The ship was named after a city in Bibb County in central Georgia,
named for General Nathaniel Macon, U.S. Senator from North Carolina,
December 13, 1815 to November 14, 1828, during the Era of Good Feeling.
(CA -132: Displacement
13,600; Length 674'11"; Breadth. 70'10"; Draft 20'6";
Speed 33 knots.; Complement. 1,142; Armament 9 8", 12 5",
46 40mm.; Class Baltimore)
Macon
(CA-132) was laid down June 14, 1943 by
the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, N.J.; launched October
15, 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Charles F. Bowden, wife of the mayor
of Macon, Georgia; and commissioned August 26, 1945 at Philadelphia,
Captain Edward E. Pare in command.
Macon's
first fleet assignment was with the the 8th Fleet, which she joined
soon after her shakedown cruise. Sailing with the fleet for maneuvers
in the Caribbean, she departed Norfolk on April 19, 1946, returning
to New York on May 7. On June 4, Macon arrived at Norfolk
for duty as a test ship for the operational development force. Over
the next 4 years the cruiser periodically received experimental
equipment in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, conducted tests of
the new equipment while she served as an antiaircraft gunnery schoolship,
and training naval reservists off the Atlantic and gulf coasts of
the United States. She also participated in a midshipmen summer
cruise to Europe in 1948. Her experimental duties continued until
April 12, 1950 when she was decommissioned and went into reserve
at Philadelphia.
With the outbreak
of the Korean conflict, June 1950, Macon was reordered reactivated.
She recommissioned at Philadelphia on October 16, 1950 and, upon
completion of refresher training, became the flagship of Cruiser
Division 6 in the Atlantic.
By the end of
1959 Macon had conducted six midshipmen summer cruises and
had spent the fall and winter season of almost every year as a guardian
of freedom and liberty with the mighty 6th Fleet. She patrolled
in the eastern Mediterranean during the Suez crisis of 1956; took
part in the International Naval Review celebrating the 350th Anniversary
of the foundation of Jamestown, June 12, 1957; and participated
in the NATO exercise operation "Strikeback", conducted
in the North Sea and Arctic Ocean in September 1957. Besides these
duties, Macon continued to receive experimental equipment
for testing throughout the period. Having also received missile
equipment during January-March 1956, she launched the first Regulus
Missile from an Atlantic Fleet cruiser on May 8, while anchored
off the North Carolina coast, and then continued tests of the missile
as she completed her cycle of Atlantic Fleet operations.
On the nights
of January, 19 and 20, Macon steaming from Cartagena to Marseilles,
diverted from her course and sped to the aid of burning Italian
merchant ship Maria Amata. Macon's crew fought the
flames, but the ship was soon beyond salvage. Macon then
carried the merchantman's crew to Valencia, Spain.
In the spring-summer
of 1959, the U.S.S. Macon was the first cruiser to enter the Great
Lakes region for the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway. A photograph
that was taken during it's passage through the locks was featured
on the cover of Life Magazine with a cow grazing in a field
in the background. This cruiser was also the first to be over 500
feet above sea level.
The following
January, Macon carrying the U.S. Navy Band, departed Norfolk for
a good will cruise to South American Ports. While on this tour,
twenty members of the band perished in a plane crash enroute to
perform at a state dinner for Brazilian President J. Kubitscek,
with Argentine Naval personnel participating. Macon's crew held
memorial services in Buenos Aires Harbor on February 28, 1960. Completing
this cruise in Rio de Janeiro in March, Macon returned to Boston
to resume her cycle of operations with the Atlantic Fleet. She was
placed out of commission in reserve at Philadelphia on March 10,
1961 and remained there into 1969.
Naval Standard
procedure is by reference to Secretary of the Navy directed that
the U.S.S. Macon (CA-132) be stricken from the Naval Register on
November 1, 1969 and authorized disposal in accordance with existing
laws in a manner most advantageous to the government.
"Historical
Ship Record File, No.3632 dated 11-1-69 CA 00132 MACON 7-5-73 to
Union Minerals and Alloys Corporation, New York City for $375,269.00
Scrapped"
