USS Northampton (CA-26)

USS Northampton (CA-26), starboard beam underway, 23 August 1935.
History
United States
Name:	Northampton
Namesake:	City of Northampton, Massachusetts
Ordered:	18 December 1924
Awarded:	13 June 1927
Builder:	Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation's Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts
Cost:	$10,675,000 (limit of cost)
Laid down:	12 April 1928
Launched:	5 September 1929
Sponsored by:	Grace Coolidge
Commissioned:	17 May 1930
Reclassified:	CA-26, 1 July 1931
Struck:	28 November 1945
Identification:	Hull symbol:CL-26 Hull symbol:CA-26
Nickname(s):	"Nora"
Honors and awards:	6 × battle stars
Fate:	Sunk during the Battle of Tassafaronga on 1 December 1942.
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 2 in (7.06 m) (max)
Installed power:	8 × White-Forster boilers 107,000 shp (80,000 kW)
Propulsion:	4 × Parsons reduction steam turbines 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 606 enlisted
Sensors and processing systems:	CXAM radar from 1940
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 (1941)
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 4 × 1.1 in (27.9 mm)/75 anti-aircraft guns

USS Northampton (CL/CA-26) was the lead Northampton-class cruiser in service with the United States Navy. She was commissioned in 1930, originally classified a light cruiser because of her thin armor but later reclassified a heavy cruiser because of her 8-inch guns. During World War II she served in the Pacific and was sunk by Japanese torpedoes during the Battle of Tassafaronga on 30 November 1942. She was named after the city of Northampton, Massachusetts, the home of former President Calvin Coolidge.

Northampton was laid down on 12 April 1928 by Bethlehem Steel Corp.'s Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts; launched on 5 September 1929; sponsored by Grace Coolidge (wife of the former President); and commissioned on 17 May 1930, Captain (later Vice Admiral) Walter N. Vernou in command.

Joining the Atlantic Fleet, Northampton made a shakedown cruise to the Mediterranean during the summer of 1930, then participated in the fleet training schedule which took her to the Caribbean, the Panama Canal Zone, and, occasionally, into the Pacific for exercises with other cruisers and ships of all types. Redesignated CA-26 in 1931 in accordance with the London Naval Treaty, she operated primarily in the Pacific from 1932, homeported at San Pedro, and later at Pearl Harbor.Northampton was one of six ships to receive the new RCA CXAM radar in 1940.