USS Chicago (CA-136/CG-11) was a Baltimore-class heavy cruiser laid down on 28 July 1943 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, by the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Launched on 20 August 1944, she was sponsored by Mrs. Edward J. Kelly, wife of the Mayor of Chicago, Illinois, and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 10 January 1945, Captain Richard R. Hartung, USN, in command. It served in some of the last battles around the Japan home islands in WWII, and as part of the post war occupation fleet. Decommissioned after the war it was refitted as a missile cruiser beginning in the late 1950s and recommissioned in 1964, serving during the Vietnam War. It served until 1980. USS Chicago CG-11 carried the title of "The World's Most Powerful Guided Missile Cruiser".
USS Chicago off the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on 7 May 1945
Chicago during her commissioning ceremony in San Francisco in 1964, following her massive, five-year rebuild as a guided missile cruiser
Chicago in early 1970s
Chicago at sea during her 1977-78 WESTPAC cruise
The Baltimore-class heavy cruisers were a class of heavy cruisers in the United States Navy commissioned during and shortly after World War II. Fourteen Baltimores were completed, more than any other class of heavy cruiser, along with another three ships of the Oregon City sub-class. The Baltimores also were the first cruisers in the US Navy to be designed without the limitations of the London Naval Treaty.
USS Bremerton (CA-130) in 1955
USS Bremerton in drydock
USS Baltimore during her reactivation
USS Pittsburgh with her bow ripped off