USS Los Angeles (CA-135)
For other ships with the same name, see USS Los Angeles.
USS Los Angeles (CA-135) in the Far East, 13 October 1952
Name: Los Angeles
Namesake: City of Los Angeles, California
Builder: Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia
Laid down: 28 July 1943
Launched: 20 August 1944
Commissioned: 22 July 1945
Decommissioned: 9 April 1948
Recommissioned: 27 January 1951
Decommissioned: 15 November 1963
Struck: 1 January 1974
Identification: Hull symbol: CA-135
Non Sibi Sed Patriae
("Not for self, but for country")
Honors and
awards: 5 battle stars (Korea)
Fate: Sold for scrap to Terminal Island's National Metal and Steel Corp. on 16 MAY 1975 for $1,036,089
Class and type: Baltimore-class heavy cruiser
Displacement: 13,600 long tons (13,818 t)
Length: 674 ft 11 in (205.71 m)
Beam: 70 ft 10 in (21.59 m)
Draft: 20 ft 6 in (6.25 m)
Speed: 33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph)
Complement: 1,142 officers and enlisted
9 × 8"/55 caliber guns (3×3)
12 × 5"/38 caliber guns (6×2)
48 × Bofors 40 mm guns (12×4)
28 × single Oerlikon 20 mm cannons
Aircraft carried: Curtiss SC-1 Seahawk floatplane
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument
USS Los Angeles Naval Monument (John S. Gibson Jr. Park)
The third USS Los Angeles (CA-135) was a Baltimore-class heavy cruiser, laid down by the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, on 28 July 1943 and launched on 20 August 1944. She was sponsored by Mrs. Fletcher Bowron and commissioned on 22 July 1945, with Captain John A. Snackenberg in command.
1 Service history
2 Decommissioning and sale
Service history[edit]
1944–1948[edit]
After shakedown out of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Los Angeles sailed on 15 October for the Far East via the west coast and arrived at Shanghai, China, on 3 January 1946. During the next year she operated with the 7th Fleet along the coast of China and in the western Pacific to the Marianas. She returned to San Francisco, California, on 21 January 1947, and was decommissioned at Hunters Point on 9 April 1948, and entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet.
Los Angeles was recommissioned on 27 January 1951, Capt. Robert N. McFarlane in command. In response to the American efforts to thwart Communist aggression in the Republic of Korea, she sailed for the Far East 14 May and joined naval operations off the eastern coast of Korea on 31 May as flagship for Rear Adm. Arleigh A. Burke's CRUDIV 5. During the next six months she ranged the coastal waters of the Korean Peninsula from Hungnam in the east to Haeju in the west while her guns pounded enemy coastal positions. After returning to the United States on 17 December for overhaul and training, she made her second deployment to Korean waters on 9 October 1952 and participated on 11 October in a concentrated shelling of enemy bunkers and observation points at Koji-ni. During the next few months, she continued to provide off-shore gunfire support for American ground operations, and in addition she cruised the Sea of Japan with fast carriers of the 7th Fleet. While participating in the bombardment of Wonsan late in March and early in April 1953, she received minor damage from enemy shore batteries, but continued operations until sailing for the west coast in mid-April. She arrived at Long Beach on 15 May.
Between November 1953 and June 1963 Los Angeles made eight more deployments to the Far East where she served as a cruiser division flagship with the 7th Fleet in support of "keeping the peace" operations in that troubled part of the world. Her operations sent her from the coast of Japan to the Sea of Japan, the Yellow Sea, and the East and South China Seas; and with units of the 7th Fleet she steamed to American bases in the Philippines and Okinawa, as well as to Allied bases in South Korea, Hong Kong, Australia, and Taiwan. During the Quemoy-Matsu crisis in 1956, she patrolled the Taiwan Strait to help protect ROC Army units from possible landing offenses from Communist China. When not deployed in the western Pacific, Los Angeles operated out of Long Beach along the west coast and in the Pacific to the Hawaiian Islands. She returned to Long Beach from her final Far East deployment on 20 June 1963.
Decommissioning and sale[edit]
While some consideration was made to convert Los Angeles into a single-end Talos missile cruiser, with flagship facilities (in essence a heavy cruiser version of the Oklahoma City) funds were not appropriated for this, (or for a general overhaul to enable her continued fleet service), so she was decommissioned at Long Beach on 15 November 1963 and entered the Pacific Reserve Fleet at San Diego. Stricken on 1 January 1974, and sold on 16 May 1975 (sale #16-5049) to the National Steel Corporation for $1,864,380.21, and scrapped in San Pedro, California.
The flying bridge and a small portion of the bow section of the Los Angeles is on display at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum in San Pedro, CA.
USS Los Angeles was featured in The Adventures of Tintin comic The Red Sea Sharks by Hergé. She is shown patrolling in the Red Sea and is involved in the rescue of Tintin and his friends from a post-war Type II U-boat operated by slave traders.
In a scene (approximately 47:40–53:00) from the 1977 film MacArthur depicting a Pearl Harbor shipboard strategy meeting between President Roosevelt, Nimitz, and MacArthur, a painting of the USS Los Angeles is clearly seen on the bulkhead.
China Service Medal
National Defense Service Medal with star
Korean Service Medal with 5 battle stars
United Nations Korea Medal
31 May-14 Jun 51 K5
27 Jun-8 Jul 51 K5
9-29 Jul 51 K6
8 Aug-5 Sep 51 K6
19 Sep-18 Oct 51 K6
31 Oct-27 Nov 51 K6
28-29 Nov 51 K7
11 Oct-4 Nov 52 K8
1-17 Dcc 52 K9
31 Dec 52-27 Jan 53 K9
10 Feb-5 Mar 53 K9
20 Mar-23 Apr 53 K8
Only one star is authorized for participation in one or more engagements with the same code.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Los Angeles (CA-135).
Photo gallery of USS Los Angeles at NavSource Naval History
USS Los Angeles site
Baltimore-class cruisers
Preceded by: Wichita
Followed by: Oregon City class
List of United States Navy cruisers
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments
East and Northeast Sides
Harbor Area
Silver Lake, Angelino Heights and Echo Park
Wilshire and Westlake Areas
San Pedro, Los Angeles
Los Angeles USD
San Pedro HS
Port of Los Angeles HS
Mary Star of the Sea HS
Rolling Hills Preparatory School
Los Angeles Community College District
James H. Dodson Residence
Fort MacArthur
Harbor View House
Los Angeles Maritime Museum
Ralph J. Scott
San Pedro Municipal Ferry Building
Municipal Warehouse No. 1
Old St. Peter's Episcopal Church
Point Fermin Light
Port of Los Angeles
American Trona Corporation Building
Los Angeles Harbor Light
USS Iowa Museum/USS Iowa (BB-61)
Red Men Hall
SS Lane Victory
Timm's Point and Landing
Vincent Thomas Bridge
United States Post Office
Warner Grand Theatre
Waterfront Red Car
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Korean War cruisers of the United States
Cold War cruisers of the United States
United States Navy California-related ships
Ships built in Philadelphia
1944 ships
Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Naval Vessel Register