USS Salt Lake City (CA-25)

USS Salt Lake City over head underway, 23 August 1935.
History
United States
Name:	Salt Lake City
Namesake:	City of Salt Lake City, Utah
Ordered:	18 December 1924
Awarded:	9 July 1926 16 April 1927 (supplementary contract)
Builder:	New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey
Cost:	$8,673,833 (limit of cost)
Laid down:	9 June 1927
Launched:	23 January 1929
Sponsored by:	Miss Helen Budge
Commissioned:	11 December 1929
Decommissioned:	29 August 1946
Reclassified:	CA-25, 1 July 1931
Struck:	18 June 1948
Identification:	Hull symbol:CL-25 Hull symbol:CA-25 Code letters:NISK
Nickname(s):	"Swayback Maru"
Honors and awards:	11 × Battle stars Navy Unit Commendation
Fate:	Sunk as target on 25 May 1948, 130 miles off the Southern California coast
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:	87 officers 576 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 6 × quad 40 mm (1.6 in) Bofors guns 19 × single 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon cannons

USS Salt Lake City (CL/CA-25) of the United States Navy was a Pensacola-class cruiser, later reclassified as a heavy cruiser, sometimes known as "Swayback Maru" or "Old Swayback". She had the (unofficial) distinction of having taken part in more engagements than any other ship in the fleet. She was also the first ship to be named after Salt Lake City, Utah.

She was laid down on 9 June 1927, by the American Brown Boveri Electric Corporation, a subsidiary of the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, at Camden, New Jersey; launched on 23 January 1929, sponsored by Helen Budge, a granddaughter of leading Mormon missionary, William Budge; and commissioned on 11 December 1929, at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Captain Frederick Lansing Oliver in command.

Salt Lake City departed Philadelphia on 20 January 1930, for shakedown trials off the Maine coast. She began her first extended cruise on 10 February; visited Guantánamo Bay, Cuba; Culebra, Virgin Islands; Rio de Janeiro and Bahia, Brazil; then returned to Guantanamo Bay where—on 31 March—she joined Cruiser Division 2 (CruDiv 2) of the Scouting Force. With this division, she operated along the New England coast until 12 September, when she was reassigned to CruDiv 5. Salt Lake City then operated off New York City, Cape Cod, and Chesapeake Bay through 1931.