Baltimore-class cruiser
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The ''Baltimore''-class heavy cruisers were a large class of heavy cruisers in the United States Navy commissioned during and shortly after World War II.The ''Baltimore''-class were the largest cruisers of World War II by tonnage. Fourteen ''Baltimore''s were completed, more than any other class of heavy cruiser (the British had 15 vessels planned, but only 13 completed), along with three ships of the sub-class. The ''Baltimores'' also were the first cruisers in the US Navy to be designed without the limitations of the
London Naval Treaty The London Naval Treaty, officially the Treaty for the Limitation and Reduction of Naval Armament, was an agreement between the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Italy, and the United States that was signed on 22 April 1930. Seeking to address is ...
. Fast and heavily armed, the ''Baltimore'' cruisers were mainly used in World War II to protect the fast
aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...
s in battle groups from air attack. Additionally, their main guns and secondary guns were regularly used to bombard land targets in support of amphibious landings. After the war, only six ''Baltimore''s (''St. Paul'', ''Macon'', ''Toledo'', ''Columbus'', ''Bremerton'', and ''Helena'') and two ''Oregon City''-class ships (''Albany'' and ''Rochester'') remained in service, while the rest were moved to the
reserve fleet A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed; they are partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed"; a ...
. However, all ships except ''Boston'', ''Canberra'', ''Chicago'' and ''Fall River'' were reactivated for the Korean War. Except for ''St. Paul'', all the ships retaining all-gun configurations had very short (18 years or less) service lives, and by 1971 were decommissioned, and started showing up in the scrap-sale lists. However, four ''Baltimore''-class cruisers were refitted and converted into some of the first
guided missile cruisers A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several h ...
in the world, becoming two of the three and two cruisers. The last of these was decommissioned in 1980, with the ''Chicago'' lasting until 1991 in reserve. No example of the ''Baltimore'' class still exists.


History


Planning and construction

Immediately after the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, the US Navy initiated studies regarding a new class of heavy cruiser that led to construction of the ''Baltimore'' class. With the start of the war, the limitations instituted by the Second London Naval Treaty, which had completely banned the construction of heavy cruisers, became obsolete. The ''Baltimore'' class was based partly on , a heavy cruiser from 1937, which represented the transition from inter-war to World War II designs. It was also based partly on the , a light cruiser that was then being built. In profile, the ''Baltimore''s looked very much like the ''Cleveland''-class light cruisers, the obvious difference being that the larger ''Baltimore''s carried nine guns in three triple turrets, compared to the twelve guns in four triple turrets of the ''Cleveland''s. The construction of the first four ships of the ''Baltimore'' class began on July 1, 1940, and four more were ordered before the year was out. A second order, which consisted of 16 more ships, was approved on August 7, 1942. Despite the heavy losses in cruisers during the first 14 months of the Pacific War, the completion of the ships was delayed, because the Navy gave priority to the construction of the lighter ''Cleveland''-class ships, as more of the lighter ships could be completed more quickly for deployment in carrier groups. With the construction of the first eight ''Baltimore''-class ships moving slowly, the US Navy used the time to review the initial plans and improve them. The new, modified design was itself delayed, so that construction had begun on a further six ships—for a total of 14—using the original design before the revisions were completed. The final three ships ordered were converted to the second design, known as the ''Oregon City'' class. Between 1943 and 1947, 17 ships of the ''Baltimore'' and ''Oregon City'' classes entered service. Construction of the eighteenth ship () was suspended, to eventually be completed as a flagship/command ship in 1950. Five more were laid down, but cancelled and scrapped before launch, and one was never started before being cancelled. The largest contractor for the construction of the ''Baltimore''-class ships was Bethlehem Steel, which produced eight ships at the Fore River Shipyard in
Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Greater Boston, Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 1 ...
. New York Shipbuilding in
Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2020 ...
, built four and the
Philadelphia Naval Shipyard The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was an important naval shipyard of the United States for almost two centuries. Philadelphia's original navy yard, begun in 1776 on Front Street and Federal Street in what is now the Pennsport section of the cit ...
in Philadelphia completed two. The ships were named after cities in the United States, the only exception being , which was named in honor of (sunk at the battle of Savo Island), which had been named after
Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...
, the
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n capital. The classification "CA" originally stood for "armored cruiser" but was later used for heavy cruisers.


