USS Marblehead (CL-12)

The third Marblehead (CL‑12) was laid down 4 August 1920 by William Cramp & Son, Philadelphia, Pa.; launched 9 October 1923; sponsored by Mrs. Joseph Evans; and commissioned 8 September 1924, Capt. Chauncey Shackford in command.

After commissioning, the scout cruiser Marblehead departed Boston for shakedown in the English Channel and Mediterranean. In 1925 she visited Australia, stopping en route in the Samoan and Society Islands and, on her return, in the Galapagos. A year after her return, Marblehead was underway again on an extended voyage. Early in 1927 she cruised off Bluefields and Bragman's Bluffs, Nicaragua, her mission there to aid American efforts to bring together and reconcile the various political factions then fighting in that country. With one exception, Sandino, faction leaders agreed to the terms of the Peace of Tipitapa, 4 May 1927, and the United States was requested to supervise elections in 1928.

Marblehead next sailed for Pearl Harbor, where she joined Richmond and Trenton and headed for Shanghai, China. Upon arrival there she contributed to the show of force aimed at the protection of American and other foreign nationals of Shanghai's international settlement during operations against that city through the summer of 1927 in China's civil war.

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Marblehead III (CL-12)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.