Крейсер «Ньюпорт Ньюс» — история службы

Des Moines class heavy cruiser of the United States Navy

USS Newport News (CA–148) was the third and last ship of the of heavy cruisers in the United States Navy. She was the first fully air conditioned surface ship and the last active all gun heavy cruiser in the United States Navy.

Newport News was laid down 1 November 1945, launched on 6 March 1948 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia, sponsored by Eliza S. Ferguson and commissioned on 29 January 1949, with Captain Roland N. Smoot in command.

In addition to annual deployments to the Mediterranean from 1950 to 1961 for duty with the Sixth Fleet, she participated in major fleet exercises and midshipman training cruises in the Caribbean and Western Atlantic. On 4 January 1956 she steamed for a tour of duty in the Mediterranean as the flagship of Vice Admiral Ralph A. Ofstie, Commander Sixth Fleet. Vice Admiral Ofstie was relieved on board by Vice Admiral Harry Donald Felt on 12 April in Barcelona, Spain. Commander Sixth Fleet transferred his flag to Salem on 21 May at Gibraltar. The ship returned to Norfolk, Virginia on 29 May 1956. The ship visited the city of Newport News over the Fourth of July holiday, leaving Norfolk on 2 July and returning on 5 July. During the trip from Norfolk to Newport News, 250 dependents took part in the first dependents' cruise in the ship's history. From 16 July to 24 August, she participated in Midshipman Cruise Charlie as flagship of Commander Cruiser Division TWO. Visits were made at New Orleans, Louisiana, Balboa, Canal Zone, and Guantanamo Bay. While transiting the Panama Canal, Rear Admiral Ira H. Nunn relieved Rear Admiral E. R. McLean, Jr. as Commander Cruiser Division TWO. On 19 September she entered the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for overhaul, remaining at Norfolk through December 1956. Commander Cruiser Division TWO transferred to Des Moines on 20 September and his staff returned aboard on 1 November 1956. In early September 1957, Newport News was on station in the Eastern Mediterranean in preparation for any contingency during the Syrian crisis. In March 1960, while steaming 75 miles northeast of Sicily, Newport News was ordered to proceed to Agadir, Morocco, to render assistance to the survivors of the 1960 earthquake. She steamed 1,225 miles in 40.5 hours at an average speed of 31 knots, arriving on 3 March to provide medical and material aid. After the assassination of General Rafael Trujillo and the resulting instability in Santo Domingo, Newport News was underway on short notice on 4 June 1961, and proceeded to a station in international waters off the Dominican Republic to await further orders. When the crisis terminated, the ship conducted training exercises off Puerto Rico before returning to Norfolk. Newport News berthing and communications facilities were modified in the winter of 1962 to accommodate Commander United States Second Fleet and his staff. In August 1962, she participated in NATO Exercise RIPTIDE III, and upon the end of the exercise, made a month long tour of Northern European ports as flagship of the Commander Striking Fleet Atlantic (COMSTRIKFLTLANT), the NATO role of the Commander of the Second Fleet. Within a month after return to Norfolk, Newport News was underway on 22 October as the flagship of the Atlantic Fleet for the Cuban Missile Crisis, with Leary as her destroyer escort. The two ships stopped the Soviet vessel Labinsk and ordered her away from Cuban waters. For the next month, acting as flagship for ComSecondFlt, Newport News was on station northeast of Cuba. When the Soviet MRBMs were dismantled and removed from Cuba, Newport News assisted in the missile count. Upon cancellation of the quarantine, she returned to her homeport of Norfolk the day before Thanksgiving.

Newport News was decommissioned on 27 June 1975 during the Ford Administration and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 31 July 1978 during the Carter Administration. She spent her later years as a member of the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard's Mothball Fleet and was sold for scrap in New Orleans, Louisiana, on 25 February 1993 during the Clinton Administration. The museum ship, Salem in Quincy, Massachusetts contains her bell and other items dedicated to Newport News and her crew. In the Hampton Roads Naval Museum's The Ten Thousand Day War at Sea: The U. S. Navy in Vietnam, 1950–1975 section of the museum, a large model of Newport News in her Vietnam configuration is displayed.

In June 2000, three sailors from the USS Newport News visited the USS Salem, the sister ship of the News which is preserved as a museum ship. Discussions began on providing the USS Newport News shipmates space to set up a display and museum of the News. In July 2000, an agreement was reached between the USS Salem Museum and the USS Newport News Museum and Memorial Foundation. Donations of items, memorabilia, audio/visual material, and more began to flow in. Between 2000 and 2002, multiple work parties were held to get the museum displays organized, installed, and arranged. In 2001, the USS Newport News Museum and Memorial Foundation were able to secure a mooring bit that was preserved from the News, as well as the memorial plaque honoring the fallen shipmates who perished in the October 1972 turret explosion. In 2002, the foundation also secured the ship's bell from the Mariners Museum in Newport News, VA. Also in 2002, the Foundation organized a working party to restore Turret 2 on the USS Salem and dedicated it to the Newport News sailors who perished in the explosion. Decades of congealed hydraulic fluid were removed, brass polished, and paint applied.