USS Wilkes-Barre (CL-103)

USS Wilkes-Barre (CL 103) at anchor, probably at San Pedro, California, circa 31 January 1946.
History
United States
Name:	Wilkes-Barre
Namesake:	City of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Builder:	New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey
Laid down:	14 December 1942
Launched:	24 December 1943
Sponsored by:	Mrs. Grace Shoemaker Miner
Commissioned:	1 July 1944
Decommissioned:	9 October 1947
Struck:	15 January 1971
Identification:	Hull symbol:CL-103 Code letters:NBLW
Honors and awards:	4 × battle stars
Fate:	Sunk in testing 13 May 1972
General characteristics
Class and type:	Cleveland-class Light cruiser
Displacement:	11,744 long tons (11,932 t) (standard) 14,131 long tons (14,358 t) (max)
Length:	610 ft 1 in (185.95 m) oa 608 ft (185 m)pp
Beam:	66 ft 4 in (20.22 m)
Draft:	25 ft 6 in (7.77 m) (mean) 25 ft (7.6 m) (max)
Installed power:	4 × 634 psi Steam boilers 100,000 shp (75,000 kW)
Propulsion:	4 × geared turbines 4 × screws
Speed:	32.5 kn (37.4 mph; 60.2 km/h)
Range:	11,000 nmi (20,000 km) at 15 kn (17 mph; 28 km/h)
Complement:	1,255 officers and enlisted
Armament:	4 × triple 6 in (150 mm)/47 caliber Mark 16 guns 6 × dual 5 in (130 mm)/38 caliber anti-aircraft guns 4 × quad 40 mm (1.6 in) Bofors anti-aircraft guns 6 × dual 40 mm (1.6 in) Bofors anti-aircraft guns 10 × single 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons
Armor:	Belt: 3 1⁄2–5 in (89–127 mm) Deck: 2 in (51 mm) Barbettes: 6 in (150 mm) Turrets: 1 1⁄2–6 in (38–152 mm) Conning Tower: 2 1⁄4–5 in (57–127 mm)
Aircraft carried:	4 × floatplanes
Aviation facilities:	2 × stern catapults
Service record
Operations:	World War II
Awards:	4 × battle stars

USS Wilkes-Barre (CL-103) was a Cleveland-class light cruiser of the United States Navy that served during the last year of World War II. She was named after the city of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

The ship was laid down on 14 December 1942 at Camden, New Jersey, by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, launched on 24 December 1943, sponsored by Grace Shoemaker Miner (the wife of a prominent Wilkes-Barre doctor), and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 1 July 1944, Captain Robert L. Porter, Jr., in command.

After fitting-out, Wilkes-Barre conducted her shakedown cruise in Chesapeake Bay and in the Gulf of Paria, Trinidad, British West Indies, before she returned to Philadelphia for post-shakedown availability. Getting underway on 23 October, the new light cruiser conducted training over ensuing days as she headed for the Panama Canal and the Pacific. Soon after transiting the Canal on 27 October, Wilkes-Barre arrived at San Diego, California, where she loaded provisions and ammunition. Then, following gunnery exercises off San Clemente Island, Calif., the warship headed for Hawaii on 10 November.

Wilkes-Barre reached Pearl Harbor on 17 November, and conducted exercises in the Hawaiian operating area from 19–24 November and 2–3 December, before she left Oahu on 14 December, bound for the Carolines. Upon her arrival at Ulithi, Wilkes-Barre joined Cruiser Division 17 and sortied on 30 December as part of a support unit for Vice Admiral John S. McCain's Task Force 38.