USS Houston (CA-30)

History of USS Houston (CA-30)

The USS Houston is a 9050-ton Northampton-class light cruiser built in Newport News, Virginia. She entered service in June 1930 and was reclassified as a heavy cruiser a year later, at which point her hull designation was changed from CL-30 to CA-30. After her first service in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, USS Houston sailed into the Western Pacific in early 1931 as the flagship of the Asian fleet.

She held this position until November 1933, spending most of her time in Chinese waters to protect U.S. interests during the Sino-Japanese conflict.

After their Asian leg tour, Houston crossed the Pacific to join the Scouting Force. For the remainder of the decade, she regularly participated in exercises that included conventional fleet issues that tested war planning and naval readiness.

From September to December 1938, she was the flagship of the U.S. fleet and carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt several times in 1934, 1935, 1938 and 1939.

In November 1940, USS Houston returned to the Philippines for her second service as flagship of the Asian Fleet. In December 1941, when Japan escalated its dispute with the United States into an open war, the cruiser was sent to the south in Australian and Dutch East Indies waters. As the heaviest Allied naval unit in the region, it was actively used in desperate battles against the Japanese East Indies offensive.

An enemy bomb incapacitated her behind the turret on February 4, 1942, but she remained in the theater, repelling air strikes and taking part in the naval battle of the Java Sea on February 27.

The next day, Houston was ordered to leave the area as the situation in the East Indies was hopeless. Accompanied by the Australian light cruiser HMS Perth, she encountered a powerful Japanese navy near the Sunda Strait supporting an amphibious assault on West Java.

Houston and Perth were sunk by enemy fire and torpedoes in a heroic night battle against overwhelming odds.

Specification

Basic

Year of Service

1930

Origins

United States

Status

Lost in action

No longer on duty.

supplement

785

staff

Class information

Class

Northampton class

Class Size

6

ships

Class

USS Northampton (CA-26); USS Chester (CA-27); USS Louisville (CA-28); USS Chicago (CA-29); USS Houston (CA-2) -30); USS Augusta (CA-31)

Operators

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

600. 2 feet

182.94m

Ray

66.0 ft

20.12m

Draft

23. 0 feet

7.01 m

Shift

9,200 t

Power and Performance

Installed Power:

8 x White-Forster boilers power 4 x Parsons geared steam turbines on 4 x shafts, rated at 107,000 hp.

Surface Velocity

section 32.5

(37.4 km/h)

Area

10,428nm

(12,000 miles | 19,312 kilometers)

Weapons

9 x 8" (203 mm) /55 caliber main guns mounted in three three-armed turrets. 4 x 5" (127 mm) /25 caliber anti-aircraft guns (AA). 2 x 3lb (47mm) salute. 6 x 21" (533mm) torpedo tubes.

Aircraft

None.