USS Vincennes (CA-44)

USS Vincennes (CA 44), passing through the Panama Canal on 6 January 1938, while en route to join the U.S. Fleet in the Pacific. Note crewmen on her deck, watching the airplane from which the photograph was taken.
History
United States
Name:	Vincennes
Namesake:	City of Vincennes, Indiana
Ordered:	16 June 1933
Awarded:	3 August 1933
Builder:	Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation's Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts
Cost:	$11,720,000 (contract price)
Laid down:	2 January 1934
Launched:	21 May 1936
Sponsored by:	Miss Harriet Virginia Kimmell
Commissioned:	24 February 1937
Identification:	Hull symbol:CA-44
Honors and awards:	2 × battle stars
Fate:	Sunk, Battle of Savo Island 9 August 1942
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type:	New Orleans-class cruiser
Displacement:	10,136 long tons (10,299 t) (standard) 12,463 long tons (12,663 t) (loaded)
Length:	588 ft (179 m) oa 575 ft (175 m) pp
Beam:	61 ft 10 in (18.85 m)
Draft:	19 ft 6 in (5.94 m) (mean) 23 ft 6 in (7.16 m) (max)
Installed power:	8 × Babcock & Wilcox 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:	Fuel oil: 1,650 tons
Complement:	103 officers 763 enlisted
Armament:	9 × 8 in (200 mm)/55 caliber guns (3x3) 8 × 5 in (130 mm)/25 caliber anti-aircraft guns 2 × 3-pounder47 mm (1.9 in) saluting guns 8 × caliber 0.50 in (13 mm) machine guns
Armor:	Belt: 3–5 in (76–127 mm) Deck: 1 1⁄4–2 1⁄4 in (32–57 mm) Barbettes: 5 in (130 mm) Turrets: 1 1⁄2–8 in (38–203 mm) Conning Tower: 5 in (130 mm)
Aircraft carried:	4 × floatplanes
Aviation facilities:	2 × Amidship catapults
General characteristics (1942)
Armament:	9 × 8 in (200 mm)/55 caliber guns (3x3) 8 × 5 in (130 mm)/25 caliber anti-aircraft guns 2 × 3-pounder47 mm (1.9 in) saluting guns 12 × single 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon anti-aircraft cannons 4 × quad 1.1 in (28 mm)/75 caliber anti-aircraft guns

USS Vincennes (CA-44) was a United States Navy New Orleans-class cruiser, sunk at the Battle of Savo Island in 1942. She was the second ship to bear the name.

She was laid down on 2 January 1934 at Quincy, Massachusetts, by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Company's Fore River plant, launched on 21 May 1936, sponsored by Miss Harriet Virginia Kimmell (daughter of Joseph Kimmell, mayor of Vincennes, Indiana), and commissioned on 24 February 1937, Captain Burton H. Green in command.

The New Orleans-class cruisers were the last U.S. cruisers built to the specifications and standards of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. Such ships, with a limit of 10,000 tons standard displacement and 8-inch caliber main guns may be referred to as "treaty cruisers." Originally classified a light cruiser when she was authorized, because of her thin armor, Vincennes was reclassified a heavy cruiser, because of her 8-inch guns. The term "heavy cruiser" was not defined until the London Naval Treaty in 1930. This ship and Quincy were a slightly improved version of the New Orleans-class design.

The new cruiser departed from Boston on 19 April 1937 for her shakedown cruise which took her to , Sweden; Helsinki, Finland; Le Havre, France; and Portsmouth, England.

Early in January 1938, Vincennes was assigned to Cruiser Division 7 (CruDiv 7), Scouting Force, and steamed through the Panama Canal to San Diego, California. In March, the ship participated in Fleet Problem XIX in the Hawaiian area before returning to San Pedro, California for operations off the west coast for the remainder of the year.