Frontier Milestone Number 82, On Hiskiyah Mountain

 

USS Providence (CL-82, later CLG-6), 1945-1980

USS Providence, a 10,000-ton Cleveland class light cruiser, was built at Quincy, Massachusetts. She was commissioned in May 1945 and spent the final months of World War II shaking down in the Caribbean area. Following training service in September and October, the new cruiser left the U.S. for the Mediterranean Sea in November 1945 and remained there until June 1946. She continued her naval presence mission as the international situation deteriorated and the Cold War began, making a second Mediterranean deployment in February-May 1947, a third in November 1947 - March 1948 and a forth in September 1948 - January 1949. Providence was decommissioned in June 1949, as part of the Truman Administration's late 1940s Naval reductions, and entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. With new technologies creating an urgent need for updated warships, she was redesignated CLG-6 in May 1957 and soon began conversion to a guided-missile light cruiser.