters for their crews to ease the discomfort of sailing in hot climates. Each Denver class warship had a two-and-one-half-inch-thick armored deck and all of them were armed with ten 5-inch rapid-fire guns. USS Des Moines was built by the Fore River Ship and Engine Company, Quincy, Massachusetts, and was commissioned 5 March 1904. She was approximately 308 feet long and 44 feet wide, had a top speed of 16 knots, and had a crew of 339 officers and men.

Initially, Des Moines patrolled in the West Indies. But on 29 August 1904, the ship left Boston, Massachusetts, and was assigned to the European Squadron. Des Moines visited ports throughout Europe, showing the flag and safeguarding American interests. Des Moines made stops in France, England, Ireland, Norway, Holland, Belgium, Spain, and Italy before being transferred to the North Atlantic Fleet on 11 December 1904. While with the North Atlantic Fleet, Des Moines sailed in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, participating in naval exercises and protecting American lives and property in the region.

Des Moines returned to Boston on 16 February 1906 and for the next five years patrolled in the Atlantic, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico. Her primary duties included taking part in naval exercises, transporting officials and marines, and participating in ceremonial observances, such as the internment of John Paul Jones’ remains at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, in April 1906 and the Fleet Review that was attended by President Theodore Roosevelt at Oyster Bay, Long Island, in September 1906.

From 15 April 1910 to 23 January 1911, Des Moines patrolled off the coast of Africa and visited the Canary Islands, Spain, Portugal, and Gibraltar. From March to November 1911, she resumed patrols in the Atlantic and the West Indies. On 6 December 1911, Des Moines returned to Boston and was placed in reserve while undergoing a major overhaul. She was fully re-commissioned on 3 September 1912 and then steamed to the Caribbean and Central America, where American citizens and interests were threatened by political turmoil. Des Moines periodically steamed north to the Portsmouth Navy Yard, New Hampshire, for overhauls and on 24 April 1915 she went on a voyage that took her from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Alexandria, Egypt.

From 26 May 1915 to 25 April 1917, Des Moines protected American lives and property throughout the Middle East, rescuing missionaries and refugees from Turkey and Syria and transporting American officials when needed. She also participated in naval exercises that took her to ports in Italy, France, Spain, and Algeria. During World War I, Des Moines escorted eight merchant ship convoys in the Atlantic and assisted in training naval armed guard crews.

In January 1919, Des Moines assisted other ships in rescuing passengers from the grounded steamer Northern Pacific. All of the 2,200 passengers from the steamer were rescued, 50 of them by Des Moines. On 11 April 1919, the cruiser sailed from New York and headed for Archangel, Russia, where she joined a naval task force assigned to assist Allied forces in northern Russia. Des Moines’ primary mission was to protect American troops from communist Bolshevik forces. After the Allied involvement at Archangel ended, Des Moines brought some of the American troops back to the United States, arriving at the Portsmouth Navy Yard on 27 October.

After her return from Russia, the US Navy seemed to have a difficult time deciding whether or not Des Moines should be classified as a cruiser or a gunboat. Des Moines was given the gunboat designation of PG-29 on 7 July 1920, but was re-designated as a light cruiser, CL-17, on 8 August 1921. Des Moines patrolled off the coast of Mexico from May to September 1920, assisting in relief efforts during an epidemic of plague in that nation. She then was assigned to the Special Service Squadron based at the Panama Canal Zone and assisted in maintaining a naval presence along the coasts of Central and South America. On 5 March 1921, Des Moines returned to the Portsmouth Navy Yard and was decommissioned there on 9 April. USS Des Moines remained at Portsmouth until 11 March 1930, when she was finally sold for scrapping.