The second USS ''Norfolk'' (DL-1) was the first

destroyer leader Destroyer leader (DL) was the United States Navy designation for large destroyers from 9 February 1951 through the early years of the Cold War. United States ships with hull classification symbol DL were officially frigates from 1 January 1955B ...

of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. Originally projected as a

hunter-killer Hunter-killer may refer to: Military terminology * Hunter-killer team, a team that separates the tasks of "hunting" and "killing" to two or more individuals * Hunter-killer armored-vehicle team, scout vehicles and tanks operating in concert as "h ...

cruiser, she was in service until 1970, and was scrapped in 1974.

History

The first major U.S. warship built after the construction boom of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, ''Norfolk'' was designed beginning in 1945, designated project SCB 1 in 1946, and authorized in 1947 as CLK-1, an anti-submarine hunter killer ship which could operate under all weather conditions and would carry the latest

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects on ...

, and other electronic devices. She was designed on a

light cruiser A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to thi ...

hull so she could carry a greater variety of detection gear than a destroyer. She was laid down 1 September 1949 by the

New York Shipbuilding Corporation The New York Shipbuilding Corporation (or New York Ship for short) was an American shipbuilding company that operated from 1899 to 1968, ultimately completing more than 500 vessels for the U.S. Navy, the United States Merchant Marine, the United ...

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 20 ...

, launched 29 December 1951 with the destroyer leader reclassification DL-1, sponsored by Miss

Betty King Duckworth Betty or Bettie is a name, a common diminutive for the names Bethany and Elizabeth. In Latin America, it is also a common diminutive for the given name Beatriz, the Spanish and Portuguese form of the Latin name Beatrix and the English name Beatric ...

, and commissioned 4 March 1953, Capt.

Clarence Matheson Bowley Clarence may refer to: Places Australia * Clarence County, New South Wales, a Cadastral division * Clarence, New South Wales, a place near Lithgow * Clarence River (New South Wales) * Clarence Strait (Northern Territory) * City of Clarence, a loca ...

in command. After her Caribbean

shakedown cruise Shakedown cruise is a nautical term in which the performance of a ship is tested. Generally, shakedown cruises are performed before a ship enters service or after major changes such as a crew change, repair or overhaul. The shakedown cruise ...

(February 1954), ''Norfolk'' was assigned to the

U.S. Atlantic Fleet The United States Fleet Forces Command (USFF) is a service component command of the United States Navy that provides naval forces to a wide variety of U.S. forces. The naval resources may be allocated to Combatant Commanders such as United Stat ...

and between 1955 and 1957 served successively as

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the f ...

for Commander Destroyer Flotillas 2, 4, and 6. During 1956 and 1957 she acted as flagship for Commander Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet. In June 1957, ''Norfolk'' participated in the International Fleet Review as flagship for Admiral Jerauld Wright, Commander-in-Chief Atlantic Fleet and

Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic The Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (SACLANT) was one of two supreme commanders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the other being the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR). The SACLANT led Allied Command Atlantic was based a ...

for NATO. A boiler on the ship blew up in later 1955. By 1959 ''Norfolk''s eight 3 inch/50 caliber guns had been replaced by eight 3"/70 caliber guns and her 20 mm. battery had been removed. In 1960 the addition of an ASROC launcher enhanced her antisubmarine capabilities. On 10 May 1960, an 83-foot Cuban vessel harassed ''Norfolk'' while she was patrolling the

Florida Straits The Straits of Florida, Florida Straits, or Florida Strait ( es, Estrecho de Florida) is a strait located south-southeast of the North American mainland, generally accepted to be between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, and between th ...

with in Cuban waters. In Fall 1961 she took part in

UNITAS II Unitas may refer to: * 306 Unitas, a main belt asteroid * UNITAS, a multi-lateral naval exercise in South and Central America * Unitas Capital, a private equity firm, formerly known as CCMP Capital Asia * '' Humani generis unitas'', a planned en ...

as flagship for Commander Cruiser Destroyer Flotilla 2. During the operation she performed

ASW ASW, a three-letter abbreviation, may refer to: * an Associate Clinical Social Worker (ASW) in the state of California * High-temperature insulation wool#alumino silicate wool *Asynchronous SpaceWarp, a framerate smoothing technique used on the Ocul ...

training exercises with the navies of

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, Colombia,

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar language, Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechuan ...

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Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. ''Norfolk'' repeated this cruise over the next five years during which she served as flagship of Commander South Atlantic Forces except in 1962 when she was flagship for Commander Cruiser Destroyer Forces Atlantic Fleet. In 1965 she was the flagship for UNITAS VI. ''Norfolk'' joined LANTFLEX 66 as flagship between 28 November and 16 December 1966. During this exercise she shadowed the Russian trawlers ''Repiter'' and ''Teodilit''. She proved her antisubmarine capabilities again as flagship for Commander South Atlantic Forces during UNITAS VIII in Fall 1967. ''Norfolk'' was assigned to Commander

Middle East Force United States Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) is the United States Navy element of United States Central Command (USCENTCOM). Its area of responsibility includes the Red Sea, Gulf of Oman, Persian Gulf, and Arabian Sea. It consists of the ...

as flagship (17 April–15 October 1968). On this mission she visited Bahrain, French Somaliland, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia. Kenya, the Seychelles, Mauritius, Malagasy Republic, India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Mexico, and Panama Canal Zone. In October 1968 ''Norfolk'' returned to Norfolk where she decommissioned 15 January 1970 and entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. By 1 September 1974, ''Norfolk'' was stricken from the

Naval Vessel Register The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...

and sold for scrap.

CLK-2

A projected sister ship was deferred and then cancelled in favor of the smaller and less expensive s, due to the high cost ($61.9 million) of ''Norfork''. While ''Norfolk'' was fully combat ready, she was effectively a one ship class experiment that tested new ASW weapons and concepts.

Memorials

Two of ''Norfolks 3″/70 gun mounts were saved from the scrap heap and were on display at the Naval Training Center in Orlando, Florida. When NTC-Orlando closed, the

Boca Raton Community High School Boca Raton Community High School is a magnet high school that is part of the School District of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It has been rated an "A" school each consecutive year by the Florida Department of Education since 200 ...

's NJROTC requested custodianship of the mounts. The guns then stood near the east end zone of the football field in Boca Raton, Florida. The two mounts were then moved to Naval Station Norfolk by November 2020 and with the help of volunteers of current and former military personnel have been in the process of cleaning and preserving them in preparation for their display in front of Commander Naval Surface Force Atlantic headquarters. ''Norfolks bell is preserved in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 cen ...

. From 1975 to 1987 the bell was located at the foot of St. Paul's Boulevard along the Elizabeth River waterfront. The bell was moved to Town Point Park and then eventually relocated to Wisconsin Square, Norfolk, just north of the

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small num ...

berth of .

References

Notes

Sources

* * *

External links

destroyerleaderassociation.org: USS ''Norfolk''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norfolk (DL-1), USS Cold War destroyers of the United States Ships built by New York Shipbuilding Corporation 1951 ships Destroyers of the United States Navy