USS Norfolk (DL-1)

USS Norfolk (DL-1)

USS Norfolk (DL-1) underway in the mid-1960s
History
Builder:	New York Shipbuilding Corporation
Laid down:	1 September 1949
Launched:	29 December 1951
Commissioned:	4 March 1953
Decommissioned:	15 January 1970
Struck:	1 November 1973
Fate:	Sold 22 August 1974 and scrapped
General characteristics
Displacement:	5,600 tons
Length:	540 ft (160 m)
Beam:	54 ft (16 m)
Draft:	26 ft (7.9 m)
Propulsion:	steam turbines
Speed:	32 knots
Complement:	411
Sensors and processing systems:	AN/SQS-23 SONAR
General characteristics 1951
Armament:	8 × 3 in / 50 caliber guns 16 × 20 mm AA guns 4 × Weapon Alpha ASW rocket launcher 8 × 21 in torpedo tubes
General characteristics 1960
Armament:	3 in / 50 guns replaced with 3 in / 70 guns 20 mm guns removed ASROC launcher added

The second USS Norfolk (DL-1) was the first destroyer leader of the United States Navy. Originally projected as a hunter-killer cruiser, she was in service until 1970.

As CLK-1 she was laid down 1 September 1949 by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey, launched 29 December 1951, sponsored by Miss Betty King Duckworth, and commissioned 4 March 1953, Capt. Clarence Matheson Bowley in command.

The first major U.S. warship built after the construction boom of World War II, Norfolk was authorized in 1947 as an anti-submarine hunter killer ship which could operate under all weather conditions and would carry the latest radar, sonar, and other electronic devices. As a large destroyer leader designed on a light cruiser hull she could carry a greater variety of detection gear than a destroyer.

After her Caribbean shakedown cruise (February 1954), Norfolk was assigned to the U.S. Atlantic Fleet and between 1955 and 1957 served successively as flagship for Commander Destroyer Flotillas 2, 4, and 6. During 1956 and 1957 she acted as flagship for Commander Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet. In June 1957, Norfolk participated in the International Fleet Review as flagship for Admiral Jerauld Wright, Commander-in-Chief Atlantic Fleet and Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic for NATO.

A boiler on the ship blew up in later 1955.

By 1959 Norfolk's eight 3 inch/50 caliber guns had been replaced by eight 3"/70 caliber guns and her 20 mm. battery had been removed. In 1960 the addition of an ASROC launcher enhanced her antisubmarine capabilities.