USS Louisville (CA-28)
USS Louisville (CA-28), off Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, 17 December 1943. Camouflage is Measure 32, pattern 6d. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United States | |
| Name | Louisville |
| Namesake | City of Louisville, Kentucky |
| Ordered | 18 December 1924 |
| Awarded |
|
| Builder | Puget Sound Naval Yard, Bremerton, Washington |
| Laid down | 4 July 1928 |
| Launched | 1 September 1930 |
| Commissioned | 15 January 1931 |
| Decommissioned | 17 June 1946 |
| Reclassified | CA-28, 1 July 1931 |
| Stricken | 1 March 1959 |
| Identification |
|
| Nickname(s) | "Lady Lou" |
| Honors & awards | 13 × battle stars |
| Fate | Sold for scrap, 14 September 1959 |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Class & type | Northampton-class cruiser |
| Displacement | 9,050 long tons (9,200 t) (standard) |
| Length | 600 ft 3 in (182.96 m) (oa) |
| Beam | 66 ft 1 in (20.14 m) |
| Draft | 23 ft (7.0 m) (deep load) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | 4 × screws, 4 × steam turbines |
| Speed | 32.7 knots (60.6 km/h; 37.6 mph) |
| Range | 10,000 nmi (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Complement |
|
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
|
| Aircraft carried | 4 × floatplanes |
| Aviation facilities | 2 × Amidship catapults and hangar |
| General characteristics (1945) | |
| Armament |
|
| Aircraft carried | 2 × Curtiss SC Seahawk floatplanes |
| Aviation facilities | 1 × catapult and hangar |
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USS Louisville (CL/CA-28), a Northampton-class cruiser, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the city of Louisville, Kentucky. She was active throughout the Pacific War. USS Louisville was the first large warship to be built in a drydock.
Louisville was launched on 1 September 1930 at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, sponsored by Miss Jane Brown Kennedy, and commissioned on 15 January 1931. Louisville since commissioning day has carried, on the prominent bulkhead, a shoe of the great stallion, Man o' War, as a talisman against evil.
She was originally classified as a light cruiser, CL-28, because of her thin armor. Effective 1 July 1931, Louisville was redesignated a heavy cruiser, CA-28, because of her 8-inch guns in accordance with the provisions of the London Naval Treaty of 1930.