USS Rochester (CA-124)

History of USS Rochester (CA-124)

The third USS Rochester (CA-124) was an Oregon City-class heavy cruiser, built by Bethlehem Steel on May 29, 1944, Queensland West, lie down. Massachusetts; launched August 28, 1945; sponsored by Mrs.

M. Herbert Eisenhart, wife of the president of Bausch & Lomb Optical, Rochester, New York; and commissioned at Boston Naval Shipyard December 20, 1946.

Rochester left Provincetown, Massachusetts, on February 22, 1947, for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to reorganize. By the end of April, she was in Philadelphia, ready to embark on nine extensive Navy Reserve training cruises that would take her north to Casco Bay and south to the Caribbean.

The 13,700-ton Oregon City-class cruiser USS Rochester is built in Quincy, Massachusetts. She was commissioned in December 1946, serving her first three years in the Atlantic and in the Mediterranean in 1948. In early 1950, the Rochester moved to the Pacific and was soon dispatched to the Far East as the flagship of the Seventh Fleet.

She served there until January 1951 and was active in the Korean War operation and the Taiwan Strait Patrol.

Rochester fought two more military operations in the Korean War from 1951 to 1953. Then she was modernized and received new anti-aircraft guns and other equipment. During the remainder of the 1950s, she returned to the Far East and made five further deployments for the Seventh Fleet. Rochester's ninth and final Western Pacific voyage took place from April to October 1960.

She was retired in August 1961 and served at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for the next 12 years. In October 1973, USS Rochester was removed from the Naval Ship Register and subsequently sold for scrap.

Specification

Basic

Year of Service

1946

Origins

United States

supplement

1,142

staff

Class information

Class

Oregon City

Class Size

10

ships

Class

USS Oregon City (CA-122); USS Albany (CA-123/CG-10); USS Rochester (CA-124); USS Northampton (CA-125/CLC-1) ; USS Cambridge (CA-126; cancelled); USS Bridgeport (CA-127; cancelled); USS Kansas City (CA-128; cancelled); USS Tulsa (CA-129; cancelled); USS Norfolk (CA-137 ; canceled); USS Scranton (CA-138; canceled)

Carrier

United States

Characters

Sea Bombing

Maritime bombardment/attack of surface targets/areas primarily through ship-based ballistic weapons.

Land Assault

Littoral attacks against surface targets primarily through ship-based missiles/missile weapons.

Sea Patrol

Active patrolling of critical waterways and sea areas; also serves as a local deterrent against air and maritime threats.

Airspace Denial/Deterrence

Neutralization or deterrence of flying elements by airborne missile weapon ballistics.

Fleet Support

Provide support (fire or materiel) to major surface fleets in blue water environments.

Dimensions and Weight

Length

675.0 feet

205.74m

Ray

70.9 feet

21.61m

Draft

20.6 feet

6.28m

Shift

13,700 t

Power and Performance

Installed Power:

General Electric turbine rated at 120,000 hp.

Surface Velocity

33.0 nodes

(38.0km/h)

Weapons

9 x 8" /55 caliber guns 12 x 5" /38 caliber guns 48 x 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns (AA) 20 x 20 mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns [ /p]

Aircraft

4 x Seaplane Scout