Qualla: USS Los Angeles (CA-135)

USS Los Angeles (CA-135): Introduction

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. On a spring day in 1951, Rear Admiral Arleigh Burke stood on the bridge of his new flagship as it steamed toward the Korean coast. The USS Los Angeles, a Baltimore-class heavy cruiser, would spend the next six months pounding enemy positions from Hungnam to Haeju, her eight-inch guns speaking with authority across the peninsula's contested shores. This was no ordinary warship. The third vessel to carry the name of California's largest city, she would earn five battle stars in Korea and later patrol the Taiwan Strait during the Cold War's tensest moments.

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

USS Los Angeles (CA-135): From Philadelphia to the Pacific

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Department of Defense. Department of the Navy. Bureau of Ships. 9/18/1947-5/1/1966, Public domain. The Los Angeles took shape at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, her keel laid on July 28, 1943, as World War II raged. Launched on August 20, 1944, she was sponsored by Mrs. Fletcher Bowron, wife of the Los Angeles mayor. By the time she was commissioned on July 22, 1945, under Captain...

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Image: Department of Defense. Department of the Navy. Bureau of Ships. 9/18/1947-5/1/1966 | Public domain

USS Los Angeles (CA-135): Burke's Flagship

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit U.S. Navy, Public domain. When North Korea invaded the South in 1950, the Los Angeles sat in mothballs at Hunters Point. By January 1951, she was back in commission and headed for war. As flagship of Cruiser Division 5 under the legendary Arleigh Burke, she ranged the entire Korean coastline, her guns pro...

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Image: U.S. Navy | Public domain

USS Los Angeles (CA-135): Cold War Sentinel

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Between November 1953 and June 1963, the Los Angeles made eight more Western Pacific deployments. When Communist China threatened the islands of Quemoy and Matsu in 1956, she patrolled the Taiwan Strait to deter invasion. Her operations took her from the Sea of Japan to the South...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

USS Los Angeles (CA-135): Final Days and Living Memory

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Los Angeles, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Navy considered converting the Los Angeles into a Talos missile cruiser, but funding never materialized. She was decommissioned at Long Beach on November 15, 1963, and struck from the register on January 1, 1974. In May 1975, the National Steel Corporation purchased her for $...

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Image: Los Angeles | CC BY-SA 3.0