American cruisers during the Second World War
With cruising forces in the Pacific, this happened story - they were unfairly forgotten and buried under the dust of time. Who is now interested in the pogrom at Savo Island, artillery duels in the Java Sea and at Cape Esperance? After all, everyone is already convinced that naval battles in the Pacific Ocean are limited to the raid on Pearl Harbor and the battle of Midway Atoll.
In a real war in the Pacific, cruisers were one of the key active forces of the US Navy and the Imperial fleet Japan - this class accounted for a large proportion of sunk ships and vessels from both warring parties. The cruisers were provided with short-range air defense of squadrons and aircraft carrier formations, covered up convoys and performed sentinel missions at sea lanes. If necessary, they were used as armored "tow trucks", towing damaged ships from the combat zone. But the cruisers' main value was discovered in the second half of the war: six- and eight-inch guns did not stop for a minute, "spudding" the Japanese defensive perimeter on the islands of the Pacific Ocean.
During daylight and darkness, under any weather conditions, cruisers continued to pour lead rain on the head of the unfortunate enemy, locked on a tiny atoll in the middle of the Great Ocean, through any impenetrable wall of tropical rain and mist of fog in all weather conditions. Multi-day artillery preparation and assault fire support - it was in this role that the heavy and light cruisers of the US Navy shone most brightly - both in the Pacific Ocean and in European waters of the Old World. In contrast to the monstrous battleships, the number of American cruisers participating in the battles was approaching eight dozen (some of the Cleveland Yankees were riveting 27 units), and the absence of very large caliber artillery on board was compensated by the high rate of eight-inch guns and more “small” guns.
The cruisers had tremendous destructive power - the 203 mm 8 '/ 55 projectile projectile had a mass of 150 kilograms and left the barrel section at a rate exceeding two speeds of sound. The shooting rate of the 8 '/ 55 naval gun reached 4 shots / min. In total, the heavy cruiser "Baltimore" carried nine such artillery systems, stationed in three towers of the main caliber.
In addition to impressive offensive capabilities, the cruisers had good armor, excellent survivability and a very high speed of up to 33 knots (> 60 km / h).
High speed and security was appreciated by sailors. It is no coincidence that the admirals so often kept their flag on cruisers - spacious working rooms and an amazing array of electronic equipment made it possible to equip a full-fledged flagship command post on board the ship.
At the end of the war, it was the Indianapolis cruiser who was entrusted with the honorable and responsible mission of delivering nuclear charges to the island air base Tinian.
Cruisers who took part in the Second World War are divided into two large categories: those built before and after the war (meaning the end of the 30 and later). As for the pre-war cruisers, a great number of designs united one important fact: most of the pre-war cruisers were victims of the Washington and London maritime agreements. As time has shown, all the countries that have signed the agreement, in one way or another, have committed forgery with a displacement of cruisers under construction, exceeding the set limit of 10 in thousand tons by 20 and more than%. Alas, they still didn’t get anything worthwhile - they couldn’t prevent World War, but they amassed a million tons of steel on the damaged ships.
Like all Washingtonians, American cruisers built 1920-x - the first half of 1930-s had a skewed ratio of combat characteristics: low security (wall thickness of the towers of the cruiser Pensacola hardly exceeded 60 mm) in exchange for firepower and solid range swimming In addition, the Pensacola and Notreampton projects were underutilized - the designers were so enthusiastic about “compressing” the ships that they could not effectively use the entire displacement reserve. It is no coincidence that in the fleet these masterpieces of shipbuilding received the eloquent name "tin".
The American "Washington" second-generation cruisers - the "New Orleans" (built 7 units) and the "Wichita" (the only ship of its type) were much more balanced combat units, but also not without drawbacks. This time, the designers were able to maintain decent speed, reservations and weapons in exchange for such an intangible parameter as "survivability" (linear location of the GEM, more dense layout - the ship had high chances to die from a single torpedo).
The outbreak of world war overnight canceled all world treaties. Throwing off the shackles of all sorts of restrictions, shipbuilders in the shortest possible time presented the draft balanced warships. Instead of the former "tin cans", formidable fighting units appeared on the stocks — genuine masterpieces of shipbuilding. Armament, armor, speed, seaworthiness, cruising range, survivability - the engineers did not allow compromises in any of these factors.
The fighting qualities of these ships turned out to be so great that many of them continued to be used as part of the US Navy and other countries even three or four decades after the end of the war!
Frankly, in the format of the open sea battle "ship against ship", each of the cruisers below will be stronger than any of its modern descendants. An attempt to “pit” any rusty “Cleveland” or “Baltimore” with the missile cruiser “Ticonderoga” will be deplorable for a modern ship - having approached for a couple of tens of kilometers, the “Baltimore” will break the “Ticonderoga” like a heating pad. The possibility of using "Tikonderogoy" rocket weapons with a range of 100 and more kilometers, in this case does not solve anything - the old armored ships are less susceptible to such "primitive" means of destruction as warhead warheads "Harpoon" or "Exochet".
