USS Rochester (CA-124)
_underway_in_San_Francisco_Bay_on_13_June_1957_(NH_94306).jpg) The USS Rochester (CA-124) in June 1957 |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Keel laying | May 29, 1944 |
| Launch | August 28, 1945 |
| 1. Period of service |
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|
| Commissioning | December 20, 1946 |
| Decommissioning | August 15, 1961 |
| Whereabouts | Wrecked in 1974 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
13,700 tons |
| length |
205.71 meters |
| width |
21.59 meters |
| Draft |
6.27 meters |
| crew |
1142 |
| drive |
4 propellers, driven by 4 steam turbines; 120,000 hp |
| speed |
33 knots |
| Armament |
|
The USS Rochester (CA-124) was a heavy cruiser of the United States Navy entered service in December 1946 . The ship belonged to the Oregon City class and was used in the Korean War, among others . In August 1961, the Rochester was retired and transferred to the reserve fleet . The ship lay there for 13 years before it was demolished in 1974.
history
The Rochester was laid down in the Bethlehem Steel shipyard on April 8, 1944 , and launched on August 28, 1945. Like its sister ships , the cruiser designed for the Pacific War was no longer active in the war, the ship was commissioned on December 20, 1946 under the command of Captain Harry Aloysius Guthrie.
After test drives lasting until January 1948, the Rochester was relocated to the Mediterranean , where she served as the flagship of Admiral Forrest P. Sherman after her arrival in Gibraltar in March 1948 . The cruiser remained in the Mediterranean until June of the same year before returning to its home port of Philadelphia . Further practice missions followed in Bermuda , New Brunswick and Jamaica . In October 1948, the Rochester was modernized for the first time and received, in addition to various modifications such as the removal of its aircraft catapults, four Sikorsky S-51s , which replaced the seaplanes previously on board. After renewed training sessions, Long Beach became the ship's new home port in January 1950 .
In April 1950, the Rochester set out on a trip to Pearl Harbor , where she received high-ranking guests such as Admiral Arthur W. Radford . Then she set course for the Naval Station Sangley Point in the Philippines . There the ship was assigned to Task Force 77 for use in the Korean War , with which the first air raids on North Korean forces were carried out on July 3, 1950. From July 18 to 19, 1950, the Rochester units of the 1st Cavalry Division supported the landing off Pohang . During Operation Chromite in September of the same year, the ship gave fire support to the landing US troops.
On the morning of September 17, 1950, the Rochester was attacked off the small island of Wolmido near Incheon by two North Korean aircraft of the type Jakowlew Jak-9 and Ilyushin Il-2 , which dropped four bombs on the ship. One of these bombs hit the crane at the stern of the cruiser, but did not detonate. During a subsequent counterattack by the British cruiser HMS Jamaica , the Ilyushin Il-2 was shot down.
From October to December 1950, more missions of Rochester for fire support followed. Including before Geoje , Wŏnsan , Hŭngnam and Kimch'aek . In addition, the ship destroyed a total of six enemy sea mines and evacuated the crew members of the mine defense vehicles USS Pirate (AM-275) and USS Pledge (AM-277) in the port of Wŏnsan on October 10 and 12 . The Rochester's service ended in January 1951 after 198 days.
After training missions off Hawaii and Japan , the ship returned to Korea in November 1951 and fired at enemy positions in the Kosong region belonging to the Kangwon -do province. In the following months, the Rochester took part in other missions in which she gave fire support and her helicopter flew rescue missions for pilots of Task Force 77 . With the exception of a break from May to October 1952 for training purposes and for overhaul in Long Beach, the ship remained in service off Korea until April 1953.
The following years the Rochester spent with training missions and port visits in international waters. The cruiser held a special role in June 1957 when it briefly served as the flagship of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz during his visit to San Francisco . There were plans to convert the Rochester into a missile cruiser like her sister ship USS Albany (CA-123) , but this was rejected. Instead, the ship ended its active service on August 15, 1961 and became the reserve fleet at Bremerton . After being deleted from the Naval Vessel Register on October 1, 1973, the Rochester was sold in July 1974 for demolition to Zidell Explorations in Portland .
For their services in the Korean War, the Rochester received six Battle Stars , the Korean Service Medal and the Navy Occupation Service Medal .
Web links
- Entry on Rochester on navsource.org (English)
- Entry on Rochester on navysite.de (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ James A. Jr. Field: History of United States Naval Operations: Korea, Chapters 7-2 . University Press of the Pacific, 2001, ISBN 978-0-89875-675-3 ( navy.mil ).
