USS Chester (CL/CA-27), a , was the second ship of the United States Navy named after the city of Chester, Pennsylvania.
Construction and commissioning
Chester was launched on 3 July 1929 by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey; sponsored by Miss J. T. Blain; commissioned on 24 June 1930 and reported to the Atlantic Fleet.
Inter-war period
Chester cleared Newport, Rhode Island, on 13 August 1930 for an extensive European cruise. She visited Barcelona, Naples, Constantinople, Phaleron Bay, and Gibraltar before returning to Chester, Pennsylvania, for voyage repairs on 13 October. She joined the Scouting Fleet as flagship for Commander, Light Cruiser Divisions, and on 6 March 1931, embarked the Secretary of the Navy for the Canal Zone where he observed the annual fleet problem from . Chester carried the secretary back to Miami, Fla., arriving on 22 March, then sailed to Narragansett Bay for exercises and duty escorting two visiting French cruisers. On 25 September 1935, Chester embarked the Secretary of War and his party for a voyage to the Philippines in connection with the inauguration of the president of the Philippines Commonwealth on 15 November. Returning to San Francisco on 14 December 1935, she resumed operations with Cruiser Division 4.
Home-ported at Pearl Harbor from 3 February, the cruiser exercised in Hawaiian waters, and made one voyage to the West Coast with Commander, Scouting Force embarked (14 May 1941 – 18 June 1941). From 10 October to 13 November, she escorted two army transports carrying reinforcements to Manila, Philippines Islands. Upon her return, she joined and and was at sea returning from Wake Island when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.