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USS Boston (CA-69/CAG-1), a Baltimore-class heavy cruiser and later a Boston-class guided missile cruiser, was the sixth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts.

Boston was launched 26 August 1942 by Bethlehem Steel Company’s, Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts; sponsored by Mrs. Helen Noonan Tobin, wife of the Mayor of Boston, Maurice J. Tobin; and commissioned 30 June 1943, Captain J. H. Carson in command

Recommissioned as guided missile cruiser[edit]

USS Boston firing a Terrier guided missile, August 1956.

Boston (along with Canberra and Chicago) was not recommissioned for service during the Korean War as were 10 others of her class, but was earmarked for conversion to carry guided missiles and reclassified CAG-1 on 4 January 1952. In February 1952 she was towed from Bremerton, Washington, to Philadelphia for conversion to a guided missile heavy cruiser by New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey. During conversion her aft 8-inch turret was replaced with Terrier Surface-to-air missile launchers and she was modernized. Boston was recommissioned 1 November 1955 as the lead ship of her class and operated along the east coast and in the Caribbean conducting missile evaluations and participating in fleet exercises until departing for the Mediterranean 23 November 1956. She returned in May 1957.

After making a Midshipmen‘s cruise to South America, taking part in NATO exercises in the North Atlantic, and receiving an overhaul, Boston made her second Sixth Fleet tour during June–September 1958. This cruise included participation in the Lebanon crisis. During the next eight years, she frequently operated in the Mediterranean, often in the role of flagship, taking part in exercises off Northern Europe, the Caribbean and off the US East Coast. Boston served as flagship for the recovery effort of the Palomares Incident from February through April 1966

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Boston_(CA-69)


USS Bon Homme Richard (CV/CVA-31) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers completed during or shortly after World War II for the United States Navy. She was the second US Navy ship to bear the name, the first one being named for John Paul Jones’s famous Revolutionary War frigate by the same name.

Jones had named that ship, usually rendered in more correct French as Bonhomme Richard, to honor Benjamin Franklin, the American Commissioner at Paris, whose Poor Richard’s Almanac had been published in France under the title Les Maximes du Bonhomme Richard.

Bon Homme Richard was commissioned in November 1944, and served in the final campaigns of the Pacific Theater of Operations, earning one battle star. Decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, she was recommissioned in 1951 for the Korean War. In her second career she operated exclusively in the Pacific, playing a prominent role in the Korean War, for which she earned five battle stars, and the Vietnam War. She was modernized and recommissioned in 1955. She was decommissioned in 1971, and scrapped in 1992.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Bon_Homme_Richard_(CV-31)

USS Bon Homme Richard – Korea 1951(CV/CVA-31) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers completed during or shortly after World War II for the United States Navy.

She was the second US Navy ship to bear the name, the first one being named for John Paul Jones’s famous Revolutionary War frigate by the same name. Jones had named that ship, usually rendered in more correct French as Bonhomme Richard, to honor Benjamin Franklin, the American Commissioner at Paris, whose Poor Richard’s Almanac had been published in France under the title Les Maximes du Bonhomme Richard.

USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76)

081125-N-5961C-067SAN DIEGO (Nov. 25, 2008) Sailors man the rails on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) while the ship makes her way past Point Loma into her homeport of San Diego. (U.S. Navy photo by Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist Spike Call/Released)

USS V3/USS Bonita (SF-6/SS-165)


USS Bonita (SF-6/SS-165), a Barracuda-class submarine and one of the “V-boats,” was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the bonito. Her keel was laid down by the Portsmouth Navy Yard. She was launched on 9 June 1925 as V-3 (SF-6), sponsored by Mrs. L.R. DeSteiguer, wife of Rear Admiral DeSteiguer, and commissioned on 22 May 1926, Lieutenant Commander Charles A. Lockwood, Jr. in command. Like her sisters, Bonita was designed to meet the fleet submarine requirement of 21 knots (39 km/h) surface speed for operating with contemporary battleships.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Bonita_(SS-165)

HMNZS Kaiwaka Built: 1937 W.G. Lowe, Auckland. Type: Danlayer, Pennant No.: T14

HMNZS Kaiwaka

Displacement: 169 tons gross, 98 tons net
Length: 88.3 ft./26.9 m Beam: 23 ft./7 m Draft: 7.75 ft./2.3 m
Propulsion: Motor 145 bhp single screw diesel Speed: 10 knots.
Complement: 12
Armament; 1 X light MG, DCs

Kaiwaka was a wooden motor-powered cargo lighter owned by NZ Refrigerating Co. Ltd employed carrying meat to overseas ships off Wanganui.

