USS Cleveland (CL-55)

The second Cleveland (CL-55) was laid down on 1 July 1940 at Camden, N.J., by the New York Shipbuilding Corp.; launched on 1 November 1941; sponsored by Mrs. Selma Florence Smith Burton, wife of Senator Harold H. Burton (former three-term mayor of Cleveland, Oh.); and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pa. on 15 June 1942, Capt. Edmund W. Burrough in command.

Cleveland fitted out and conducted her shakedown in the Chesapeake Bay through 15 September 1942. Adm. Ernest J. King, Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), made the ship available for testing prototype Mk. 32 5-inch/38 anti-aircraft projectiles with radar-enabled proximity fuses, technology under secret development at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in nearby Baltimore, Md. Cmdr. William S. “Deke” Parsons, coordinating the effort for the U.S. Navy’s Bureau of Ordnance, oversaw the tests. Cleveland required fewer than 10 Mk. 32 rounds to splash two radio-controlled drones simulating torpedo attacks over the Chesapeake on 12 August. She quickly shot down another drone flying a mock high-altitude bombing run the next morning. The successful tests enabled full-scale production of Mk. 32 ammunition to begin in September and initial delivery to the fleet in November.

Propulsion system difficulties required Cleveland to put into Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Va., for “urgent and necessary” post-shakedown repairs (28 September–2 October) before joining the fleet. Following maintenance, Adm. Royal E. Ingersoll, Commander in Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet (CINCLANT), allocated Cleveland to Operation Torch , the combined U.S.-British invasion of Vichy French North Africa, scheduled to begin in early November. He assigned her to Task Group (TG) 34.2, Center Air Group, under the command of Rear Adm. Ernest D. McWhorter. Its mission was to provide air support for joint amphibious landing operations with U.S. Army troops against Vichy forces defending Fedhala, French Morocco [Mohammedia, Morocco]. Cleveland joined Task Unit (TU) 34.2.1, also commanded by McWhorter, which included aircraft carrier Ranger (CV-4), auxiliary carrier Suwanee (ACV-27), and five destroyers.

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Cleveland II (CL-55)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.