USS Milwaukee (CL-5)

The third Milwaukee (CL‑5) was laid down on 13 December 1918 at Seattle, Wash., by the Seattle Construction & Dry Dock Co., Seattle, launched by the Todd Dry Dock & Construction Co., of Seattle, on 24 March 1921; sponsored by Mrs. Rudolph Pfeil [Josephine Schulz], appointed to the honor by the Mayor of Milwaukee in recogniotion of the work for U.S. salors and soldiers during the Great War [World War I]; and commissioned on 20 June 1923, Capt. William C. Asserson in command.

Shakedown took the new cruiser to Australia via Hawaii, Somoa, Fiji Islands, and New Caledonia, for the Pan‑Pacific Scientific Congress which opened in Sydney on 23 August 1923. Fitted with the finest sonic depth‑finding equipment, Milwaukee gathered knowledge of the Pacific on route.

Although she served primarily in the Pacific during the decades between the world wars, the highlights of her peacetime service came in the Caribbean. On 24 October 1926, Milwaukee and the destroyer Goff (DD-247) arrived at the Isle of Pines from Guantanamo Bay to assist victims of a fierce hurricane that had devastated the island four days before. The U.S. ships established a medical center at the city hall in Nueva Gerone, furnished the stricken area over 50 tons of food, replaced telephone lines which had been swept away, and maintained wireless communication with the outside world. The efficient and tireless labors of the crews won the respect and gratitude of everyone in the area.

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From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Milwaukee III (CL-5)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.