USS Toledo (CA-133) was a Baltimore-class

Baltimore class cruiser

The Baltimore class cruiser was a type of heavy cruiser in the United States Navy from the last years of the Second World War. Fast and heavily armed, ships like the Baltimore cruisers were mainly used by the Navy in World War II to protect the fast aircraft carriers in carrier battle groups...

 heavy cruiser

Heavy cruiser

The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 203mm calibre . The heavy cruiser can be seen as a lineage of ship design from 1915 until 1945, although the term 'heavy cruiser' only came into formal use in 1930...

 of the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 active during the Korean War

Korean War

The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

.

Toledo was laid down on 13 September 1943 at Camden, New Jersey

Camden, New Jersey

The city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...

, by the New York Shipbuilding

New York Shipbuilding

The New York Shipbuilding Corporation was founded in 1899 and opened its first shipyard in 1900. Located in Camden, New Jersey on the east shore of the Delaware River, New York Ship built more than 500 vessels for the U.S...

 Corporation, launched on 6 May 1945, sponsored by Mrs Edward J. Moan, and commissioned at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard

Philadelphia Naval Shipyard

The Philadelphia Naval Business Center, formerly known as the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and Philadelphia Navy Yard, was the first naval shipyard of the United States. The U.S. Navy reduced its activities there in the 1990s, and ended most of them on September 30, 1995...

 on 27 October 1946, Captain August J. Detzer, Jr., in command.

1947

On 6 January 1947, the heavy cruiser got underway for a two-month training cruise in the waters of the West Indies. After completing shakedown training out of Guantanamo Bay

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is located on of land and water at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba which the United States leased for use as a coaling station following the Cuban-American Treaty of 1903. The base is located on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the oldest overseas...

, she visited St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands; Kingston, Jamaica

Kingston, Jamaica

Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...

; and Port-au-Prince

Port-au-Prince

Port-au-Prince is the capital and largest city of the Caribbean nation of Haiti. The city's population was 704,776 as of the 2003 census, and was officially estimated to have reached 897,859 in 2009....

, Haiti

Haiti

Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...

, before returning north to Philadelphia and a three-week post-shakedown availability. On 14 April, she departed Philadelphia and shaped a course across the Atlantic. Toledo steamed through the Mediterranean, transited the Suez Canal

Suez Canal

The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...

, crossed the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

, and arrived at Yokosuka, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, on 15 June. Toledo remained in the Far East visiting Japanese and Korean ports in support of occupation forces until October. On the 21st, she stood out of Yokosuka for her first transpacific voyage and steamed via Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

 to Long Beach, California

Long Beach, California

Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...

, where she arrived on 5 November.

1948

On 3 April 1948, she departed Long Beach in company with and shaped a course for Japan. She arrived in Yokosuka on the 24th and began her second tour of occupation duty patrolling for contraband smugglers. Later that spring, the cruiser made a goodwill cruise to the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

 during which she stopped at Karachi

Karachi

Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...

, Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

; Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, Malaya

Federation of Malaya

The Federation of Malaya is the name given to a federation of 11 states that existed from 31 January 1948 until 16 September 1963. The Federation became independent on 31 August 1957...

; Trincomalee

Trincomalee

Trincomalee is a port city in Eastern Province, Sri Lanka and lies on the east coast of the island, about 113 miles south of Jaffna. It has a population of approximately 100,000 . The city is built on a peninsula, which divides the inner and outer harbours. Overlooking the Kottiyar Bay,...

, Ceylon; and Bombay, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. After her return to the northwestern Pacific in early summer, Toledo operated out of Tsingtao

Qingdao

' also known in the West by its postal map spelling Tsingtao, is a major city with a population of over 8.715 million in eastern Shandong province, Eastern China. Its built up area, made of 7 urban districts plus Jimo city, is home to about 4,346,000 inhabitants in 2010.It borders Yantai to the...

, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, during the evacuation of Chiang Kai-shek

Chiang Kai-shek

Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....

's Nationalist Chinese

Kuomintang

The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...

 forces to Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

. On 16 September, the warship departed the China coast and headed for Bremerton, Washington

Bremerton, Washington

Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. The population was 38,790 at the 2011 State Estimate, making it the largest city on the Olympic Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremerton Annex of Naval Base Kitsap...

