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I believe the USS Indianapolis had all of her wood decking removed with the exception of the forecastle deck. Drawings of the ship in Steve Wiper's Warship Pictorial No 1 would indicate that this happened sometime between late 1942 and mid 1943, probably at Mare Island during her April-May 1943 refit. It is interesting to note that the forecastle deck was immediately above "officer country" which included the wardroom, although the senior officers, including the captain's and admirals quarters, were located a deck above in the forward superstructure, which did not retain wood decking overhead.

Whether similar wood decking removal was carried out on the Portland or other pre-war cruiser classes I do not know.

Steve Sobieralski