mlees
Posts: 2263
Joined: 9/20/2003 From: San Diego Status: offline
|
The Washington Naval Treaty limited cruiser sizes to 10,000 tons. (The effect of Article XI: "No vessel of war exceeding 10,000 tons (10,160 metric tons) standard displacement, other than a capital ship or aircraft carrier, shall be acquired by, or constructed by, for, or within the jurisdiction of, any of the Contracting Powers. " Which meant that any vessel larger than 10,000 tons was to be considered a "Capital Ship", and had to be counted in it's tonnage limits as laid out in other articles.) Initially, the US (in the 20's) went with the 8 inch gun while the RN pretty much stuck with the 6-inch gun for its cruisers, because the US wanted to have superior firepower to the RN and Japanese, ton for ton. The 8-inch gun has heavier hitting power, and slightly greater range. However: the 6-inch has a greater rate of fire, which means that you get more chances to damage the enemy. (If you can get in hits early enough, then the enemy may not be able to return fire as effectively as he could otherwise, meaning you suffer less damage as a result.) The 6 inch weapon mounted on the Brooklyn's was a newer Mk weapon, compared with the weapon mounted on the Omaha's, for example, and it had better penetration capability. It was decided by the General Board that a cruiser with 15 6-inch weapons was "better" than a cruiser with 8 or 10 slower 8-inch weapons. The Brooklyn displaces 10,000 tons standard. If I recall correctly, it's armor scheme is the same as any US "Heavy" cruiser of the period. (USS Houston actually displaces 9000 tons, and the Japanese prewar CL's weighed in at 4500 to 7500 tons...) I'll have to reverify it's protection, though. So, in effect, the Brooklyn is not really a "Light" cruiser... despite the CL in it's hull number.
|