Des Moines-class cruiser

USS Des Moines (CA-134)
Class overview
Name:	Des Moines-class cruiser
Operators:	United States Navy
Preceded by:	Oregon City class
Succeeded by:	None
In commission:	1948–75
Planned:	12
Completed:	3
Cancelled:	9[1][2]
Retired:	3
Preserved:	1
General characteristics
Type:	Heavy cruiser
Displacement:	17,255 long tons (17,532 t) (standard) 20,933 long tons (21,269 t) (full load)
Length:	716 ft 6 in (218.39 m)
Beam:	76 ft 6 in (23.32 m)
Draft:	22 ft (6.7 m)
Propulsion:	4 shafts General Electric turbines 4 boilers 120,000 shp (89,000 kW)
Speed:	33 kn (61 km/h)
Range:	10,500 nmi at 15 knots 19,400 km at 28 km/h
Complement:	1,799 officers and enlisted
Armament:	9 × 8 inch/55 caliber guns 12 × 5 inch/38 caliber guns 24 × 3 inch/50 caliber guns 12 × 20 mm Oerlikon cannons
Armor:	6 in (150 mm) Belt 8 in (200 mm) Turrets 3 1⁄2 in (89 mm) Deck 6 1⁄2 in (170 mm) Conning Tower

The Des Moines-class cruisers were a group of U.S. Navy heavy cruisers, commissioned in 1948–1949. They were the last of the all-gun heavy cruisers, exceeded in size in the American navy only by the Alaska-class cruisers.

Description

Derived from the Baltimore-class heavy cruisers, they were larger, had an improved machinery layout, and carried a new design of auto-loading, rapid-fire 8"/55 gun (the Mk16).^[3][4][5] The improved Mk16 guns of the main battery were the first auto-loading 8" guns fielded by the US Navy, and allowed a much higher rate of fire than earlier designs, capable of sustaining 12 shots per minute per barrel, or about twice that of the Mk12s found on the Baltimore class.^[4] The auto-loading mechanism could function at any elevation, giving even these large-caliber guns some anti-aircraft ability.^[4] While the secondary battery of six twin 5"/38 Mk12 DP guns was essentially unchanged from the preceding Oregon City and Baltimore-class cruisers, the Des Moines class carried a stronger battery of small-caliber anti-aircraft guns, including 12 twin 3-inch/50 Mk27 and later Mk33 guns, that were considered superior to the earlier ships' quad-mounted 40mm Bofors against then current airborne threats.^[4]

History

Twelve ships of the class were programmed, but only three ships were completed: Des Moines (CA-134), Salem (CA-139), and Newport News (CA-148), with the USS Dallas (CA-140) canceled when she was approximately 28 percent complete. The first two were decommissioned in 1961 and 1959, respectively, but Newport News remained in commission until 1975, serving for a long period (1962–1968) as United States Second Fleet flagship, and then providing gunfire support off Vietnam 1969–1973. She had the distinction of being the last active all-gun cruiser (serving 25.5 years continuously) and the first completely air-conditioned surface ship in the U.S. Navy. Salem is a museum ship in Quincy, Massachusetts. Newport News was scrapped in 1993, and Des Moines was scrapped in 2006–2007. Dallas (CA-140) and eight other ships (CA-141 through CA-143 and CA-149 through CA-153) were canceled at the end of World War II.^[2][4]

Ships in class

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Des Moines class cruiser.

• Des Moines class cruiser—NavSource Online
• Des Moines class cruiser—GlobalSecurity.org
• Des Moines class cruiser—National Park Service