USS Augusta (CA-31)

USS Augusta (CA-31), steaming off Portland, Maine, on 9 May 1945.
History
United States
Name:	Augusta
Namesake:	City of Augusta, Georgia
Ordered:	18 December 1924
Awarded:	13 June 1927
Builder:	Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia
Cost:	$10,567,000 (contract price)
Laid down:	2 July 1928
Launched:	1 February 1930
Sponsored by:	Miss Evelyn McDaniel
Commissioned:	30 January 1931
Reclassified:	CA-31, 1 July 1931
Identification:	Hull symbol:CL-31 Hull symbol:CA-31 Code letters:NIDF
Honours and awards:	3 × battle stars Presidential flagship
Fate:	Sold for scrap 09 November 1959
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type:	Northampton-class cruiser
Displacement:	9,050 long tons (9,200 t) (standard)
Length:	600 ft 3 in (182.96 m) oa 569 ft (173 m) pp
Beam:	66 ft 1 in (20.14 m)
Draft:	16 ft 4 in (4.98 m) (mean) 23 ft (7.0 m) (max)
Installed power:	8 × White-Forster boilers 107,000 shp (80,000 kW)
Propulsion:	4 × Parsons reduction steam turbines, Curtis cruising gears 4 × screws
Speed:	32.7 kn (37.6 mph; 60.6 km/h)
Range:	10,000 nmi (12,000 mi; 19,000 km) at 15 kn (17 mph; 28 km/h)
Capacity:	1,500 short tons (1,400 t) fuel oil
Complement:	116 officers 679 enlisted
Armament:	9 × 8 in (203 mm)/55 caliber guns (3x3) 4 × 5 in (127 mm)/25 caliber anti-aircraft guns 2 × 3-pounder47 mm (1.9 in) saluting guns 6 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor:	Belt: 3–3 3⁄4 in (76–95 mm) Deck: 1–2 in (25–51 mm) Barbettes: 1 1⁄2 in (38 mm) Turrets: 3⁄4–2 1⁄2 in (19–64 mm) Conning Tower: 1 1⁄4 in (32 mm)
Aircraft carried:	4 × Curtiss SOC Seagull scout-observation floatplanes
Aviation facilities:	2 × Amidship catapults
General characteristics (1945)
Armament:	9 × 8 in (203 mm)/55 caliber guns (3x3) 8 × 5 in (127 mm)/25 caliber anti-aircraft guns 2 × 3-pounder47 mm (1.9 in) saluting guns 6 × quad 40 mm (1.6 in) Bofors guns 20 × 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon cannons

USS Augusta (CL/CA-31) was a Northampton-class cruiser of the United States Navy, notable for service as a headquarters ship during Operation Torch, Operation Overlord, Operation Dragoon, and for her occasional use as a presidential flagship carrying both Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman under wartime conditions (including at the Newfoundland Conference). She was named after Augusta, Georgia, and was sponsored by Miss Evelyn McDaniel of that city.

Augusta, a "Treaty" cruiser of 10,000 tons normal displacement, was laid down on 2 July 1928 at Newport News, Virginia, by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co.; launched on 1 February 1930, sponsored by Evelyn McDaniel of Augusta, Georgia; and commissioned at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, on 30 January 1931, Captain James O. Richardson in command. Originally classified as a light cruiser, CL-31, because of her thin armor. Effective 1 July 1931, Augusta was redesignated a heavy cruiser, CA-31, because of her 8-inch guns in accordance with the provisions of the London Naval Treaty of 1930.

Damage to one of her turbines curtailed the ship's original shakedown cruise, but Augusta conducted abbreviated initial training during a cruise to Colón, Panama, and back, before she was assigned duty as flagship for Commander, Scouting Force, Vice Admiral Arthur L. Willard, on 21 May 1931. During the summer of 1931, she operated with the other warships of Scouting Force, carrying out tactical exercises off the New England coast. In September, Augusta moved south to Chesapeake Bay, where she joined her colleagues in their normal fall gunnery drills until mid-November, when the cruisers retired to their home ports. Augusta entered the Norfolk Navy Yard at that time.