USS Des Moines (CA-134)
USS Des Moines (CA-134) under way, 15 November 1948
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | Des Moines |
| Namesake: | Des Moines, Iowa |
| Ordered: | 25 September 1943 |
| Builder: | Bethlehem Steel Company |
| Laid down: | 28 May 1945 |
| Launched: | 27 September 1946 |
| Commissioned: | 16 November 1948 |
| Decommissioned: | 6 July 1961 |
| Struck: | 9 July 1991 |
| Identification: | Hull symbol: CA-134 |
| Fate: | Scrapping completed by ESCO Marine, Inc., Brownsville, TX on 16 August 2007. |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Des Moines-class heavy cruiser |
| Displacement: | 17,000 tons |
| Length: | 716 ft 6 in (218.39 m) |
| Beam: | 76 ft 6 in (23.32 m) |
| Draft: | 22 ft (6.7 m) |
| Propulsion: | 4 shaft; General Electric turbines; 4 boiler; 120,000 shp (89,000 kW) |
| Speed: | 33 knots (38 mph; 61 km/h) |
| Range: | 10,500 nmi (19,450 km) at 15 knots (17 mph; 28 km/h) |
| Complement: | 1,799 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: |
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The second USS Des Moines (CA-134) was the lead ship of the Des Moines-class heavy cruisers in the United States Navy.
Des Moines was launched 27 September 1946 by Bethlehem Steel Company, Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts; sponsored by Mrs. E. T. Meredith, Jr.; and commissioned 16 November 1948, Captain A. D. Chandler in command. She became the first of her class to mount the semi-automatic Mark 16 8 inch turrets and carry the new Sikorsky HO3S-1 utility helicopters in place of seaplanes. It was named after the capital of the state of Iowa.
In a varied operating schedule designed to maintain the readiness of the Navy to meet the constant demands of defense and foreign policy, Des Moines cruised from her home port at Newport, Rhode Island and after 1950, from Norfolk, Virginia on exercises of every type in the Caribbean, along the East Coast, in the Mediterranean Sea, and in North Atlantic waters. Annually between 1949 and 1957 she deployed to the Mediterranean, during the first seven years serving as flagship for the 6th Task Fleet (known as the 6th Fleet from 1950). In 1952, and each year from 1954 to 1957, she carried midshipmen for summer training cruises, crossing to Northern European ports on the first four cruises. She also sailed to Northern Europe on NATO exercises in 1952, 1953, and 1955. On 18 February 1958, she cleared Norfolk for the Mediterranean once more, this time to remain as flagship for the 6th Fleet until July 1961 when was placed out of commission in reserve.
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