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The after end of the island belonging to USS Saratoga (CV-3), seen in 1927. She is still at her builder’s yard in Camden, New Jersey; she occupies the wet basin slip at New York Shipbuilding, though after her launch the company had been taken over by a Swiss firm for several years, leading to a change in signage - the full text of the slip’s enclosure would read “American Brown Boveri Electric Corporation Shipbuilding Division” by this juncture. Saratoga had not yet traveled far, in the seven-year life of her keel - she had been constructed four berths away, off to the right of the frame, and had only launched in 1925. Here, civilians marvel at the massive stack, while a pair of officers stand beneath her aft 8” turrets in full dress uniform. Note the scaffolding still in place off to the right.
One of the most interesting aspects of this view is the focus on her guns and fire control provisions. There are not many photos that detail the aft battery in this complete detail, much less in this clarity. The sub-caliber guns mounted between the 8” barrels, for practice firing, are even visible. In terms of fire control, the upper platform contains rangefinders and directors for the 5” guns, while the two enclosed levels below contain the director and fire control station for the 8” battery. This extensive dedication of space to fire control equipment and turrets showed the anticipated risk that cruisers were to carrier operations; the thought of an enemy cruiser getting in close against a carrier was repulsive enough to the minds in the USN to spark an overhaul of cruiser operations, with heavy cruisers allocated to carrier escort roles in the 1930s. Being that those ships were built to be scouts, this created an unpleasant deployment scenario - the need to free heavy cruisers from escort roles while still offering substantial surface protection against cruisers would lead to the development of the Alaska class on the eve of WWII.
The 8”/55 proved to be overkill and were never needed, later being replaced by more practical dual-purpose 5”/38s. Nevertheless, before carrier doctrine was refined, the anti-cruiser battery was thought to be critical.
One of the most interesting aspects of this view is the focus on her guns and fire control provisions. There are not many photos that detail the aft battery in this complete detail, much less in this clarity. The sub-caliber guns mounted between the 8” barrels, for practice firing, are even visible. In terms of fire control, the upper platform contains rangefinders and directors for the 5” guns, while the two enclosed levels below contain the director and fire control station for the 8” battery. This extensive dedication of space to fire control equipment and turrets showed the anticipated risk that cruisers were to carrier operations; the thought of an enemy cruiser getting in close against a carrier was repulsive enough to the minds in the USN to spark an overhaul of cruiser operations, with heavy cruisers allocated to carrier escort roles in the 1930s. Being that those ships were built to be scouts, this created an unpleasant deployment scenario - the need to free heavy cruisers from escort roles while still offering substantial surface protection against cruisers would lead to the development of the Alaska class on the eve of WWII.
The 8”/55 proved to be overkill and were never needed, later being replaced by more practical dual-purpose 5”/38s. Nevertheless, before carrier doctrine was refined, the anti-cruiser battery was thought to be critical.
