The Baltimore class was the last war-time heavy cruiser class, and certainly the first heavy cruisers that were properly armoured and protected, at least in the U.S.

    This class looked a lot like the Cleveland class, but its construction was delayed because the light cruisers received more attention. Only in April of 1943 was Baltimore commisioned, then carrying the same numerical main armament that the earlier heavy cruisers had, nine 203mm L/55 guns in three triple turrets. However, this class was already benefitting from the availability of 127mm L/38 twin mounts, and radar proximity granades for the same. With the powerful AA armament, of course larger than that of the Cleveland class, thanks to a larger hull, these ships proved to be secondary in their AA performance only to the fast battleships.

    This resulted in the almost sole role of these ships, being the escort of the heavy and light carriers. Of the 14 ships of the class, only Canberra suffered damage, being hit by a torpedo from a Japanese plane off Formosa during the 1945 carrier raids.

     The remaining ships, minus Quincy, participated in all carrier ops they could (meaning those that began AFTER their commissioning). Quincy spent most of her time in European waters, supporting the landings in Northern and Southern France, and ferrying President Roosevelt to Europe for two conferences. She only participated in the Okinawa ops in the Pacific.  
 

Ships in class