I suggest readers to get acquainted with the most enchanting models of the American shipbuilding of the war years. Moreover, there is something to see there ...
Light cruisers like "Brooklyn"
The number of units in the series - 9
Construction years - 1935-1939
Total Displacement 12 207 tons (design value)
Crew 868 people
Main power plant: 8 boilers, Parsons 4 turbines, 100 000 HP
Maximum stroke of a 32,5 node
Range 10 000 miles on 15 nodes.
Main armor belt - 140 mm, maximum armor thickness - 170 mm (walls of the towers of the Civil Code)
Armament:
- 15 x 152 mm guns Ledger;
- 8 x 127 mm universal guns;
- 20-30 anti-aircraft guns "Bofors" caliber 40 mm *;
- 20 anti-aircraft guns "Oerlikon" caliber 20 mm *;
- 2 catapult, 4 seaplane.
* typical Brooklyn defense in 40-e
Close breath of World War forced to reconsider approaches to the design of ships. At the start of the 1933, the Yankees received alarming information about the laying in Japan of Mogami-type cruisers armed with 15 six-inch guns in five turrets. In reality, the Japanese made a major forgery: the standard displacement "Mogami" was 50% more declared - these were heavy cruisers, which, in the future, were planned to be equipped with ten 203 mm cannons (which happened at the start of the war).
But at the start of the 1930's, the Yankees did not know about the samurai’s cunning plans and, in order to keep up with the “likely enemy”, they rushed to design a light cruiser with five towers of the main caliber!
Despite the current limitations of the Washington Treaty and non-standard design conditions, the Brooklyn-class cruiser turned out to be pretty darn good. Impressive offensive potential, coupled with excellent reservations and good seaworthiness.
All nine built cruisers took an active part in the Second World War, and at the same time (it is time to be surprised!) None of them died in battles. "Brooklyn" fell under the bombing and torpedo attacks, artillery fire and attacks "kamikaze" - alas, every time the ships remained afloat and after repair returned to service. Off the coast of Italy, the German Fritz-X super-bomb hit the cruiser Savannah, however, this time, despite the enormous destruction and death of 197 sailors, the ship was able to dock off to the base in Malta.
But the most amazing adventures fell to the Phoenix cruiser - this joker cleverly slipped away from the Japanese strike in Pearl Harbor Bay, without receiving a scratch. But he couldn’t get away from fate - after 40 years he was sunk by a British submarine during the Falklands War.
Light cruisers like "Atlanta"
The number of units in the series - 8
Construction years - 1940-1945
Total Displacement 7 400 tons
Crew 673 rights
Main power plant: 4 boiler, 4 steam turbines, 75 000 HP
Maximum stroke of a 33 node
Range 8 500 miles on 15 nodes
The main armor belt 89 mm.
Armament:
- 16 x 127 mm universal guns;
- 16 automatic anti-aircraft guns caliber 27 mm (the so-called "Chicago piano");
on the last ships of the series, they were replaced by 8 Bofors automata;
- up to 16 anti-aircraft guns "Oerlikon" caliber 20 mm;
- 8 torpedo tubes caliber 533 mm;
- By the end of the war, a sonar and a set of depth charges appeared on ships.
One of the most beautiful cruisers of World War II. Specialized anti-aircraft ships capable of destroying an 10 560 kg of red-hot steel to the enemy in a minute - the volley of a small cruiser was amazing.
Alas, in practice it turned out that the US Navy did not suffer from a shortage of 127 mm universal anti-aircraft guns (hundreds of destroyers armed themselves with similar weapons), but sometimes medium-caliber artillery was not enough. In addition to the weakness of weapons, "Atlanta" suffered from low security - affected by the small size and too "thin" booking.
As a result, two out of eight ships died in battles: the head Atlanta died from enemy torpedoes and artillery fire in a gunfight at Guadalcanal (November 1942). Another one - “Juno” died the same day: a Japanese submarine finished off the damaged ship.
Cleveland Light Cruisers
The number of units in the series - 27. Another 3 completed by the improved project "Fargo", 9 - as easy
Independence aircraft carriers. The remaining dozen of the unfinished hulls were scrapped in 1945, many of the cruisers were launched at that time and were completed afloat (the planned number of project ships is 52 units)
Construction years - 1940-1945
Total Displacement 14 130 tons (draft)
Crew 1255 people
Main power plant: 4 boiler, 4 steam turbines, 100 000 HP
Maximum stroke of a 32,5 node
Range 11 000 miles on 15 nodes
The main armor belt 127 mm. Maximum armor thickness - 152 mm (frontal part of the towers GK)
Armament:
- 12 x 152 mm guns of the main caliber;
- 12 x 127 mm universal guns;
- Up to 28 Bofors anti-aircraft guns;
- up to 20 anti-aircraft guns "Oerlikon";
- 2 catapult, 4 seaplane.
