During the war, the navy lost ten cruisers: two ( Juneau and Indianapolis) to submarine torpedoes, one to air attack, and seven ( Houston, Astoria, Quincy, Vincennes, Atlanta, Northampton, and Helena) to surface ship gunfire and torpedoes. Off Guadalcanal, American cruisers fought numerous engagements and even mortally damaged the Japanese battleship Hiei. Intended as “cruiser killers,” only the first two ships were completed.Ĭruisers proved valuable in a number of wartime missions: antiaircraft escort, shore bombardment, and especially night surface action against enemy vessels. The navy also ordered six ships classified as “large cruisers”-the Alaska class, of 29,779 tons and nine 12‐inch guns. Two new designs were ordered in quantity: the Baltimore‐class heavy cruisers (14,472 tons, nine 8‐inch guns) of which fourteen entered service, and the Cleveland‐class light cruisers (11,744 tons, twelve 6‐inch guns) of which twenty‐seven were built, making them the largest class of cruisers ever. Authorized by 1943 were seven additional Atlantas. When World War II broke out in Europe, Congress funded the most ambitious cruiser‐building program in history. As aircraft increased in capability, the navy began construction of four ships designed for antiaircraft defense: the Atlanta class (of 6,718 tons), armed with a dual‐purpose battery of sixteen 5‐inch guns. Eighteen were commissioned prior to Pearl Harbor they were reinforced by nine new “light cruisers” of the Brooklyn class, armed with fifteen 6‐inch pieces. The six battle cruisers were scrapped on the ways or their hulls converted to aircraft carriers the new scout cruisers were too short‐legged (short‐ranged) for Pacific work.ĭuring the interwar years, the navy built long‐range cruisers armed with nine or ten 8‐inch guns, designated “heavy cruisers” for their gun caliber under the treaty provisions. Navy confronted a reorientation to the Pacific and the limitations imposed by the Washington Naval Arms Limitation Treaty, which limited cruiser size and armament. entry into the war, cruisers performed important services by patrolling and escorting convoys (the San Diego was lost to a mine off Fire Island).Īfter the war, the U.S. World War I demonstrated anew the merits of the type, and in 1916, Congress authorized ten fast scout cruisers of the Omaha class, plus six huge battle cruisers of 35,000 tons armed with ten 14‐inch guns. As the navy reoriented its strategy increasingly to the battleship during Theodore Roosevelt's presidency, however, cruiser construction fell into abeyance. The successes of American cruisers (most famously George Dewey's flagship Olympia) in the Spanish‐American War brought additional orders, culminating in ten very large cruisers (14,500 tons each). Over the next decade, the navy settled on a sustained program of cruiser construction, adding fifteen ships. cruisers were sizable ships (from 3,000 to 35,000 tons), with crews of 300 to 1,700 men.īecause the traditional American strategy had been one of commerce raiding, when the United States began rebuilding its navy in the early 1880s, the first warships ordered were the steel cruisers Atlanta, Boston, and Chicago, beginning the tradition of naming them after cities. To operate alone, cruisers carried substantial armament, were protected by armor of medium thickness, and possessed high speed, great range, and good seakeeping qualities. In peacetime, cruisers frequently maintained a naval presence in troubled areas. cruisers often provided flagship facilities for officers commanding destroyer flotillas or even entire fleets. Successor to the sailing frigate, the cruiser inherited the earlier ship's missions: scouting and screening for the battle fleet, commerce raiding, or protecting trade.
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