USS New Orleans (CL-22)

USS New Orleans photographed during the Spanish-American War, 1898.
History
United States
Name:	New Orleans
Namesake:	New Orleans, Louisiana
Ordered:	Amazonas for the Brazilian Navy in 1895
Builder:	Armstrong, Mitchell and Co., Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Laid down:	1895
Launched:	4 December 1896
Commissioned:	18 March 1898
Decommissioned:	16 November 1922
Reclassified:	CL 22 on 8 August 1921
Struck:	13 November 1929
Identification:	Hull symbol:CL-22
Fate:	11 February 1930, sold for scrap
General characteristics
Class and type:	New Orleans class protected cruiser
Displacement:	3,769 long tons (3,829 t)
Length:	354 ft 5 in (108.03 m)
Beam:	43 ft 9 in (13.34 m)
Draft:	18 ft (5.5 m)
Installed power:	7,500 shp (5,600 kW)
Propulsion:	2 × vertical, inverted triple expansion engines 2 × screws
Speed:	20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement:	366 officers and enlisted
Armament:	6 × 6 in (152 mm) (6 × 1) 4 × 4.7 in (120 mm) (4 × 1) 10 × 6 pdr (2.25 in) (10 × 1) 8 × 1 pdr (1 in) (8 × 1) 2 × 0.30 calibre (7.62 mm) guns (2 × 1) 3 × 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor:	Gun shields: 4 in (100 mm) Main deck: 3.5 in (89 mm) Conning Tower: 4 in (100 mm)

USS New Orleans (later designated PG-34 then CL-22) was a United States Navy protected cruiser of the New Orleans class.

She was laid down in 1895 as Amazonas for the Brazilian Navy by Armstrong, Mitchell and Company, Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, launched on 4 December 1896, purchased by the U.S. Navy while building on 16 March 1898; and commissioned 18 March 1898 at Gravesend, England, with Lieutenant Commander Arthur P. Nazro in command.

New Orleans sailed on 27 March 1898 to fit out at New York, New York, for service in the Spanish–American War. She left Norfolk, Virginia, on 17 May and joined the Flying Squadron off Santiago de Cuba on 30 May. The next afternoon, with Massachusetts (BB-2) and Iowa (BB-4), she reconnoitered the harbor, exchanging fire with Spanish ships and shore batteries. After joining in the bombardment of the batteries at the entrance to the harbor 6 and 16 June, New Orleans sailed to coal at Key West, and was thus absent during the Battle of Santiago de Cuba on 3 July.

Through the summer, New Orleans cruised on blockade between San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, capturing the French blockade runner Olinde Rodrigues on 17 July. She arrived at Philadelphia, on 20 October for the Peace Jubilee, then prepared at New York to launch her peacetime service with a visit to New Orleans, from 16 May through 29 May 1899. After summer exercises off the Atlantic seaboard, she sailed from New York on 21 October to join the Asiatic Fleet. She called at the Azores and Port Said, passed through the Suez Canal, and reached Manila on 21 December. For the next 5 years, as flagship of the Cruiser Squadron, U.S. Asiatic Fleet, she cruised the Philippines and the China coast. Relieved by Baltimore (C-3), she departed Cavite on 27 December 1904 for Mare Island Navy Yard, arriving there on 27 January 1905 to decommission on 6 February 1905.