The Brooklyn-class cruiser was a class of nine light cruisers built for the United States Navy between 1935 and 1938. Armed with five triple 6-inch (152 mm) gun turrets (three forward, two aft), they mounted more main battery guns than any other standard US cruiser. The Brooklyn-class ships were all commissioned between 1937 and 1939, in the time between the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War and before the invasion of Poland. They served extensively in both the Pacific and Atlantic theaters during World War II.
Helena was sunk in the Pacific, and while some of the others were heavily damaged, the remaining ships of the class were decommissioned shortly after the end of the war. Six were transferred to South American navies in 1951, where they served for many more years. One of these, ARA General Belgrano, formerly Phoenix, was sunk during the Falklands War in 1982.[1]
The Brooklyn-class ships had a strong influence on US cruiser design. Nearly all subsequent US cruisers, heavy and light, were directly or indirectly based on them.[1] Notable among these are the Cleveland-class light cruiser and Baltimore-class heavy cruiser of World War II.
The Brooklyn-class design was a further refinement of the New Orleans-class heavy cruiser that preceded it.[2] The desire for the Brooklyns arose from the London Naval Treaty of 1930, which limited the construction of heavy cruisers, i.e., ships carrying guns with calibers between 6.1 and 8 inches (155 and 203 mm). Great Britain needed trade control cruisers and hoped that the treaty would limit nations to smaller cruisers with a 6,000-to-8,000-long-ton (6,096 to 8,128 t) range that she could afford. Agreement to the London Treaty and the proceeding with the American light cruiser design can be focused to Admiral William V. Pratt, who overrode the vehement objections of the General Board.[3]
Under the treaty the US was allowed 180,000 long tons (182,888 t) for 18 heavy cruisers and 143,500 long tons (145,803 t), with no limit on the number of ships, for light cruisers.[4] The United States needed large cruisers to deal with the extreme ranges that operations in the Pacific Ocean required. Cruisers with 6-inch (150 mm) guns and 10,000 long tons (10,160 t) were therefore desired.[5] The US Navy's experience with the Omaha class was not all that could be hoped for. The light hull design caused a stressed hull and was very overweight. Design started in 1930, with the first four of the class ordered in 1933, and an additional three ships in 1934. Basic criteria had been that speed and range should match heavy cruisers, and when the Japanese Mogami class carrying fifteen 6-inch main guns appeared, the new US ships would match their weaponry. Various combinations of armor and power plants were tried in the efforts to stay below the Treaty 10,000 ton limit.[6] Aviation facilities were moved to the stern of the ship from the amidships position of the New Orleans-class cruisers.[7][8]
From 1942, the bridge structure was lowered and radar was fitted.
The last two ships of the class, St. Louis and Helena, were slightly modified versions of the design with new higher pressure boilers and a unit system of machinery that alternated boiler and engine rooms to prevent a ship from being immobilized by a single unlucky hit; this system would be used in all subsequent US cruisers. Additionally, AA armament was improved. They were the first US cruisers to be armed with twin 5-inch (127 mm)/
The Brooklyn class was equipped with 15 6-inch/
As designed, the anti-aircraft weaponry specified eight 5-inch (127 mm)/
The Brooklyn class was deployed with the Mark 34 director and later the Mark 3 radar. This would be upgraded to the Mark 8 and again to the Mark 13 radar. The secondary battery was controlled by the Mark 28 and upgraded to the Mark 33 fire control systems. The associated radars were the Mark 4 fire control radar and upgraded again to the Mark 12. Two anti-aircraft fire directors were fitted to each ship. A late World War II refit saw the Mk 51 director installed for the Bofors guns. Night engagements were improved when in 1945, the Mark 57 and 63 directors were installed.[13]
Подавляющее большинство крейсеров, построенных Соединенными Штатами во время Второй мировой войны, созданы по проекту Brooklyn . [1] Модификации корпуса класса «Бруклин» были предшественниками двух основных линий крейсеров военного времени: легкого крейсера типа « Кливленд », вооруженного 6-дюймовыми орудиями, и тяжелого крейсера типа «Балтимор» , вооруженного 8-дюймовыми орудиями. Третья линия, легкий крейсер типа «Атланта» , вооруженный 5-дюймовыми орудиями, имел ту же систему расположения механизмов, что и две другие линии, но имел меньший корпус с двумя валами вместо четырех. [14]
Класс «Бруклин» привел к созданию легкого крейсера класса «Кливленд» (без пятой тройной 6-дюймовой башни), который затем привел к крейсеру класса «Фарго» и, наконец, крейсеру класса «Вустер» . Другим преемником был USS Wichita , построенный на модифицированном корпусе класса Brooklyn , с тяжелым крейсерским вооружением, состоящим из трех, а не пяти тройных башен, но каждая башня содержала более крупные 8-дюймовые орудия и усиленную броню. На смену «Уичито» пришли крейсеры класса «Балтимор» , более поздний класс крейсеров класса «Орегон-Сити» и, наконец, модернизированный крейсер класса «Де-Мойн» . На смену классу «Атланта» придет класс «Джуно» , а затем почти отмененный класс CL-154 . Поскольку строительство класса «Балтимор» началось примерно через год после класса «Кливленд» , более поздние разработки и усовершенствования «Кливленда» были включены в корпус класса «Балтимор» .
Наконец, корпуса «Кливленда» и «Балтимора» были переоборудованы в легкие авианосцы. Легкие авианосцы класса «Индепенденс» были переоборудованы из строящихся крейсеров класса «Кливленд» , [15] а легкие авианосцы класса «Сайпан» использовали базовую форму конструкции крейсера типа «Балтимор» . [16]
Several Brooklyns were seriously damaged during World War II, although all but one of the cruisers survived. Boise was severely damaged by a shell that hit her forward turret magazine during the Battle of Cape Esperance on 11 October 1942, suffering many casualties, but the magazine (being partially flooded as a result of shell hits in her hull) did not explode. Nashville was hit by a kamikaze attack on 13 December 1944, off Mindoro, which killed or wounded 310 crewmen. Honolulu was torpedoed at the Battle of Kolombangara on 12–13 July 1943, as was her near-sister St. Louis. After being repaired in the United States, Honolulu returned to service only to be torpedoed by a Japanese aircraft on 20 October 1944, during the invasion of Leyte.[17] On 11 September 1943, Savannah was hit by a German Fritz X radio guided bomb which penetrated her #3 turret and blew out the bottom of the ship. Skillful damage control by her crew saved her from sinking. While under repair in the United States, Savannah and Honolulu were rebuilt with a bulged hull that increased their beam by nearly 8 feet (2.4 m) and their 5-inch/
Helena was sunk in 1943 during the Battle of Kula Gulf. The remains of the ship were discovered below the surface of New Georgia Sound by Paul Allen's research ship Petrel in April 2018. St. Louis was seriously damaged twice, but survived the war.
All ships of the class went into reserve in 1946-47. Six were sold to South American countries in the early 1950s, and served for many more years: Brooklyn and Nashville to Chile, St. Louis and Philadelphia to Brazil, and Boise and Phoenix to Argentina. Savannah and Honolulu remained in reserve until struck in 1959. ARA General Belgrano (ex-Phoenix) was torpedoed and sunk by HMS Conqueror during the Falklands War,[19] while O'Higgins (ex-Brooklyn) remained in service with the Chilean Navy until 1992.[20] She sank under tow, on her way to the scrappers, in the mid-Pacific in 1992.
