Chester-class cruiser

USS Chester

The three Chester-class cruisers were the first United States Navy vessels to be designed and designated as fast "scout cruisers" for fleet reconnaissance. They had high speed but little armor or armament. They were authorized in January 1904, ordered in fiscal year 1905, and completed in 1908. In 1920 all scout cruisers were redesignated as "light cruisers" (CL).

Birmingham was the first ship in the world to launch an airplane, in 1910 with pilot Eugene Ely, who also performed the first landing on a ship the following year, on . The class patrolled the Caribbean prior to World War I, sometimes supporting military interventions, with Chester playing a key role at the start of the United States occupation of Veracruz in 1914. The ships escorted convoys in World War I. The class was decommissioned 1921-1923 and sold for scrap to comply with the limits of the London Naval Treaty in 1930.

Design and construction

Ship type

The three Chesters were the US Navy's only ships to be commissioned with the "scout cruiser" (hull classification symbol non-standard at the time, CS or SCR are sometimes used) designation, and were characterized by high speed and little armor or armament. They were also the last cruisers of any type built for the US Navy until the first cruisers were laid down in 1917 (the Navy concentrated on building dreadnought battleships and destroyers in the interim). The first three Omaha-class ships were also designated "scout cruisers" (CS or SCR) when ordered, but before any were launched the Navy revised its classification system and they and the Chesters became "light cruisers" (CL).

Armament

The as-built armament included two /50 caliber Mark 6 guns, six /50 caliber rapid fire (RF) guns, and two 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes. The original design featured a uniform gun armament of twelve 3-inch guns, which was supported by the Navy's General Board as simplifying fire control and echoing the uniform main and secondary armaments of dreadnought battleships. However, two 5-inch guns were substituted for six of the 3-inch guns, apparently to enable the scout cruisers to fight foreign light cruisers. Notably, for the first time in US cruiser design smaller caliber weapons (6-pounder and smaller) were not fitted.

Armor

The armor of these ships was very light. A belt extended above the waterline in the engine and generator room area, above the waterline in the boiler room area, and below the waterline for its entire length. There was no protective deck, only a deck above the steering gear.

Engineering

The three ships had different propulsion plants so they could be compared: Chester was the first major combatant in the USN to receive steam turbine propulsion of the Parsons type, Salem received Curtis turbines, and Birmingham traditional triple-expansion engines. The design speed was for the triple-expansion ship and up to for the turbine ships.

Chester had twelve coal-fired Normand boilers and Parsons direct-drive steam turbines totaling on four shafts. She made on trials at an estimated .

Birmingham had twelve coal-fired Fore River boilers supplying steam to two four-cylinder vertical triple-expansion engines totaling (design) on two shafts. She made on trials at .

Salem had twelve coal-fired Fore River boilers and Curtis direct-drive steam turbines totaling (design) on two shafts. She made on trials at .

Normal coal capacity was 475 tons, which could be increased to 1,400 tons.

Refits

All three ships were refitted in 1917 to prepare for service in World War I. Salem had her main engines replaced with a General Electric geared steam turbine installation due to high coal consumption. All three received an armament upgrade, with four new /51 caliber guns replacing the 5-inch/50 caliber guns as well as two of the 3-inch/50 caliber , two 3-inch/50 caliber single-purpose guns (four being removed), and two 3-inch/50 caliber anti-aircraft guns added. The submerged torpedo tubes were retained.

Ships in class

The three ships of the Chester class were:

Ship	Shipyard	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Decommissioned	Fate
	Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine	25 September 1905	26 June 1907	25 April 1908	10 June 1921	Renamed York 10 July 1928, sold for scrap 13 May 1930
	Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts	14 August 1905	29 May 1907	11 April 1908	1 December 1923	Sold for scrap 13 May 1930
	Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts	28 August 1905	27 July 1907	1 August 1908	16 August 1921	Sold for scrap 11 February 1930

On 17 July 1920 these ships were reclassified with the new hull numbers CL-1 through CL-3 (light cruisers). On 10 July 1928 Chester was renamed York to free the name for .

See also

• List of cruisers of the United States Navy

References

• Public Domain This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

External links

• Cruiser Photo Gallery Index at NavSource Naval History