USS Chicago (CG-11) was a United States Navy heavy cruiser that was later converted to a guided-missile cruiser. She was laid down on July 28, 1943 by the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; launched on August 20, 1944; and commissioned on January 10, 1945. On November 1, 1958 she was reclassified CG-11 and towed to San Francisco Naval Shipyard to begin a five-year conversion to a guided-missile cruiser. The ship was recommissioned on May 2, 1964.

Chicago departed her base at San Diego on October 19, 1965 in the screen of the carrier Kitty Hawk for multi-ship battle problems in Hawaiian waters. On May 12, 1966 she got underway to join the Seventh Fleet in the Far East, and reached Pearl Harbor on the 20th. She put to sea the next day in company with a task group built around the aircraft carrier Constellation. From June 14 to July 13 she served on PIRAZ station in the Gulf of Tonkin, coordinating Seventh Fleet activities. Other duties took her to ports in the Philippines, Japan, Okinawa and Hong Kong.

Starting in January 1967, Chicago settled into the busy routine of training, exercises, and inspections. In both April and May she conducted experimental Talos missile tests against surface targets to demonstrate missile versatility. On April 17, 1969 she was ordered to proceed to the Sea of Japan, off Korea, for duty with Task Force 71. In response to the shooting down of a Navy EC-121 reconnaissance aircraft by North Korean fighters on April 14, the Task Force patrolled the Sea of Japan during the crisis that followed. Chicago provided PIRAZ and screening duties for the carriers, and their constant air patrols, until April 27.

Following a visit to Hong Kong in early October 1974, the cruiser spent the next month conducting training and fleet exercises in the Philippine area until getting underway for Guam on November 17. In 1978, fleet exercises off Okinawa, and a port visit to Pusan, South Korea at the end of July were followed by refugee surveillance in the South China Sea. There, along with other Seventh Fleet ships, she helped rescue Vietnamese refugees fleeing the mainland, picking up five herself. Chicago was decommissioned at San Diego on March 1, 1980.

With the USS Chicago wooden ship model, one can almost hear the roar of the ocean waves. It is an exact replica of the original, handmade with vigilance, from the very first to the last step. Master craftsmen diligently carve high quality mahogany to create the ship's form. After it is sanded and puttied, skilled artists paint on the intricate details. Hand-casted resin and handmade metal parts also constitute the model. Clear lacquer provides the finishing touch and long-lasting protection. Each ship comes on a a display base with brass pedestals and a brass name plate. All items then undergo quality control and are delivered to eagerly waiting customers in protective double-lined boxes with high density foam. More than just a display piece, the Chicago ship model is a work of art.