USS Topeka (CL-67)
USS Topeka (CL-67) in January 1945
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | Topeka |
Namesake | City of Topeka, Kansas |
Builder | Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation's Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts |
Laid down | 21 April 1943 |
Launched | 19 August 1944 |
Sponsored by | Mrs. Frank J. Warren |
Commissioned | 23 December 1944 |
Decommissioned | 18 June 1949 |
Recommissioned | 26 March 1960 |
Decommissioned | 5 June 1969 |
Reclassified | CLG-8 on 23 May 1957 |
Stricken | 1 December 1973 |
Identification |
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Motto | "Honor Freedom Valor" |
Honors and awards |
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Fate | Sold for scrap on 20 March 1975 |
Badge | |
General characteristics (as built) | |
Class and type | Cleveland-class Light cruiser |
Displacement |
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Length | |
Beam | 66 ft 4 in (20.22 m) |
Draft |
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Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 32.5 kn (37.4 mph; 60.2 km/h) |
Range | 11,000 nmi (20,000 km) @ 15 kn (17 mph; 28 km/h) |
Complement | 1,255 officers and enlisted |
Armament |
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Armor |
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Aircraft carried | 4 × floatplanes |
Aviation facilities | 2 × stern catapults |
General characteristics (1960 rebuild) | |
Class and type | guided missile cruiser |
Armament |
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USS Topeka (CL-67), a
Construction and commissioning
She was laid down on 21 April 1943 by the
Service history
1940s
After shakedown in the
On her first cruise with the fast carriers, she screened them against enemy air attack while their planes made three raids against targets in the enemy's home islands and the
After spending the latter half of June at Leyte for relaxation and replenishment, the light cruiser returned to sea on 1 July with TF 38 for the final six-week carrier sweep of the Japanese home islands. The task force made a fueling rendezvous on the 8th and then began a run-in toward
A
Topeka patrolled Japanese waters until mid-September, at which time she entered Tokyo Bay. She remained there until 1 October, the day she began her homeward voyage to the United States. The cruiser stopped briefly at Okinawa on the 4th to embark 529 veterans and resumed her eastern progress on the 5th. On 19 October, she arrived in Portland, Oregon, and disembarked her passengers. Ten days later, she steamed south to San Pedro, Los Angeles, for overhaul. On 3 January 1946, the warship put to sea to return to the Far East. She reached Yokosuka on the 24th and began duty supporting American occupation forces in Japan, China, and in the Central Pacific islands. During that tour of duty, which lasted until the following fall, she called at Sasebo, Japan, Tsingtao and Shanghai in China; Manila in the Philippines; and Guam in the Mariana Islands. The cruiser returned to San Pedro on 20 November.[1]
Following an overhaul and operations along the west coast, she headed back to the Orient on 22 September 1947. Upon her arrival at Yokosuka, Japan, on 10 October, she became a unit of TF 71. Operating from bases at Shanghai and Tsingtao. the warship patrolled the north China coast while civil war raged on shore between
1950s
Early in 1957, Topeka was towed from San Francisco to the
1960s
On 26 March 1960, Topeka was recommissioned, Captain Frank L. Pinny, Jr., in command. In July, she made the passage from New York to the west coast. From August to October, the refurbished cruiser conducted shakedown training in the southern California operating area and then reported for duty at her home port, Long Beach. During the ensuing three years, Topeka alternated two peacetime deployments to the western Pacific with repair periods and local operations on the west coast. Her two tours in the Orient were characterized by visits to such places as Hong Kong, the Philippines, Okinawa, and a number of ports in Japan as well as exercises with other ships of the 7th Fleet and of Allied navies. When not deployed to the Far East, she conducted training operations, upkeep, and repairs.[1]
In March 1964, she embarked upon her third deployment to the western Pacific since being recommissioned. That deployment began routinely enough with fleet exercises in May and calls at Japanese, Taiwanese, Malaysian, and Philippine ports. However, in August,
On 29 November 1965, however, she headed back to the western Pacific for the first deployment during which her primary mission was to support the American and South Vietnamese forces fighting the communists. On that tour of duty, she served as the flagship for the Commander Cruiser-Destroyer Group, 7th Fleet. In that capacity the ship operated in the South China Sea and in the Gulf of Tonkin providing naval gunfire support for the troops ashore and supporting carrier air operations by conducting search and rescue missions for downed aircrews. She punctuated tours of duty in the combat zone with port visits to Yokosuka, Japan, Hong Kong, and the Philippine ports of Manila, Davao City, and Subic Bay. Her six-month deployment ended on 28 May 1966, when Topeka reentered Long Beach.[1]
Five months of normal west coast operations followed. On 31 October, the guided missile cruiser entered the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco for an overhaul during which her weapons systems were updated, and her engineering plant was overhauled. On 13 March 1967, she completed the yard overhaul and began sea trials and, later refresher training. She finished those evolutions early in June and resumed local operations. On 1 August, the warship put to sea from Long Beach for her first deployment to the
In January 1968, she concluded her first tour of duty in the Mediterranean with another NATO exercise, this one an amphibious operation. On the 12th, she was relieved by
On 2 February, the warship began a five-week availability at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard. The guided missile cruiser departed Long Beach again on 15 March, bound for her new home port, Mayport, Florida. After arriving at her destination on 21 March, Topeka remained in port for upkeep until 6 May, when she returned to sea for refresher training at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Returning to Mayport on the 26th, the ship began preparations for another deployment to the Mediterranean, the last deployment of her career.[1]
Topeka departed Mayport on 29 June and, after gunnery exercises at Culebra Island near Puerto Rico, she headed across the Atlantic. On 9 July, she relieved Columbus at Málaga, Spain, and began 6th Fleet operations. The warship's final deployment proved to be routine in nature. She visited ports all along the Mediterranean littoral and conducted operations in all portions of the middle sea from the Aegean and Ionian Seas in the east to the French Riviera ports in the west. Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and France, as well as the islands of Malta, Crete, and Majorca, provided her with interesting ports of call. Topeka concluded her assignment with the 6th Fleet on 9 December at Rota when she was relieved once again by Columbus. That same day, she headed for Mayport, arriving 10 days later.[1]
On 30 January 1969, Topeka steamed out of Mayport and proceeded north for inactivation. After a stop at Yorktown, Virginia, to off-load her ordnance, she arrived in Boston on 5 February. There, she completed inactivation preparations; and, on 5 June, Topeka was placed out of commission. The warship was towed to Philadelphia and was berthed with the reserve fleet group there.[1]
On 1 December 1973, her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register, and on 20 March 1975 she was sold to the Southern Scrap Material Company, Ltd., for scrapping.[1]
Awards
Topeka was awarded two
References
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
External links
- Photo gallery of USS Topeka (CL-67) at NavSource Naval History
- USS Topeka Assoc. Website
This article includes information collected from the public domain sources Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships and Naval Vessel Register.