Fargo-class cruiser

USS Huntington in August 1948
Class overview
Name	Fargo-class
Builders	New York Shipbuilding Corporation
Operators	United States Navy
Preceded by	Cleveland class
Succeeded by	Worcester class
Built	1943–1946
In commission	1945–1950
Planned	13
Completed	2
Cancelled	11
Retired	2
Scrapped	2
Preserved	0
General characteristics
Type	Light cruiser
Displacement	11,744 long tons (11,932 t) (standard) 14,464 long tons (14,696 t) (full)
Length	608 ft .25 in (185.3 m)
Beam	66 ft 4 in (20.2 m)
Draft	22 ft (6.7 m)
Installed power	4 × Babcock & Wilcox, 634 psi boilers 100,000 shp (75,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 × General Electric geared steam turbines 4 × screws
Speed	32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph)
Range	20000km at 15kn
Boats & landing craft carried	2 × lifeboats
Complement	1,100 officers and enlisted
Sensors and processing systems	SK-2 air-search radar SR-3 air-search radar SG-6 surface-search radar SP fighter-direction radar
Armament	4 × triple 6"/47 caliber Mark 16 guns 6 × dual 5"/38 caliber guns 4 × quad Bofors 40 mm guns 6 × dual Bofors 40 mm guns 20 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannons
Armor	Belt: 1.5–5 in (38–127 mm) Deck: 2–3 in (51–76 mm) Bulkheads: 5 in (127 mm) Turrets: 3–5 in (76–127 mm) Barbettes: 6 in (152 mm) Conning tower: 2.25–5 in (57–127 mm)
Aircraft carried	4 × floatplanes[1]
Aviation facilities	2 × stern catapults

The Fargo-class cruisers were a modified version of the Cleveland-class cruiser design; the main difference was a more compact pyramidal superstructure with single trunked funnel, intended to improve the arcs of fire of the anti-aircraft (AA) guns. The same type of modification differentiated the Baltimore and Oregon City classes of heavy cruisers, and to a lesser degree the Atlanta and Juneau classes of light cruisers.^[2] Changes were made in order to reduce the instability of the Cleveland-class light cruisers, especially their tendency to roll dangerously.^[3] The main battery turrets sat about a foot lower and the wing gunhouses (the 5-inch, twin gun mounts on the sides of the ship) were lowered to the main deck. The medium (40 mm) anti-aircraft mounts were also lowered.^[4]

In all, 13 ships of the class were planned but only Fargo and Huntington were ever completed, the rest being cancelled at varying states of completion with the de-escalation and eventual end of World War II.^[5]

Fargo, the lead ship of the class, was launched on 25 February 1945, but was not commissioned until 9 December 1945, four months after the war ended. Huntington was commissioned early in 1946. The two ships were decommissioned in 1949–1950, and never reactivated.

• List of cruisers of the United States Navy

• Terzibashitsch, Stefan (1988). Cruisers of the US Navy 1922-1962. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-974-X.

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