_at_Toulon%2c_France%2c_18_June_1951_(80-G-K-11921).jpg) USSSalem atToulon, 18 June 1951 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Salem |
| Namesake | Salem, Massachusetts |
| Ordered | 14 June 1943 |
| Builder | Bethlehem Steel Co.'sFore River Shipyard |
| Laid down | 4 July 1945 |
| Launched | 25 March 1947 |
| Commissioned | 14 May 1949 |
| Decommissioned | 30 January 1959 |
| Stricken | 7 December 1991 |
| Identification |
|
| Status | Museum ship inQuincy,Massachusetts42°14′39″N70°58′12″W / 42.24417°N 70.97000°W /42.24417; -70.97000 |
| Badge | _crest_1949.png) |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Des Moines-classheavy cruiser |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | |
| Beam | 76 ft 6 in (23.32 m) |
| Draft | 22 ft (6.7 m) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 33 kn (61 km/h) |
| Range |
|
| Boats & landing craft carried | 2–4 ×lifeboats |
| Complement | 1,799 officers and enlisted |
| Sensors & processing systems | |
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
|
| Aviation facilities |
|
USSSalem (CA-139) is aDes Moines-classheavy cruiser completed for theUnited States Navy shortly afterWorld War II and commissioned in 1949. The second ship of her class, she was the world's last heavy cruiser to enter service and is the last remaining. She was decommissioned in 1959 after serving in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. She is open to the public as amuseum ship inQuincy, Massachusetts.[1]
Salem was laid down on 4 July 1945 by theBethlehem Steel Co.'sFore River Shipyard,Quincy, Massachusetts;launched on 25 March 1947, sponsored by Miss Mary G. Coffey andcommissioned on 14 May 1949, with CaptainJohn C. Daniel in command. Her main battery held the world's first automatic 8" guns and were the first 8" naval guns to use cased ammunition instead ofshell and bag loading.[citation needed]
After a visit toSalem, Massachusetts, on 4 July 1949,Salem underwent three months ofshakedown atGuantanamo Bay,Cuba, between July and October 1949, followed by post-shakedown repairs at theBoston Navy Yard. She then made two cruises to Guantanamo in November and December 1949 and participated in maneuvers with theAtlantic Fleet in early 1950.[citation needed]
_at_anchor_off_Sardinia_on_19_May_1950_(NH_97604).jpg)
Salem departed theUnited States East Coast on 3 May 1950 and, on 17 May, relievedNewport News (CA-148) asflagship of the6th Fleet in theMediterranean. During this, the first of seven deployments to the Mediterranean as fleet flagship,Salem visited ports inMalta,Italy,France,Greece,Turkey,Lebanon, andAlgeria, and participated in training exercises. On 22 September, she was relieved byNewport News and returned to the United States.[2]
After three weeks at Boston,Salem joined the Atlantic Fleet for maneuvers and, on 3 January 1951, sailed for six weeks of intensive gunnery training at Guantanamo. She completed her training offBermuda; and, on 20 March, sailed for the Mediterranean to relieveNewport News as 6th Fleet flagship. On 19 September, she was relieved byDes Moines (CA-134) and returned to the United States for four months of overhaul at Boston.[2]
Salem sailed on 1 February 1952 for refresher training at Guantanamo and returned to Boston on 29 March for repairs. On 19 April, she sailed for her third Mediterranean deployment, relievingNewport News atAlgiers on 28 April. Besides the normal port calls and exercises,Salem participated in Exercise "Beehive II," which involved units of the United States,British,Italian,French, andGreek navies. She was relieved once again byDes Moines on 29 September and arrived in Boston on 9 October.[2]
After four months of local operations,Salem sailed for Guantanamo Bay on 24 January 1953 for training. Returning to Boston on 27 February, she sailed for the Mediterranean on 17 April and again relievedNewport News as flagship. Her fourth deployment was marked by Exercise "Weldfest" and by emergency relief work after the1953 Ionian earthquake.Salem was the first American ship to arrive on the scene, and provided relief supplies and assistance from 13 August until her own stocks ran low four days later. Relieved byDes Moines as flagship on 9 October, she returned to Boston on 24 October and entered the shipyard for overhaul.[2]
On 6 February 1954,Salem sailed again for Guantanamo Bay and returned on 7 April after refresher training. She left Boston on 30 April; and, on arrival in the Mediterranean on 12 May, again assumed duties as 6th Fleet flagship. Relieved byDes Moines atLisbon on 22 September, she returned to Boston on 29 September. In October and November 1954, she participated in war games with the Atlantic Fleet.[2]
Between 19 January and 22 February 1955,Salem made her annual cruise to Guantanamo Bay for training. After a two-week reserve training cruise, the cruiser sailed for the Mediterranean on 2 May and relievedNewport News on 19 May. During this, her sixth deployment, she participated in aNATO exercise and a Franco-American naval exercise, with UnderSecretary of the NavyThomas S. Gates embarked as an observer.Salem departedBarcelona on 23 September and returned to Boston on 2 October 1955 for a four-month overhaul.[2]
