page_title: USS Columbus (CA-74)
section_title: Flagship
hierarchical_section_title: USS Columbus (CA-74) / History / As CG-12 / Flagship
caption_attribution_description: English: The U.S. Navy guided missile cruiser USS Columbus (CG-12) fires a RIM-24 Tartar guided missile. Note the single RIM-8 Talos missile on the ship's after launcher, and the variety of radar antennas pointed to port. This photograph was received by the Naval Photographic Center on 5 October 1965.
context_page_description: The third USS Columbus (CA-74), a Baltimore-class heavy cruiser, was the first ship of the United States Navy named for Columbus, Ohio. She was launched on 30 November 1944 by Bethlehem Steel Co., Quincy, Massachusetts; she was sponsored by Mrs. E. G. Meyers; and commissioned on 8 June 1945, Captain Allen Hobbs in command.
context_section_description: Columbus served as Flagship COMCRUDESFLOT throughout 1966, after assignment to the Atlantic Fleet at the start of that year. From 1966 until 1974, Columbus deployed to the Mediterranean seven times.
  September 1966 - March 1967
  January 1968 - July 1968
  December 1968 - May 1969
  8 October 1969 - 18 March 1970
  6 September 1970 - 1 March 1971
  17 May 1972 - 18 October 1972
  2 November 1973 - 31 May 1974
  Unlike the Albany and Chicago, both of which received further upgrades, Columbus did not receive the digital missile fire-control and radar modernizations in 1970 due to cutbacks in the Defense budget. The ship did however, receive a 5-month overhaul of her machinery, and heavy maintenance to her electrical and hull structures to keep her operational for another five years. Upon return from her final Mediterranean deployment on 31 May 1974, she entered port and began preparations for deactivation and decommissioning. After serving for 29.5 years, Columbus was decommissioned on 31 January 1975, stricken from the Navy List on 9 August 1976 and sold for scrapping on 3 October 1977, to Union Minerals & Alloys Corp., and scrapped in Port Newark, NJ.
caption: USS Columbus, CG-12, firing Tartar missile while on deployment to Mediterranean
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