The ''Pensacola'' class was a class of
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 ...
heavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range and high speed, armed generally with naval guns of roughly 203 mm (8 inches) in caliber, whose design parameters were dictated by the Washington Naval T ...
, the first "treaty cruisers" designed under the limitations set by the
Washington Naval Treaty
The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was a treaty signed during 1922 among the major Allies of World War I, which agreed to prevent an arms race by limiting naval construction. It was negotiated at the Washington Nav ...
, which limited cruisers to a maximum of displacement and a maximum main battery caliber of .
Description
In an effort to remain within treaty limits, while still mounting a very heavy main battery of ten guns, the hull was of welded construction, and the armor
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was thin (varying from in thickness). This was inadequate to protect her vitals from enemy 8-inch shells and was no thicker than the armor on gun cruisers. In fact, and were classified as
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 due to their minimal armor until re-designated in July 1931, as
heavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range and high speed, armed generally with naval guns of roughly 203 mm (8 inches) in caliber, whose design parameters were dictated by the Washington Naval T ...
s in accord with international practice of designating all cruisers with guns larger than 6-inch as heavy cruisers.
Their main armament consisted of ten 8-inch guns, in two twin turrets on the main deck, and two triple turrets two decks above, making it one of the two US Navy ship classes (besides the s) to have different-sized turrets for main armament. All the guns in each turret were mounted in a single slide, and were unable to elevate independently of each other. Also, unlike the very few other ships with different sized main battery turrets (''Nevada''-class battleships and ''
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''-class battleships) the ''Pensacolas'' had the larger turrets
superfiring over the smaller turrets, whereas the others had the larger turrets on "bottom". Placing heavier turrets above lighter ones allows for finer lines for a given length, however this causes top heaviness and reduces stability.
Unfortunately, because of the rather unusual main battery layout and their heavy tripod fore-masts, they were top-heavy and prone to excessive rolling. This combined with low freeboard forward made them inferior seaboats compared to later designs. Rework in the shipyards modified the hull and superstructure in the 1930s to eliminate the rolling.
The Navy built only two ships in this class before switching to the design. Many of the deficiencies of the ''Pensacola''s were corrected by reducing the main battery to three triple turrets (two forward, one aft) and adding another upper deck forward of amidships.
Ships in class
See also
*
County-class cruiser
The County class was a class of heavy cruisers built for the Royal Navy in the years between the First and Second World Wars. They were the first post-war cruisers constructed for the Royal Navy and were designed within the limits of the Wash ...
, a contemporary class of RN cruisers built to the same Treaty limits
*
Furutaka-class cruiser, a contemporary class of IJN cruisers built to the same Treaty limits
*
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 ...
References
External links
Global Security.org – Pensacola-class cruiser
{{WWII US ships
Cruiser classes