The ''Oregon City'' class was a class of
heavy cruisers of 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 ...
. 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 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 and classes, and to a lesser degree the and classes of
light cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to th ...
s.
[Norman Friedman, ''U.S. Cruisers, An Illustrated Design History'' 1984 ]
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.
Construction on the incomplete fourth ship was resumed in 1948 and the ship served as a command ship . 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 and served until 1980. A similar conversion was planned for ''Rochester'' but was cancelled.
Ships in class
Gallery
File:USS Oregon City (CA-122) underway at sea on 17 June 1946 (80-G-262557).jpg, USS ''Oregon City''
File:USS Albany (CA-123) underway 1955.jpg, USS ''Albany''
File:USS Rochester (CA-124) in port c1959.jpg, USS ''Rochester''
File:USS Northampton (CLC-1) underway c1959.jpg, USS ''Northampton''
See also
*
''Albany''-class cruiser
*
List of cruisers of the United States Navy
This list of cruisers of the United States Navy includes all ships that were ever called "cruiser", either publicly or in internal documentation.
The Navy has 17 cruisers in active service, as of 29 September 2022, with the last tentatively s ...
Notes
References
Bibliography
* Gardiner, Robert and Stephen Chumbley (editors). ''Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995''. Annapolis, Maryland USA: Naval Institute Press, 1995. .
* Whitley, M.J. ''Cruisers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia''. London: Brockhampton Press, 1999. ,
External links
Global Security.org – Oregon City class cruiser
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oregon City Class Cruiser
Cruiser classes