| Oregon City-class cruiser | |
|---|---|
 USS Oregon City (CA-122) | |
| Class overview | |
| Name: | Oregon City class cruiser |
| Operators: |
 United States Navy |
| Preceded by: | Baltimore-class cruiser |
| Succeeded by: | Des Moines-class cruiser |
| In commission: | 1946–1970[note 1] |
| Planned: | 10 |
| Completed: | 4 (1 completed as a command ship USS Northampton (CLC-1) |
| Cancelled: | 6 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Heavy cruiser |
| Displacement: | 17,000 tons Full Load |
| Length: | 673 ft 5 in (205.26 m) |
| Beam: | 70 ft 10 in (21.59 m) |
| Draft: | 26 ft 4 in (8.03 m) |
| Propulsion: | General Electric turbines turning 120,000 hp (89,000 kW) |
| Speed: | 32.4 knots (60.0 km/h; 37.3 mph) |
| Complement: | 1,142 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: |
|
| Aircraft carried: | Four amphibious scout planes |
The Oregon City class were a class of heavy cruisers of the United States Navy. Although it was intended to build ten, only four were completed – one of those as a command ship. The three cruisers were in commission from 1946 to 1970.
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 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.[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 ships were commissioned in 1946. Oregon City was decommissioned after only 18 months of service, probably the shortest active life of any WWII-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[]
Data from [2]
| Hull Number | Name | Builder | Laid down | Launched | Completed | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CA 122 | USS Oregon City | Bethlehem Steel | 8 April 1944 | 9 June 1945 | 16 February 1946 | Stricken 1 Nov 1970 |
| CA 123 | USS Albany | Bethlehem Steel | 6 Mar 1944 | 30 Jun 1945 | 11 Jun 1946 | Converted to Guided Missile Cruiser – Stricken 30 June 1985[3] |
| CA-124 | USS Rochester | Bethlehem Steel | 29 May 1944 | 28 August 1945 | 20 December 1946 | Stricken 1 October 1973 |
| CA-125 | USS Northampton | Bethlehem Steel | 31 August 1944 | 27 January 1951 | 7 March 1953 | Converted to command ship during construction – Stricken 31 Dec 1977 |
| CA-126 | USS Cambridge | Bethlehem Steel | 16 December 1944 | N/A | N/A | Cancelled 12 August 1945 |
| CA-127 | USS Bridgeport | Bethlehem Steel | 13 January 1945 | N/A | N/A | Cancelled 12 August 1945 |
| CA-128 | USS Kansas City | Bethlehem Steel | N/A | N/A | N/A | Cancelled 12 August 1945 |
| CA-129 | USS Tulsa | Bethlehem Steel | N/A | N/A | N/A | Cancelled 12 August 1945 |
| CA-137 | USS Norfolk | Philadelphia Naval Shipyard | N/A | N/A | N/A | Cancelled 12 August 1945 |
| CA-138 | USS Scranton | Philadelphia Naval Shipyard | N/A | N/A | N/A | Cancelled 12 August 1945 |
See also[]
References[]
- Notes
- ↑ Albany was converted to a guided missile cruiser and as such was in commission from 1962–1980, but this was a totally different class of ship to a heavy cruiser. Northampton was decommissioned in 1970 as the last of the Oregon City class "gun cruisers".
- Citations
- ↑ Norman Friedman, U.S. Cruisers, An Illustrated Design History 1984 ISBN 978-0-87021-718-0[page needed]
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Whitley 1999, p. 269.
- ↑ 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 USA: 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[]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Oregon City class cruiser. |
| |||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The original article can be found at Oregon City-class cruiser and the edit history here.