While the Washington Naval Treaty was still being observed, new technology was implemented in the New Orleans class because the USN knew that if and when war came, they would need this knowledge to build ships (which were already in the planning stage) beyond the treaty limits. This class became the foundation for all subsequent heavy cruisers - the Brooklyn, Wichita, Cleveland, and the Baltimore classes. The New Orleans-class design was a test bed for innovations in cruiser design, and there were three distinct designs within this class.ĭesign #1: New Orleans, Astoria, and Minneapolis.
Collectively, ships of the class earned 64 battle stars.
Only Tuscaloosa, which spent most of the war in the Atlantic, was not damaged. The Astoria, Quincy, and Vincennes were all sunk in the Battle of Savo Island, and three others were heavily damaged in subsequent battles in the Guadalcanal campaign. These cruisers participated in the heaviest surface battles of the Pacific War and only four remained after the first year of war. The New Orleans-class consisted of seven heavy cruisers built in the 1930s.
