The Oregon City class were a class of heavy cruisers of the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

. Although it was intended to build ten, only four were completed – one of those as a command ship. The three cruisers were in commission from 1946 to 1970.

Design and development

The Oregon City-class cruisers were a modified version of the previous design; the main difference was a more compact pyramidal superstructure with single trunked funnel, intended to improve the arcs of fire of the anti-aircraft (AA) guns. The same type of modification also differentiated the and classes of light cruiser

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...

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History

Ten ships were authorized for the class with three being completed and the fourth suspended during construction. The final six ships were cancelled. Construction on the incomplete fourth ship was resumed in 1948 and the ship served as a command ship . All three completed ships were commissioned in 1946. Oregon City was decommissioned after only 18 months of service, probably the shortest active life of any WWII-era cruiser. Albany was later converted into a guided missile ship, becoming the lead ship of the and served until 1980. A similar conversion was planned for Rochester but was cancelled.

Ships in class

Data from

Hull Number	Name	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Completed	Fate
CA 122		Bethlehem Steel Bethlehem Steel The Bethlehem Steel Corporation , based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was once the second-largest steel producer in the United States, after Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based U.S. Steel. After a decline in the U.S...	8 April 1944	9 June 1945	16 February 1946	Stricken 1 Nov 1970
CA 123		Bethlehem Steel	6 Mar 1944	30 Jun 1945	11 Jun 1946	Converted to Guided Missile Cruiser – Stricken 30 June 1985
CA-124		Bethlehem Steel	29 May 1944	28 August 1945	20 December 1946	Stricken 1 October 1973
CA-125		Bethlehem Steel	31 August 1944	27 January 1951	7 March 1953	Converted to command ship during construction – Stricken 31 Dec 1977
CA-126	USS Cambridge	Bethlehem Steel	16 December 1944	N/A	N/A	Cancelled 12 August 1945
CA-127	USS Bridgeport	Bethlehem Steel	13 January 1945	N/A	N/A	Cancelled 12 August 1945
CA-128	USS Kansas City	Bethlehem Steel	N/A	N/A	N/A	Cancelled 12 August 1945
CA-129	USS Tulsa	Bethlehem Steel	N/A	N/A	N/A	Cancelled 12 August 1945
CA-137	USS Norfolk	Philadelphia Naval Shipyard Philadelphia Naval Shipyard The Philadelphia Naval Business Center, formerly known as the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and Philadelphia Navy Yard, was the first naval shipyard of the United States. The U.S. Navy reduced its activities there in the 1990s, and ended most of them on September 30, 1995...	N/A	N/A	N/A	Cancelled 12 August 1945
CA-138	USS Scranton	Philadelphia Naval Shipyard	N/A	N/A	N/A	Cancelled 12 August 1945

External links

• Global Security.org – Oregon City class cruiser
• DANFS