Figure 1: USS Bremerton (CA-130) off Portland, Maine, 6 August 1945. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 2: USS
Bremerton (CA-130) at Hunters Point
Naval Shipyard, San Francisco, California, on 21 November 1951. She was re-commissioned
for Korean War service on 23 November after having been in reserve since April
1948. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National
Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 3: USS Bremerton
(CA-130) in San Diego harbor, California, circa 1951-1952, with her crew
manning the rails. Official US Navy
Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on
photograph for larger image.
Figure 4: USS Bremerton
(CA-130) underway on 14 February 1952. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the
collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 5: USS Bremerton
(CA-130) underway on 14 February 1952. Official
U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on
photograph for larger image.
Figure 6: USS Bremerton
(CA-130) in Drydock Number 5 at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, in July 1954. Note
her side armor, and men painting her hull. Official
US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on
photograph for larger image.
Figure 7: USS Bremerton (CA-130)
photographed on 4 November 1957. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the
collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 8: USS Bremerton
(CA-130) photographed on 4 November 1957. Official
US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on
photograph for larger image.
Figure 9: USS Bremerton (CA-130) photographed on 4
November 1957. Official US Navy
Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on
photograph for larger image.
Figure 10: USS Bremerton (CA-130) at Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii, while en route to the Orient, circa 1957. The original photograph bears
the rubber-stamp date 3 December 1957. Official
US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click
on photograph for larger image.
Named after
the city in Washington, the 13,600-ton USS Bremerton
(CA-130) was a Baltimore class heavy
cruiser that was built by the New York Shipbuilding Company at Camden, New
Jersey, and was commissioned on 29 April 1945. The ship was approximately 673
feet long and 70 feet wide, had a top speed of 33 knots, and had a crew of
1,042 officers and men. Bremerton was
armed with nine 8-inch guns, 12 5-inch guns, 48 40-mm guns, 24 20-mm guns, and
four floatplane aircraft.
After
completing her shakedown cruise off the coast of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in May
of 1945, Bremerton became the
flagship of Admiral Jonas Ingram, Commander-in-Chief of the US Navy’s Atlantic
Fleet, and toured off South America. After several more months of training in
the Atlantic and the Caribbean, Bremerton
was sent to join the Pacific Fleet and arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 15
December 1945. Bremerton proceeded to
Inchon, Korea, and arrived there on 4 January 1946 and operated in the Far East
until the beginning of November. Bremerton
then returned to the United States and arrived at San Pedro, California, at the
end of November. She participated in naval training exercises for more than a
year, but was decommissioned and placed in reserve at San Francisco,
California, on 9 April 1948.
With the
Korean War starting in June 1950, the Navy needed large warships for gunfire
support. Bremerton was an excellent
floating artillery battery and was re-commissioned on 23 November 1951. She
quickly joined the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet and soon found herself bombarding
communist positions along the coast of Korea, including targets at Wonsan,
Kojo, and Chongjin. On 13 September 1952, Bremerton
was relieved of her duties and the ship steamed to Long Beach, California, for
an overhaul.
After
completing an overhaul and training exercises that lasted seven months, Bremerton left Long Beach on 5 April
1953 and returned to Korea. Upon arriving back with the Seventh Fleet, Bremerton resumed pounding communist
installations, troops, and railroads all along the Korean coastline. After the
war ended in July 1953, Bremerton
remained in the area until returning to Long Beach in November.
