I found this old article about the USS Helena being scraped along with other ships in the early 1970's.
I remember reading this article years ago and putting it in mothballs.
Signed
Vic Brelje. 20 October 2011.


San Diego, California, Friday Morning, March 1, 1963

1st FLEET FLAGSHIP HEADS FOR MOTHBALLS

Heavy cruiser Helena (CA75), 1st Fleet flagship here for two years, steams from North Island to the Naval Station on her way to the mothball fleet. The 17,000-ton warship tied up at the Naval Station's Pier yesterday to begin deactivation. After more than 17 years with the Pacific Fleet, the Helena will be decommissioned by July 1. Her replacement will be the heavy cruiser St. Paul (CA73), to fly Vice Adm. R. T. S. Keith's flag.


ADIEU TO A GALLANT LADY----Heavy cruiser Helena, which carried President-elect Eisenhower from Guam to Pearl Harbor after his Korean battlefront tour, is being decommissioned, beginning tomorrow. She makes port in San Diego for the last time today.
Official Photo U.S. Navy
Curtain
Call Near
For Ship

USS Helena
Slated for
Retirement

SAN DIEGO, Calif --The
heavy cruiser USS Helena will
steam into her homeport here
today for the last time before
retirement. After more than 17
years with the U.S. Pacific
Fleet, the Helena will start de-
activation here tomorrow.
The Helena has been the
flagship for Commander, U.S.
1st Fleet since January 1961.
Replacing Helena as flagship is
the cruiser USS Saint Paul.
Saint Paul has been based at
San Diego since July 1962.
Commissioning of the guided
missile cruiser USS Columbus
on Dec. 1, 1962 provided numer-
ical replacement for the Helena
within the Pacific Fleet.
Columbus will be homeported at
Bremerton, Wash.
DEACTIVATION OF the
Helena leaves only two cruisers
without missile capability
in the Pacific Fleet: USS
Saint Paul and USS Los Angles.

* * * * *

THE PRESENT Helena is
the third U.S. Navy ship to
bear the name of the capital
city of the state of Montana.
The Helena was commissioned
on Sept. 4, 1945 at Quincy, Mass.
Helena joined the Paciific
Fleet in 1946 after serving in
both the Atlantic and Mediter-
ranean. Serving in the Pacific
at the outbreak of the Korean
conflict, the Helena is credited
with being one of the first
cruisers to shell Communist
forces.

IN NOVEMBER 1952, the
Helena carried President-
elect Dwight D. Eisenhower
from Guam to Pearl Harbor
upon completion of historic tour
of the Korean battlefront.

THE HELENA has won nu-
merous efficiency awards. In
1961, for example, she won the
engineering efficiency award
and eight gunnery efficiency
awards.
In 1962, the Helena won
second-place honors for the
Navy's top food crown at sea.
The Edward Francis Ney Awards
are presented annually to com-
mands both asore and afloat
selected as serving the best pre-
pared food the Navy has to offer.
The 17,000-ton Helena
carrieda crew of 1100 officers and
enlisted men. Capt O. W. Bagby
of 756 F Ave., Coronado, is the
commanding officer.



The newspaper clippings on this page
were saved by my father and mailed
to me many years later. Ed.





CA-75

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