Oregon City-class cruiser

The Oregon City class were a class of heavy cruisers of the United States Navy. 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 Baltimore-class cruiser 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 Cleveland-class cruiser and Fargo-class cruiser classes of light cruisers.

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 USS Northampton (CLC-1). 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 Albany-class cruiser and served until 1980. A similar conversion was planned for Rochester but was cancelled.

Ships in class
Data from