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NavSource Online: Cruiser Photo Archive

USS TOPEKA (CL 67/CLG 8)

Image courtesy of Al Grazevich


     

Flag Hoist/Radio Call Sign: November - Whiskey - Lima - Quebec



Patch images contributed by Mike Smolinski
CLASS - CLEVELAND
Displacement 10,000 Tons, Dimensions, 610' 1" (oa) x 66' 4" x 25' (Max)
Armament 12 x 6"/47, 12 x 5"/38AA, 28 x 40mm, 10 x 20mm, 4 Aircraft
Armor, 5" Belt, 6" Turrets, 2" Deck, 5" Conning Tower.
Machinery, 100,000 SHP; Geared Turbines, 4 screws
Speed, 32.5 Knots, Crew 1255.
Operational and Building Data
Ordered 01 JUL 1940
Keel laid on 21 APR 1943 by the Bethlehem Steel Co. yard located at Quincy, MA
Launched 19 AUG 1944
Commissioned 23 DEC 1944
Decommissioned 18 JUN 1949
Reclassified CLG 8 23 MAY 1957
Commissioned 26 MAR 1960
Decommissioned 05 JUN 1969
Stricken 01 SEP 1973
Fate: Sold for scrap to Southern Scrap Material Co., Ltd on 20 MAR 1975


Patch images contributed by Mike Smolinski

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons



Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Navy Combat Action Ribbon - China Service Medal - American Campaign Medal
Second Row - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (2) - World War II Victory - World War II Occupation Medal w/JAPAN Clasp
Third Row - National Defense Service Medal - Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal - Vietnam Service Medal (3)
Fourth Row - Republic Of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation - Republic Of Vietnam Civil Actions Medal Unit Citation - Republic Of Vietnam Campaign Medal



Click On Image
For Full Size Image
Size Image Description Contributed
By And/Or Copyright
TOPEKA as Light Gun Cruiser CL 67
(1944 - 1957)
Topeka 108k

USS Topeka (CL 67) Launching, at the Bethlehem Steel Company shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts, 19 August 1944.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives #80-G-426885.

National Archives
Topeka 115k

USS Topeka (CL 67) Launching, at the Bethlehem Steel Company shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts, 19 August 1944. Courtesy of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, Kansas, 1967.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 42046.

USNHC
Topeka 118k

USS Topeka (CL 67) Launching, at the Bethlehem Steel Company shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts, 19 August 1944. Courtesy of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka, Kansas, 1967.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 42047.

USNHC
Topeka 70k

USS Topeka (CL 67) Commissioning ceremonies, at the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, 23 December 1944. Rear Admiral Felix Gygax is speaking.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives #80-G-299263.

National Archives
Topeka 80k

USS Topeka (CL 67) Underway, circa early 1945.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph

John Spivey
Topeka 102k

USS Topeka (CL 67) Underway at sea, March 1945. She is painted in Camouflage Measure 32 or 33, Design 24d.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives #80-G-313910.

National Archives
Topeka 127k

USS Topeka (CL 67) In Manila Bay, Philippine Islands, July 1946. A Baltimore class heavy cruiser is in the background.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center #NH 98231.

USNHC
Topeka
0406701
43k At anchor, Whangpoo River, Shanghai, China, 15 October 1946. Gerald E. Horgan
Topeka
0406709
1.9m USS Topeka (CL 67) entering San Francisco Bay (Marin County coast in the background) ca 1946-49. Darryl Baker
TOPEKA as converted into Guided Missile Cruiser CLG 8
(1960 - 1973)
Topeka
04010820
288k

Topeka undergoing inclining experiment at New York Naval Shipyard, 9 April 1960.

Photo #BSD-8053

Yu Chu
Topeka
04010821
408k

Topeka undergoing inclining experiment at New York Naval Shipyard, 9 April 1960. Note the large weights lining the lifelines used for the experiment.

Photo #BSD-8051

Yu Chu
Topeka
04010822
353k

Topeka undergoing inclining experiment at New York Naval Shipyard, 9 April 1960.

Photo #BSD-8046

Yu Chu
Topeka 17k Undated, starboard side view, underway. Howard Longstreth
Topeka 57k Undated, Starboard side view. USN
Topeka
04010819
239k Port bow view, date and location unknown. Yu Chu
Topeka
04010812
244k Starboard side while moored in San Diego, September 1960. Lee Noland
Topeka
04010813
240k Starboard side while moored in San Diego, September 1960. Lee Noland
Topeka 104k

USS Topeka (CLG 8) At sea, circa the early 1960s.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center #NH 98232.

USNHC
Topeka
04010805a
2m

USS Topeka (CLG 8) Fires a "Terrier" guided-missile on 18 November 1961, during weapons demonstrations for the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral George W. Anderson. Photographed from on board USS Kitty Hawk (CVA 63). Planes preparing for launch on the carrier's flight deck are a F8U "Crusader" jet fighter, at left, and an AD-6 "Skyraider" attack plane (Bureau # 137588) of VA-115, NH-504, in the lower center. Photo updated with HD version by Bob Canchola.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph #KN-3632.

