laststandonzombieisland

Some 50 years ago this month, two sister sluggers, the 8-inch-gunned heavy cruisers USS Des Moines (CA-134) and Newport News (CA-148), rest on red lead row in Philadelphia, August 1976

The massive Des Moines, tipping the scales at 21,000 tons, entered the fleet in November 1948 and was laid up just 13 years later, her nine 8″/55 RF Mk 16 guns quiet after a spate of Cold War service in the Mediterranean and Europe.

Sister Newport News, commissioned 1949, had a longer career and was only laid up in June 1975, a bit over a year prior to the above image. While Des Moines served in quiet strength, Newport News raised a racket in three tours on the gunline off Vietnam, earning six battle stars, two Navy Unit Commendations, one Meritorious Unit Citation, and the Republic of Viet Nam’s Gallantry Cross.

She fired more than 50,000 major-caliber rounds on 525 missions against nearly 4,000 targets and avoided at least 1,924 enemy counter-battery rounds in 46 separate incidents.

Both ships were kept in mothballs until the Cold War ended, just in case, and were only sold for scrap in the early 1990s.