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Boston-class cruiser

United States Navy cruiser class

Field	Value
section1	{{Infobox ship/image
image	USS Canberra (CAG-2) underway at sea on 9 January 1961 (KN-1526).jpg
image_caption	USS Canberra on 9 January 1961
section2	{{Infobox ship/class overview
operators
class_before	N/A
class_after
subclasses
built_range	1941-1943
in_commission_range	1955—1970
total_ships_completed	2
total_ships_retired	2
section3	{{Infobox ship/characteristics
type	Guided missile cruiser
displacement	13,600 tons
length	673 ft
beam	71 ft
draft	26 ft
power	120000 shp
propulsion	4 × 615 psi water-tube boilers
speed	33 kn
complement	1,142 officers and enlisted
sensors	*1950s:
armament	*2 × triple 8"/55 caliber guns
aircraft_facilities	Helipad

New York Shipbuilding, NJ (2)

4 × General Electric geared steam turbines 4 × shafts

AN/SPS-6 air-search radar
AN/SPS-8A height-finding radar
AN/SPS-10 surface-search radar
AN/SPS-12 air-search radar
AN/SPQ-5 fire-control radar
CXRX hemisphere-scan radar
1960s:
AN/SPS-13 air-search radar (Canberra)
AN/SPS-29 early-warning radar
AN/SPQ-5 fire-control radar
AN/SPG-35 fire-control radar
AN/URN-3 TACAN
5 × dual 5"/38 caliber guns
4 × dual 3"/50 caliber guns
2 × dual Mark 4 RIM-2 Terrier missile launcher

The United States Navy's Boston class were the first guided missile cruisers in the world. Both ships in this experimental class were originally heavy cruisers that had been decommissioned after World War II, but were redesignated as guided missile heavy cruisers (CAGs) and entered refit in 1952. The lengthy conversion and modernization project (aka SCB 48) involved replacing the aft triple 8-inch gun turret and its supporting structure with two twin launchers for Terrier anti-aircraft guided missiles. The forward two 8-inch gun turrets remained unchanged. The forward superstructure was modified to include the Terrier's associated radars and electronics, the aft superstructure was completely replaced, and the Baltimore class's two funnels were trunked to one.

Owing to the Boston class's experimental nature, the ships were only partially converted, with a full conversion to be carried out if the new weapon systems were successful. Had the ships been fully converted, the forward 8-inch turrets would have been replaced with additional Terrier launchers.

In 1968 both Boston-class guided missile heavy cruisers were reclassified back to heavy cruisers (CAs), in part due to the extensive use of their 8-inch guns for shore bombardment during the Vietnam War. While they had retained their Terrier missiles, the swift advance of technology had made these pioneering weapons obsolete after little more than a dozen years' service, and the ships' main battery was once again their six remaining 8-inch guns in the forward turrets.

Various proposals for limited modernization or complete reconstruction (including SCB 003.68) were considered but ultimately rejected. In 1970 both Boston class ships were decommissioned for the final time, eventually struck from the Naval Vessel Register, and sold for scrap.

Ships in class

Ship Name	Hull No.	Converted at	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Decommissioned	Fate
	CAG-1	New York Shipbuilding Corporation	30 June 1941	26 August 1942	1 November 1955	5 May 1970	Sold for scrap, 28 March 1975
	CAG-2	3 September 1941	19 April 1943	15 June 1956	2 February 1970	Sold for scrap, 31 July 1980

References

Notes

Sources

References

Friedman, Cruisers, pp. 377
Friedman, Cruisers, pp. 380

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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