_in_the_Med_c1957.jpg)
The cruiser left Boston on 16 February 1956 for training at Guantanamo in preparation for a 20-month cruise as "permanent" flagship of the Commander, 6th Fleet withhomeport atVillefranche-sur-Mer. She returned to Boston on 5 April and sailed for the Mediterranean on 1 May. While she was at sea, theSuez Crisis broke out; and she was diverted toRhodes in the Eastern Mediterranean where she joined the fleet on 14 May and assumed her flagship duties. She remained in the eastern Mediterranean until mid-June and returned when fighting broke out on 30 October. In April and August 1957, the 6th Fleet, by its presence in the eastern Mediterranean, twice showed United States support for the government ofJordan threatened by subversion. The cruiser departed the Mediterranean on 26 June 1958 and arrived atNorfolk on 4 July.[2]
Salem was used to portray the German pocket battleshipAdmiral Graf Spee in the 1956 filmThe Battle of the River Plate, although the original German ship had a single triple gun turret placed forward of the superstructure where theSalem has two triple gun turrets forward of its superstructure. Her original hull number of 139 is also clearly visible in several exterior shots. The plot of the film includes reference to the number explaining the true fact that the German navy often disguised raiders like theAdmiral Graf Spee as neutral ships, the US being neutral at the time.
In 1958, the cruiser arrived inMonaco to celebrate the birth ofAlbert II, born toRainier III, Prince of Monaco and PrincessGrace Kelly.[3]
Salem was scheduled for inactivation after her return from the Mediterranean, but the request ofLebanon on 15 August 1958 foraid against an anticipated coup led to a short reprieve.Salem had relievedNorthampton on 11 August as flagship of Commander,2nd Fleet and, on 2 September, departedNorfolk, visitedAugusta Bay andBarcelona during a ten-day cruise in the Mediterranean, and returned to Norfolk on 30 September. She reported to theNorfolk Navy Yard on 7 October for inactivation, disembarked the Commander of the 2nd Fleet on 25 October and was decommissioned on 30 January 1959. She was stored as part of theAtlantic Reserve Fleet at thePhiladelphia Naval Shipyard. The ship was surveyed in 1981 for possible reactivation as part of the600 ship navy project, and while the inspection results showed she was in excellent condition, funding to reactivateSalem and her sisterDes Moines was not secured from Congress.[citation needed]
In October 1994,Salem was returned to Quincy, Massachusetts, where she is now amuseum ship as part of theUnited States Naval Shipbuilding Museum.Salem also houses theUSS Newport News Museum, The US Navy Cruiser Sailors Association Museum, and the US Navy SEALs Exhibit room.
Salem was closed to tourists in September 2013 when the wharf to which she was moored became unstable. The wharf's former owner, theMBTA, forced the closure. Subsequently, the wharf was sold to private interests.Salem was opened on weekends in May 2015.[citation needed]
Scheduled since the wharf closure to be moved to a location in East Boston, theUnited States Naval Shipbuilding Museum signed a deal with the landowner in February 2016 to keepSalem at theFore River Shipyard in Quincy until at least 2021 and was again opened for visits on weekends starting April 2016.[4]
In August 2017Salem was closed to the public while she was being relocated to a different pier in the shipyard.[5][6] As of August 2019 she was opened to the public on weekends.[citation needed]
_museum_ship_-_Quincy%2c_Massachusetts_-_USA_-_30_March_2012.jpg)
USSSalem depicted the Germanpocket battleship,Admiral Graf Spee, in the 1956 filmThe Battle of the River Plate.
Salem was featured in the 2016 feature filmThe Finest Hours directed byCraig Gillespie. She served as the set of the tankerSS Pendleton which broke in two off of Cape Cod on 15 February 1952 making for the most daring and notableUnited States Coast Guard search and rescues. Many machinery spaces and passageways were used for filming and can be spotted throughout the movie.[7]
The ship was featured onGhost Hunters. In late 2016, USSSalem partnered with Ghost Ship Harbor, to create ahaunted attraction on the deck of the ship. The event was a fundraiser for USSSalem and saw thousands of people visit the ship during the month of October to see the haunted houses that were built. In 2017Fodor's ranked it the scariest haunted house in Massachusetts.[8]
Salem was featured as a haunted location on the paranormal TV seriesMost Terrifying Places which aired on theTravel Channel in 2019. The show featured tour guides and visitors who claimed to see the ghost of a former sailor who was badly burned in an explosion while on boardUSS Cleveland. He was brought aboard theSalem when it was docked at theBrooklyn Navy Yard and was used to transport the men who were injured in the fire to the medical bay.[9]
This article includes information collected from thepublic domain sourcesDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships andNaval Vessel Register.
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