Charlie 11
ACCESS: Restricted
- Joined
- 27 January 2024
- Messages
- 4
- Reaction score
- 8
On Page 129 of Cruisers of the US Navy 1922-1962, Terzibaschitsch mentions that the USN briefly considered converting the USS Wichita into its first missile cruiser but instead chose Boston (CA-69) and Canberra (CA-70) because they were projected to have longer service lives. Friedman also mentions this on Pages 377-378 of his book US Cruisers: An Illustrated Design History, further adding that the proposed CAG was added to the FY 50 shipbuilding program in July 1948, but as funding was restricted it was postponed to the FY 51 program in March 1949. Friedman adds that this was accompanied by a decrease in funding, which caused a reduction of the ship's missile battery from 4-6 launchers to one. He then outlines that the conversion would occur in two stages, the first would add a single launcher for the Terrier missile (most likely aft), and the second would add more launchers. He states that ultimately the ship would have a missile capacity of 300 terriers. The ship would initially have an SPS-6 air search radar, a modified MK25 for interim guidance, and an SX radar for target acquisition. After the second stage, the ship would also have an SPS-2 and a SPG-49. The CAG was dropped from the FY51 program due to funding issues, but the success of the Lark missile was used to justify the addition of cruiser conversion to the FY52 program. The navy then decides against converting Wichita and instead chooses Boston and Canberra. Does anyone have any more information about the proposed conversion of Wichita? Line drawings would also be greatly appreciated.