300px|thumb|right|Launch of Denver at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey, 4 April 1942
USS Denver (CL-58) was a light cruiser. Denver launched on 4 April 1942 by New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, New Jersey; sponsored by Miss L. J. Stapleton, daughter of the Mayor of Denver; and commissioned on 15 October 1942, Captain Robert Carney in command. It was the second ship named for the city of Denver, Colorado.
Service history
1943
thumb|Guns firing during the [[Battle of Blackett Strait]]
Denver sailed from Philadelphia on 23 January 1943, and arrived at Efate, New Hebrides on 14 February. Thomas Darden was in command. The new cruiser first saw combat in the bombardment of Vila on Kolombangara in the Solomon Islands, on 6 March. During this action her force engaged and sank the Japanese destroyers and in the Battle of Blackett Strait. Continuing her operations in the Solomons, Denver joined the bombardment of Ballale Island on 29–30 June in conjunction with the invasion landings on New Georgia, then remained in the area on patrol.