USS Birmingham (CL-2)

USS Birmingham (CS-2), underway in 1908, possibly during trials.
History
United States
Name:	Birmingham
Namesake:	City of Birmingham, Alabama
Ordered:	27 April 1904
Awarded:	17 May 1905
Builder:	Fore River Shipyard, Quincy Point, Quincy, Massachusetts
Cost:	$1,566,000 (contract price of hull and machinery)
Laid down:	14 August 1905
Launched:	29 May 1907
Sponsored by:	Miss Mary Campbell
Commissioned:	11 April 1908
Decommissioned:	1 December 1923
Reclassified:	CL-2, 17 July 1920
Identification:	Hull symbol: CS-2, CL-2
Fate:	sold for scrap, 13 May 1930
General characteristics (As built)
Class and type:	Chester-class Scout cruiser
Displacement:	3,750 long tons (3,810 t) (standard) 4,687 long tons (4,762 t) (full load)
Length:	423 ft 1 in (128.96 m) oa 420 ft (130 m) pp
Beam:	47 ft 1 in (14.35 m)
Draft:	16 ft 9 in (5.11 m) (mean)
Installed power:	12 × Fore River boilers 16,000 ihp (12,000 kW) 15,670 ihp (11,690 kW) (produced on Trial)
Propulsion:	2 × vertical triple expansion engines 2 × screws
Speed:	24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph) 24.33 knots (45.06 km/h; 28.00 mph) (Speed on Trial)
Complement:	42 officers 330 enlisted
Armament:	4 × 5 in (130 mm)/50 caliber Mark 6 breech-loading rifles 6 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber rapid-fire guns (6x1) 2 × 3-pounder (47 mm (1.9 in)) Driggs-Schroeder saluting guns 2 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor:	Belt: 2 in (5.1 cm) Deck: 1 mm (0.039 in) (aft)
General characteristics (1921)
Complement:	64 officers 332 enlisted
Armament:	4 × 5 in (130 mm)/51 caliber guns 2 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber rapid-fire guns 1 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber anti-aircraft gun 2 × 3-pounder (47 mm (1.9 in) saluting guns 2 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes

USS Birmingham (CS-2/CL-2), named for the city of Birmingham, Alabama, was a Chester-class scout cruiser, reclassified a light cruiser in 1920. Entering service in 1908, the ship became known for the first airplane takeoff from a ship in history in 1910. During World War I, Birmingham escorted convoys across the Atlantic. The cruiser was decommissioned in 1923 and sold for scrap in 1930.

The cruiser was laid down by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company at Quincy, Massachusetts on 14 August 1905 and launched on 29 May 1907; sponsored by Miss Mary Campbell. Birmingham was commissioned on 11 April 1908, Commander Burns Tracy Walling in command.

Birmingham served with the Atlantic Fleet until 27 June 1911, and went into reserve at Boston three days later. One of her sailors, Chief Electrician William E. Snyder, received the Medal of Honor for rescuing a shipmate from drowning on 4 January 1910. From Birmingham's deck, civilian pilot Eugene Ely made the first airplane take-off from a warship on 14 November 1910 in a Curtiss Model D biplane designed by Glenn Curtiss.