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USS Tripoli (CVE-64)
Encyclopedia
USS Tripoli (CVE-64) was a Casablanca class
escort carrier of the United States Navy
, the first ship to carry her name.
She was built under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1101) at Vancouver, Washington
, and was laid down by the Kaiser Shipyards
on 1 February 1943 as Didrickson Bay (ACV-64). Renamed Tripoli on 3 April 1943 and launched on 13 July 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Leland D. Webb, and commissioned on 31 October 1943, at Astoria, Oregon
, Captain
Wendell G. Switzer in command.
coast, the escort carrier entered the repair base at San Diego, California
. There, on 4 January 1944, gasoline was inadvertently dumped into the water around the forward part of the ship, on the starboard side. Acetylene torch sparks ignited the volatile mixture, and flames quickly spread from the bow to frame 82, engulfing the forward galley walkway and the island superstructure. Yardcraft and the ship's crew battled the flames and soon had the fire under control, but not before two men had died.
and duty with the Atlantic Fleet. She arrived at her new home port, Norfolk, Virginia on 16 February. Embarking Composite Squadron 13 (VC-13) - 13 FM-2 Wildcat
s and TBM Avenger
s - the carrier put to sea on 15 March as the center ship in Task Group 21.15 (TG 21.15). Supported by five destroyer escorts of Escort Division 7 (CortDiv 7), Tripoli patrolled west of the Cape Verde Islands to break up German U-boat refuelling activities in that area.
After providing air cover for a convoy routed to the British West Indies
, Tripoli's Wildcats and Avengers searched the sea lanes northwest, southwest, and west of the Cape Verdes before putting into Recife
, Brazil
on 5 April to refuel and provision. Back at sea again two days later, Tripoli continued the routine of daily launchings and recoveries of her aircraft, guarding the Allied sea lanes against the incursions of enemy U-boats.
About one hour before sunrise on 19 April, one of Tripolis Avengers made radar contact with a German U-boat as the submarine cruised on the surface awaiting the arrival of her "Milch Cow
" or refuelling partner. put up a spirited anti-aircraft barrage while the Avenger made three attacks. A pattern of rockets bracketed the submarine on the first pass as the Germans prepared to dive for comparative safety. On the second run, the aircraft's depth charges failed to release, giving the enemy submersible the time she needed to dive. The U-boat evaded the aircraft's last attack - a mine - but also missed her fuelling rendezvous with .
Returning to Norfolk on 29 April, Tripoli underwent voyage repairs before embarking VC-6 - 12 Avengers and nine Wildcats. She then formed up with CortDiv 7 and departed Hampton Roads on 24 May for further searches in the vicinity of the Cape Verdes. Four days out, she changed course to intercept a German submarine estimated to be proceeding southwest from a position west of the Madeira Islands. When no contact was made by 30 May, Tripoli and her consorts steamed north to rendezvous with a convoy bound for Nova Scotia
.
Following her return to Norfolk on 18 June, Tripoli spent two months in carrier qualification training off Quonset Point
, Rhode Island, before making port again at Norfolk on 15 July. Embarking Composite Squadron 6, she conducted two weeks of pilot qualifications in the Chesapeake Bay
area before departing Hampton Roads
on 1 August, bound for her new base of operations, Recife.
Screened by and , the escort carrier proceeded south until 1 August, when O'Toole developed a sonar contact and gave chase. Aircraft from Tripoli laid patterns of sonobuoy
s at the initial contact point and dropped smoke floats and float lights on an oil slick. Picking up the "scent", O'Toole straddled the floats with her Hedgehog
projectiles and depth charges and soon radioed victoriously "We hit the rodent!" A brief visual examination of the evidence - debris and a large quantity of diesel oil - satisfied the hunter-killer group that they had indeed sunk an enemy submarine. However, a post-war examination of German records did not confirm the kill. As night fell, Tripoli vectored two aircraft to another sonar contact by O'Toole, and four depth bombs were dropped - keeping another U-boat down and running.
Tripoli and her group then returned to Recife on 13 August and reported for duty with Admiral Jonas H. Ingram
's 4th Fleet. Designated as the center of TG 47.7, the escort carrier put to sea on 22 August with the four destroyer escorts of CortDiv 24 to operate against a homeward-bound German submarine estimated to pass at 25° south latitude and 5° west longitude.