, entering the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard

Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility is a United States Navy shipyard covering 179 acres on Puget Sound at Bremerton, Washington...

 on 5 October for her first major overhaul.

1949–1950

The cruiser's refurbishing was completed on 18 February 1949; and she headed back to Long Beach for six months of training along the coasts of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, and the Isthmus of Panama

Isthmus of Panama

The Isthmus of Panama, also historically known as the Isthmus of Darien, is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North and South America. It contains the country of Panama and the Panama Canal...

. Among other exercises, she participated in Operation Miki, a simulated air-sea assault on Pearl Harbor. On 14 October, Toledo stood out of Long Beach to resume duty in the Far East. For eight months, she cruised the waters between Japan, China, the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, and the Marianas.

Toledo returned to Long Beach on 12 June 1950, less than two weeks before North Korea

North Korea

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...

n forces invaded the Republic of Korea (ROK). Ten days later, Toledo pointed her bow west once more and embarked upon her fourth cruise to the Orient and her first tour of combat duty.

1950

Toledo made a brief stop at Pearl Harbor en route and continued on to Sasebo

United States Fleet Activities Sasebo

U.S. Fleet Activities Sasebo is a United States Navy naval base, in Sasebo, Japan, on the island of Kyūshū. It provides facilities for the logistic support of forward-deployed units and visiting operating forces of the United States Pacific Fleet and designated tenant activities.- History :Sasebo...

, where Rear Admiral J. M. Higgins, Commander, Cruiser Division 5, broke his flag in her on 18 July 1950. Eight days later, the cruiser took up station off the eastern coast of Korea a few miles north of Pohang

Pohang

Pohang is a city in North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea, and a main seaport in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region. The built-up area of Pohang is located on the alluvium of the mouth of the Hyeongsan River...

, near Yongdok. She teamed up with Destroyer Division 91 to form one of the two alternating East Coast Support Elements of Task Group 95.5. From 27 July to 30 July, Toledo, , and bombarded North Korean communication arteries which started at Yongdok and ran north between the mountains and the sea to the 38th parallel north

38th parallel north

The 38th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 38 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean...

. On 4 August, the task element joined Air Force fighters in a combined air-sea strike on an enemy-held village near Yongdok. The following day, her 8 inch guns, directed by airborne controllers, rendered call-fire

Naval gunfire support

Naval gunfire support is the use of naval artillery to provide fire support for amphibious assault and other troops operating within their range. NGFS is one of a number of disciplines encompassed by the term Naval Fires...

 for the front-line troops. Toledo then moved some 70 miles north to the area around Samchok where she cruised along a 25-mile stretch of coastline and shelled a number of targets. During that interdiction run, she demolished a bridge, chewed up highway intersections, and generally wreaked havoc on communist supply lines. On the 6th, Helena relieved Toledo, enabling her to return to Sasebo for upkeep.

The warship resumed station off the Korean coast on 15 August and operated with , Mansfield, Collett, and along a 40-mile length of coast from Songjin south to Iwon

Iwon

Iwon may refer to:*Riwon, an alternative spelling of the North Korea province*iWon.com, an internet portal and search engine...

. After a number of bombardment missions, she returned to Sasebo again on the 26th and remained there until 31 August when she headed for a week of duty off Pohang Dong.

Toledo's next important mission was the landing at Inchon

Battle of Inchon

The Battle of Inchon was an amphibious invasion and battle of the Korean War that resulted in a decisive victory and strategic reversal in favor of the United Nations . The operation involved some 75,000 troops and 261 naval vessels, and led to the recapture of the South Korean capital Seoul two...

 in mid-September. The heavily armed and fortified island of Wolmi-do — located in the harbor — threatened the success of the operation. Therefore, Toledo and her previous consorts — augmented by , , and Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 light cruiser

Light cruiser

A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...

s, and — entered the harbor to silence the island's guns on 13 September. The destroyers led the way through the mine

Naval mine

A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...

