Roanoke V (CL-145)
(CL-145: displacement 18,400 (full load); length 680-; beam 71-; draft 26-; speed 32 knots; complement 1,382; armament 12 6-, 24 3-, 24 20mm.; class Worcester)
A city in Virginia roughly 150 miles west of Richmond.
A river flowing east southeast from Montgomery County across southern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina until emptying into Albermarle Sound [sic; Albemarle Sound].
V
The fourth Roanoke (CL-145) was laid down 15 May 1945 by the New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J.; launched 16 June 1947; sponsored by Miss Julia Ann Henebry; and commissioned at Philadelphia 4 April 1949, Capt. John D. Kelsey in command.
Following shakedown in the Caribbean, Roanoke undertook maneuvers in the Atlantic as a unit of the Battleship-Cruiser Force and on 6 January 1950 got underway to join the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean for her first extended deployment. Returning to the United States in May, she alternated 6th Fleet deployments with operations in the western Atlantic until the summer of 1952 when she added a midshipman's cruise to Europe and the Caribbean to her schedule. Continuing to operate in the Battleship-Cruiser Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet until the fall of 1955, Roanoke completed her sixth Mediterranean deployment in May, then prepared for transfer to the Pacific Fleet.
On 22 September 1955, Roanoke departed Norfolk, Va., for the Panama Canal. Homeported at Long Beach, she conducted nine Naval Reserve cruises and completed two WestPac cruises, May to December 1956 and September to October 1958, before decommissioning 31 October 1958. She was berthed at Mare Island until sold to the Levin Metals Corporation of San Jose, Calif. on 22 February 1972.
14 October 2005
