USS Denver (CL-58)

The second Denver (CL-58) was laid down on 26 December 1940 at Camden, N.J., by the New York Shipbuilding Corp.; launched on 4 April 1942; sponsored by Miss Lois J. Stapleton, daughter of the two-time Mayor of Denver, Colo., Benjamin F. Stapleton; and commissioned at the Philadelphia [Pa.] Navy Yard on 15 October 1942, Capt. Robert B. Carney in command.

The new cruiser fitted out by 24 November 1942 and then steamed out for testing and trials in Delaware Bay. She returned to the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 28 November and entered dry dock on 29 November to examine problems with her number three main scoop injection valve until 30 November 1942. Once the valve was fixed, Denver got underway from dry dock at 2118, briefly accompanied by destroyer Buck (DD-420)—rendezvousing at 0745 on 1 December—en route for a shakedown cruise at Hampton Roads, Va. Denver had a number of problems crop up during this cruise. On 1 December, her bridge lost steering control at 1534 after a power loss from her distribution board. She had to steer from her engine room temporarily until power was shifted to a forward distribution board and control was routed back to the bridge. She made it to Hampton Roads by 1553. Buck parted ways on 1 December at 1720. Denver attempted paravane (a towed underwater cable with a device to cut the moorings of submerged mines) deployment tests, but these were aborted due to failure of the sliding shoe to deploy when the cruiser exceeded 15 knots. She completed further structural firing tests and dropped anchor at 1832.

She got underway at 1347 on 5 December 1942 for training exercises in Chesapeake Bay—anchored in the bay at 1718. The drills commenced on 6 December, and for the next several days the ship ran intermittent testing including some of the paravane runs again, battle problems, firings of her 40-millimeter Bofors mounts, her 20-millimeter Oerlikon mounts, and more underway firing drills with her main 5-inch/38-caliber and 6-inch/47-caliber batteries. This did not go entirely without incident. During the exercises on 11 December, at 1053, Denver ’s Turret III developed a problem with the firing circuit and could not complete the run. The remainder of the gunnery tests for the day were completed—the cruiser returning to anchor by 1552.

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Denver II (CL-58)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.