Baltimore class cruiser

The "Baltimore" class cruisers were a class of heavy cruisers built for the United States Navy and the last heavy cruisers to be built during World War II. The ships looked very much like those of the "Cleveland" class. Their main role was to escort light and heavy aircraft carriers.

The first of the 17 ships of the "Baltimore" class were commissioned in 1943 and several survived into the aircraft carrier era after being refitted as the "Boston" ("Boston" and "Canberra") and "Albany" classes of guided missile cruisers with one remaining in commission until 1980. They were the among the last 8-inch-armed heavy cruisers in service; the last to be paid off was USS "St. Paul" in 1971.

The class also served as the basis of two derived classes of heavy cruiser, which were almost identical in terms of their general characteristics: the "Des Moines" class and the "Oregon City" class. The "Oregon City" class being repeat builds of the "Baltimore"s with only the superstructure design differing but the "Des Moines" class were enlarged versions of the "Baltimore"s, with a displacement almost the same as the first modern battleship HMS "Dreadnought". They were the main recipients of the new rapid-fire triple 8-inch turret.

The two "Saipan" class light carriers were based on the "Baltimore" class hull, but were actually built from the keel up as aircraft carriers.

hips

"Baltimore"-class cruiser
* "Baltimore"
* "Boston"
* "Canberra"
* "Quincy"
* "Pittsburgh"
* "Saint Paul"
* "Columbus"
* "Helena"
* "Bremerton"
* "Fall River"
* "Macon"
* "Toledo"
* "Los Angeles"
* "Chicago"

External links

* [http://www.microworks.net/pacific/ships/cruisers/baltimore.htm Statistics]
* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/ca-68.htm Global Security.org - Baltimore class cruiser]