Q&A · 2:37:44-2:39:05

Were there two cruisers named USS Juneau?

The wartime Atlanta-class Juneau and the postwar lead ship of the modified Juneau class were distinct cruisers despite their shared name and design lineage.

Question

Were there two cruisers named USS Juneau, and was the later one another Atlanta-class ship?

Short answer

There were two namesakes, but the later Juneau led a modified postwar class without the wing turrets and did not commission until 1946.

Notes

The first USS Juneau was the Atlanta-class ship lost in 1942. A later cruiser became the lead ship of the modified Juneau class. Those ships were laid down from September 1944 and did not commission until 1946, placing them outside the wartime comparison. They omitted the Atlanta design's wing turrets and incorporated other changes rather than simply repeating the earlier class. The naming overlap therefore should not be mistaken for two contemporary Atlanta-class ships with identical layouts.