-infested channel and moved in close to draw enemy fire while the cruisers stood off waiting for the North Koreans to betray their positions. By early afternoon, the artillery duel had begun; and the enemy suffered most. That evening, the cruisers and destroyers retired for the night. They returned the next day to finish the job. Then, after two days of preparatory bombardment, marines of the 3rd Battalion Landing Team, 5th Marines, stormed Wolmi-do's defenses. Meanwhile, Toledo redirected her fire to support the 1st Marines who were about to land on "Blue Beach" just south of Inchon proper. After reportedly destroying three gun emplacements and a number of machine gun nests, closing two tunnels, hitting trenches and mortar positions, Toledo retired for the night at 1525.

Toledo continued fire-support missions until early October. However, after the 18th, the marines had advanced beyond the range of her 8 inch guns; and Toledo shifted to support troops mopping up bypassed pockets of enemy resistance. On 5 October, she departed the area and steamed for Sasebo.

The cruiser returned to the Korean coast at Chaho Han on 13 October, conducted shore bombardments in preparation for the amphibious operation at Wonsan

Wonsan

Wŏnsan is a port city and naval base in southeastern North Korea. It is the capital of Kangwŏn Province. The population of the city is estimated to have been 331,000 in 2000. Notable people from Wŏnsan include Kim Ki Nam, diplomat and Secretary of the Workers' Party.- History :The original name of...

, and reentered Sasebo the following day. The warship got underway again a little before midnight on the 18th and arrived off Wonsan early the next morning. For the next three days, she supported the marines during their advance inland from Wonsan.

On 22 October, Toledo departed Korea and, after stops at Sasebo and Yokosuka, headed for the United States on the 27th. Steaming via Pearl Harbor, she arrived in Long Beach on 8 November and remained there until the 13th when she headed for San Francisco. The following day, she entered the Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard and began a three-month overhaul.

1951

Refurbishment completed, Toledo left the yard on 24 February 1951 and returned to Long Beach the next evening. Following a round-trip voyage to San Diego, the warship weighed anchor on 2 April to return to the western Pacific. She stopped over at Pearl Harbor from the 7th to the 9th and then continued on to Sasebo, where she arrived on the 18th.

Toledo began her second tour of duty in the Korean combat zone on 26 April. For the next month, she cruised off the coast near Inchon where she provided gunfire support for the front-line troops of the US I Corps, guarding the Han River

Han River (Korea)

The Han River is a major river in South Korea and the fourth longest river on the Korean peninsula after the Amnok, Duman, and Nakdong rivers. It is formed by the confluence of the Namhan River , which originates in Mount Daedeok, and the Bukhan River , which originates on the slopes of Mount...

 line during the communist spring offensive of 1951. Throughout that month, however, the enemy generally remained well beyond the river, out of range of the cruiser's 8 inch battery.

On 26 May, she steamed north to Kansong and joined Task Element 95.28 to conduct an interdiction bombardment of the area. Then, between 28 May and 30 May, the enemy did venture close enough to the Han to allow Toledo to bring her main battery to bear, but only at extreme range. The cruiser spent the first 10 days of June at Yokosuka; then returned to the Korean coast on the 12th. On 18 June, she teamed up with and to pummel the important enemy logistics junction located at Songjin.

The warship made a brief visit to Sasebo before heading back to Wonsan where, on the 27th, she joined in shelling the enemy ashore. The following evening, she endured her first hostile fire when shore batteries opened up on the cruiser and came dangerously close on several occasions.

Toledo's tour of duty along the eastern coast of Korea lasted until late November. She bombarded Wonsan, Songjin, and Chongjin and rescued several downed pilots — one, from
, twice. Late in October, her guns supported the 1st Marine Division in operations near Kansong. While conducting a shore bombardment on 11 November, she again came under fire from an enemy shore battery which scored some close near misses.

On 24 November, Toledo completed her deployment to the western Pacific and stood out of Yokosuka to return to the United States. After a pause at Pearl Harbor from 1 to 3 December, she continued on to Long Beach, where she arrived on the 8th.

1952

In January 1952, after a month of leave and upkeep, Toledo began seven months of duty operating out of Long Beach, conducting drills and training exercises along the west coast of the United States until mid-August. On 16 August, the cruiser stood out of Long Beach to return to the western Pacific. After the customary stop at Pearl Harbor, she arrived in Yokosuka on 8 September.

