USS Wichita (CA-45) - Design

Design

In the early 1930s, the Secretary of the Navy, Curtis D. Wilbur, pushed for a new construction program for light and heavy cruisers. Wilbur succeeded in passing the Cruiser Act in 1929, which authorized several new cruisers. Five heavy cruisers, the last of which was Wichita, were ordered between 1931 and 1934. Wichita was the last heavy cruiser permitted under the terms of the London Naval Treaty in 1930, which limited the US to 18 heavy cruisers with a maximum standard displacement of 10,000 long tons (10,000 t). The ship was originally intended to be built to the design of the New Orleans class, but the design was reworked before construction began. Instead, the design for Wichita was based on the Brooklyn class of light cruisers. The Brooklyn design was modified heavily, to give the new ship higher freeboard and better stability, and an increased cruising radius. The secondary battery of eight 5-inch (130 mm) guns was identical in number to the light cruisers, but was arranged to give better fields of fire. The main battery of nine 8-inch (200 mm) guns was mounted in a new gun turret design that rectified problems discovered in earlier cruisers.

Wichita was laid down at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on 28 October 1935, and launched on 16 November 1937. By the time she was completed, in February 1938, Wichita was nearly over the 10,000-ton limit; as a result, she was completed with only two of the eight 5-inch guns to keep her under the displacement restriction. When the rest of the 5-inch guns were installed, it was found that the ship was too top-heavy, and so 200 long tons (200 t) of pig iron had to be added to her bottom to balance the cruiser. Wichita was commissioned into the US Navy on 16 February 1939. Her first commander was Captain Thaddeus A. Thomson.