After a fruitless search pursuing two fading sonar contacts in the mid-South Atlantic narrows, Tripoli and her group returned to Recife on 11 September for provisioning and fuelling. Underway again two days later, TG 47.7 headed out to conduct another search - this time along the estimated track of two U-boats slated to rendezvous for refuelling. One of the target U-boats was , bound from Penang
, British Malaya
with a cargo of valuable petroleum products for the German war effort. Ordered to fuel, outward-bound for the Far East, U-1062 prepared to rendezvous with her smaller sister boat in the South Atlantic narrows - directly in the path of the Tripoli escort group.
Passing to the westward of the Cape Verdes, TG 47.7 made rendezvous with 's escort group to conduct a joint hunter-killer operation against the two enemy boats. Round-the-clock searches by radar-equipped Avengers continued until 40 minutes after sunset on 28 September, when an Avenger piloted by Lieutenant
William R. Gillespie reported a definite contact with the surfaced U-219 only 11 miles from the enemy's estimated track.
Gillespie went in to conduct a low-level rocket attack, but was shot down by heavy flak. Another Avenger, drawn to the battle, braved the flak to conduct another rocket run and also dropped depth bombs, while a Wildcat strafed the U-boat which struggled desperately to dodge the harassing attacks by the American aircraft.
U-219 emerged from the firefight unscathed, but U-1062 did not enjoy similar good fortune. , one of Mission Bays screen, homed in on sonobuoy indications on 30 September and sank the "Milch Cow" with a four-charge pattern. In the meantime, U-219 was not yet home free - one of Tripolis Avengers dropped depth bombs on the fleeing boat on 2 October. American sonar-men felt that they had definitely "killed" the U-boat, but post-war accounting showed that U-219 had escaped to Batavia
, Java.
When fuel supplies ran low, Tripoli returned to Recife on 12 October. She conducted one further search of the narrows from 26 October-12 November before heading for a much-needed overhaul at Norfolk. Subsequently, the escort carrier sailed for the Pacific and, after transiting the Panama Canal and touching at San Diego, arrived at Pearl Harbor on 10 January 1945.
, before she loaded a miscellaneous cargo of fighters and bombers to be offloaded at Roi, in the Marshall Islands
, where she made port on 20 February 1945. Returning to Pearl Harbor after this ferry run, the escort carrier commenced training operations which would continue through the end of the war, and into late 1945. With Japan's surrender and the end of hostilities in the Pacific, Tripoli was assigned to the "Magic Carpet" operation.
Arriving at San Diego on 29 August with 500 Navy veterans, Tripoli returned to Pearl Harbor
on 8 September before resuming local operations - including night carrier qualifications - through November. She subsequently made one trip with Army passengers to San Pedro, California, and a further "Magic Carpet" run to San Diego. The carrier departed the west coast on 15 January 1946 for deactivation overhaul at Norfolk. On 22 May 1946, the need for her services required, Tripoli was decommissioned and laid up in reserve.
in the summer of 1950 resulted in the return of many of the Navy's reserve ships to active service to support American operations in the Far East. Accordingly, Tripoli was recommissioned at New York on 5 January 1952, Captain Raymond N. Sharp in command. Assigned to the Military Sealift Command
(MSC), Atlantic Area, the former "hunter-killer" began her new career as an aircraft transport and ferry.
Over the next six years, Tripoli conducted 44 transport voyages, mostly to European and Mediterranean ports, but with one visit to Hawaii and two to the Far East. Following the ship's third voyage to Europe, Tripoli was berthed at the Port Newark Terminal on 5 August 1952, where she loaded 45 F-84 Thunderjet
s, 90 wingtip fuel tanks, and related gear for transport to the Far East. After going to sea on 7 August, bound for Japan, Tripoli steamed via the Panama Canal and San Diego and made port at Yokosuka with her vital cargo on 5 September, where cranes lifted the reinforcements ashore - soon to be in action in their ground-attack role in Korea. After loading battle-damaged aircraft for repairs in the United States, the carrier embarked 245 Navy and Marine Corps personnel for rotation back to Alameda Naval Air Station, California Making port on the West Coast on 22 September, she then put to sea for the Far East a second time, once again carrying jet aircraft to Yokosuka, as well as transporting men of the Sea Echelon of Boat Unit 1. Loading a cargo of helicopters and military passengers, Tripoli returned to the west coast and arrived at Alameda on 11 November 1952. Subsequently making her sole Hawaiian voyage with the MSC, Tripoli then headed east to finish her career with transport voyages to European and Mediterranean ports.
