Omaha class cruiser

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USS Milwaukee (CL-5), an Omaha class cruiser.

The Omaha-class cruisers were a class of light cruisers built for the United States Navy. The oldest class of cruiser still in service with the Navy at the outbreak of World War II, the Omaha class was a post-World War I design.

Built to scout of a fleet of battleships, they featured a high speed (35 knots) for cooperation with destroyers, and 6 inch (152 mm) guns to fend off any destroyers the enemy might send against them. Displacing 7,050 tons, they were just over 555 feet long.

Due to their age, the Omaha class mounted four smokestacks, looked remarkably like the old four-stacker destroyers. Their armament showed the slow change from casemate-mounted weapons to turret-mounted guns. They held a full twelve 6 inch guns, of which four were mounted in two twin turrets, one fore and one aft, and eight in casemates.

[edit] Omaha alternatives

The U.S. Navy was not entirely pleased with the Omaha class, so a new design was drawn up that was based on the Omaha class. This new class replaced all of the Omaha's 6 inch guns with 4 turrets (2 front, 2 back) each with two 6 inch guns.

Two other Omaha versions were also designed. The first had two 14 inch guns in 2 single turrets, while the other design had four 8 inch guns in 2 twin turrets. The latter design eventually evolved into the Pensacola class cruiser.