She was requisitioned on 7 January 1941 for conversion to a danlayer. A danlayer is a small vessel employed in minesweeping operations to lay dan-buoys to mark the limits of the channels swept through a minefield.

She was delivered to the naval authorities on 5 March 1941 and commissioned for service on 21 May 1941 by Lieutenant A. K. Griffith RNZNVR. She was based mainly at Auckland operating with the 25th MS flotilla and occasionally towing targets.

At the beginning of March 1942 Kaiwaka sailed to Suva where she was employed as a danlayer assisting the USN in laying protective minefields in the Nandi area, returning to Auckland on 25 April.

She visited Wellington several times , being temporary port danlayer for two months in 1943.

During October 1943 Kaiwaka and Thomas Currell swept the short lines of mines in the minor channels on either side of Rakino Island in the Hauraki Gulf.

In January-February 1944 she took part in sweeping the independent minefield in the Bay of Islands and in May she assisted with the sweeping of the defensive minefield laid in March 1942 across the main channel in the Hauraki Gulf.

In March-May 1945 Kaiwaka and the minesweepers began a final clearance of the German minefield laid in June 1940 in the approaches to the Hauraki Gulf.

Kaiwaka paid off on 16 September 1945 when replaced by a converted Castle class minesweeper. She was handed over to the Marine Department and refitted but return to her owners was clouded by legal issues over her condition and delayed until 19 July 1947.

HMNZS “Kaiwaka” – a New Zealand auxiliary ship from World War II , and earlier and later – a lighter . In the Royal New Zealand Navy , Kaiwaka served primarily as a buoylayer ( danlayer ), a ship working with minesweepers and minelayers , marking with buoys areas of water to be mined or to be cleared of mines.

History [ edit | edit code ]

The motorized lighter was built at the WG Lowe & Sons shipyard in Auckland in 1937 for the New Zealand Refrigeration Company [1] . The unit had a wooden hull, one deck, was 88.3 feet long, 23 feet wide, its draft was 7.7 feet (26.9 x 7.0 x 2.3 m), and had 169 gt [1] . The drive was diesel engines with a total power of 58 nhp [1] (145 bhp [2] ) with one screw [3] . The maximum speed was 10 knots, the economic speed was 9 knots [3] . At the time of launching the vessel was mistakenly registered as MV Kaiwhaka [3] , in 1938 the name of the vessel was changed to MV Kaiwaka [1] .

Before the war, lightering was used in Wanganui to load New Zealand meat onto ships for shipment to other countries [4] .

On February 7, 1941, the owners of the ship were informed that it would be requisitioned by the RNZN, it was delivered to the Navy on March 5 and was adapted to the role of a buoylayer ( danlayer ) [5] – a ship cooperating with minesweepers and minelayers , marking water areas with buoys to be mined or intended to be cleared of mines [2] . In addition, the ship was equipped with sonar and depth charges – it could also serve as an antisubmarine minesweeper (AS MS – ZOP minesweeper ) [4] . During the war, the crew consisted of 12 people [3] .

She entered service as HMNZS Kaiwaka (T14) on May 21 (or May 25 [2] ) under the command of RNZN reserve captain AK Griffith [5] [4] . The ship was part of the 25th Minesweeping Flotilla, initially based in Auckland , and was sometimes also used to tow targets [3] .

In March 1942, Kaiwaki and Coastguard assisted in laying minefields off Fiji , and the ship returned to Auckland after six weeks . [3] Kaiwaki visited Wellington several times and for two months, until the end of June 1943, he worked there as a buoy maker [3] . In October 1943 and May 1944 he was in the Hauraki Gulf helping to clear minefields that had previously been placed there [3] . The ship was decommissioned in September 1945 [3] .

On November 19, 1945, Kaiwaka was transferred to the Marine Department, where she was refurbished before the planned return to her previous owners, the renovation was completed in March 1946 [6] . Before Kaikaki was taken over, her owners filed for compensation due to the very poor condition of her wooden hull [6] . The case was finally settled with the payment of compensation in the amount of 50,000 pounds and on September 19, 1947, Kaiwaka, together with the motor lighters “Thistle” and HMNZS “Tuirangi”, as well as the lighters Agnes and Florence, were returned to their previous owners and into the civil service [6] .

After the war, Kaiwaka did not return to Wanganui and changed owners many times; initially she worked as a lighter in Gisbourne , but the port built there in 1967 meant that she was no longer needed [6] . In March 1968 she was sold to a private owner from Tauranga and before 1973 she was sold again, a helicopter landing platform was built on her stern, the ship was then anchored in Fiordland [6] . In 1974, 1977 and 1986 Kiwaka was recorded in Omamaru , Auckland and Matauwhi Bay [6] .

In 1972, the ship took part in a protest against French nuclear tests in the Pacific

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