USS Portsmouth, a 10,000-ton Cleveland class light cruiser, was built at Newport News, Virginia. Commissioned in late June 1945, less than two months before Japan's decision to surrender effectively ended World War II, she spent her entire career in the Atlantic Fleet. The new cruiser's first active service, lasting into 1946, was with the Operational Development Force. During mid-1946 Portsmouth steamed along the African coast from Capetown to Casablanca and briefly visited the Mediterranean Sea. She made a regular deployment to the latter area from November 1946 to April 1947, visiting the disputed city of Trieste twice during that cruise. Portsmouth again operated in the Mediterranean in late 1947 and early 1948, then served along the East Coast and in the Caribbean. She was decommissioned in mid-June 1949, in response to major reductions in the Navy's budget. USS Portsmouth remained in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet until stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in December 1970. She was sold for scrapping in March 1974.