USS Chester (CA-27)
_Mare_Island_Oct_1943.jpg)
USS Chester (CA-27), off the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, after torpedo damage repairs and overhaul, 2 October 1943.
|
|
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
|
|
| Name: | Chester |
| Namesake: | City of Chester, Pennsylvania |
| Ordered: | 18 December 1924 |
| Awarded: | 13 June 1927 |
| Builder: | New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey |
| Cost: | $10,815,000 (contract price) |
| Laid down: | 6 March 1928 |
| Launched: | 3 July 1929 |
| Sponsored by: | Miss J. T. Blain |
| Commissioned: | 24 June 1930 |
| Decommissioned: | 10 June 1946 |
| Reclassified: | CA-27, 1 July 1931 |
| Struck: | 1 March 1959 |
| Identification: |
|
| Honors and awards: |
  11 × battle stars
|
| Fate: | Sold for scrap on 11 August 1959 |
| Status: | scrapped at Panama City, Florida |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Class and type: | Northampton-class cruiser |
| Displacement: | 9,200 long tons (9,300 t) (standard) |
| Length: | |
| Beam: | 66 ft 1 in (20.14 m) |
| Draft: |
|
| Installed power: |
|
| Propulsion: |
|
| Speed: | 32.7 kn (37.6 mph; 60.6 km/h) |
| Range: | 10,000 nmi (12,000 mi; 19,000 km) at 15 kn (17 mph; 28 km/h) |
| Capacity: | 1,500 short tons (1,400 t) fuel oil |
| Complement: | 92 officers 608 enlisted |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
CXAM radar from 1940 |
| Armament: |
|
| Armor: |
|
| Aircraft carried: | 4 × floatplanes (added 1932) |
| Aviation facilities: | 2 × Amidship catapults (added 1932) |
| General characteristics (1945) | |
| Armament: |
|
USS Chester (CL/CA-27), a Northampton-class cruiser, was the second ship of the United States Navy named after the city of Chester, Pennsylvania.
Chester was launched on 3 July 1929 by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey; sponsored by Miss J. T. Blain; commissioned on 24 June 1930, Captain Arthur Fairfield in command; and reported to the Atlantic Fleet.
Chester cleared Newport, Rhode Island on 13 August 1930 for an extensive European cruise. She visited Barcelona, Naples, Constantinople, Phaleron Bay, and Gibraltar before returning to Chester, Pennsylvania, for voyage repairs on 13 October. She joined the Scouting Fleet as flagship for Commander, Light Cruiser Divisions, and on 6 March 1931, embarked the Secretary of the Navy for the Canal Zone where he observed the annual fleet problem from Texas. Chester carried the secretary back to Miami, Fla., arriving on 22 March, then sailed to Narragansett Bay for exercises and duty escorting two visiting French cruisers.
Originally classified as a light cruiser, CL-27, because of her thin armor. Effective 1 July 1931, Chester was redesignated a heavy cruiser, CA-27, because of her 8-inch guns in accordance with the provisions of the London Naval Treaty of 1930.
Following an overhaul at New York Navy Yard during which she was equipped with two catapults amidships, Chester stood out of Hampton Roads on 31 July 1932 with planes and ammunition for the West Coast. She arrived at San Pedro, California on 14 August and joined in the regular activities of the fleet. Departing San Pedro on 9 April 1934 as flagship of Commander, Special Service Squadron, she arrived in New York on 31 May for that day's Presidential Naval Review, returning to San Pedro on 9 November. Ensign Richard O'Kane, who would win the Medal of Honor as the most successful United States submarine officer of World War II, served aboard Chester for one year as a junior gun division officer and then as signal officer following graduation from the United States Naval Academy in 1934. On 25 September 1935, Chester embarked the Secretary of War and his party for a voyage to the Philippines in connection with the inauguration of the president of the Philippines Commonwealth on 15 November. Returning to San Francisco on 14 December 1935, she resumed operations with Cruiser Division 4.
...
Wikipedia