Inter-war Period
Departing Boston on 1 April 1933, the cruiser arrived Gravesend Bay, New York the evening of 3 April. The next night, she received word that the airship Akron was down at sea. Thirty six minutes after receipt of the message, the ship was underway. Racing seaward, she was the first naval vessel at the scene of the disaster, and the task of search and rescue coordination was thus hers. Seventy three lives were lost in the disaster, including that of Admiral William Moffett, Chief, Bureau of Aeronautics.
Portland steamed from San Diego, California on 2 October 1935 astern Houston, which carried President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The following days, the President and his party fished. After calling at Panama and several other ports, the two ships steamed to Charleston, South Carolina, where the President disembarked.
During Pacific Fleet maneuvers, Portland crossed the equator for the first time on 20 May 1936. From there until the outbreak of war, she was engaged in peacetime training and goodwill missions as a unit of Cruiser Division 5 (CruDiv 5), Scouting Force.
Read more about this topic: USS Portland (CA-33)
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