USS HELENA, Apra Harbour Guam, 1952

USS Helena (CA-75), a Baltimore-class heavy cruiser, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the city of Helena, Montana. Originally laid down as the USS Des Moines, she was renamed Helena while under construction after the 5 October 1944 cancellation of the Fargo-class light cruiser USS Helena (CL-113).

Construction and commissioning[edit]

Helena was launched at the Bethlehem Steel Company in Quincy, Massachusetts, on 28 April 1945, sponsored by Mrs. John T. Haytin, wife of the mayor of Helena. She was commissioned on 4 September 1945 with Captain Arthur Howard McCollum in command.

1940s[edit]

Helena completed her outfitting in the Boston, Massachusetts, area and departed on 24 October 1945, arriving in New York City the next day to take part in the tremendous celebration of the U.S. Navy’s role in World War II victory that marked Navy Day, 27 October 1945. After two shakedown cruises and training periods at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Helena returned to Boston in February 1946 to prepare for her first deployment, a round-the-world cruise. Helena departed Boston on 12 February 1946 for England, where Admiral H. Kent Hewitt boarded and broke his flag as Commander Naval Forces, Europe, and Commander, 12th Fleet. During the next three months, Helena conducted training exercises in Northern European waters and paid good-will visits to major ports in England and Scotland.

Relieved as flagship on 1 May 1946, Helena departed for East Asia via the Suez Canal, calling at major Mediterranean ports; Colombo, Ceylon; and Singapore before arriving at Qingdao, China, on 18 June 1946. During her tour in East Asia, Helena took part in a wide variety of training exercises and fleet maneuvers until she finally departed Shanghai, China, on 22 March 1947 for the United States after more than a year in foreign waters.

After training operations in California waters Helena departed once more for the East Asia on 3 April 1948, arriving at Shanghai 24 days later. Throughout the summer and fall of 1948, she operated primarily in Chinese waters, returning to Long Beach, California, in December 1948.

Helena spent much of the spring of 1949 in training a new crew and in May 1949 cruised to train Naval Reservists, returning to Long Beach for a conversion necessary to equip her to carry a helicopter. During July and August 1949, Helena took part in a six-week at-sea training cruise for men of the Naval Reserve Officers’ Training Corps to the Galapagos Islands and Panama. She then took part in Operation Miki, a joint United States Army-U.S. Navy amphibious training exercise in the Hawaiian Islands conducted in November 1949.

Helena then proceeded via Yokosuka, Japan, and Hong Kong to the Philippines, where she conducted training exercises. She returned to Japan in January 1950, and soon after experienced the highlights of her service as flagship of the United States Seventh Fleet when the Joint Chiefs of Staff, then touring East Asia, embarked on 2 February 1950. During the remainder of her East Asian tour she carried out a schedule of large-scale fleet exercises off Okinawa and visits to Japanese ports. She departed for the United States on 21 May 1950.

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