USS Puerto Rico

The USS Puerto Rico in the Military Ocean Terminal at Bayonne.

"There's that battleship Amherst was talking about!"

―Ellie Martinez

The USS Puerto Rico was an Alaska-class cruiser in service to the United States Navy. When the Chimera invaded America in 1951, she became a key aspect in the defense of New York City during evacuations.

Operational History

As part of the United States military's plan for defense against the looming Chimera invasion, the Puerto Rico was laid up in drydock at Military Ocean Terminal at Bayonne, New Jersey for an armament upgrade. One of her main gun turrets was in the process of being reintegrated when the invasion began, preventing her from being brought up to combat status. Colonel George Amherst, the base commander, offered to grant Minutemen-leader Ellie Martinez and fireman Tom Riley access to a VTOL in exchange for help clearing the Chimeran presence from the base so the ship could be repaired.

As Tom and Ellie got the final turret ready for installment, a colossal Chimera called the Abomination attacked from the water and scattered the base defenders, leaving Tom to singlehandedly destroy it. With the creature defeated, the Puerto Rico finally was able to leave drydock and quickly got to work using its secondary gun batteries to easily swat Chimeran dropships out of the sky on its way to the Hudson Bay.

Trivia

• In reality, the USS Puerto Rico was planned to be the fifth of six Alaska-class ships ordered on September 9, 1940 before World War II. Unlike her sister ships the Guam and Alaska, however, construction was never started due to materials being needed for more important ships such as carriers, destroyers, and submarines, which were all proven just as effective at the Alaska's designed task at hunting cruisers, rendering the Alaska-class a "white elephant." She was officially canceled in June 1943.
  • Since Resistance is set up as an alternate history storyline, it is possible that different events led to at least two more Alaska-class ships being constructed or Puerto Rico taking the Guam's place as the second ship of the class constructed.
• Although being sometimes referred to as a battleship, the Puerto Rico is designated a "large cruiser" or battlecruiser, filling a role between the larger battleship and the smaller heavy cruiser.
• Like the Puerto Rico, all six of the Alaska-class ships were to be named after (what were at the time) US territories instead of states. The others were the Alaska, the Guam, the Philippines, the Samoa, and the Hawaii.