USS Huntington in August 1948
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Class overview | |
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Name | Fargo-class |
Builders | New York Shipbuilding Corporation |
Operators | United States Navy |
Preceded by | Cleveland class |
Succeeded by | Worcester class |
Built | 1943–1946 |
In commission | 1945–1950 |
Planned | 13 |
Completed | 2 |
Cancelled | 11 |
Retired | 2 |
Scrapped | 2 |
Preserved | 0 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Light cruiser |
Displacement |
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Length | 608 ft .25 in (185.3 m) |
Beam | 66 ft 4 in (20.2 m) |
Draft | 22 ft (6.7 m) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph) |
Range | 20000km at 15kn |
Boats & landing craft carried | 2 × lifeboats |
Complement | 1,100 officers and enlisted |
Sensors and processing systems |
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Armament |
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Armor | |
Aircraft carried | 4 × floatplanes[1] |
Aviation facilities | 2 × stern catapults |
The Fargo-class cruisers were a modified version of the Cleveland-class cruiser design; the main difference was a more compact pyramidal superstructure with single trunked funnel, intended to improve the arcs of fire of the anti-aircraft (AA) guns. The same type of modification differentiated the Baltimore and Oregon City classes of heavy cruisers, and to a lesser degree the Atlanta and Juneau classes of light cruisers.[2] Changes were made in order to reduce the instability of the Cleveland-class light cruisers, especially their tendency to roll dangerously.[3] The main battery turrets sat about a foot lower and the wing gunhouses (the 5-inch, twin gun mounts on the sides of the ship) were lowered to the main deck. The medium (40 mm) anti-aircraft mounts were also lowered.[4]
In all, 13 ships of the class were planned but only Fargo and Huntington were ever completed, the rest being cancelled at varying states of completion with the de-escalation and eventual end of World War II.[5]
Fargo, the lead ship of the class, was launched on 25 February 1945, but was not commissioned until 9 December 1945, four months after the war ended. Huntington was commissioned early in 1946. The two ships were decommissioned in 1949–1950, and never reactivated.[citation needed]