The Norfolk (DL-1, ex-CLK-1), ordered under the Fiscal Year 1948 Shipbuilding Program, was the first U.S. Navy ship ordered after World War II and was conceived as the ultimate antisubmarine vessel. Construction of a sister, to have been named New Haven (CLK-2), was deferred in 1949 and canceled outright in 1951, as it was realized that such large ships could not be afforded in useful numbers. The 6,980-ton full load Norfolk’s high freeboard and the steep sheer to the hull were intended to enable her to steam at 30 knots or more in the worst of weather in pursuit of submarines; the superstructure was minimized to reduce the surface on which ice could form in high latitudes.
The ship was 540-feet long by 53.5- feet beam and made 33.23 knots on trials. Four boilers provided steam to turbines producing 80,000 shaft horsepower to drive low-r.p.m. six-bladed screws. The “Nightshirt” air bubbling system, the first of its kind in a U.S. Navy ship, was intended to reduce radiated noise.
While building, the Norfolk was rerated as a destroyer leader (DL), and shortly after her commissioning on 4 March 1953, an “E” was prefixed to the designation to indicate her use as a trials vessel. She was equipped with the first fully operable AN/SQS-23 sonar in 1958 and also conducted trials with the AN/SPS-26 three-dimensional radar, the ancestor of today’s SPS-48 and SPS-52 systems. In 1956, the meaning of DL was changed to frigate. Assigned flagship duties over most of her active career, the roomy Norfolk made five UNITAS cruises to Latin America; her final deployment, in 1961, was as flagship for Commander, Middle East Force. The Norfolk was decommissioned on 14 January 1970 and stricken from the Navy List on 1 November 1973.
The top photo shows the Norfolk as completed, with four twin 3-inch/50- caliber Mk 33 gun mounts in place of the planned 3-inch/70-caliber Mk 37 mounts eventually carried. Difficult to discern are the eight twin 20-mm antiaircraft mounts, four of which were located atop the superstructure abaft the after stack, two on the fantail, and two on the main deck abreast the bridge face. Two of the four Mk 108 Weapon Able (later Weapon Alfa) antisubmarine rocket launchers were staggered forward and the other two were located on the centerline on the after superstructure; a total of 88 rockets was carried. Eight Mk 24 tubes for homing torpedoes were mounted fixed in broadside in the main deck superstructure aft, four per side; 30 torpedoes could be accommodated.
The broadside view of the Norfolk in September 1953 gives a good idea of her high freeboard and bow. Note that a full cruiser set of six ship’s boats was stacked between the funnels, tended by a crane. At this point, she had an AN/SPS-4 surface-search radar, AN/SPS-6 air-search, and two Mk 56 directors with Mk 35 radars to control the 3-inch guns.
The bottom photo shows the Norfolk in 1964, by which time the gun mounts had been exchanged, the prototype Mk 16 ASROC antisubmarine rocket launcher had replaced the after pair of Weapon Alfas, the air-search radar was now an AN/SPS-37, and electronic warfare antennas had been mounted above the after funnel. In her final guise, from 1968 onward, the forward Weapon Alfas and their supporting structure were removed. Plans announced in 1963 to convert the Norfolk to a guided-missile destroyer under the fiscal year 1966 budget were shelved.