Heavy Cruisers: Baltimore Class

[Brian James]

Launch day for Baltimore Class Heavy Cruiser USS Columbus at Bethlehem Steel Co Shipyards, Quincy Massachusetts on November 30th 1944.

[Brian James]

Baltimore Class Heavy Cruiser USS Canberra pictured during her Boston Class Guided Missile Cruiser conversion, undergoing an inclination experiment at New York Shipbuilding Corporation Shipyard at Camden, New Jersey on May 5th 1956. During the conversion, Canberra's aft 8-inch and 5-inch gun turrets were replaced with two twin RIM-2 Terrier missile launchers. Her aft superstructure was rebuilt, and the two funnels were redesigned as a single unit. The upgrade of the ship concluded in June 1956, making Canberra the second Guided-Missile ship in the USN fleet. If the conversion proved successful, the plan was to replace the rest of the ship's gun armament with missiles at a later date. However, by 1964, the rapid advancement of missile technology made the Terrier system obsolete, and full conversion was not pursued.

[designeraccd]

CANBERRA with her helo deck............ DFO

[Brian James]

Baltimore Class Heavy Cruiser USS Los Angeles pictured off Mare Island Navy Yard on April 10th 1952.

[Brian James]

Baltimore Class Heavy Cruiser USS Los Angeles pictured on entry to the Port of Los Angeles on April 13th 1951.

[Brian James]

Baltimore Class Heavy Cruiser USS Helena pictured on her return from Korea, at Long Beach Naval Shipyard on December 8th 1951.

[Brian James]

Baltimore Class Heavy Cruiser USS Canberra pictured c1944.