Editing USS Northampton (CLC-1) (section)

==Other roles==
Besides acting as a fleet command ship, ''Northampton'' was planned for or actually functioned in at least two other roles.

===Pilotfish===
When the first supercarrier [[USS United States (CVA-58)|USS ''United States'' (CVA-58)]] was being designed, it was thought she would not be able to have an island or masts for radar or other antennas. Therefore the ''Northampton'' was seen as a 'pilotfish', a ship that would escort the carrier and act not only as a [[radar picket]] (although from the center of the [[task force]] rather than the periphery as a true picket would), but also as the radar director of aircraft approach and landing on the carrier. The recent invention of the [[angled flight deck]] made it possible to install islands and radar on supercarriers, and so this role was eliminated from the ''Northampton''.<ref>Freidman, pp. 430</ref>

==="Floating White House"===
{{See also|National Emergency Command Post Afloat}}
According to a ''[[The Washington Post|Washington Post]]'' article on 29 July 2006, ''Northampton'' was part of the [[Federal government of the United States|U.S. government's]] plan for [[Continuity of government|Continuity of Operations]] and reported to be a "floating [[White House]]" to which the [[President of the United States|President]] could be evacuated in the event of [[nuclear warfare|nuclear attack]].  As such she was designated as the [[National Emergency Command Post Afloat]] (NECPA); ''Northampton'' was one of two ships to serve in the role, with the other being the [[aircraft carrier]] {{USS|Wright|CVL-49|6}}. The ship was modified with an extra deck, the tallest communications mast in the Navy and multi-link communications gear.