Oregon City-class cruiser

Short description: Heavy cruiser class

USS Rochester on 20 September 1953

Class overview
Name:|  Oregon City class
Builders:|  Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Fore River Shipyard
Operators:|  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).

## Contents

* 1 Design and development
* 2 History
* 3 Ships in class
* 4 Gallery
* 5 See also
* 6 Notes
* 7 References
* 8 Bibliography
* 9 External links

## 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

* Albany-class cruiser
* List of cruisers of the United States Navy

## 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 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

* Global Security.org – Oregon City class cruiser
* DANFS

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