USS Louisville (CA-28)

USS Louisville (CA-28), off Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, 17 December 1943. Camouflage is probably Measure 32, pattern 6d.
History
United States
Name:	Louisville
Namesake:	City of Louisville, Kentucky
Ordered:	18 December 1924
Awarded:	19 April 1927 13 June 1927 (supplementary contract)
Builder:	Puget Sound Naval Yard, Bremerton, Washington
Cost:	$11,100,000 (limit of cost)
Laid down:	4 July 1928
Launched:	1 September 1930
Sponsored by:	Miss Jane B. Kennedy
Commissioned:	15 January 1931
Decommissioned:	17 June 1946
Reclassified:	CA-28, 1 July 1931
Struck:	1 March 1959
Identification:	Hull symbol:CL-28 Hull symbol:CA-28 Code letters:NIFT
Nickname(s):	"Lady Lou"
Honors and awards:	13 × battle stars
Fate:	Sold for scrap on 14 September 1959
Status:	Scrapped at Panama City, Florida
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:	90 officers 601 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 × 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 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes 7 × quad 40 mm (1.6 in) Bofors guns 28 × 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon cannons

USS Louisville (CL/CA-28), a Northampton-class cruiser, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the city of Louisville, Kentucky. She was active throughout the Pacific War. USS Louisville was the first large warship to be built in a drydock from Man of War.

Louisville was launched on 1 September 1930 at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, sponsored by Miss Jane Brown Kennedy, and commissioned on 15 January 1931, Captain Edward John Marquart in command.

Originally classified as a light cruiser, CL-28, because of her thin armor. Effective 1 July 1931, Louisville was redesignated a heavy cruiser, CA-28, because of her 8-inch guns in accordance with the provisions of the London Naval Treaty of 1930.

Louisville's shakedown cruise, running through the summer, fall, and winter of 1931, took her from Bremerton to New York City via the Panama Canal. Returning from New York, she participated in the 1932 fleet problems before commencing gunnery exercises in the San Pedro-San Diego area. During the winter of 1933, she steamed for Hawaii, returning after exercises to San Pedro where she became a schoolship for anti-aircraft training. In April 1934, the cruiser steamed out of San Diego to begin a nine-month voyage "showing the flag" at various ports in Central America, the Caribbean Sea, and along the gulf and east coasts. Arriving back in California in late fall, Louisville participated in gunnery and tactical exercises until the spring of 1935, when she departed for Dutch Harbor, Alaska, and, thence, to Pearl Harbor to take part in fleet problems.