New Orleans Class Heavy Cruisers
These were fairly good ships and were the last pre-wartime heavy cruisers to be built. Although correcting many flaws of previous classes of CA's, in some areas they were still weak. Armor, for one, was woefully inadequate; in many important areas (bridge, turrents, fire control directors) would only barely defeat a destoryer's five inch guns, and some of those areas would be hard pressed to defeat that. None the less, the held the line in the early dark days of the war. All but one ( Tuscaloosa CA-37) were involved in the bloody fighting in the Solomons, with Astoria, Quincy, and Vincennes sunk at the Battle of Savo Island (Aug 8-9, 1942). San Francisco was severely damaged at 1st Naval Battle of Guadalcanal and New Orleans and Minneapolis were damaged at Tasssaforonga.
| Ships | Hull Numbers | Status |
| USS New Orleans | CA-32 | Decom Feb. 10, 1947, scrapped 1960 |
| USS Astoria | CA-34 | Six miles South-South East of Savo Island, sunk Aug. 9, 1942, Battle of Savo Island |
| USS Minneapolis | CA-36 | Decom Feb. 10, 1947, scrapped 1960 |
| USS Tuscaloosa | CA-37 | Decom Feb. 10, 1947, scrapped 1960 |
| USS San Francisco | CA-38 | Decom Feb. 10, 1946, scrapped 1961 |
| USS Quincy | CA-39 | 10 miles East-North East of Savo Island, Sunk Aug.9, 1942, Battle of Savo Island |
| USS Vinncennes | CA-44 | 3 miles East of Savo Island, Sunk Aug.9, 1942, Battle of Savo Island |
BuildersNew York NY, Puget Sound NY, Philadelphia NY, New York SB, Mare Island NY, Bethlehem NY
Power Plant8 Babcock and Wilcox boilers, 4 Parsins geared turbines(Tuscaloosa) 4 Westinghouse(Others)A 4 Shafts 107,000 Horsepower
Length588 feet
Beam61 feet
Displacement13,200
Speed33 knots
Aircraft 2 catapults, room for four aircraft
Crew876-1,200
Armament 9 eight inch guns in three triple turrents, two forward, one aft; 8 five inch secondary guns; 16 40mm bofors heavy AA; 19 x 20mm Oerlikons light AA
Date DeployedApril 18, 1934 (USS New Orleans)
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