Everything about Uss Birmingham Cl-2 totally explained
USS Birmingham (CL-2) |
| Career |
|
Ordered:
|
|
Laid down:
|
14 August 1905 |
Launched:
|
29 May 1907 |
Commissioned:
|
11 April 1908 |
Decommissioned:
|
1 December 1923 |
Fate:
|
Scrapped in 1930 |
Struck:
|
|
| General characteristics |
Displacement:
|
3,750 tons |
Length:
|
423 ft 1 in |
Beam:
|
47 ft 1 in |
Draft:
|
16 ft 9 in |
Propulsion:
|
|
Speed:
|
24.5 knots |
Range:
|
|
Complement:
|
359 officers and enlisted |
Armament:
|
2 × 5 in, 6 × 3 in guns 6 × 21 in torpedo tubes |
Aircraft:
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Motto:
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USS Birmingham (CL-2), named for the city of
Birmingham, Alabama, was a
Chester-class light cruiser laid down by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company at
Quincy in
Massachusetts on
14 August 1905, launched on
29 May 1907 by Mrs L. Underwood and commissioned on
11 April 1908, Commander B. T. Wallin in command.
Birmingham served with the Atlantic Fleet until
27 June 1911 and went into reserve at Boston three days later. From her deck,
14 November 1910, civilian pilot
Eugene Ely made the
first airplane take-off from a warship in a
Curtiss Model D biplane designed by
Glenn Curtiss.
Recommissioned
15 December 1911 she made a short cruise to the
West Indies and then reverted to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Philadelphia
20 April 1912. During
19 May 1912-
11 July 1912 she was in commission for service on the Ice Patrol and then returned to the Philadelphia Reserve Group. Recommissioned
1 October 1913,
Birmingham carried the
Panama-Pacific Exposition Commissioners on a South American tour (
3 October 1913-
26 December 1913) and then was outfitted at
Philadelphia Navy Yard as a tender to the Torpedo Flotilla.
She left the yard
2 February 1914 and resumed operations with the Atlantic Fleet as flagship of the Torpedo Flotilla. During
22 April 1914-
25 May 1914 she operated with the fleet in Mexican waters. During this time, one of her two
Curtiss Model F flying boats performed the first military mission by a US heavier-than-air aircraft, while scouting for mines off
Veracruz on 25 April. In 1916 she became flagship of Destroyer Force Atlantic Fleet, and Torpedo Flotilla 3.
Following American entrance into World War I,
Birmingham patrolled along the northeast coast until
14 June 1917 when she sailed from
New York as part of the escort for the first American troop convoy to France. After returning to New York she was fitted for service in Europe and in August reported to
Gibraltar as flagship for Rear Admiral A. P. Niblack, Commander, U. S. Forces Gibraltar. She escorted convoys between Gibraltar, the
British Isles, and
France until the Armistice. After a short cruise in the eastern
Mediterranean she returned to the
United States in January 1919.
From July 1919 until May 1922 she was based at
San Diego, Calif., as flagship of Destroyer Squadrons, Pacific Fleet, and then moved to
Balboa, Canal Zone, as flagship of the Special Service Squadron. After cruising along the Central American and northern South American coast she returned to Philadelphia Navy Yard and was decommissioned there
1 December 1923, being sold for scrap on
13 May 1930.
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