USS Worcester (CL-144) was a ship in the United States Navy, and the third ship to carry that name, honoring Worcester, Massachusetts. Worcester was the lead ship of a class of light cruisers. She was launched just after the close of World War II, and decommissioned in 1958. Description and design Worcester combined destroyer maneuverability with cruiser size, with a main battery that could deal with both surface targets and aircraft. The design was largely considered a failure, due to the main armament of twin automatic guns achieving fire rates of 9-10 rpm which was lower than the similar design of automatic guns on . In addition, the fire control fitted to Worcester was optimized for anti-aircraft fire rather than surface action or naval gunfire support. Construction and career Worcester was laid down on 29 January 1945 at Camden, New Jersey, by the New York Shipbuilding and Drydock Corp., and launched on 4 February 1947. Sponsored by Gloria Ann Sullivan, the daughter of Mayor F. G. Sullivan of Worcester, Massachusetts, she was commissioned at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on 26 June 1948. Worcester was assigned to Cruiser Division 10. She spent the first year of her commissioned service completing her fitting out, conducting shakedown training, undergoing availability and type training off the eastern seaboard of the United States. In the summer of 1949, she participated in her first large-scale training exercises in Guantanamo Bay and visited Kingston, Jamaica. Later that summer, she sailed for the Mediterranean, departing Newport, Rhode Island, on 6 September and reaching Gibraltar 10 days later. She made her first deployment with the 6th Fleet in the ensuing months, visiting Malta; Bizerte, Tunisia; Golfe-Juan, France; Argostoli and Phaleron Bay, Greece; İskenderun, Turkey; Trieste and Venice, Italy; and Gibraltar. During her 6th Fleet deployment, she engaged in exercises and maneuvers with fast carrier task forces, including the carrier and the heavy cruiser . She returned to Norfolk, Virginia on 10 December. Worcester operated off the eastern seaboard, ranging from Newport to Norfolk and south to Puerto Rico, with visits in between to Philadelphia, before she began her second 6th Fleet deployment in the spring of 1950. She departed Norfolk on 3 May, arrived at Lisbon on 13 May, and entered the Mediterranean soon thereafter. In between her cycles of drills and exercises in the Mediterranean, Worcester visited Augusta, Sicily; Bizerte; Genoa and La Spezia, Italy; and Golfe Juan,