LEWISTON — The crew members of the USS Canberra CA-70 and CAG-2 met recently in Florence, Ky., for the 48th annual convention, with about 300 crew members and guests attending.

The original Canberra CA-70 was built in Quincy, Mass., in the early part of World War II and served in the South Pacific War Theatre with distinction. At the end of the war, she was decommissioned and placed in “moth balls.”

She was reactivated  in 1953 and was fitted with terrier missiles as Canberra CAG-2. She served during the Cold War and also in Vietnam with distinction. She was decommissioned in 1975 and was destined to be scrapped.

All the crew members petitioned their respective congressmen and senators to save her. They were able to save the propellers, which are now in the entrance of the Los Angeles Maritime Museum in California.


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