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United
States Navy
ANTI-AIRCRAFT CRUISERS
HISTORY  Comparing the cruiser classes with the USS Wisconsin BB-64 I am
doing this so that it
might be helpful to those not any knowledge about navy ships.
The World War II type of ships in the Navy: Aircraft Carriers (CV, CVL, CVE) Battleships (BB) Crusiers (CB, CA, CL, CLAA) Destroyers (DD, DE)  USS
Wisconsin BB-64
This was the last "real gun" ship in the Navy length 888 feet. Decommissioned 30 Sepemtember 1991  I would have liked to have shown all the ships like the first two but I was not lucky enough to find any images so I had to use starboard side images.  United
States Navy
Anti-Aircraft Cruisers Atlanta Class (1940-1961)
Oakland Class (1941-1962) Juneau Class 1944-1971) Worchester Class (1945-1972)
To The Editors of
SEA
CLASSICS Magazine
U.S. NAVY CRUISERS AT WAR 1941-1945 SUMMER 1984 Issue. Article by PRESTON COOK that appears below. Mr. Preston Cook has contributed a number of articles to me to be used in this website. I shall ever be grateful to him for his assistance. ~ ~ ~Webmaster~~~  Atlanta Class
(1940-1959)
Statistics
Displacement:
Standard 6,000 tons, the smallest cruiser built since 1905.
Dimensions: Length: 530' at the
waterline and 541'1/2" overall. Beam:
53' 3". Draft 16' 6".
Max Speed 32.5 knots. Complement: 700 (725 as a Flagship Armament: 16 - 5" 38 caliber dual purpose guns in twin mounts, three quadruple 1.1" antiaircraft machine guns, and two quadruple mount torpedo tubes.  Oakland Class
(1941-1959)
Statistics
Displacement: Full
Load 8,500 tons Standard 6,000 tons.
Dimensions: Length: 530' at the waterline and 541'1/2" overall. Beam: 53' 3". Draft 16' 6". Propulsion: Boilers 4 GE Turbines 2 geared steam turbines Shafts 2 Horsepower 75,000. Max. Speed 32.5 knots -- exceeded 35 knots. Complement: 700 (725 as a Flagship). Protection: Main Side Belt 1.1" to 3.5"(midship) Lower Side Belt N/A Deck Armour 1.2"; maximum Turrets 1.2". Radars: surface search, navigation, fire control, and sonars Armament: 12 - 5" 38 caliber dual purpose guns, placed in six twin mounts, arranged in echelon on the center of the ship, three forward and three aft. 24- 40mm Bofors, placed in twin mounts. 16 - 20mm Oerlikons. 8 - 21" torpedo tubes, in sets of 4 each, located on the main deck athwartship of the after director.(Removed in 1945 overall). Anti-Aircraft
Cruisers
Post World War II Era  Juneau Class
Statistics
Displacement:
Standard 6,000 tons. Full Load: tons 8,870 tons.
Dimensions: Length: 541'. Beam: 53' 2". Draft: 25' 11" Propulsion: Boilers 4 GE Turbines 2 geared steam turbines Shafts 2 Horsepower 75,000. Max. Speed: 31.8 knots. Complement: 700 (725 as a Flagship). Protection: Main Side Belt 1.1" to 3.5"(midship) Lower Side Belt N/A Deck Armour 1.2" maximum Turrets 1.2". Radars: air, surface search, navigation, fire control, sonars n/a Armament: 12 - 5" 38 caliber dual purpose guns, placed in six twin mounts, arranged in echelon on the center of the ship, three forward and three aft. twenty-eight 40mm Bofors placed in twin mounts. 16 - 20 mm Oerlikons.  Worcester
Class 1945-1972
Statistics
Displacement:
Standard 14,700 tons Full Load: 18,400
Length: 680’ Beam: 71’ Draft: 26’ Speed: 33 knots Complement: 1,070 Armament: 12 - 6" 50 caliber dual purpose guns, placed in six twin mounts, arranged in echelon on the center of the ship, three forward and three aft. Twenty-two 3" 50 caliber guns. Twenty-four 20mm Oerlikons. The
51- and 95-class anti-aircraft cruisers, which came to
be known as the "early" and "late" Atlanta
class, respectively, in
addition to the fine
wartime records, did much to influence tactical thinking and
warship
design following the end of World War II. An additional class of three five-inch gunned
anti-aircraft cruisers were built with the center
turret of each superimposed three-turret group lowered a deck to
further improve weight distribution and allow larger masthead radar
arrays. Two large light cruisers, Worcester and Roanoke were built on
heavy cruiser sized hulls, and used six twin six-inch turrets in
a
anti-aircraft cruiser arrangement.
However, in the early 1950's the advances in aviation technology eliminated the necessity of the mission for which anti-aircraft cruisers had been designed destroy aircraft by means of gunfire simply because with the advent of jet propulsion and resultant increases in aircraft speed and maneuverability it was no longer possible to keep solutions on the fire control equipment and effectively transmit them to a gun battery to obtain hits. Thus the advances in technology of the the weapon which had created the need for the gunned anti-aircraft cruiser also led to its demise. But at this point the lessons learned in the application of the San Diego to command work during the final stages of the war, led to further development of a the air aircraft cruiser type ship for a different primary mission. The concept of a modern, small, light cruiser with advanced communications, versatile multi-purpose main battery, high speed, and good sea keeping characteristics, to act as flagship of an escort group, caught on and resulted directly in the construction of the Norfolk (DL-1), which in terms of layout was very nearly an Atlanta class anit-aircraft cruiser being built on a nearly identical hull with a similar machinery layout. The knuckled bow and transom stern also caught on and thus today, over forty years after the design of the original Atlanta class was developed, the influence of this excellent design on tactics and naval architecture can still be seen in the modern destroyer leaders.
 This
Web Page was created and
is maintanied by Paul D. Henriott Last updated 31 March 2005 |