Donald M. Scheef wrote:Just for fun:
Since we were discussing the "BC" or "CB" nomenclature for battlecruisers, why was an armored cruiser (and its descendent, the heavy cruiser) a "CA" rather than an "AC"? What was an "AC"?
Two ACs became relatively famous for different reasons. Can anyone identify them and explain their fame?
What other types of ships had identifiers beginning with "A"?
Don S.
Oops, forgot the first part.
As far as I can recall, the CA and CL designators for Heavy and Light Cruisers came out of the naval armaments limitations treaties. The USN chose "A" to designate any cruiser mounting a main armament of 8" or larger, and "L" for any cruiser mounting a main armament between 5" and 7.1". There were also the Scout Cruisers, which were designated as CS.
Prior to that, the Armoured Cruisers were designated as ACRs, while prior to the advent of that type cruisers had no special designators and were simply referred to as "cruisers."
The three most important phrases in the history of aviation are: "Where are we?", "Why is it doing that?", and "Oh, sh*t!"
In 1920 the USN changed the designator for the surviving armored cruisers changed from ACR to CA. When the new heavy cruisers came into service, they also used the CA designator. The Navy Department saw these ships as the descendents of the armored cruiser. Otherwise, the heavy cruisers would probably have been identified by a "CH" designator. I wonder if anyone foresaw the need for a "helicopter cruiser" designator?
The descriptions of "heavy cruiser" and "light cruiser" did come from the naval limitations treaties, with the distinction based on the size of the guns. The designators "CA" and "CL" for these types of ships were chosen by the Navy Department and were not specified by the treaties. The term "light cruiser" had already been in use for some time by a number of English-speaking countries. The term "heavy cruiser" did not become popular until countries began building 8" gun cruisers in the 1920s under the new armaments limitiation treaties.