National Archives
Topeka 56k Starboard side view, underway, Subic Bay, PI (1962) as seen from USS Dynamic (MSO 432). From the collection of George Arthur. Floyd Farrar
Topeka 94k Port bow view, Long Beach Naval station (1962). From the collection of George Arthur. Floyd Farrar
Topeka
04010818
175k Topeka fires a RIM-2 Terrier Missile in 1962. Yu Chu
Topeka 161k Shown off San Francisco on July 1, 1963 - The terrier missile equivalent of the Galveston (which carried the Talos missile) USN
Topeka 99k

USS Topeka (CLG 8) Underway on 9 July 1964. Photographed by Bradford.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center #NH 98233.

USNHC
Topeka 88k

USS Topeka (CLG 8) Steaming in the South China Sea, 6 September 1964. Photographed by PH2 R.D. Fennell.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center #NH 98234.

USNHC
Topeka 78k

USS Topeka (CLG 8) Fires her forward turret's 6"/47 guns at the Viet Cong, while steaming slowly in the South China Sea on an in-shore fire support mission, April 1966.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph #K-31264.

USNHC
Topeka
04010823
182k

Secretary of the Navy Paul R. Ignatius (center) on board USS Topeka (CLG 8) to observe shipboard and fleet operations, 1968. With him are Captain G.G. Halvorson, Topeka's Commanding Officer (left), and Rear Admiral V.P. Healey, Commander, Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla SIX (right). This photograph was received on 22 July 1968.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command.

Yu Chu
Topeka 70k

USS Topeka (CLG 8) During Sixth Fleet exercises in the Mediterranean Sea, 1968, seen from the bridge of USS Bang (SS 385). This photograph was received on 6 November 1968.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center #NH 98235.

USNHC
Topeka
04010817
70k

USS Topeka (CLG 8) in mothballs at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 29 November 1969. I was a Midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy at the time, and we were there for the Army-Navy game that day (Navy lost that year). We had a little time before our formation, so I was able to get some photos at the basin located just inside the Main Gate at the Navy Yard.

CAPT Rex Settlemoir, USN (Ret.)
Topeka
04010814
317k Topeka (left) with Boston (CA 69) to her starboard with Salem (CA 139) and Des Moines (CA 134) outboard of Boston during the winter of 1972 or the very early spring of 1973 at the Philadelphia Naval ship yard. (caption updated by W. L. Upshaw The Scale Shipyard ) Jim Cunliffe
Topeka
04010815
336k Topeka (foreground) with Boston (CA 69) to her starboard awith Salem (CA 139) and Des Moines (CA 134) outboard of Boston during the winter of 1972 or the very early spring of 1973 at the Philadelphia Naval ship yard. (caption updated by W. L. Upshaw The Scale Shipyard ) Jim Cunliffe
Topeka
04010816
349k Topeka (foreground) with Boston (CA 69) to her starboard with Salem (CA 139) and Des Moines (CA 134) outboard of Boston during the winter of 1972 or the very early spring of 1973 at the Philadelphia Naval ship yard. (caption updated by W. L. Upshaw The Scale Shipyard ) Jim Cunliffe

Commanding Officers
Name/Rank Class Final Rank Dates
Wattles, Thomas Lippitt, CAPT   RADM 12/23/1944 - 11/07/1945
Schindler, Walter Gabriel J., CAPT   VADM 11/07/1945 - 07/24/1946
Johnson, Donald Hendrie, CAPT     07/24/1946 - 08/01/1947
Earle Jr., Ralph, CAPT   VADM 08/01/1947 - 06/01/1948
Koonce, Paul Brogden., CAPT   RADM 06/01/1948 - 06/19/1949
Decommissioned     06/18/1949 - 03/26/1960
Pinney Jr., Frank Lucius, CAPT 1934 RADM 03/26/1960 - 12/5/1960
Janney, Frederick Emery, CAPT 1937 RADM 12/5/1960 - 10/31/1961
Paine Jr., Roger Warde, CAPT 1935 RADM 10/31/1961 - 10/17/1962
Mansfield, Jack Emerson, CAPT 1938   10/17/1962 - 12/19/1963
Ruhe Jr., William James, CAPT 1939   12/19/1963 - 11/13/1964
Buell, Thomas Chapin, CAPT 1941   11/13/1964 - 06/03/1966
Montgomery, William Morgan, CAPT 1942   06/03/1966 - 11/24/1967
Halvorson, George Grandchamp, CAPT 1942 RADM 11/24/1967 - 06/05/1969

(Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler & Ron Reeves - Photos courtesy of Bill Gonyo)


USS TOPEKA (CL 67/CLG 8) History
View This Vessels DANFS History Entry on the U.S. Navy Historical Center website.

Crew Contact And Reunion Information
CL 67 (44-49)

Contact Name: Mr. Jim Wilson
Address: 1022 W Abbott St Muncie, IN, 47303-2849
Phone: 765-288-3949
E-mail: JWTOPEKA67@aol.com

CLG 8 (59-70)

Contact Name: Gary Baker
Address: 1240 Lonesome Pine Lane, Billings, MT 59105-1646
Phone: 406-252-4546
E-mail: gbaker@usstopekaclg8.org

Note About Contacts.

The contact listed, Was the contact at the time for this ship when located. If another person now is the contact, E-mail me and I will update this entry. These contacts are compiled from various sources over a long period of time and may or may not be correct. Every effort has been made to list the newest contact if more than one contact was found.


Additional Resources
Hazegray & Underway Cruiser Pages By Andrew Toppan.
http://www.usstopekaclg8.org Official CLG-8 Web Page.

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