Service

Of the seventeen (including the three ''Oregon City''s) completed ships, twelve were commissioned before the
Japanese capitulation The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Nav ...
on September 2, 1945, though only seven took part in the battles of the
Pacific Theater The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
and one in the European Theater. By 1947, nine of the ''Baltimore''s had been decommissioned and placed in the reserve fleet, while seven (''Helena'', ''Toledo'', ''Macon'', ''Columbus'', ''Saint Paul'', ''Rochester'', and ''Albany'') remained in service. However, at the start of the 1950s, six were reactivated (''Macon'' had been decommissioned for four short months: June–October 1950), making thirteen available for deployment in the Korean War. Six of these were used for escort missions and coastal bombardment in Korea, while the other seven reinforced fleets in other areas of the globe. Four ships remained out of service: the ''Fall River'' was never reactivated, the ''Boston'' and ''Canberra'' were refitted as ''Boston''-class guided missile cruisers (CGs), and the ''Chicago'' was reactivated after being converted to an ''Albany''-class CG. After the Korean War ended and due to the high cost of keeping them in service; starting in 1954 with ''Quincy'', some of the ''Baltimore''s decommissioned for good. By 1969, six ships were still in commission; five (''Boston'', ''Canberra'', ''Chicago'', ''Columbus'', ''Albany'') as CGs, and only one unmodified ship, the ''Saint Paul'', which remained active to serve in the Vietnam War, providing gunfire support. ''Saint Paul'' was the only member of the class to serve continuously from commissioning (serving 26 years) and was finally decommissioned in 1971. ''Boston'' and ''Canberra'' retired in 1970, ''Columbus'' (serving 29.5 years) in 1975, and finally ''Chicago'' in 1980. Starting in 1972 all fourteen of the original ''Baltimore''s were sold for scrap after being decommissioned, with ''Chicago'' being the final one broken up in 1991.


Damage

In World War II, only the was damaged through enemy fire, when she was struck with an air-dropped torpedo on October 13, 1944, which killed 23 men in the engine room and left the ship immobilized. The ship was hit amidships and both boiler rooms were flooded with 3,000 tons of seawater. She was towed away by
sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...
, and as a result both ships missed the crucial
Battle of Leyte Gulf The Battle of Leyte Gulf ( fil, Labanan sa golpo ng Leyte, lit=Battle of Leyte gulf; ) was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some criteria the largest naval battle in history, with over 200,000 naval personnel involved. It was fou ...
. A year later, repairs were completed at the Boston Naval Shipyard and ''Canberra'' was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet. In June 1945, had her entire bow ripped off in a typhoon, but there were no casualties. The ship struggled through winds to Guam, where provisional repairs were made before sailing to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for a full reconstruction. ''Pittsburgh''s detached bow stayed afloat, and was later towed into Guam and scrapped. During the Korean War, a fire in a forward gun turret on 12 April 1952, killed 30 men on ''St. Paul''. Then, in 1953, the same ship was hit by a coastal battery, though without injury to the crew. ''Helena'' in 1951 and ''Los Angeles'' in 1953 were also struck by coastal batteries without injuries during the war. In June 1968, ''Boston'', along with its escort, the
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
n
destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in ...
, were victims of friendly fire when planes of the US Air Force mistook them for enemy targets and fired on them with
AIM-7 Sparrow The AIM-7 Sparrow (Air Intercept Missile) is an American, medium-range semi-active radar homing air-to-air missile operated by the United States Air Force, United States Navy, and United States Marine Corps, as well as other various air forces ...
missiles. Only ''Hobart'' was seriously damaged; although ''Boston'' was hit, the warhead of the missile failed to detonate.


