USS Amsterdam, Astoria, Oregon, October 1945
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | Amsterdam |
Namesake | City of Amsterdam, New York |
Builder | Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia |
Laid down | 3 March 1943 |
Launched | 25 April 1944 |
Commissioned | 8 January 1945 |
Decommissioned | 30 June 1947 |
Stricken | 2 January 1971 |
Fate | Sold for scrap 11 February 1972 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Cleveland-class light cruiser |
Displacement | |
Length | 610 ft 1 in (185.95 m) |
Beam | 66 ft 4 in (20.22 m) |
Draft | 24 ft 6 in (7.47 m) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph) |
Range | 11,000 nmi (20,000 km; 13,000 mi) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
Complement | 1,285 officers and enlisted |
Armament |
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Armor |
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Aircraft carried | 4 × floatplanes |
Aviation facilities | 2 × stern catapults |
USS Amsterdam was a Cleveland-class light cruiser of the United States Navy, which were built during World War II. The class was designed as a development of the earlier Brooklyn-class cruisers, the size of which had been limited by the First London Naval Treaty. The start of the war led to the dissolution of the treaty system, but the dramatic need for new vessels precluded a new design, so the Clevelands used the same hull as their predecessors, but were significantly heavier. The Clevelands carried a main battery of twelve 6-inch (152 mm) guns in four three-gun turrets, along with a secondary armament of twelve 5 in (127 mm) dual-purpose guns. They had a top speed of 32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph).
The ship was laid down on 3 March 1943 at Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, launched on 25 April 1944, sponsored by Mrs. William E. Hasenfuss (the first "Gold Star Mother" of Amsterdam, New York, who had lost her son William E. Hasenfuss, Jr. in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor), and commissioned at the Norfolk Navy Yard Portsmouth, Virginia, on 8 January 1945, Captain Andrew P. Lawton in command.