USS Portsmouth (CL-102)

For other ships of the same name, see USS Portsmouth.

Career
Name:	USS Portsmouth
Builder:	Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company
Laid down:	28 June 1943
Launched:	20 September 1944
Commissioned:	25 June 1945
Decommissioned:	15 June 1949
Struck:	15 January 1971
Fate:	Scrapped, 1974
General characteristics
Class and type:	Cleveland-class cruiser
Displacement:	10,000 long tons (10,160 t)
Length:	610 ft 1 in (185.95 m)
Beam:	66 ft 6 in (20.27 m)
Draft:	20 ft (6.1 m)
Speed:	33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph)
Complement:	992 officers and enlisted
Armament:	12 × 6 in (150 mm) guns, 12 × 5 in (130 mm) guns, 28 × 40 mm guns, 10 × 20 mm guns

USS Portsmouth (CL–102) was a Cleveland class light cruiser of the United States Navy, the third ship to carry the name.

Portsmouth was laid down by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company of Newport News, Virginia on 28 June 1943; launched on 20 September 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Marian M. Dale and Mrs. Sarah B. Leigh, and commissioned 25 June 1945, Captain Heber B. Brumbaugh in command.

Service history

Following shakedown off Cuba, Portsmouth, based at Norfolk, was employed with the Operational Development Force until the spring of 1946. In May she departed on a goodwill cruise to Africa and after visiting Cape Town, Lagos, Freetown, Monrovia, Dakar, and Casablanca, steamed into the Mediterranean for calls at Naples, and Palermo before heading home.

On 25 November, Portsmouth got underway to return to the Mediterranean. Arriving at Naples on 7 December, she shifted around the peninsula to Trieste at the end of the month, and until February 1947 cruised in the politically turbulent Adriatic. The following month, she returned for another two weeks at Trieste and in April she sailed for the United States. The following November, she again steamed east to the Mediterranean, returning to the east coast for overhaul at Boston on 11 March 1948. On completion of overhaul, she resumed type exercises off the eastern seaboard and conducted Naval Reserve training cruises to the Caribbean. On 9 March 1949, she entered the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for inactivation overhaul.

Decommissioned on 15 June 1949, she joined the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Two of her main engines remain in service today as part of the MARF facility for the S7G nuclear reactor prototype in Ballston Spa, NY.

References

This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.