Wartime AA growth and uncertain fitting dates

Wichita was the first cruiser fitted with the new 5-inch/38 battery, and her lighter antiaircraft armament expanded with Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm weapons between 1939 and 1945. The exact fitting sequence is harder to establish than a simple yard-work schedule suggests. Some accounts place weapons aboard before the formal armament records change, even though the ship was not in a yard at the time. The idea that the crew obtained useful equipment ahead of its official assignment remains an impression rather than a proven fact. Wartime equipment histories therefore need to distinguish documented authorization from weapons that may already have been aboard.