USS Springfield (CL-66)
History of the USS Springfield Cruiser
The USS Springfield (CL-66) was ordered for the U.S. Navy during World War II. Her keel was laid down at the Fore River Shipyard in Massachusetts on February 13, 1943. She was launched on March 9, 1944 and commissioned on September 9, 1944 under the command of Captain Felix L. Johnson.
After training in Bermuda, USS Springfield headed to Norfolk, Virginia on January 13, 1945. She joined Task Group 21.5 to escort President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was aboard the USS Quincy, on the first leg of his voyage to Malta. On January 28, she headed west, transiting the Panama Canal to arrive at Pearl Harbor on February 16.
On March 15, the USS Springfield joined Fast Carrier Task Force 58. She raided Kyushu and Honshu in March before supporting pre-invasion attacks on Okinawa. At the end of March, she bombarded Minami Daito Shima. When the troops landed on Okinawa on April 1, the cruiser protected the carriers as they lent their support to the ground forces. She narrowly avoided a kamikaze strike on April 17.
At the end of May, the Fifth Fleet was redesignated the Third Fleet, and USS Springfield put in at Leyte for maintenance. She spent the next few months supporting the carrier strikes against Tokyo, Honshu, Hokkaido, Yokohama, Kobe, and Kure.
After the Japanese surrendered on August 15, the USS Springfield covered the entry of Task Force 31 into Tokyo Bay as well as the occupation of Yokosuka Naval Base. The cruiser entered Tokyo Bay on September 3 and remained in the Far East for several months. During this time, she made ports of call at Sasebo, Yokosuka, Shanghai, Taku, Tsingtao, Chinwangtao, and Jinsen.
USS Springfield arrived home at San Pedro, California on January 25, 1946. She spent the next few years alternating between West Coast operations and Western Pacific deployments. The cruiser was decommissioned on January 30, 1950.
In the late 1950s, the USS Springfield was towed from San Francisco, California to Quincy, Massachusetts to undergo conversion as a guided missile light cruiser. She was redesignated as CLG-7 on May 23, 1957. Her work was completed at Boston Naval Shipyard in Massachusetts, and she was recommissioned on July 2, 1960 under the command of Captain Francis D. Boyle.
Over the next few years, USS Springfield served almost exclusively as the flagship of the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean from her new homeport in Villefranche-sur-Mer. She made ports of call at all major ports there as well as at Dubrovnik, Split, Famagusta, Cyprus, and Ajaccio. During this time, the cruiser also received a number of foreign dignitaries, including King Constantine of Greece and Princess Grace of Monaco. She departed the Mediterranean in January 1967 for her new homeport in Boston.
After overhaul at Boston Navy Yard, the USS Springfield had her homeport shifted again to Norfolk, Virginia, where she served as flagship of the Second Fleet. She conducted a number of exercises and made several cruises to European ports. The cruiser gave up her position as flagship on July 8, 1968 as she began a period of restricted availability.
The USS Springfield served again as the flagship of the Second Fleet from January 1970 until July of the same year. She then returned to the Mediterranean to become the flagship of the Sixth Fleet on August 22. The cruiser remained there for four years before returning home to the United States.
USS Springfield was decommissioned on May 15, 1974. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on July 31, 1978 and sold for scrap on March 11, 1980. The cruiser earned two battle stars for her service in World War II.
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 Springfield
