USS Pensacola (CA-24)

USS Pensacola (CA-24), underway at sea, September 1935.
History
United States
Name:	Pensacola
Namesake:	City of Pensacola, Florida
Ordered:	18 December 1924
Awarded:	7 March 1925 9 July 1926 (supplementary contract)
Builder:	New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York
Cost:	$11,100,000 (limit of cost)
Laid down:	27 October 1926
Launched:	25 April 1929
Sponsored by:	Mrs. Joseph L. Seligman
Completed:	9 July 1929
Commissioned:	6 February 1930
Decommissioned:	26 August 1946
Reclassified:	CA-24, 1 July 1931
Struck:	28 November 1945
Identification:	Hull symbol:CL-24 Hull symbol:CA-24 Code letters:NIJS
Nickname(s):	"Grey Ghost"
Honors and awards:	13 × Battle stars
Fate:	Sunk as a target in 1948
Notes:	Designated as a test ship for Operation Crossroads at Bikini Atoll Survived atomic aerial burst on 1 July 1946 Survived atomic subsurface burst on 25 July 1946
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type:	Pensacola-class cruiser
Displacement:	9,100 long tons (9,200 t) (standard)
Length:	585 ft 6 in (178.46 m) oa 558 ft (170 m) pp
Beam:	65 ft 3 in (19.89 m)
Draft:	16 ft 2 in (4.93 m) (mean) 22 ft (6.7 m) (max)
Installed power:	12 × 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:	85 officers 445 enlisted
Sensors and processing systems:	CXAM radar from 1940
Armament:	10 × 8 in (203 mm)/55 caliber guns (2×3, 2×2) 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 (2×3)
Armor:	Belt: 2 1⁄2–4 in (64–102 mm) Deck: 1–1 3⁄4 in (25–44 mm) Barbettes: 3⁄4 in (19 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 (1942)
Armament:	10 × 8 in (203 mm)/55 caliber guns (2×3, 2×2) 4 × 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 8 × single 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon cannons
General characteristics (1945)
Armament:	10 × 8 in (203 mm)/55 caliber guns (2×3, 2×2) 4 × 5 in (127 mm)/25 caliber anti-aircraft guns 2 × 3-pounder47 mm (1.9 in) saluting guns 7 × quad 40 mm (1.6 in) Bofors guns 9 × twin 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon cannons

The USS Pensacola (CL/CA-24) was a cruiser of the United States Navy that was in service from 1929 to 1945. She was the lead ship of the Pensacola class, which the navy classified from 1931 as heavy cruisers. The third Navy ship to be named after the city of Pensacola, Florida, she was nicknamed the "Grey Ghost" by Tokyo Rose. She received 13 battle stars for her service.

She was laid down by the New York Navy Yard on 27 October 1926, launched on 25 April 1929, sponsored by Mrs. Joseph L. Seligman, and commissioned on 6 February 1930, Captain Alfred G. Howe in command.

Pensacola departed New York on 24 March 1930, and transited the Panama Canal to Callao, Peru, and Valparaíso, Chile, before returning to New York on 5 June. For the next four years she operated along the eastern seaboard and in the Caribbean Sea, several times transiting the Panama Canal for combined Fleet battle practice ranging from California to Hawaii.

Originally CL-24, effective 1 July 1931, Pensacola was redesignated CA-24 in accordance with the provisions of the London Naval Treaty of 1930.

Pensacola departed Norfolk on 15 January 1935 to join the Pacific Fleet arriving San Diego, her new home port, on 30 January. Fleet problems ranged to Hawaii, one cruise took her to Alaska, and combined fleet maneuvers returned her briefly to the Caribbean Sea before she sailed on 5 October 1939 to base at Pearl Harbor, arriving on the 12th.Pensacola was one of six ships to receive the new RCA CXAM radar in 1940. Maneuvers frequently found the cruiser off Midway and French Frigate Shoals, and she made one voyage to Guam.