Long Beach (CGN 9) - Naval Cruise Book

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1 A Unique Shzjo - and the h67'Z'llClg6 that made her. In 1862 an engagement took place in the estuary at Hampton Roads that revolutionized sea warfare. The Southern Confederacy, hard pressed by the Northern blockade, conceived the plan of fitting iron plates onto one of her old wooden ships, M errimac. The device proved so successful that the North developed a cumber- some-looking vessel called Monitor, which was even more heavily armored than M ezrimac, and had, besides, almost no freeboard. The now-famous battle between these ships sounded the death-knell for the wooden man-of- war, and there began, in Europe and the United States, frenzied construction of armored ships of all kinds. This evolution resulted in the produc- tion, during the early years of the Twentieth Century, of modern cruisers and battleships. Tracing back into the annals of naval history, in an attempt to separate the cruisers from the other warships manned by the navies of the world, however, would be most difficult, if not impossible. The speed, mobility and firepower which mark the cruisers of recent vintage were certainly characteristics sought and often achieved by the ships of many nations over the centuries people have fought upon the seas. The Phoenician, Venetian, Turkish, Spanish, French and English vessels which have ruled the oceans from time to time in history have been given many names and classifications by their builders and naval historians, but the term cruiser is apparently a fairly modern one. The U. S. Congressional Act ofAugust 5, 1882 speaks of 'ccruising vessels ofwar : MNO part of this sum Qthe annual appropria- tion for the Bureau of Construction and Repairj shall be applied to the repairs of any wooden ship when the estimated cost of such repairs shall exceed thirty per centum of the estimated cost of a new ship of the same size and like material . . . . Any portion of the said sum not required for the purposes aforesaid may be applied to- ward the construction of two steam cruising ves- sels of war, which are hereby authorized, at a total cost, when fully completed, not to exceed the amount estimated by the late Naval Advisory Board for such vessel, the same to be constructed of steel, of domestic manufacture,. . . One of said vessels shall be of not less than five thousand nor more than six thousand tons displacement, and shall have the highest attainable speed .... One of said vessels shall be of not less than four thousand three hundred por more than four thousand seven hundred tons displacement, and shall have the highest attainable speed .... The Act ofMarch 5, 1883 read, in part: For the construction of thesteel cruiser of not less than four thousand three hundred tons dis- I 4 r

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placement. . . Qandj two steel cruisers of not more than three thousand nor less than two thousand five hundred tons displacement each, . . . as recommended by the Naval Advisory Board in its report of December twentieth, eight- een hundred and eighty-two, one million three hundred thousand dollarsg. . .M In accordance with these Acts, keels were layed for both Ailania and Boston in November of 1883, both ships were 283 feet long, displaced 3,189 tons, had a designated speed of 13 knots, and carried 19 officers and 265 enlisted men. Cruisers became gradually larger as time pro- gressed. New York, commissioned in 1893 was 8,200 tons, carried 40 officers and 526 enlisted, and was capable of 20 knots. The cruisers Si. Louis and Milwaukee, commissioned 13 years later, displaced 9,700 tons, were over 426 feet long, and had a designed speed of 22 knots. The '5nodern cruiser developed io- wards the close of ilze last century. Admiral Deweyis Flagship USS Olympia, top, and an 1898 view of USS New York. 9