USS New Orleans (CA-32)

USS New Orleans (CA-32), steams through a tight turn in Elliott Bay, Washington, on 30 July 1943, following battle damage repairs and overhaul at the Puget Sound Navy Yard.
History
United States
NameNew Orleans
NamesakeCity of New Orleans, Louisiana
Ordered13 February 1929
Awarded
  • 12 July 1929 (date assigned to ship yard)
  • 2 June 1930 (beginning of construction period)
BuilderBrooklyn Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York
Cost$12,000,000 (limit of price)
Laid down14 March 1931
Launched12 April 1933
Sponsored byMiss Cora S. Jahncke
Commissioned15 February 1934
Decommissioned10 February 1947
ReclassifiedCA-32, 1 July 1931
Stricken1 March 1959
Identification
Nickname(s)NO Boat[1]
Honors and
awards
FateSold for scrap 22 September 1959
General characteristics (as built)[2]
Class and typeNew Orleans-class cruiser
Displacement9,950 long tons (10,110 t) (standard)
Length
  • 588 ft (179 m) oa
  • 574 ft (175 m) pp
Beam61 ft 9 in (18.82 m)
Draft
  • 19 ft 5 in (5.92 m) (mean)
  • 23 ft 6 in (7.16 m) (max)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed32.7 kn (37.6 mph; 60.6 km/h)
CapacityFuel oil: 1,650 tons
Complement96 officers 819 enlisted
Armament
Armor
  • Belt: 3–5 in (76–127 mm)
  • Deck: 1+142+14 in (32–57 mm)
  • Barbettes: 5 in (130 mm)
  • Turrets: 1+12–8 in (38–203 mm)
  • Conning Tower: 5 in (127 mm)
Aircraft carried4 × floatplanes
Aviation facilities2 × Amidship catapults
General characteristics (1945)[3]
Armament
  • 9 × 8 in (203 mm)/55 caliber guns (3x3)
  • 8 × 5 in (127 mm)/25 caliber anti-aircraft guns
  • 2 × 3-pounder 47 mm (2 in) saluting guns
  • 6 × quad 40 mm (1.6 in) Bofors anti-aircraft guns
  • 28 × single 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons
Aviation facilities1 × Amidship catapult

USS New Orleans (CL/CA-32) was the lead New Orleans-class cruiser in service with the United States Navy. The New Orleans-class cruisers were the last U.S. cruisers built to the specifications and standards of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. Such ships, with a limit of 10,000 long tons (10,160 t) standard displacement and 8-inch (203-millimetre) calibre main guns may be referred to as "treaty cruisers." Originally classified a light cruiser, because of her thin armor, she was reclassified, soon after being laid down, a heavy cruiser, because of her 8-inch guns. The term "heavy cruiser" was not defined until the London Naval Treaty in 1930.

  1. ^ "Ship Nicknames". zuzuray.com. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  2. ^ "Ships' Data, U. S. Naval Vessels". US Naval Department. 1 July 1935. pp. 16–23. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  3. ^ Rickard, J (19 December 2014). "USS New Orleans (CA-32)". Historyofwar.org. Retrieved 8 October 2015.