VADM COMBS WILL
RETIRE SOON AFTER
TOPEKA COMMISSIONING

On 31 March 1960 the TOPEKA will be host to and provide the stage for a major change of command ceremony. Vice Admiral Thomas S. Combs, USN, who will order the TOPEKA placed in commission on the afternoon of 26 March will relinquish his command to Vice Admiral Charles Wellborn, Jr., USN.

VADM Combs is retiring from the Navy after an exemplary, career as Naval Officer for over forty years. In his last command he wears the hats of: Commander, Eastern Sea Frontier; U. S. Navy Member of Military Staff Committee, United Nations; Commander, Atlantic Reserve Fleet; Commandant, Third Naval District; and Commander, Naval Base, New York. Before reporting to his present command duties, he served as Deputy Chief of Naval Operations. Prior to that he commanded both the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean and the Second Fleet in the Atlantic.

VADM Combs is the holder of many personal citations including the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star Medal, and the Legion of Merit.

CHIEF OLSEN

One of the key men aboard the Topeka in the coming months is the Chief Master-at-Arms. Selected for this very responsible billet is an experienced sailor, Oscar Olsen, Jr., BMCA, USN. Chief OLSEN, a native of Pensacola, Florida, enlisted in the Navy on 29 April 1941 and in the nineteen years following has served aboard seven different ships of the Fleet before reporting to TOPEKA.

CONVERSION TO A MISSILE CRUISER
THREE YEAR JOB

RADM S. N. PYNE, USN
COMMANDER NEW YORK
NAVAL SHIPYARD

When a warship of the Fleet enters Naval Shipyard for repairs, a chain events requiring the efforts and talents of thousands of technicians and engineers is put into action. So much the more when it is decided to convert conventionally designed cruiser to a modern, missile-bearing man-of-war. The conversion process of the new TOPEKA (CLG 8) to a guided-missile (TERRIER) light cruiser is a complex, many-sided operation, the details of which are truly staggering, Here, in review, is an outline of her conversion.

On April 15, 1957 the USS TOPEKA (CL67) arrived at the New York Naval Shipyard from her berth in the "mothball" fleet at San Francisco to be refurbished and converted for guided missiles. In preparation for such extensive reconstruction, the TOPEKA was initially stripped of all unnecessary furnishings, fittings, and fuel oil, followed by the removal of certain structural entities to make way for the new installations of a modern navy ship. And as early as September of 1957, various pre-fabricated structures were already being prepared in the many shops of the shipyard

December 2nd, 1957, marked the official beginning of TOPEKA's lengthy conversion period. Literally thousands of shipyard workers, ranging from planning and design personnel to welders and riggers, went into action. To permit yard personnel access to the lower hull of the ship, the vessel was successively dry-docked and undocked during the early months of 1958. Work was started simultaneously in June to test the machinery and boilers of the ship's propulsion plants as well as to check out the TOPEKA's conventional 6" and 5" gun systems, armament which will continue to be used as a complementary ordnance system to the missiles for gun-fire support and shore bombardment. Concentration on TOPEKA's primary weapons, the missile guidance and launching systems, was subsequently begun during December 1958.

By Spring of 1959, many of the various ship' offices and shops were already nearing completion, and the ship's boilers were successfully lit off and tested. During dock trials the following September, the ship's engines and propulsion were tested, after which the ship was again put into dry-dock for final underwater body preservation. The many structural changes to the silhouette of TOPEKA had now taken form and all planned major construction work contributing to this "new look" was finished by January 1960.

Artists Conception of Topeka in Action

As the target date for the completion of conversion approached, the Commandant of the Third Naval District, assisted by the crew of the TOPEKA, held a formal Habitability Inspection on February 25th and 26th to determine the readiness of the vessel to receive its crew. Battle gear, armament, electronic equipment, heating, ventilation, etc, were checked in an exhaustive inspection in anticipation of moving over 1,000 TOPEKA officers and crew aboard ship by March 18th. Complete operability testing of coordinated shipboard electronics and armament systems was initiated, to continue beyond the commissioning date of the new TOPEKA on March 26th. After the vessel is commissioned, final tests at sea will be conducted prior to formal acceptance by the Navy. Yet, the gargantuan efforts of the New York Naval Shipyard in the previous two and a half years' have already concretely attested to its well-earned reputation as the "CAN-DO" shipyard. The USS TOPEKA (CLG 8) will be ready for sea in June 1960 as scheduled, to perform her vital missions in the modern guided-missile Navy