Northampton-class heavy cruiser

Northampton-class heavy cruiser
USS Augusta underway in the English Channel circa July 1945
Class Overview
Builder	Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Fore River Shipyard, New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Puget Sound Navy Yard, Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Newport News Shipbuilding, and Dry Dock Company
Class	Northampton-class
Type	Heavy cruiser
Technical Information
Length	183 meters
Beam	20 meters
Draught	5 meters
Displacement	9,000 long tons
Machinery	4 turbines, 8 boilers, 4 screws
Speed	32 knots
Armor	3.75-inch belt, 2.5-inch turrets, 1-inch deck, 1.25-inch conning tower
Armament	9 x 8-inch/55 cal guns, 8 x 5-inch/25 cal guns, 2 x 3-pounder 47 mm saluting guns, 24 x 40 mm Bofors guns, 28 x 20 mm Oerlikon cannons, 6 x 21-iinch torpedo tubes
Aircraft capacity	4 aircraft
Crew	1,100 officers and enlisted
Usage
Year Introduced	1929
Affiliation	United States of America
[Source]

The Northampton-class of cruisers were six heavy cruisers produced by the United States Navy during the interwar period after World War I. Heavily influenced by the constraints of the Washington Naval Treaty, these cruisers had to be under 10,000 tons in displacement and have smaller main guns. Boasting more armor than the preceding Pensacola-class, these ships actually turned up being a full thousand tons below the treaty limitations, displacing only 9,000 long tons. The six ships in this class participated heavily in World War II, with three of them being lost in the course of the war.

Ships in class

• USS Northampton (CA-26)
• USS Chester (CA-27)
• USS Louisville (CA-28)
• USS Chicago (CA-29)
• USS Houston (CA-30)
• USS Augusta (CA-31)