USS Fresno CL-121

 

Fresno II

(CL-121: dp. 6,000, 1. 541'6", b. 53'3"; dr. 16'4";
s. 33 k.; cpl. 623; a 12 6"; cl. Juneau)

The second Fresno (CL-121) was launched 5 March 1946 by Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Kearny, N.J., sponsored by Mrs. Ruth R. Martin; and commissioned 27 November 1946, Captain E. B. Strauss in command. She was reclassified CLAA-121 on 18 March 1949.

During her first operational cruise, from 13 January 1947 to 7 May, Fresno not only concluded her preliminary training in the Caribbean, but also visited Montevideo, Uruguay, during a presidential inauguration and called at Rio de Janeiro. On 1 August, she sailed from Norfolk for a tour of duty which took her to ports both of northern Europe and the Mediterranean, returning to Norfolk 1 December. I

A second overseas deployment, from 3 March 1948 to 19 June, found Fresno visiting Amsterdam, Dublin, Bergen, and Copenhagen from her overseas base at | Plymouth, England. Her coastwise operations from Norfolk included cruises to Prince Edward's Island and Bermuda prior to her decommissioning at New York Naval Ship Yard 17 May 1949. Placed in reserve, she was berthed at Bayonne, N.J.