Receiving "smart ship" awards from in the intervening years, Tripoli was reclassified a utility carrier and redesignated CVU-64 on 12 June 1955. Again redesignated T-CVU-64 on 1 July 1958, Tripoli was decommissioned at New Orleans, La., on 25 November 1958 and subsequently struck from the Naval Vessel Register
on 1 February 1959. Her hulk was then scrapped by a Japanese firm in January 1960.
Casablanca class escort carrier
The Casablanca class escort aircraft carriers were the greatest number of not only escort carriers, but also any size aircraft carrier ever built to a like-design by any nation at any time. Fifty were laid down, launched and commissioned within the space of less than two years - 3 November 1942...
escort carrier 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...
, the first ship to carry her name.
She was built under a Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 1101) at Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington. Incorporated in 1857, it is the fourth largest city in the state with a 2010 census population of 161,791 as of April 1, 2010...
, and was laid down by the Kaiser Shipyards
Kaiser Shipyards
The Kaiser Shipyards were seven major shipbuilding yards located mostly on the U.S. west coast during World War II. They were owned by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, a creation of American industrialist Henry J...
on 1 February 1943 as Didrickson Bay (ACV-64). Renamed Tripoli on 3 April 1943 and launched on 13 July 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Leland D. Webb, and commissioned on 31 October 1943, at Astoria, Oregon
Astoria, Oregon
Astoria is the county seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Situated near the mouth of the Columbia River, the city was named after the American investor John Jacob Astor. His American Fur Company founded Fort Astoria at the site in 1811...
, Captain
Captain (naval)
Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....
Wendell G. Switzer in command.
World War II
Following shakedown training off the CaliforniaCalifornia
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...
coast, the escort carrier entered the repair base at San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
. There, on 4 January 1944, gasoline was inadvertently dumped into the water around the forward part of the ship, on the starboard side. Acetylene torch sparks ignited the volatile mixture, and flames quickly spread from the bow to frame 82, engulfing the forward galley walkway and the island superstructure. Yardcraft and the ship's crew battled the flames and soon had the fire under control, but not before two men had died.
Atlantic
Subsequently repaired, Tripoli departed San Diego on 31 January, bound for the Panama CanalPanama Canal
The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...
and duty with the Atlantic Fleet. She arrived at her new home port, Norfolk, Virginia on 16 February. Embarking Composite Squadron 13 (VC-13) - 13 FM-2 Wildcat
F4F Wildcat
The Grumman F4F Wildcat was an American carrier-based fighter aircraft that began service with both the United States Navy and the British Royal Navy in 1940...
s and TBM Avenger
TBF Avenger
The Grumman TBF Avenger was a torpedo bomber developed initially for the United States Navy and Marine Corps, and eventually used by several air or naval arms around the world....
s - the carrier put to sea on 15 March as the center ship in Task Group 21.15 (TG 21.15). Supported by five destroyer escorts of Escort Division 7 (CortDiv 7), Tripoli patrolled west of the Cape Verde Islands to break up German U-boat refuelling activities in that area.
After providing air cover for a convoy routed to the British West Indies
British West Indies
The British West Indies was a term used to describe the islands in and around the Caribbean that were part of the British Empire The term was sometimes used to include British Honduras and British Guiana, even though these territories are not geographically part of the Caribbean...
, Tripoli's Wildcats and Avengers searched the sea lanes northwest, southwest, and west of the Cape Verdes before putting into Recife
Recife
Recife is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in Brazil with 4,136,506 inhabitants, the largest metropolitan area of the North/Northeast Regions, the 5th-largest metropolitan influence area in Brazil, and the capital and largest city of the state of Pernambuco. The population of the city proper...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
on 5 April to refuel and provision. Back at sea again two days later, Tripoli continued the routine of daily launchings and recoveries of her aircraft, guarding the Allied sea lanes against the incursions of enemy U-boats.
About one hour before sunrise on 19 April, one of Tripolis Avengers made radar contact with a German U-boat as the submarine cruised on the surface awaiting the arrival of her "Milch Cow
German Type XIV submarine
The Type XIV U-boat was a modification of the Type IXD, designed to resupply other U-boats. They were nicknamed "Milchkuh/Milchkühe " . They had no torpedo tubes or deck guns, only anti-aircraft guns. Due to its large size, the Type XIV could resupply other boats with 400 tons of fuel, four...
