USS Portsmouth (CL-102)

History of the USS Portsmouth Cruiser

The USS Portsmouth (CL-102) was ordered for the U.S. Navy during World War II. Her keel was laid down by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Virginia on June 28, 1943. She was launched on September 20, 1944 and commissioned on June 25, 1945 under the command of Captain Heber B. Brumbaugh.

Commissioned too late to fight in World War II, USS Portsmouth served with the Operational Development Force out of Norfolk, Virginia until spring 1946. That May, she got underway for a goodwill cruise that included ports of call at Cape Town, Lagos, Freetown, Monrovia, Dakar, Casablanca, Naples, and Palermo.

After a brief stay at home, the USS Portsmouth sailed again for the Mediterranean on November 25, arriving back at Naples on December 7. During this time, she cruised the Adriatic Sea during the area’s political turbulence. The cruiser would make another Mediterranean cruise the following November.

Upon her return home on March 11, 1948, USS Portsmouth entered Boston Navy Yard in Massachusetts for overhaul. Once her yard work was completed, she conducted exercises along the East Coast and Naval Reserve Training Cruises in the Caribbean.

USS Portsmouth was decommissioned on June 15, 1949. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on January 15, 1971 and sold for scrap in 1974. Her main engines are still in use in Ballston Spa, New York as part of the facility for the S7G nuclear reactor prototype.

The use of asbestos was common in shipbuilding components for much of the 20th Century because of its resistance to heat, fire, water and corrosion. Because of their asbestos exposure onboard ship and in the shipyards, seaman, shipyard workers and longshoreman are at risk for developing asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma.

Sources include:

Asbestos and Ship-Building: Fatal Consequences, by John Hedley-Whyte and Debra R Milamed

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships – USS Portsmouth