Toledo embarked upon her third combat tour along the coast of Korea on 12 September when she stood out of Yokosuka. During the latter part of the month, her 8 inch guns aided the American X Corps and the ROK I Corps

I Corps (South Korea)

I Corps was created July 24, 1950, just before the Battle of Pusan Perimeter.I Corps consisted of the 8th Infantry Division and the Capital Division....

. She supported the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 forces' limited offensives and holding actions while armistice talks dragged on. Periodically, she cleared that area to participate in gun strikes near Wonsan and in coastal patrols. On 24 September, she was called upon to provide continuous illumination fire and to silence an enemy 120 millimeter howitzer

Howitzer

A howitzer is a type of artillery piece characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small propellant charges to propel projectiles at relatively high trajectories, with a steep angle of descent...

 while United Nations forces recaptured positions recently lost to the communists.

She made an overnight port call at Sasebo on the 29th and 30th, visited the Bonin Islands from 2 through 4 October, and stopped at Yokosuka on the 5th and 6th, before taking up station on the bombline once more on the 8th. On 11 October, she joined the carriers of TF 77 and, for the next three months, alternated frequently between that duty and shore bombardment assignments. On 12 October, an enemy 75 millimeter gun managed to straddle her with eight rounds before 48 rounds from her 5 inch battery silenced it. Just before 0200 on the 14th, a gun opened fire from the same spot, scoring three near misses but no hits. Other than those instances and some long-range snooping by MiG 15

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 was a jet fighter developed for the USSR by Artem Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich. The MiG-15 was one of the first successful swept-wing jet fighters, and it achieved fame in the skies over Korea, where early in the war, it outclassed all straight-winged enemy fighters in...

's, little action came Toledo's way during her third and final Korean War deployment.

1953

In mid-January 1953, she visited Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 for rest and relaxation before resuming patrols off Wonsan and Songjin and fire support duties for the American X and ROK I Corps. On 28 February 1953, Toledo departed Yokosuka and shaped a course for the United States. Following an overnight stop at Oahu on the night of 10 March and 11 March, the cruiser moored at Long Beach on St. Patrick's Day, 1953. She departed Long Beach on 13 April and, after a two-day call at San Diego, arrived in San Francisco on the 16th. There, she entered the Hunter's Point Naval Shipyard for a five-month overhaul.

Toledo was still undergoing repairs when hostilities in Korea ended with the armistice of 27 July 1953. She departed San Francisco on 10 September and, after operations along the coast, headed for Pearl Harbor on 20 October. The cruiser reached Yokosuka on 7 November and began her seventh deployment to the Far East. Though the Korean War had ended the previous summer, American forces continued to patrol the waters along the Korean peninsula; and Toledo joined them in the endeavor. In fact, she spent the next six months operating out of Sasebo and Yokosuka in the waters between Japan and Korea and in the East China Sea

East China Sea

The East China Sea is a marginal sea east of China. It is a part of the Pacific Ocean and covers an area of 1,249,000 km² or 750,000 square miles.-Geography:...

. She visited Pusan, Inchon, and Pohang as well as Okinawa and Hong Kong. In addition to patrolling the neutral waters off the Korean coast, she periodically conducted exercises with the carriers of TF 77.

1954–1955

On 13 April 1954, the warship entered Yokosuka for upkeep following exercises in the Sea of Japan

Sea of Japan

The Sea of Japan is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, between the Asian mainland, the Japanese archipelago and Sakhalin. It is bordered by Japan, North Korea, Russia and South Korea. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure from the Pacific...

 and preparatory to her return home. Three days later, she began her transpacific passage. She made the usual call at Pearl Harbor and tied up at Long Beach on May Day.

With one notable exception, Toledo's eighth deployment to the Far East set the pattern for all those to follow. After almost five months of normal operations along the western coast of the United States, the cruiser cleared Long Beach on 14 September. She stopped at Pearl Harbor on the 21st for five days of rest and relaxation and then continued her voyage to Yokosuka where she arrived on 7 November. For the most part, her deployment consisted of training operations, goodwill calls at a number of ports, and general patrol and show-the-flag duties. During this tour of duty, she visited Hong Kong, Kobe

Kobe

, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...

