Chester-class cruiser

USS Chester
Class overview
Name	Chester class
Builders	Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts
Operators	United States Navy
Preceded by	St. Louis class
Succeeded by	Omaha class
Built	1905–1908
In commission	1908–1923
Planned	3
Completed	3
Scrapped	3
Preserved	0
General characteristics (as built)[1]
Type	Scout cruiser
Displacement	3,750 long tons (3,810 t) normal 4,687 long tons (4,762 t) normal
Length	423.1 ft (129.0 m)
Beam	47.1 ft (14.4 m)
Draft	16.8 ft (5.1 m)
Installed power	12 × boilers Engines and horsepower varied by ship
Propulsion	4 × screws (Chester) 2 × screws
Speed	24 kn (44.4 km/h; 27.6 mph)
Boats & landing craft carried	2 × lifeboats
Complement	359
Armament	2 × 5"/50 caliber guns 6 × 3"/50 caliber guns 2 × 3-pounder saluting guns 2 × 21" torpedo tubes
Armor	Belt: 2 in (51 mm) Deck: 1 in (25 mm) over steering gear

The three Chester-class cruisers were the first United States Navy vessels to be designed and designated as fast "scout cruisers" for fleet reconnaissance. They had high speed but little armor or armament.^[2] They were authorized in January 1904, ordered in fiscal year 1905, and completed in 1908. In 1920 all scout cruisers were redesignated as "light cruisers" (CL).^[3]

Birmingham was the first ship in the world to launch an airplane, in 1910 with pilot Eugene Ely, who also performed the first landing on a ship the following year, on USS Pennsylvania.^[4] The class patrolled the Caribbean prior to World War I, sometimes supporting military interventions, with Chester playing a key role at the start of the United States occupation of Veracruz in 1914. The ships escorted convoys in World War I. The class was decommissioned 1921-1923 and sold for scrap to comply with the limits of the London Naval Treaty in 1930.^[3]