The CLG 4 / CG 4 Photo Tour

Original Image Caption PAINTER - Shipyard painters often worked under difficult conditions. On Dec. 16, 1970, a painter sprays the hull of USS Little Rock (CLG-4) in Dry Dock 3 from scaffolding supported by a forklift. BOSTS-11814

Photographed circa 1972, probably in northern European waters.

This photograph was originally hand-labeled "USS Little Rock at Gaeta".
We believe the photo was incorrectly labeled, and was in fact taken on the
same occasion as the photo above. (Note the helicopter on the fantail.)

In this photo the USS LITTLE ROCK CLG 4 is just arriving in Gaeta, Italy to relieve the USS SPRINGFIELD CLG 7 as flagship of the U.S. Sixth Fleet. (Note the crew in whites manning the rail and the Marine standing on the bow ready to raise the Union Jack). LITTLE ROCK is being towed to the NATO fuel pier.

USS LITTLE ROCK moored outboard of  SPRINGFIELD at the NATO fuel pier Gaeta, Italy.  On 01 Sept 1973 the transfer of the Sixth Fleet Flag was completed and LITTLE ROCK assumed the duties of  flagship. LITTLE ROCK and SPRINGFIELD then moved to anchorages in the harbor.

USS LITTLE ROCK CLG 4 in the foreground and USS SPRINGFIELD CLG 7 moored at Gaeta, Italy sometime after the transfer of the Sixth Fleet Flag was completed.

On 04 Sept 2008 Padre Paolo Andrea Natta, Chaplain Raffaele University, Milan, Italy wrote.... "Please take note that the photo represents the Little Rock in the Gulf of Gaeta, Italy. Behind the ship you can see the Gianola Peninsula."

LITTLE ROCK pulls alongside USS Neosho AO 143
in preparation to take on fuel in the Mediterranean Sea.

....during exercises on the Salto di Guirra missile range,  off Sardinia, 23 April 1975.

Looking aft from the bow of LITTLE ROCK
as she transits the Suez Canal
05 Jul 75.

Steaming with USS Saratoga (CV-60) and other units of the U.S. Sixth Fleet, en route to an anchorage near Gaeta, Italy, on 16 March 1976. The ships are returning from a training exercise.

USS Little Rock moored to N..T.O. fuel pier Gaeta, Italy in 1976 shortly before USS Albany CG10 relieved Little Rock as Flagship of the Sixth Fleet.

USS Little Rock moored outboard of USS Albany CG10 at Gaeta, Italy in September of 1976. On 06 September Albany relieved Little Rock as Flagship of the Sixth Fleet, ending Little Rock's final deployment prior to her return to CONUS for deactivation.

Date: 09 September 1976. USS Albany's crew and Sixth Fleet staff render honors to USS Little Rock as she pulls away from Albany at Gaeta, Italy. Albany had relieved Little Rock as Flagship of the US Sixth Fleet and Little Rock now begins her return voyage to CONUS prior to deactivation.

COMSIXTHFLT VADM Harry D. Train II (in whites) renders his salute. To his left most likely is USS Albany CO Captain James G. Storms III.

USS Little Rock under tow on the St. Lawrence River on July 10, 1977 bound for Buffalo, NY from Philadelphia, PA to begin a new life as a museum ship.

This photo shows the USS Little Rock under tow, (note tow line forward and tug at the stern) as she crossed Lake Ontario and made her approach to Port Weller Harbor at the north end of the Welland Canal at St. Catharines, Ontario.

On July 15, 1977 the USS Little Rock, under tow, ended her day long transit of the Welland Canal completing the last leg of her journey from Philadelphia, PA to Buffalo, NY. Her she joined the USS The Sullivans DD 537, and eventually the USS Croaker SS 246 / SSK246 as part of the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park.

The Welland Canal is a 26 mile-long ship canal in Canada that connects Port Weller, Ontario, on Lake Ontario, to Port Colborne, Ontario, on Lake Erie. The canal enables ships to ascend and descend the Niagara Escarpment and to bypass Niagara Falls. To read more about the Welland Canal, click HERE.

Little Rock entered the Buffalo harbor channel at 9:25 p.m. and by 11:00 p.m. was moored stern-to-stern with USS The Sullivans, which had arrived on 04 July. (Click HERE to read the story on how the USS Little Rock came to be selected for this honor, and to view more photos of the Welland Canal voyage.  

USS Little Rock on display at the Buffalo & Erie County Naval and Military Park in Buffalo, NY. The park offers educational programs and is open to the public.

The USS Little Rock is on display in Buffalo as part of the Navy's Ship Donation Program administered by the Naval Sea Systems Command. Under this program selected naval vessels are available for donation for public display as ship museums or memorials.

A great picture of the U.S.S. Little Rock taken in 2007 at her present mooring at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park in Buffalo, NY. (Wouldn't want to have to get underway in this 'soup'!)