, Nagasaki, Beppu, Subic Bay

U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay

U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay was a major ship-repair, supply, and rest and recreation facility of the United States Navy located in Zambales, Philippines. It was the largest U.S...

, and Manila

Manila

Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...

.

The single exception to this peaceful routine came in January 1955. Toledo joined TF 77 in the waters between Taiwan and the communist Chinese mainland to support another evacuation of Nationalist Chinese

First Taiwan Strait Crisis

The First Taiwan Strait Crisis was a short armed conflict that took place between the governments of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China . The PRC seized the Yijiangshan Islands, forcing the ROC to abandon the Tachen Islands...

 forces — this time from the Tachen

Tachen

The Dachen Islands or Tachen Islands is a group of islands off the coast of Zhejiang, the People's Republic of China. Currently it is part of Jiaojiang District of Taizhou, Zhejiang.-ROC evacuation:...

 Islands. She took station about 1,500 yards off the islands as flagship of the naval gunfire support group. Throughout the operation, she and the other units of the group provided close-in support for the amphibious craft engaged in the actual evacuation. At the completion of that operation, the cruiser resumed the duties which became her normal Far Eastern routine.

On 5 March 1955, she departed Japan in company with to return to the United States and arrived in Long Beach 17 days later. She conducted operations along the west coast until 16 June when she began a four-month overhaul at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton. The cruiser resumed duty late in October and cruised the west coast until early in 1956.

1956–1959

Toledo's active Navy career lasted four more years. During that period, she made four more deployments to the western Pacific. All save one consisted of routine operations, conducted out of bases in Japan and in the Philippines. The one exception came early in 1958. The cruiser cleared the west coast on 19 February and reached Japan early in March. However, after visiting Sasebo and Yokosuka, she headed south to Australia rather than to normal 7th Fleet

United States Seventh Fleet

The Seventh Fleet is the United States Navy's permanent forward projection force based in Yokosuka, Japan, with units positioned near Japan and South Korea. It is a component fleet force under the United States Pacific Fleet. At present, it is the largest of the forward-deployed U.S. fleets, with...

 operations. She reached Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

 on 30 April and remained there for five days as a guest of the Australian government during the 25th anniversary celebration of the Battle of the Coral Sea

Battle of the Coral Sea

The Battle of the Coral Sea, fought from 4–8 May 1942, was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval and air forces from the United States and Australia. The battle was the first fleet action in which aircraft carriers engaged...

. After Sydney, Toledo also visited Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 before returning north to Japan via Okinawa to resume 7th Fleet operations. The deployment ended on 26 August 1958 when Toledo steamed back into Long Beach. The warship made one more deployment to the western Pacific between 9 June and 25 November 1959.

Decommissioning and scrapping

On 5 January 1960, she entered Long Beach Naval Shipyard

Long Beach Naval Shipyard

thumb|right|300px|Long Beach Naval Shipyard in 1993The Long Beach Naval Shipyard, which closed in 1997, was located at Terminal Island between the city of Long Beach and the San Pedro district of Los Angeles and approximately 23 miles south of the Los Angeles International Airport.The Long Beach...

 to begin inactivation overhaul. Toledo completed preparations and was placed out of commission at Long Beach on 21 May 1960. She was moved to San Diego soon thereafter and remained there, in reserve, for the next 14 years.

On 1 January 1974, her name was struck from the Navy List

Naval Vessel Register

The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...

, and she was sold to the National Metal and Steel

National Metal and Steel

National Metal and Steel Corporation was engaged in ship dismantling operations at Terminal Island in Los Angeles, California. Operations ceased on 1 January 1986 when the company lost its harbor facility....

 Corporation, Terminal Island

Terminal Island

Terminal Island is an island located in Los Angeles County, California between Los Angeles Harbor and Long Beach Harbor. Originally a mudflat known to the Spanish as Isla Raza de Buena Gente, and later called Rattlesnake Island, it has officially been Terminal Island since 1918...

, California, on 30 October 1974 for $983,461.29.

Toledo earned five battle stars for service during the Korean War

Korean War

The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

.