Originally built as light cruisers (CL) in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, in 1957 three ships were re-designated as ''Galveston''-class guided missile light cruisers (CLG) and fitted with the Talos long-range

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

system. During the two-year refit under project SCB 140, the aft superstructure was completely replaced and all aft guns were removed to make room for the twin-arm Talos launcher and a 46-missile storage magazine. Three large masts were also installed in order to hold a variety of

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

s, missile guidance, and

communications Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...

systems. ''Little Rock'' and ''Oklahoma City'' were simultaneously converted into fleet

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

s under SCB 140A, which involved removing two forward dual and one triple turrets, and replacing them with a massively rebuilt and expanded forward superstructure. ''Galveston'', in the non-flagship configuration, retained the ''Cleveland''-class's standard forward weapons: three dual and two triple turrets. A similar pattern was followed in converting three other ships (''Providence'', ''Springfield'', and ''Topeka'') to operate the Terrier

system, creating the . ''Providence'' and ''Springfield'' were outfitted as fleet flagships, but ''Topeka'' was not. Like the ''Providence'' class cruisers, the ''Galveston'' class ships suffered from serious stability problems caused by the topweight of the missile system. Indeed, the ''Galveston'' class ships were more affected by heavy Talos missile system than the Terrier equipped ships. Weight reduction measures and the use of ballast were necessary to improve stability. The cruisers, particularly ''Galveston'', also suffered from hogging of the hull. All three ''Galveston''-class ships were decommissioned to the reserve fleet between 1970 and 1979. In the 1975 cruiser realignment, ''Little Rock'' and ''Oklahoma City'' were reclassified as guided missile cruisers (CG). The ships were stricken from the Naval Vessel Register between 1973 and 1979. ''Galveston'' was scrapped in the mid-1970s, ''Oklahoma City'' was sunk as a target in 1999, and ''Little Rock'' is a museum ship in Buffalo, NY.

Ships in class

References

External links

hazegray.orgUS Naval Historical Center
{{Galveston class cruiser Cruiser classes

Ships in class

See also

References

External links