The ''Worcester'' class was a class 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 used by 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 ...
,
laid down
Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship.
Keel laying is one o ...
in 1945 and commissioned in 1948–49. They and their contemporaries, the
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, were the last all-gun cruisers built for the U.S. Navy. Ten ships were planned for this class, but only two ( and ) were completed.
The main
battery
Battery most often refers to:
* Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power
* Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact
Battery may also refer to:
Energy source
*Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...
layout was distinctive, with twin rather than triple
turrets
Turret may refer to:
* Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building
* Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon
* Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope
* M ...
, unlike the previous , , and light cruisers. Aside from the ''Worcester''s' main battery consisting of rather than guns, the layout was identical to the much smaller light cruisers, carrying 12 guns in six turrets, three forward and three aft, with only turrets 3 and 4
superfiring. The
6-inch/47-caliber gun
The 6-inch/47 caliber Mark 16 gun was used in the main batteries of several pre-war and World War II US Navy light cruisers. They were primarily mounted in triple turrets and used against surface targets.
The Mark 16DP gun was a dual purpose fit ...
was an autoloading, high-angle dual purpose gun with a high rate of fire, and the ''Worcester''s were thus designed to serve as AA cruisers like the ''Juneaus'' but with much more potent guns, as well as conventional light cruisers.
Both ships were decommissioned in 1958, the last conventional light cruisers to serve in the fleet, and scrapped in the early 1970s.
Design
The ''Worcester'' class was designed as a departure from the
''Cleveland''-class and
''Fargo''-class cruisers, and an expansion of the ''
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...
'' and ''
Juneau
The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the s ...
'' classes. They carried six twin D.P.
6-inch/47-caliber gun
The 6-inch/47 caliber Mark 16 gun was used in the main batteries of several pre-war and World War II US Navy light cruisers. They were primarily mounted in triple turrets and used against surface targets.
The Mark 16DP gun was a dual purpose fit ...
turrets on the center-line, of which turrets three and four were
superimposed
Superimposition is the placement of one thing over another, typically so that both are still evident.
Graphics
In graphics, superimposition is the placement of an image or video on top of an already-existing image or video, usually to add to t ...
. They carried 24
3"/50 cal AA in eleven twin mounts and two single mounts. The RDF was superb, as they were supplied with four HA/LA.DCTs and two LA/DCTs arranged in lozenge disposition. Their armor was a 3-6" belt, a 3" main deck, a 2" lower deck, 3-4" bulkheads, 4" turrets and barbettes, and a 6.5"
C.T. Four Babcock & Wilcox boilers with four shafts and G.E. geared turbines provided 120,000 S.H.P., which could propel these ships at 32.75 knots.
Ships in class
See also
*
CL-154-class cruiser
The CL-154 class of gun light cruisers was a United States Navy project from the last two years of World War II, with antecedents reaching back to 1938 and earlier. The CL-154 class was contemporary to the gun light cruisers and the gun s: li ...
, an abortive contemporary design
*
''Minotaur''-class cruiser (1947), a Royal Navy design similar in concept.
*
List of cruisers of the United States Navy
References
External links
Global Security.org - Worcester class cruiser
{{WWII US ships
New York Shipbuilding Corporation