USS Worcester (CL-144)
_underway_in_November_1949.jpg)
USS Worcester (CL-144) in November 1949
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | Worcester |
| Namesake: | Worcester, Massachusetts |
| Builder: | New York Shipbuilding Corporation of Camden, New Jersey |
| Laid down: | 29 January 1945 |
| Launched: | 4 February 1947 |
| Commissioned: | 26 June 1948 |
| Decommissioned: | 19 December 1958 |
| Struck: | 1 December 1970 |
| Identification: | Hull symbol:CL-144 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap to Zidell Explorations, Inc., of Portland, OR on 5 JUL 1972 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Worcester-class light cruiser |
| Displacement: | 14,700 tons |
| Length: | 680 ft |
| Beam: | 71 ft |
| Draft: | 26 ft |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 33 knots (38.0 mph; 61.1 km/h) |
| Range: | 8,000 nmi (15,000 km) @ 15 knots (17 mph; 28 km/h) |
| Complement: | 1401 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: |
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| Aircraft carried: |
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The second USS Worcester (CL-144) was laid down on 29 January 1945 at Camden, New Jersey, by the New York Shipbuilding and Drydock Corp.; launched on 4 February 1947; sponsored by Gloria Ann Sullivan, the daughter of Mayor F. G. Sullivan of Worcester, Massachusetts; and commissioned at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on 26 June 1948, Capt. T. B. Dugan in command.
Combining destroyer maneuverability with cruiser size and given a main battery that could deal not only with surface targets but with aircraft as well, Worcester embodied many of the lessons learned during World War II; she and her sister ship Roanoke epitomized the hard-hitting dual-purpose cruiser. However the design is largely considered a failure, as the main armament of twin automatic 6-inch (152 mm) guns never achieved fire rates of more 9-10 rpm which was lower than the similar design of automatic 8-inch (203 mm) guns on the USS Newport News. Also the fire control fitted to the Worcester was optimised for anti aircraft fire rather than surface action or GFS and the Royal Navy 6 inch gun cruisers HMS Belfast and HMS Jamaica actually performed much better in GFS in the Korean War, the HMS Belfast's firepower being very useful in the Inchon landing and the US Navy view being central to the British decision to refit the Belfast in 1955. Worcester and Roanoke seemed to offer little more than the post- war group 3 Juneau-class light cruisers on 40% of the displacement, the USS Juneau (CL-119) as refitted in in 1951 with 6 twin Mk 38 5-inch (127 mm) guns and 12 50 calibre 3-inch (76 mm) guns on 6000 ton displacement seeming a better answer.
Worchester"" was named after two previous ships of that name, honoring Worcester, Massachusetts.
Worcester, assigned to Cruiser Division (CruDiv) 10, spent the first year of her commissioned service completing her fitting out, conducting shakedown training off the eastern seaboard of the United States, and undergoing availability and type training. In the summer of 1949, she participated in her first large-scale training exercises in Guantanamo Bay and visited Kingston, Jamaica. Late in the summer, she sailed for the Mediterranean, departing Newport, Rhode Island, on 6 September 1949 and reaching Gibraltar 10 days later. She made her first deployment with the 6th Fleet in the ensuing months, visiting Malta; Bizerte, Tunisia; Golfe-Juan, France; Argostoli and Phaleron Bay, Greece; Iskenderum, Turkey; Trieste and Venice, Italy; and Gibraltar. During that 6th Fleet deployment, she engaged in exercises and maneuvers with fast carrier task forces, including the carrier Leyte (CV-32) and the heavy cruiser Des Moines (CA-134). She returned to Norfolk on 10 December.
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