USS Oklahoma City (CL-91)

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Oklahoma City after its remodeling, early 1960s
The Oklahoma City after her conversion, early 1960s
Overview
Keel laying December 8, 1942
Launch February 20, 1944
1. Period of service flag
Commissioning December 22, 1944
Decommissioning 15th December 1979
Whereabouts sunk on March 25, 1999 as a target ship
Technical specifications
displacement

11,932 tons

length

185.95 meters

width

20.22 meters

Draft

7.6 meters

crew

1,255 (after renovation 1,426)

drive

4 propellers, driven by 4 steam turbines and a steam boiler ; 75,000 kW

speed

32.5 knots

Armament

1944:

  • 12 × 6 "(152 mm) L / 47 in 4 triplet towers
  • 12 × 5 "(127 mm) L / 38 in 6 twin towers
  • 24 × 40 mm L / 56 flak
  • 21 × 20 mm Fla-MK

1960:

The USS Oklahoma City (CL-91 / CLG-5 / CG-5) was a Cleveland-class light cruiser that entered service in 1944. In its first two years of service, the ship took part in operations in the Pacific War, but after the end of the war and the budget cuts of the United States Navy in 1947 in the reserve fleet , where it remained inactive for almost ten years.

In 1958, Oklahoma City was converted into a guided missile cruiser along with three other Cleveland-class units and returned to service as the Galveston-class in 1960. The ship remained as the last of these units in active service until 1979 and then switched to the reserve fleet at Suisun Bay , where it remained for almost twenty years. From February 1999 the Oklahoma City was used as a target ship for target practice and sunk on March 26, 1999 by a torpedo from the Taiwanese submarine Lee Chun .

technology

The Oklahoma City was one of the Cleveland-class, planned by the 36 units, but only 27 were actually put into service. The ship had a length of 185.95 meters and a width of 20.22 meters with a displacement of 11,932 tons. The drive of Oklahoma City consisted of four propellers, which were driven by a total of four steam turbines and four steam boilers and thus produced an output of up to 75,000 kW. The cruiser's top speed was 32.5 knots.

Oklahoma City's main artillery consisted of four triple turrets, each 152 mm. It also had six twin turrets with a caliber of 127 mm as well as 40-mm Bofors guns and 20-mm Oerlikon cannons for air defense. The ship could carry up to four seaplanes and had two airplane catapults at the stern.

After the conversion of Oklahoma City for Guided Missile Cruiser three of the four drilling towers were built to accommodate larger bridge constructions as well as RIM-8 Talos - aircraft missiles to create. From 1968 the ship carried a multi-purpose helicopter of the type Kaman H-2 with it, from 1975 a Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King instead.

history

Original appearance of Oklahoma City , 1945

The Oklahoma City was laid down on December 8, 1942 in the William Cramp and Sons shipyard in Philadelphia and launched on February 20, 1944. The godmother of the ship was the widow of the Oklahoma City mayor Anton H. Classen (1861-1922). The Oklahoma City was the first ship named after this city in the United States Navy. On December 22, 1944, the commissioning took place under the command of Captain CB Hunt.

After test drives, the ship arrived in Pearl Harbor on May 2, 1945 , before setting off for Ulithi Atoll on May 22 . There the hit Oklahoma City on the Fast Carrier Task Force . She spent June and July 1945 securing aircraft carriers for the United States Third Fleet. The ship was then used for patrol trips. On September 10, it entered Tokyo Bay as part of an occupying force .

After several months in Japan, Oklahoma City ended its operation on January 30, 1946 and returned to San Francisco on February 14 . She stayed there until August 1946 when she was moved to the Mare Island Naval Shipyard . The ship did not get going again, but instead switched to the reserve fleet in San Francisco in June 1947.

The Oklahoma City spent nearly ten years in the Reserve Fleet, before the conversion of the ship was decided to guided missile cruiser. On March 7, 1957, Oklahoma City arrived at the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation shipyard . The conversion of the ship, now registered under number CLG-5 , was completed on August 31, 1960. The re-commissioning took place on September 7th under the command of Captain Ben W. Sarver in San Francisco. The Oklahoma City now belonged with their converted in the same way sister ships USS Galveston (CL-93) and USS Little Rock (CL-92) in the subgroup of type Galveston class.

During one of its sea trials, the ship became the first unit in the United States Pacific Fleet to successfully fire a RIM-8 Talos. After these test drives, the Oklahoma City took part in various exercises and became the flagship of the United States Seventh Fleet. In December 1962, the ship received a major overhaul in the Long Beach Naval Shipyard .

From 1964, Oklahoma City took part in exercises for use in the Vietnam War. In June 1965 the ship was moved to the coast of Vietnam , where it provided fire support. In the following years, Oklahoma City spent much of its time in the South China Sea and took part in missions such as Operation Piranha and Operation Double Eagle.

After another overhaul, the ship took part in exercises in southern California from July 1967. Since July 1969 it was under the command of Carrier Strike Group 11, but again joined the Seventh Fleet as the flagship in August and as such gave fire support to troops in South Vietnam . On April 19, 1972, Oklahoma City was the target of a Vietnamese Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 , which dropped two bombs on the ship. The Oklahoma City case suffered only slight damage, which they escorting destroyer USS Higbee was hit hard at one of its guns.

Later missions of the ship included participation in Operation Frequent Wind in April 1975. Oklahoma City then received a modernization that allowed her to continue serving until 1979. On December 15, 1979, the ship ended its active career after 45 years and switched to the reserve fleet in Suisun Bay. There remained the Oklahoma City nearly twenty years before it was towed in January 1999 after Pearl Harbor. Parts of their equipment were taken off board there for the USS Missouri (BB-63), which is exhibited as a museum ship . The disused ship then served as a training target from February 1999. On March 26, 1999, Oklahoma City was hit by torpedoes from the Taiwanese submarine Lee Chun as part of the multinational sea maneuver Tandem Thrust '99 southwest of Guam , which caused it to break apart and sink.

honors and awards

The Oklahoma City was at the time of retirement the last active unit of the former Cleveland-class and with a total of 35 years, the longest period of service. Oklahoma City received a total of 13 Service Stars for its services in the Vietnam War . Other awards the ship received in its long service life were:

Second World War

Vietnam War

Two plaques installed in 2006 and 2008 in the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg (Texas) commemorate Oklahoma City's war operations .

Web links

Commons : USS Oklahoma City (CLG-5)  - Collection of pictures, videos, and audio files