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The Worcester class was a class of light cruisers used by the United States Navy, laid down in 1945 and commissioned in 1948–49. They and their contemporaries, the Des Moines-class heavy cruisers, were the last all-gun cruisers built for the U.S. Navy. Ten ships were planned for this class, but only two (USS Worcester (CL-144) and USS Roanoke (CL-145)) were completed.

The main battery layout was distinctive, with twin rather than triple turrets, unlike the previous Cleveland-class, St. Louis-class, and Brooklyn-class light cruisers. Aside from the Worcesters main battery consisting of 6 in (152 mm) rather than 5 in (127 mm) guns, the layout was identical to the much smaller Juneau-class light cruisers, carrying 12 guns in six turrets, three forward and three aft, with only turrets 3 and 4 superfiring. The 6"/47 Mk 16 gun was an auto-loading, high-angle dual purpose gun with a high rate of fire, and the Worcesters were thus designed to serve as AA cruisers like the Juneau-Class but with much more potent guns, as well as conventional light cruisers.

Both ships were decommissioned in 1958, the last conventional light cruisers to serve in the fleet, and scrapped in the early 1970s.

Contents

 * 1Design
 * 2Ships in class
 * 3See also
 * 4References
 * 5External links

Design[edit]
The Worcester-Class was designed as a departure from the standard set by the and an expansion of the Atlanta and Juneau Classes. They carried six twin D.P. 6"/47cal turrets on the center-line, of which turrets three and four were superimposed. They carried 24 3"/50 cal AA in eleven twin and two single mounts. The RDF was considered superb, as they were supplied with four HA/LA.DCT's and two LA/DCT's arranged in lozenge disposition. Their armor was a 3-6" belt, a 3" main deck, a 2" lower deck, 3-4" bulkheads, 4" turrets and barbettes, and a 6.5" C.T. Four Babcock & Wilcox boilers with four shafts and G.E. geared turbines provided 120,000 S.H.P., which could propel these ships at 32.75 knots.