USS Topeka (CL-67)
History of the USS Topeka Cruiser
The USS Topeka (CL-67) was ordered for the U.S. Navy during World War II. Her keel was laid down by the Bethlehem Steel Company in Massachusetts on April 21, 1943. She was launched on August 19, 1944 and commissioned on December 23, 1944 under the command of Captain Thomas L. Wattles.
USS Topeka arrived at Pearl Harbor on May 2, 1945. She conducted gunnery exercises for three weeks before sailing for Ulithi as the flagship of Cruiser Division 18. In June, she rendezvoused with Task Force 38 to screen the carriers during the air strikes against the Japanese home islands and the Ryukyu Islands. On June 10, she bombarded shore installations on Minami Daito.
In July, the USS Topeka supported attacks on Honshu, Hokkaido, Hakodate, Muroran, Tokyo, and shipping in the Inland Sea. She was forced to take evasive action during a typhoon at the end of the month, putting off air operations until the second week of August. The cruiser continued to support attacks on Japan until the end of hostilities on August 15.
After World War II, USS Topeka patrolled Japanese waters before entering Tokyo Bay from mid-September until October 1. She then made a stop at Okinawa to pick up over 500 homeward bound veterans as she sailed to the West Coast, arriving at Portland, Oregon on October 19. From there, she proceeded to San Pedro, California for overhaul.
When her yard work was finished, the USS Topeka returned to the Far East to support the American occupation forces. She made ports of call at Sasebo, Tsingtao, Shanghai, Manila, and Guam. The cruiser returned home to San Pedro on November 20, 1946 for another overhaul and local operations.
Over the next several years, USS Topeka alternated local operations with another trip to the Far East as a member of Task Force 71. She was decommissioned on June 18, 1949. Eight years later, she was towed to the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York for conversion as a guided missile light cruiser. She was redesignated as CLG-8 on May 23, 1957 and recommissioned on March 26, 1960 under the command of Captain Frank L. Pinny, Jr.
The USS Topeka was transferred back to the Pacific, making several peacetime deployments to the Western Pacific before the Vietnam War broke out. Her third such deployment was interrupted by the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, and the cruiser patrolled the waters off Vietnam with a new outlook.
When USS Topeka returned to the Vietnam War zone in November 1965, she served as the flagship of the Commander Cruiser-Destroyer Group, Seventh Fleet. She returned home for local operations in May 1966 before entering Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in California for overhaul from October 31 until March 13, 1967. The cruiser then proceeded to her first Sixth Fleet deployment to the Mediterranean, where she served as the flagship of Task Group 60.2.
Over the next few years, the USS Topeka had her homeport shifted to Mayport, Florida, and she operated in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. She was decommissioned on June 5, 1969, struck from the Naval Vessel Register on December 1, 1973, and sold for scrap on March 20, 1975. The cruiser earned two battle stars for her service in World War II and three battle stars for her service in the Vietnam War.
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
