Comments by "" (@RedXlV) on "USS Omaha - Guide 203" video.

  1. If the design had been thought out better, they could've just used 4 twin turrets instead of those ridiculous double-stack casemates. But the use of turrets at all came very late in the design process. The design that'd been selected had only the lower casemate guns, and each casemate mount had an open mount for another 6" gun above it on the roof. Plus a pair of open mounts for 6" guns amidships. But this 5-gun broadside considered a fairly pathetic for a 7,000 ton ship. The British C-class cruisers (at least the Caldeon, Ceres, and Carlisle subclasses) were 2,000 tons lighter yet had the same 5-gun broadside. The open mounts were also considered too vulnerable. So the design was revised with double-stack casemates and the empty deck space forward and aft was used for the twin turrets. And the amidships 6" mounts were replaced by the 3" AA guns. Still a quite inefficient layout, but at least the 8-gun broadside was equal to or better than that of other scout cruisers of the era.
    3
  2. I've seen a few photos of USS Marblehead in 1932-33 showing that when her lower aft casemates were removed, a single turret was installed on top of the aft superstructure to replace those guns (thus preserving the 8-gun broadside). Can you find any details of how this happened, and why a similar refit wasn't done to the rest of the Omaha-class? The turret in question looks very much like they took the parts from one of the removed casemates and welded a roof on top of the gun shield to enclose it even though it was no longer inside the superstructure.
    1