Missile conversions

By the latter half of the 1940s, the navy was planning warships equipped with missiles. In 1946 the
battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...
and in 1948 the
seaplane tender A seaplane tender is a boat or ship that supports the operation of seaplanes. Some of these vessels, known as seaplane carriers, could not only carry seaplanes but also provided all the facilities needed for their operation; these ships are rega ...
were converted to test this idea. Both were equipped with, among other weapons, with RIM-2 Terrier missiles, which were also used after 1952 on the first series of operational missile cruisers. Two ''Baltimore''-class cruisers were refitted in this first series, and . These were the first operational guided missile cruisers in the world. They were designated the ''Boston'' class and returned to service in 1955 and 1956 respectively, reclassified as CAG-1 and CAG-2—"G" for "guided missile" and maintaining the "A" because they retained their heavy guns. In the following years six light cruisers of the ''Cleveland'' class were equipped with guided missiles and in 1957 the first ship designed from the start to be a missile cruiser was completed (). Ships also continued to be converted, so starting in 1958, two ''Baltimore''-class cruisers, and , along with an , (considered a sub-class of the ''Baltimore'' class) , were converted to the new ''Albany'' class. These were recommissioned in 1962 and 1964, respectively. Two more ships were planned to be refitted as ''Albany''s, the ''Baltimore'' class and the ''Oregon City''-class but these conversions were cancelled because of cost. As opposed to the ''Boston''-class refit, the ''Albany''-class refit required a total reconstruction. Both entire weapons systems and the superstructure were removed and replaced with new ones; the cost of one refit was $175 million. Because no high-caliber guns were retained, the ''Albany'' class ships received the designation ''CG'' rather than ''CAG''. In addition to the operational conversions, four ''Baltimore''-class ships, , , and , received modifications to operate the
SSM-N-8 Regulus The SSM-N-8A Regulus or the Regulus I was a United States Navy-developed ship-and-submarine-launched, nuclear-capable turbojet-powered second generation cruise missile, deployed from 1955 to 1964. Its development was an outgrowth of U.S. Navy ...
cruise missile A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhe ...
between 1956 and 1958 on an experimental basis. Regulus was a nuclear-armed weapon that was primarily used by the US Navy in the nuclear deterrent role. Although associated primarily with submarines, the four ''Baltimore''-class cruisers fitted to operate the missile undertook operational taskings with it to the Western Pacific during the experimental period. File:USS Toledo (CA-133) launching Regulus missile c1956.jpg, USS ''Toledo'' launches a Regulus cruise missile File:USS Boston (CAG-1) underway at sea, circa in early 1957.jpg, USS ''Boston'', the first of two ''Boston''-class conversions File:USS Chicago (CG-11) underway in the Coral Sea, in October 1979.jpg, USS ''Chicago'' after reconstruction as an ''Albany''-class cruiser


Engineering and equipment


Hull

''Baltimore''-class cruisers were long and wide. Since the hull was not altered in either the ''Albany'' or the ''Boston'' class, these numbers were the same for those ships as well, but the alterations differentiated them in all other categories. Fully loaded, original ''Baltimore''s displaced of water. Their draft was . At the bow, the top level of the hull lay above the water; at the stern, . The funnels were high, and the highest point on the masts was at . The
superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...
occupied about a third of the ship's length and was divided into two deckhouses. The gap between these housed the two thin funnels. Two masts, one a bit forward and the other a bit aft of the funnels, accommodated the positioning electronics. The vertical belt armor was thick and the horizontal deck armor was up to thick. The turrets were also heavily armored, between thick, while the conning tower had up to . The ''Boston'' class had a draft about deeper in the water, and displaced about more water than their former sister ships. Because the ''Boston''s were only partially refitted, the forward third of the ship remained virtually untouched. The first serious change was the combination of what were two funnels on the ''Balitmore''s to just one, thicker funnel, which still stood in the gap between the two deckhouses. Because the missiles required more guiding electronic systems, the forward mast was replaced with a four-legged lattice mast with an enlarged platform. The most conspicuous change was of course the addition of the missile-launching apparatus and its magazine of missiles, which took up the entire back half of the ship and replaced the guns which had been there. The three ''Albany''s were completely rebuilt from the deck level up; except for the hull they bore very little resemblance to their former sister ships. The deckhouse now took up nearly two thirds of the ship's length and was two decks high for almost the entire length. Above that lay the box-shaped bridge which was one of the most recognizable markers of the class. The two masts and funnels were combined into the so-called " macks, combining "mast" and "stack" (smokestack), where the electronics platforms were attached to the tops of the funnels rather than attached to masts rising all the way from the deck. The highest points on the forward mack was more than above the water line. Such heights could only be achieved with the use of
aluminum alloys An aluminium alloy (or aluminum alloy; see spelling differences) is an alloy in which aluminium (Al) is the predominant metal. The typical alloying elements are copper, magnesium, manganese, silicon, tin, nickel and zinc. There are two principa ...
, which were used to a great extent in the construction of the superstructures. Despite this, the fully loaded displacement of the ''Albany''s grew to more than .


Propulsion

The ''Baltimore'' cruisers were propelled with
steam power A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...
. Each ship had four shafts, each with a
propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...
. The shafts were turned by four
steam turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...
s, the steam produced by four boilers, which at full speed reached pressures of up to . The ''Baltimore''s each had two engine rooms and two funnels, although this was changed in the ''Boston''s, which had only one funnel for all four turbines, as noted above. The high speed was around and the performance of the engine was around . The original ''Baltimore''s could carry up to of fuel, putting the maximum range at a cruising speed of at about . The increased displacement of the modified ''Boston'' and ''Albany'' classes meant their range was reduced to about 9000 and respectively, despite increases in fuel capacity to 2600 and 2500 tons.


