The three ''Chester''-class cruisers were the first

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

vessels to be designed and designated as fast "

scout cruiser A scout cruiser was a type of warship of the early 20th century, which were smaller, faster, more lightly armed and armoured than protected cruisers or light cruisers, but larger than contemporary destroyers. Intended for fleet scouting duties a ...

s" for fleet reconnaissance. They had high speed but little armor or armament.Friedman, pp. 67-71, 468-469 They were authorized in January 1904, ordered in

fiscal year A fiscal year (also known as a financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. La ...

1905, and completed in 1908. In 1920 all scout cruisers were redesignated 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 thi ...

s" (CL).Bauer and Roberts, p. 155 ''Birmingham'' was the first ship in the world to launch an airplane, in 1910 with pilot

Eugene Ely Eugene Burton Ely (October 21, 1886 – October 19, 1911) was an American aviation pioneer, credited with the first shipboard aircraft takeoff and landing. Background Ely was born in Williamsburg, Iowa, and raised in Davenport, Iowa. Having co ...

, who also performed the first landing on a ship the following year, on . The class patrolled the Caribbean prior to World War I, sometimes supporting military interventions, with ''Chester'' playing a key role at the start of the

United States occupation of Veracruz The Battle of Veracruz was a military conflict between the United States and Mexico that took place in the Mexican port city of Veracruz between April 21 to November 23, 1914. The incident occurred in the midst of poor diplomatic relations be ...

in 1914. The ships escorted

convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

s in World War I. The class was decommissioned 1921-1923 and sold for scrap to comply with the limits 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, Empire of Japan, Japan, French Third Republic, France, Kingdom of Italy, Italy, and the United Stat ...

in 1930.

Design and construction

Ship type

The three ''Chester''s were the US Navy's only ships to be commissioned with the "scout cruiser" (

hull classification symbol The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) use a hull classification symbol (sometimes called hull code or hull number) to identify their ships by type and by ind ...

non-standard at the time, CS or SCR are sometimes used) designation, and were characterized by high speed and little armor or armament. They were also the last cruisers of any type built for the US Navy until the first cruisers were laid down in 1917 (the Navy concentrated on building

dreadnought battleship The dreadnought was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an effect when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as "dreadnoughts", ...

s and

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

s in the interim). The first three ''Omaha''-class ships were also designated "scout cruisers" (CS or SCR) when ordered, but before any were launched the Navy revised its classification system and they and the ''Chester''s became "light cruisers" (CL).

Armament

The as-built armament included two /50 caliber Mark 6 guns, six /50 caliber rapid fire (RF) guns, and two 21 inch (533 mm)

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s. The original design featured a uniform gun armament of twelve 3-inch guns, which was supported by the Navy's

General Board The General Board of the United States Navy was an advisory body of the United States Navy, somewhat akin to a naval general staff. The General Board was established by general order 544, issued on March 13, 1900 by Secretary of the Navy John ...

as simplifying

fire control Fire control is the practice of reducing the heat output of a fire, reducing the area over which the fire exists, or suppressing or extinguishing the fire by depriving it of fuel, oxygen, or heat (see fire triangle). Fire prevention and control ...

and echoing the uniform main and secondary armaments of

s. However, two 5-inch guns were substituted for six of the 3-inch guns, apparently to enable the scout cruisers to fight foreign light cruisers. Notably, for the first time in US cruiser design smaller caliber weapons ( 6-pounder and smaller) were not fitted.

Armor

The armor of these ships was very light. A belt extended above the waterline in the engine and generator room area, above the waterline in the boiler room area, and below the waterline for its entire length. There was no protective deck, only a deck above the steering gear.

Engineering

The three ships had different propulsion plants so they could be compared: ''Chester'' was the first major combatant in the USN to receive

steam turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...

propulsion of the Parsons type, ''Salem'' received Curtis turbines, and ''Birmingham'' traditional

triple-expansion engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure (HP) Cylinder (engine), cylinder, then ha ...

s. The design speed was for the triple-expansion ship and up to for the turbine ships. ''Chester'' had twelve coal-fired

Normand boiler Three-drum boilers are a class of water-tube boiler used to generate steam, typically to power Steamship, ships. They are compact and of high evaporative power, factors that encourage this use. Other boiler designs may be more efficient, although ...

s and Parsons

direct-drive A direct-drive mechanism is a mechanism design where the force or torque from a prime mover is transmitted directly to the effector device (such as the drive wheels of a vehicle) without involving any intermediate couplings such as a gear train o ...

steam turbines totaling on four shafts. She made on trials at an estimated . ''Birmingham'' had twelve coal-fired Fore River boilers supplying steam to two four-cylinder vertical

s totaling (design) on two shafts. She made on trials at . ''Salem'' had twelve coal-fired Fore River boilers and Curtis direct-drive steam turbines totaling (design) on two shafts. She made on trials at . Normal coal capacity was 475 tons, which could be increased to 1,400 tons.

Refits

All three ships were refitted in 1917 to prepare for service in World War I. ''Salem'' had her main engines replaced with a

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

gear A gear or gearwheel is a rotating machine part typically used to transmit rotational motion and/or torque by means of a series of teeth that engage with compatible teeth of another gear or other part. The teeth can be integral saliences or ...

installation due to high coal consumption. All three received an armament upgrade, with four new /51 caliber guns replacing the 5-inch/50 caliber guns as well as two of the 3-inch/50 caliber , two 3-inch/50 caliber single-purpose guns (four being removed), and two 3-inch/50 caliber

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

guns added.DiGiulian, Tony, later 3"/50 USN guns at NavWeaps.com
/ref> The submerged torpedo tubes were retained.

Ships in class

The three ships of the ''Chester'' class were: On 17 July 1920 these ships were reclassified with the new hull numbers CL-1 through CL-3 (light cruisers). On 10 July 1928 ''Chester'' was renamed ''York'' to free the name for .

References

Bibliography

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External links

Cruiser Photo Gallery Index at NavSource Naval History
{{WWI US ships Cruiser classes