" or refuelling partner. put up a spirited anti-aircraft barrage while the Avenger made three attacks. A pattern of rockets bracketed the submarine on the first pass as the Germans prepared to dive for comparative safety. On the second run, the aircraft's depth charges failed to release, giving the enemy submersible the time she needed to dive. The U-boat evaded the aircraft's last attack - a mine - but also missed her fuelling rendezvous with .
Returning to Norfolk on 29 April, Tripoli underwent voyage repairs before embarking VC-6 - 12 Avengers and nine Wildcats. She then formed up with CortDiv 7 and departed Hampton Roads on 24 May for further searches in the vicinity of the Cape Verdes. Four days out, she changed course to intercept a German submarine estimated to be proceeding southwest from a position west of the Madeira Islands. When no contact was made by 30 May, Tripoli and her consorts steamed north to rendezvous with a convoy bound for Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
.
Following her return to Norfolk on 18 June, Tripoli spent two months in carrier qualification training off Quonset Point
Quonset Point
Quonset Point, also known simply as Quonset, is a small peninsula in Narragansett Bay in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. It is contained entirely within the town of North Kingstown. "Quonset" is a Native American word likely meaning "small long place".Quonset Point was the location of Naval Air...
, Rhode Island, before making port again at Norfolk on 15 July. Embarking Composite Squadron 6, she conducted two weeks of pilot qualifications in the Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
area before departing Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads
Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...
on 1 August, bound for her new base of operations, Recife.
Screened by and , the escort carrier proceeded south until 1 August, when O'Toole developed a sonar contact and gave chase. Aircraft from Tripoli laid patterns of sonobuoy
Sonobuoy
A sonobuoy is a relatively small expendable sonar system that is dropped/ejected from aircraft or ships conducting anti-submarine warfare or underwater acoustic research....
s at the initial contact point and dropped smoke floats and float lights on an oil slick. Picking up the "scent", O'Toole straddled the floats with her Hedgehog
Hedgehog (weapon)
The Hedgehog was an anti-submarine weapon developed by the Royal Navy during World War II, that was deployed on convoy escort warships such as destroyers to supplement the depth charge. The weapon worked by firing a number of small spigot mortar bombs from spiked fittings...
projectiles and depth charges and soon radioed victoriously "We hit the rodent!" A brief visual examination of the evidence - debris and a large quantity of diesel oil - satisfied the hunter-killer group that they had indeed sunk an enemy submarine. However, a post-war examination of German records did not confirm the kill. As night fell, Tripoli vectored two aircraft to another sonar contact by O'Toole, and four depth bombs were dropped - keeping another U-boat down and running.
Tripoli and her group then returned to Recife on 13 August and reported for duty with Admiral Jonas H. Ingram
Jonas H. Ingram
Admiral Jonas Howard Ingram was an officer in the United States Navy during World War I and World War II...
's 4th Fleet. Designated as the center of TG 47.7, the escort carrier put to sea on 22 August with the four destroyer escorts of CortDiv 24 to operate against a homeward-bound German submarine estimated to pass at 25° south latitude and 5° west longitude.
After a fruitless search pursuing two fading sonar contacts in the mid-South Atlantic narrows, Tripoli and her group returned to Recife on 11 September for provisioning and fuelling. Underway again two days later, TG 47.7 headed out to conduct another search - this time along the estimated track of two U-boats slated to rendezvous for refuelling. One of the target U-boats was , bound from Penang
Penang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
, British Malaya
British Malaya
British Malaya loosely described a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Singapore that were brought under British control between the 18th and the 20th centuries...
with a cargo of valuable petroleum products for the German war effort. Ordered to fuel, outward-bound for the Far East, U-1062 prepared to rendezvous with her smaller sister boat in the South Atlantic narrows - directly in the path of the Tripoli escort group.
Passing to the westward of the Cape Verdes, TG 47.7 made rendezvous with 's escort group to conduct a joint hunter-killer operation against the two enemy boats. Round-the-clock searches by radar-equipped Avengers continued until 40 minutes after sunset on 28 September, when an Avenger piloted by Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
William R. Gillespie reported a definite contact with the surfaced U-219 only 11 miles from the enemy's estimated track.
Gillespie went in to conduct a low-level rocket attack, but was shot down by heavy flak. Another Avenger, drawn to the battle, braved the flak to conduct another rocket run and also dropped depth bombs, while a Wildcat strafed the U-boat which struggled desperately to dodge the harassing attacks by the American aircraft.
