Engineering:Oregon City-class cruiser

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Short description: Heavy cruiser class
USS Rochester (CA-124) with tugs at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard on 20 September 1953 (NH 84584).jpg
USS Rochester on 20 September 1953
Class overview
Name: Oregon City class
Builders: Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Fore River Shipyard
Operators: US flag 48 stars.svg United States Navy
Preceded by: Baltimore class
Succeeded by: Des Moines class
Subclasses: Albany class
Built: 1944–1951
In commission: 1946–1961[note 1]
Planned: 10
Completed: 4
Cancelled: 6
Retired: 4
General characteristics
Type: Heavy cruiser
Displacement: 13,260 long-tons (standard)
Length:
  • 664 ft (202 m) wl
  • 673 ft 5 in (205.26 m) oa
Beam: 70 ft 10 in (21.59 m)
Draft: 26 ft 4 in (8.03 m)
Propulsion: General Electric steam turbines turning 120,000 hp (89,000 kW)
Speed: 32.4 knots (60.0 km/h; 37.3 mph)
Boats & landing
craft carried:		 2 × lifeboats
Complement: 1,142 officers and enlisted
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • AN/SPS-6 air-search radar
  • AN/SPS-8A height-finding radar
Armament:
  • As Built:
  • 3 × triple 8"/55 caliber guns
  • 6 × twin 5"/38 caliber guns
  • 11 × quad and 2 x twin Bofors 40 mm guns
  • 8 × single Oerlikon 20 mm cannons
  • Post-1953 (Albany, Rochester):
  • 3 × triple 8"/55 caliber guns
  • 6 × twin 5"/38 caliber guns
  • 10 × twin 3"/50 caliber guns
Aircraft carried: 4 × Vought OS2U Kingfishers
Aviation facilities:
  • 2 × aircraft catapults
  • Helipad (later conversion)

The Oregon City class was a class of heavy cruisers of the United States Navy. Although ten ships of this class were planned, only four were completed – one of those as a command ship. The three ships completed as cruisers were in commission from 1946 to 1980, one having been converted to a guided missile cruiser (CG).

Design and development

The Oregon City-class cruisers were a modified version of the previous Baltimore-class design; the main difference was a more compact pyramidal superstructure with single trunked funnel, intended to improve the arcs of fire of the anti-aircraft (AA) guns. The same type of modification also differentiated the Cleveland and Fargo classes, and to a lesser degree the Atlanta and Juneau classes of light cruisers.[1]

History

Ten ships were authorized for the class with three being completed and the fourth suspended during construction. The final six ships were cancelled, five after being laid down.[2] Construction on the incomplete fourth ship was resumed in 1948 and the ship served as a command ship Northampton (CLC-1). All three completed cruisers were commissioned in 1946. Oregon City was decommissioned after only 22 months of service, one of the shortest active careers of any World War II-era cruiser. Albany was later converted into a guided missile ship, becoming the lead ship of the Albany class and served until 1980. A similar conversion was planned for Rochester but was cancelled.

Ships in class

Ships in class[2]
Name Hull Number Builder Laid down Launched Commissioned/
Recommissioned 		Decommissioned Fate
Oregon City CA-122 Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts 8 April 1944 9 June 1945 16 February 1946 15 December 1947 Struck 1 November 1970; Sold for scrap, 17 August 1973
Albany CA-123 6 Mar 1944 11 Jun 1945 15 June 1946 30 June 1958 Converted to Guided Missile Cruiser[3] Struck 30 June 1985; Sold for scrap, 12 August 1990
CG-10 3 November 1962 29 August 1980
Rochester CA-124 29 May 1944 28 August 1945 20 December 1946 15 August 1961 Struck 1 October 1973; Sold for scrap, 24 September 1974
Northampton CA-125 31 August 1944 27 January 1951 7 March 1953 8 April 1970 Converted to command ship during construction – Struck and sold for scrap, 31 Dec 1977
CLC-1
Cambridge CA-126 16 December 1944 N/A Cancelled 12 August 1945 and scrapped on slip
Bridgeport CA-127 13 January 1945 Cancelled 12 August 1945 and scrapped on slip
Kansas City CA-128 9 July 1945 Cancelled 12 August 1945 and scrapped on slip
Tulsa CA-129 N/A Cancelled 12 August 1945
Norfolk CA-137 Philadelphia Naval Shipyard 27 December 1944 Cancelled 12 August 1945 and scrapped on slip
Scranton CA-138 27 December 1944 Cancelled 12 August 1945 and scrapped on slip

Gallery

  • USS Oregon City

  • USS Albany

  • USS Rochester

  • USS Northampton

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Albany was converted to a guided missile cruiser and as such was in commission from 1962 to 1980, but this was a totally different class of ship than an all-gun heavy cruiser. Northampton was decommissioned in 1970, but was completed as a command ship. Rochester, the last of the Oregon City class "gun cruisers" was decommissioned in 1961.

References

  1. ↑ Norman Friedman, U.S. Cruisers, An Illustrated Design History 1984 ISBN:978-0-87021-718-0 [page needed]
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Whitley 1999, p. 269.
  3. ↑ Gardiner and Chumbley 1995, p. 578.

Bibliography

  • Gardiner, Robert and Stephen Chumbley (editors). Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995. Annapolis, Maryland US: Naval Institute Press, 1995. ISBN:1-55750-132-7.
  • Whitley, M.J. Cruisers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. London: Brockhampton Press, 1999. ISBN:1-86019-874-0,

External links



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