Chester-class cruiser
The three Chester-class cruisers were the first United States Navy vessels to be designed and designated as fast "scout cruisers" for fleet reconnaissance. They had high speed but little armor or armament. They were authorized in January 1904, ordered in fiscal year 1905, and completed in 1908. In 1920 all scout cruisers were redesignated as "light cruisers" (CL).
USS Chester | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Chester class |
| Builders |
|
| Operators | United States Navy |
| Preceded by | St. Louis class |
| Succeeded by | Omaha class |
| Built | 1905–1908 |
| In commission | 1908–1923 |
| Planned | 3 |
| Completed | 3 |
| Scrapped | 3 |
| Preserved | 0 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Type | Scout cruiser |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 423.1 ft (129.0 m) |
| Beam | 47.1 ft (14.4 m) |
| Draft | 16.8 ft (5.1 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 24 kn (44.4 km/h; 27.6 mph) |
| Boats & landing craft carried | 2 × lifeboats |
| Complement | 359 |
| Armament |
|
| Armor | |
Birmingham was the first ship in the world to launch an airplane, in 1910 with pilot Eugene Ely, who also performed the first landing on a ship the following year, on USS Pennsylvania. The class patrolled the Caribbean prior to World War I, sometimes supporting military interventions, with Chester playing a key role at the start of the United States occupation of Veracruz in 1914. The ships escorted convoys in World War I. The class was decommissioned 1921-1923 and sold for scrap to comply with the limits of the London Naval Treaty in 1930.