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.