Armament

The main armament of the ''Baltimore'' class consisted of three turrets, each with three Mark 15
8"/55 caliber gun The 8"/55 caliber gun (spoken "eight-inch-fifty-five-caliber") formed the main battery of United States Navy heavy cruisers and two early aircraft carriers. United States naval gun terminology indicates the gun barrel had an internal diameter of ...
s (Mark 12 in ''Baltimore''). Two of these were located forward and one aft. They fired a 335-pound (152 kg) shell out to a maximum range of 30,050 yards (27,480 m). The armor-piercing shell could penetrate six inches of armor plating at . The secondary armament consisted of twelve
5"/38 caliber gun The Mark 12 5"/38 caliber gun was a United States dual-purpose naval gun, but also installed in single-purpose mounts on a handful of ships. The 38 caliber barrel was a mid-length compromise between the previous United States standard 5"/51 low ...
s in six twin mounts. Two mounts were located on each side of the superstructure and two were behind the main batteries fore and aft. These guns could be used against aircraft and surface targets. Their maximum range for surface targets was and they could reach aircraft at altitudes of up to . In addition, the ships had numerous light anti-aircraft weapons: 12 quadruple mounts of
Bofors 40 mm Bofors 40 mm gun is a name or designation given to two models of 40 mm calibre anti-aircraft guns designed and developed by the Swedish company Bofors: *Bofors 40 mm L/60 gun - developed in the 1930s, widely used in World War II and into the 1990s ...
guns (or 11 quadruple mounts and 2 twin mounts on ships with only one rear aircraft crane) as well as 20–28 Oerlikon 20 mm cannon, depending on when a given ship was commissioned. After World War II the 20 mm anti-aircraft guns were removed without replacement, due to limited effectiveness against kamikaze attacks, and because it was expected they would be completely ineffective against postwar aircraft. The 40 mm Bofors were replaced with
3"/50 caliber gun The 3"/50 caliber gun (spoken "three-inch fifty-caliber") in United States naval gun terminology indicates the gun fired a projectile in diameter, and the barrel was 50 calibers long (barrel length is 3 in × 50 = ). Different guns (identifi ...
s in the 1950s. Four ships, , , , and , were also each equipped with three nuclear cruise missiles of the
SSM-N-8 Regulus The SSM-N-8A Regulus or the Regulus I was a United States Navy-developed ship-and-submarine-launched, nuclear-capable turbojet-powered second generation cruise missile, deployed from 1955 to 1964. Its development was an outgrowth of U.S. Navy ...
type between 1956 and 1958. Ultimately, though, the deployment of such missiles on surface ships remained an experiment, which was only undertaken until the 1960s. The successor UGM-27 Polaris was carried only by nuclear submarines. In the late 1950s, plans were made to fit Polaris to missile conversions of these cruisers, but the only missile cruiser conversion ever so equipped was the , (four tubes), and the missiles were never actually shipped.


Electronics

Initially, the ''Baltimore''s were equipped with SG radar systems for surface targets and SK systems for airborne targets. The range of these systems for surface targets, depending on the size of the target was between . The SK could detect bombers at medium altitudes from . The radar systems were replaced in the Korean war with the more effective SPS-6 (built by Westinghouse Electric or later with the SPS-12 (from the Radio Corporation of America combined with a SPS-8 as a height-finder. With these systems the detection range for bombers was increased to . The ships in active service longer received further upgrades in their final years: the SPS-6 was replaced with the SPS-37 (also from Westinghouse) and the SPS-12 was replaced with the SPS-10 from Raytheon. With this equipment planes could be detected at over away. The ''Baltimore'' class was equipped from the start with electronic and electromechanical fire control systems to determine the fire-parameters by which targets over the
horizon The horizon is the apparent line that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This line divides all viewing directions based on whether i ...
could be hit. The main guns were controlled by a Mark 34 fire control system connected to an MK 8 radar. The 5-inch/38 dual purpose guns were guided by two Mk 37 systems with Mk-4 radar. Later, the fire control radars were replaced along with the main radar systems. The fire control systems remained the same except that the new 3 in guns were fitted upgraded to Mk 56 with Mk 35 radars.