U-219 emerged from the firefight unscathed, but U-1062 did not enjoy similar good fortune. , one of Mission Bays screen, homed in on sonobuoy indications on 30 September and sank the "Milch Cow" with a four-charge pattern. In the meantime, U-219 was not yet home free - one of Tripolis Avengers dropped depth bombs on the fleeing boat on 2 October. American sonar-men felt that they had definitely "killed" the U-boat, but post-war accounting showed that U-219 had escaped to Batavia
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
, Java.
When fuel supplies ran low, Tripoli returned to Recife on 12 October. She conducted one further search of the narrows from 26 October-12 November before heading for a much-needed overhaul at Norfolk. Subsequently, the escort carrier sailed for the Pacific and, after transiting the Panama Canal and touching at San Diego, arrived at Pearl Harbor on 10 January 1945.
Pacific
Tripoli transferred Composite Squadron 8 ashore to conduct operations from Hilo, HawaiiHawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, before she loaded a miscellaneous cargo of fighters and bombers to be offloaded at Roi, in the Marshall Islands
Marshall Islands
The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...
, where she made port on 20 February 1945. Returning to Pearl Harbor after this ferry run, the escort carrier commenced training operations which would continue through the end of the war, and into late 1945. With Japan's surrender and the end of hostilities in the Pacific, Tripoli was assigned to the "Magic Carpet" operation.
Arriving at San Diego on 29 August with 500 Navy veterans, Tripoli returned to 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...
on 8 September before resuming local operations - including night carrier qualifications - through November. She subsequently made one trip with Army passengers to San Pedro, California, and a further "Magic Carpet" run to San Diego. The carrier departed the west coast on 15 January 1946 for deactivation overhaul at Norfolk. On 22 May 1946, the need for her services required, Tripoli was decommissioned and laid up in reserve.
Korean War
The outbreak of the Korean WarKorean 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...
in the summer of 1950 resulted in the return of many of the Navy's reserve ships to active service to support American operations in the Far East. Accordingly, Tripoli was recommissioned at New York on 5 January 1952, Captain Raymond N. Sharp in command. Assigned to the Military Sealift Command
Military Sealift Command
The Military Sealift Command is a United States Navy organization that controls most of the replenishment and military transport ships of the Navy. It first came into existence on 9 July 1949 when the Military Sea Transportation Service became solely responsible for the Department of Defense's...
(MSC), Atlantic Area, the former "hunter-killer" began her new career as an aircraft transport and ferry.
Over the next six years, Tripoli conducted 44 transport voyages, mostly to European and Mediterranean ports, but with one visit to Hawaii and two to the Far East. Following the ship's third voyage to Europe, Tripoli was berthed at the Port Newark Terminal on 5 August 1952, where she loaded 45 F-84 Thunderjet
F-84 Thunderjet
The Republic F-84 Thunderjet was an American turbojet fighter-bomber aircraft. Originating as a 1944 United States Army Air Forces proposal for a "day fighter", the F-84 flew in 1946...
s, 90 wingtip fuel tanks, and related gear for transport to the Far East. After going to sea on 7 August, bound for Japan, Tripoli steamed via the Panama Canal and San Diego and made port at Yokosuka with her vital cargo on 5 September, where cranes lifted the reinforcements ashore - soon to be in action in their ground-attack role in Korea. After loading battle-damaged aircraft for repairs in the United States, the carrier embarked 245 Navy and Marine Corps personnel for rotation back to Alameda Naval Air Station, California Making port on the West Coast on 22 September, she then put to sea for the Far East a second time, once again carrying jet aircraft to Yokosuka, as well as transporting men of the Sea Echelon of Boat Unit 1. Loading a cargo of helicopters and military passengers, Tripoli returned to the west coast and arrived at Alameda on 11 November 1952. Subsequently making her sole Hawaiian voyage with the MSC, Tripoli then headed east to finish her career with transport voyages to European and Mediterranean ports.
Receiving "smart ship" awards from in the intervening years, Tripoli was reclassified a utility carrier and redesignated CVU-64 on 12 June 1955. Again redesignated T-CVU-64 on 1 July 1958, Tripoli was decommissioned at New Orleans, La., on 25 November 1958 and subsequently struck from the Naval Vessel Register
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...
on 1 February 1959. Her hulk was then scrapped by a Japanese firm in January 1960.
External links
- Photo gallery at navsource.org