Tuesday, March 25, 2014

USS Bremerton (CA-130)


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.

After undergoing yet another major overhaul, Bremerton returned for another tour of duty in the western Pacific on 14 May 1954. She continued a regular pattern of Seventh Fleet deployments for the rest of the 1950s. Bremerton was decommissioned for the last time in July of 1960, but remained in the Reserve Fleet until October 1973, when she was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register. USS Bremerton was sold for scrapping in July of 1974.