USS Portland (CA-33) Memorial (Portland, Maine)

 United States Navy, war memorial

This is the aft mast of the USS Portland, the lead ship in her two-member class of Heavy Cruisers built for the United States Navy. The first ship to be named for Portland, Maine, the Portland commissioned into service in February 1933 and would go on to see heavy combat in the Pacific Theatre of World War Two.

Emerging victorious after many hard-fought battles that saw both ship and crew take part in the battles of Midway, Guadalcanal, Marshall and Gilbert Islands, Leyte Gulf and Okinawa, Portland earned 16 Battle Stars for her service. Calling at her namesake city in October 1945 upon her return stateside, the Portland made her final voyage to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard shortly thereafter where she decommissioned in March 1946.

Held in reserve until 1956, the Portland was deemed to be too technologically outdated for further service and was subsequently sold for scrapping in Florida, but before she was towed South her aft mast was removed and brought to Portland as a memorial for both the ship and her crew, as well as Portland's considerable aid to the War effort.

www.navsource.org/archives/04/033/04033.htm