Built as a heavy gun cruiser under yard No 1495 by Bethlehem Steel Co., Fore River, Mass. for the USA Navy.
30 June 1941 keel laid down.
26 August 1942 launched as USS BOSTON (CA 69) one of the Baltimore class. Sponsored by Mrs. M.J.Tobin, wife of the Mayor of Boston. She was the sixth BOSTON to bear that name in the navy.
Displacement 13.600 tons standard, 17.500 tons full load. Dim. 205.3 21.3 x 7.6m. (draught).
Powered by four geared turbines, 120.000 shp., four shafts, speed 33 knots.
Bunker capacity 2.500 tons fuel.
Armament 9 – 8 inch, 12 – 5 inch, 44 – 40mmAA, 22 – 20mm AA guns.
Aircraft 4 OS2U spotter planes, two catapults, one crane.
Crew 80 officers and 1650 men.
30 June 1943 commissioned under command of Capt. J.H.Carson.
After completing she reported to the Pacific Fleet, arriving in Pearl Harbour 06 December 1943.
January 1944 joined the TF 58 and took parts in the raids on the Marshall Islands in support of the invasions of Kwajalein, Majuro and Eniwetok from 31 January till 28 February 1944; Palau’s and Western Carolines from 30 March till 1 April; Hollandia and Western New Guinea from 21 till 24 April; Truk, including Satawan Island, bombardment 29 April till 1 May; invasion of Saipan 11 till 24 June; 1st Bonins raid 15 till 16 June. Battle of the Philippine Sea 19 till 20 June. 2nd Bonins Raid 24 till 26 June. 3rd Bonins raid 3 till 4 July; invasion of Guam 12 July till 15 August; Palau-Yap-Ulithi raid 25 till 27 July; Morotai landings 15 September; seizure of the southern Palaus 6 September till 14 October; and Philippine Islands raids 9 till 24 September;
She served with TF 38 during the Okinawa raid on 10 October; northern Luzon and Formosa raid 11 till 14 October; Luzon raids 15 and 24-26 October and 19 till 20 November and 14 till 16 December; Battle for Leyte Gulf 24 till 26 October; Formosa raids on 3-4-9-15 and 21 January 1945; Luzon raids 6 till 7 January.
China coast raids 12 and 16 January; Nansei Shoto raid 22 January; Honshu and Nansei Shoto raids 15 till 16 February and 1 March, in which she bombarded Japan itself.
Then she returned to the USA for an overhaul arriving Long Beach on 25 March 1945.
Returning to the Western Pacific via Pearl Harbor and Eniwetok, she joined TF 38 for the raids on the Japanese home islands from 20 July till 15 August, including the bombardment of Kamaishi, Honshu 9 August. Following the Japanese surrender BOSTON remained in the Far East on occupation duty until 28 February 1946. She then returned to the United States and was placed out of commission in reserve at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard 12 March 1946.
BOSTON was reclassified CAG 1 on 4 January 1952. In February 1952 she was towed from Bremerton, Wash. To Philadelphia for conversion to a guided missile heavy cruiser by the New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N.J.
During conversion her after-8” turret was replaced with anti-aircraft missile launchers and she was otherwise modernized.
01 November 1955 recommissioned, and operated along the east coast and the Caribbean conducting missile evaluations and participating in fleet exercises until departing for the Mediterranean on 23 November 1956.
May 1957 she returned to the USA.
June 1957 she participated in the fleet review off Jamestown, followed by a midshipmen cruise to Cuba and Chile in July.
From 3 September till 22 October 1957 she took part in a major North Atlantic Treaty Organisation exercise in the northern Atlantic. The ship subsequently entered the Norfolk Naval Shipyard on 25 November where she remained into 1958.
Back in the fleet, BOSTON made another Mediterranean cruise from June till September 1958 and afterwards operated along the east coast and the Caribbean till August 1959, when the BOSTON returned to the Mediterranean for a seven-month deployment. After her arrival back on the east coast, the BOSTON entered the Charleston Naval Shipyard on 27 February 1960 and remained there for the next five months.
After routine operations along the east coast and in the northern Atlantic, the BOSTON again returned to the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean for the last two months of 1960 before returning to Boston on 21 December.
The BOSTON remained on the USA east coast till September 1961 when she entered the Charleston Naval Shipyard. Again heading for the Mediterranean on 11 December 1961, BOSTON returned home on 5 March 1962 but once again was underway for the Mediterranean on 3 August.
During this deployment, the BOSTON served as flagship for Commander 6th Fleet for six weeks and returned home to Boston on 16 February 1963. The ship subsequently entered the Boston Naval Shipyard for a 4 month overhaul which included in the installation of the SPS-30 Radar system.
Ready for duty again in July 1963, the BOSTON resumed her routine schedule regularly deploying to the Mediterranean for the next four years. This schedule was only interrupted by a cruise to Vietnam during which the BOSTON provided naval gunfire support.
Another Vietnam deployment was conducted in 1968 during which the BOSTON was redesignated CA 69 on 1 May 1968. The redesignation also included the deactivation of BOSTON’s guided missile systems.
16 June 1968 off the coast of Vietnam she was attacked by US Air Force F-4 jets which sink a US patrol boat, also the Australian destroyer HOBART came under attack near the demilitarized zone off Vietnam after mistaking the ships for low-flying enemy helicopters. (Till today it is not sure she came under attack of USA jets or enemy MIG’s.)
An overhaul was conducted in late 1968, followed by BOSTON’s third Vietnam War cruise on which she departed on 22 May 1969.
07 October 1969, BOSTON’s 8-inch guns were fired the last time and on 15 November, BOSTON returned home to her homeport of Boston.
05 May 1970 decommissioned at Boston.
04 January 1974 stricken from the Naval Vessel Registry.
March 1975 sold for scrap, and scrapped in 1975 at New Orleans.
Angola 2000 KZr950.000.00 sg?, scott?
Source: Mostly copied from http://navysite.de/cg/cag1.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Boston_(CA-69)
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