Denver was a Cleveland-class light cruiser, CL-58, the second ship of that name, for the city in Colorado. New York Shipbuilding at Camden launched her on 4 April 1942 and commissioned her on 16 October 1942, with Captain R. B. Carney in command.
On 6 March 1943 she went up to shell the airfield at Vila, on Kolombangara. The same night the force met two Japanese destroyers, Minegumo and Murasame, coming out of the gulf, and sank them in Blackett Strait. That fire is not credited to one ship.
On the night of 1–2 November 1943 she was in Merrill's cruiser line off Empress Augusta Bay, with Montpelier, Cleveland, and Columbia. The cruisers sank Sendai. That fire is not credited to one of them. Three 8-inch shells hit Denver and did not explode. She was not sunk. The cruiser division's Navy Unit Commendation includes that night.
On 13 November, still off Bougainville, an aerial torpedo hit her. It knocked out her power and her communications and killed twenty men. The tug Sioux towed her to Port Purvis. Pawnee towed her on to Espiritu Santo. Permanent repairs were made at Mare Island. She arrived there on 2 January 1944.
She came back. On the night of 24 October 1944 she was in Surigao Strait with the cruisers and the old battleships. The Japanese ships lost there are not credited to one ship. Mogami was finished later that day by Akebono. Shigure was the only ship of Nishimura's column still underway. Denver was not sunk.
She covered landings through the Philippines and Borneo, then the evacuation of Allied prisoners at Wakayama after the surrender. She was decommissioned on 7 February 1947 and sold on 29 February 1960. Eleven battle stars.