Aircraft

The onboard flight systems of the ''Baltimore''-class cruisers during World War II consisted of two aircraft catapults on the side edges of the aft deck. Between the catapults was a sliding hatchway which was the roof of an onboard hangar. Directly under the hatch was an aircraft elevator. The hangar had room to accommodate up to four aircraft at one time, one to port forward of the elevator, one to port abeam the elevator, one starboard abeam, and one on the elevator itself. The first four ships of the class had two cranes each, while the later models had only one. At full speed, Vought OS2U Kingfisher could be launched from these catapults and later Curtiss SC-1 Seahawk as well. These planes were used for reconnaissance,
anti-submarine An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...
, and rescue missions. The planes were seaplanes, and after their missions would land in the water near the cruiser and be lifted back up into the ship by the crane or cranes in the rear and reset upon their catapults. In the 1950s, the catapults and the accompanying capacity to launch airplanes were removed, though the cranes were left and the hangars used to house helicopters, ship's boats or the workings of the Regulus missile system. ''Macon'' in 1948, had a slightly elevated
helipad A helipad is a landing area or platform for helicopters and powered lift aircraft. While helicopters and powered lift aircraft are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fabricated helipad provides a clearly marked hard s ...
installed instead of the catapults. Because of the helipad, the available firing angles for the main guns were sharply narrowed and the experiment was therefore quickly abandoned and not attempted on any other ships of the class. The ships of the ''Albany'' class did have an area on the deck for helicopters to land, but no platform.


Later designs

The hull of the ''Baltimore'' class was used for the development of a number of other classes. The ''Oregon City''-class cruisers differed only slightly from ''Baltimores'', because they were originally planned as ''Baltimore''-class cruisers but were constructed based on modified plans. Though nine ships were planned, only three were completed. The main differences between the two classes is the reduction to a single-trunked funnel, a redesigned forward superstructure that was placed further aft, primarily to decrease top-heaviness and increase the arcs of fire for the guns. A fourth ''Oregon City''-class cruiser, the , was ultimately completed as a light command cruiser. Despite having a heavy cruiser hull, she was classed as a light cruiser because her main armament was smaller than 8 inches. The was an entirely new heavy cruiser design that attempted to improve upon the ''Baltimore'' class. While the basic deck and machinery layout was largely unchanged, this class carried the first fully automated high-caliber guns on a warship and had improved damage protection features. None was constructed in time to take part in World War II. The plans for the
light aircraft carrier A light aircraft carrier, or light fleet carrier, is an aircraft carrier that is smaller than the standard carriers of a navy. The precise definition of the type varies by country; light carriers typically have a complement of aircraft only one-h ...
were adapted from the drafts of the ''Baltimore'' hull design, including the layout of the engines. The hulls of these ships were, however, significantly widened. The ''Saipan''-class ships were completed in 1947 and 1948, but by the mid-1950s, they proved too small for the planes of the jet age and were converted for use as communication and
command ship Command ships serve as the flagships of the commander of a fleet. They provide communications, office space, and accommodations for a fleet commander and their staff, and serve to coordinate fleet activities. An auxiliary command ship features ...
s.


Crew

The size of the crew of a ''Baltimore''-class cruiser varied by era and by tactical situation. Different sources also differ about the numbers. Naturally, the crew sizes were larger during wartime and furthermore, some cruisers—including all three of the modified ''Albany'' class—were used as flagships and therefore housed an
admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
and his staff. At launch, during and shortly after the war, the crews consisted of around 60 officers and about 1000 rank and file crewmen. When an admiral's staff was aboard during wartime, this number could swell to 80 officers and 1500 crewmen. On the ''Boston''s, the standard crew, even in peacetime and without an admiral's staff, was 80 officers and around 1650 crewmen. Because the ''Albany'' class was equipped almost exclusively for guided missiles, it required fewer crew than the ''Boston''s, and was roughly comparable numerically to the basic ''Baltimore''. Compared to today's crew sizes, these numbers seem high. The modern is manned by about 400. These differences are mostly due to the much less manpower-intensive nature of modern weapon systems.


Ships in class

(Note: the three ''Oregon City''-class ships are not listed here)


See also

* List of cruisers of the United States Navy *
List of ship classes of the Second World War The List of ship classes of World War II is an alphabetical list of all ship classes that served in World War II. Only actual classes are included as opposed to unique ships (which are still included if they were the only one of a class to be buil ...


Notes


References


External links


StatisticsWebsite of a Baltimore Class Cruiser
{{WWII US ships Cruiser classes