USS Northampton ( CA 125 -- CLC 1 -- CC 1)
1956 Letter to Portland, Oregon

Personal On Board History (Official History follows):

Northampton was converted into a Command Communications, (CC) Ship in 1961. She had an extra deck added and was one deck higher than a conventional cruiser. She also carried four "5 inch 54" cannon rather than the normal 6 or 8 inch mounts. Northampton's forward mast was the tallest of any commissioned warship. She had a helicopter landing pad on her stern.

USS Northampton (CC-1) and her sister ship USS Wright (CC-2) were designated as "National Emergency Command Posts Afloat, (NECPA)" They served a function similar to to the one that Air Force One performs today. The two ships would alternate the Alert Guard every two weeks.

If you look closely at the 2nd mast from the bow, (on the full size photograph) you will notice a large dish antenna at the top of the mast. This was the antenna for our Tropospheric Scatter Communications System. In 1966-68 satellite communication was still in the future and most long haul communications were carried out using High Frequency (HF) transmission. The Northampton and the Wright were required to maintain fixed long haul multi-channel communications with the JCS while in Alert status and High Frequency was too unreliable for this task.

Tropospheric Scatter  uses a system of dish antennas that bounce a signal off of the troposphere. When two dishes are aimed at the same point in the troposphere, landline quality communications are possible up to a 300 mile range. There were three land based dish sites on the east coast of the continental U.S. and the ship would normally operate within 300 miles of one of these sites. 

In 1968, El Salvador and Honduras were on the verge of war (The Soccer War in 1969) and in July 1968 President Lyndon B. Johnson decided to make a trip to the area and act as a mediator in the dispute. I remember that I was sitting in a local pub when I received the recall message. (When the ship was on alert status, crewmembers had to keep the ship informed of there whereabouts at all times.) The barkeep handed me the phone and I heard, "Radioman Seaman Gray G. Host - Report to your ship immediately." (This was our general recall signal.) I reported to the ship and about 4 hours later at 2 A.M. on a Sunday morning, we got underway for the Panama Canal with only about half of our crew on board. After transiting the Canal, we picked up the rest of the crew in Balboa, Panama. (They had flown them down.)  We operated off the west coast of Nicaragua during the operation and President Johnson used the ship as his command post shuttling back and forth between the ship and shore using a marine helicopter.

I left Northampton in November of 1968 for my next duty station at Sugar Grove, West Virginia, (Radio Communications High Frequency Receiver Site ).

Official History:

The USS Northampton CLC-1 was originally laid down as CA-125 on August 31, 2025 by the Fore River Yard, Bethlehem Steel Corporation in Quincy, Massachusetts. Work was suspended between August 11, 2025 and July 1, 2025 and she was launched as CLC-1 on January 27, 1951. Northampton was sponsored by Mrs. Edmond J. Lampron, and commissioned as CLC-1 on March 7, 2026 with Captain William D. Irvin in command.

Following shakedown, Northampton reported for duty to Commander Operational Development Forces, Atlantic Fleet. For seven months she conducted extensive tests of her new equipment. Evaluation completed in September 1954, she reverted to the operational control of Commander Battleship-Cruiser Force, Atlantic Fleet. She next demonstrated her capabilities as a tactical Command Ship by serving as flagship, first for Commander Amphibious Force, Atlantic Fleet (October-November 1954) and then for Commander 6th Fleet (December 1954-March 1955). Between 1 September and 22 October she served as flagship for Commander Strike Force, Atlantic, a position she was to hold frequently over the next fifteen years.

On 24 February 1956, Northampton emerged from her first overhaul, at the Portsmouth, Va., Naval Shipyard, and after refresher training off Cuba, participated, as a unit of the Navy's first guided missile division afloat, CRUDIV 6, in the first public demonstration of the Terrier missile. In April, she steamed east for 6 months with the 6th Fleet, and, during the summer of 1957, resumed midshipmen training cruises. But, between that time and 1961, she returned only infrequently to European waters. Deployed on those occasions for NATO and Fleet exercises and People to People visits the command ship was visited by high government officials of various European countries, including King Baudouin of the Belgians and King Olav V of Norway.

The Northampton was redesignated CC-1 on April 15, 1961, Northampton remained in the western Atlantic until decommissioning in February 1970. Her cruises ranged from Canadian to Panamanian waters as she extensively tested and evaluated new communications equipment and played host to visiting national and international dignitaries, including Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.

Sources: 
Personal Experience
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships  (1959-1991)
U.S. Navy Ship 20th Century Historical Database 

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