History
Twelve ships of the class were programmed, but only three ships were completed: Des Moines (CA-134), Salem (CA-139), and Newport News (CA-148), with the USS Dallas (CA-140) cancelled when she was approximately 28 percent complete. The first two were decommissioned in 1959 and 1961, respectively, but Newport News remained in commission until 1975, serving for a long period (1962-1968 as Second Fleet flagship, and then providing gunfire support off Viet Nam 1969-1973. She had the distinction of being the last active all-gun cruiser (serving 25.5 years continuously) and the first completely air-conditioned surface ship in the U.S. Navy. Salem is a museum ship in Quincy, Massachusetts. Newport News was scrapped in 1993, and Des Moines was scrapped in 2006–2007. Dallas (CA-140) and eight other ships (CA-141 through CA-143 and CA-149 through CA-153) were canceled at the end of World War II.
Read more about this topic: Des Moines Class Cruiser
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