The first truly full-fledged cruiser of the US Navy. Powerful, balanced. With excellent security and offensive capabilities. Do not pay attention to the prefix "easy." Cleveland is as light as a cast-iron locomotive. In the countries of the Old World, such ships without exaggeration are classified as "heavy cruisers". Behind the dry figures “gun caliber / armor thickness” are hiding not less interesting things: the good location of anti-aircraft artillery, the relative spaciousness of the interior, the triple bottom in the area of engine rooms ...
But Cleveland had its own “Achilles heel” - overload and, as a result, stability problems. The situation was so serious that on the last ships of the series they began to remove the conning tower, catapult and rangefinders from the towers No. XXUMX and No. XXUMX. Obviously, the problem of low stability was the reason for the short life of the Clevelands - almost all of them left the ranks of the US Navy before the start of the Korean War. Only three cruisers - “Galveston”, “Oklahoma City” and “Little Rock” (in the title illustration of the article) underwent an extensive modernization and continued to serve as cruisers carrying guided missile weapons (Talos). Had time to take part in the war in Vietnam.
The Cleveland project went down in history as the most numerous series of cruisers. However, despite their high fighting qualities and a large number of built ships, the Cleveland arrived too late to see the real “smoke of sea battles”; among the trophies of these cruisers there are only Japanese destroyers (it is worth noting that the Yankees never suffered from a lack of equipment - in the first phase of the war, cruisers of pre-war construction fought actively, of which the Americans had entire 40 units)
Most of the time, "Cleveland" were engaged in firing on coastal targets - Mariana Islands, Saipan, Mindanao, Tinian, Guam, Mindoro, Lingen, Palawan, Formosa, Kwajalein, Palau, Bonin, Iwo Jima ... It is difficult to overestimate the contribution of these cruisers to the defeat of the Japanese defensive perimeter .
During the fighting, none of the ships went to the bottom, however, serious losses could not be avoided: the cruiser “Houston” suffered greatly - having received two torpedoes on board, he took 6000 tons of water and barely reached the forward base on the Uliti Atoll. But it was especially hard for “Birmingham” - the cruiser helped to extinguish fires on board the damaged aircraft carrier “Princeton”, when the ammunition charge was detonating on the aircraft carrier. "Birmingham" was nearly knocked over by a blast wave, 229 people died on the cruiser, more than 400 sailors were injured.
Heavy cruisers like "Baltimore"
The number of units in the series - 14
Construction years - 1940-1945
Total Displacement 17 000 tons
Crew 1700 people
GEM - four-shaft: 4 boiler, 4 steam turbines, 120 000 HP
Maximum stroke of a 33 node
Range 10 000 miles on 15 nodes
The main armor belt is 150 mm. Maximum armor thickness - 203 mm (towers GK)
Armament:
- 9 x 203 mm guns of the main caliber;
- 12 x 127 mm universal guns;
- Up to 48 Bofors anti-aircraft guns;
- up to 24 anti-aircraft guns "Oerlikon";
- 2 catapult, 4 seaplane.
“Baltimore” is not a ketchup with slices of ripe vegetables, this thing is much more important. The apotheosis of American shipbuilding in the class of "cruiser". All bans and restrictions are reset. The design introduced the latest achievements of the American military-industrial complex military years. Radar, monstrous guns, heavy armor. Super-hero with a maximum of merits and a minimum of flaws.
Like the lighter cruisers of the “Cleveland” type, the Baltimors arrived only at the head of the Pacific - the first four cruisers were put into operation in 1943, one more - 1944, the other nine - in 1945. As a result, most of the Baltimore damage was caused by storms, typhoons and crew navigation errors. Nevertheless, they made a definite contribution to the victory - the heavy cruisers literally “hollowed out” the atolls Marcus and Wake, supported the landing forces on countless islets and atolls of the Pacific Ocean, participated in raids to the Chinese coast and attacking Japan.
Missile and artillery cruiser "Boston". Launch of Terrier rocket launcher, 1956 year
The war ended, and the Baltimors did not think of going to rest - heavy naval artillery soon became useful in Korea and Vietnam. A number of cruisers of this type became the first carriers of anti-aircraft missiles in the world - by 1955, the Boston and Canberra had received the TERIER air defense system. Three more ships underwent a global modernization project "Albany" with the complete dismantling of superstructures and artillery and the subsequent conversion into missile cruisers.
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