to carry 224 mines, but these were removed early in her career to make way for more crew accommodations. She also carried two triple and two twin, above-water, torpedo tube mounts for torpedoes. The triple mounts were fitted on either side of the upper deck, aft of the aircraft catapults, and the twin mounts were one deck lower on either side, covered by hatches in the side of the hull. The ship lacked a full-length waterline armor belt. The sides of her boiler and engine rooms and steering gear were protected by of armor. The transverse bulkheads at the end of her machinery rooms were thick forward and three inches thick aft. The deck over the machinery spaces and steering gear had a thickness of 1.5 inches. The gun turrets were not armored and only provided protection against muzzle blast and the conning tower had 1.5 inches of armor. Concord carried two floatplanes aboard that were stored on the two catapults. Initially these were probably Vought VE-9s until the early 1930s, when the ship may have operated OJ-2 until 1935, and Curtiss SOC Seagulls until 1940, when Vought OS2U Kingfishers were used on ships without hangars. Armament changes During her career Concord went through several armament changes, some of these changes were to save weight, but others were to increase her AA armament. The lower torpedo tube mounts proved to be very wet and were removed, and the openings plated over, before the start of World War II. Another change made before the war was to increase the 3–inch guns to eight, all mounted in the ship's waist. After 1940, the lower aft 6–inch guns were removed and the casemates plated over for the same reason as the lower torpedo mounts. The ship's anti-aircraft armament were augmented by three twin Bofors guns along with 12 Oerlikon cannons by the end of the war. Service history Inter-war period On her maiden cruise, from 23 November 1923 – 9 April 1924, Concord called at Mediterranean ports, passed through the Suez Canal to round the Cape of Good Hope, and exercised with the fleet in the Caribbean before returning to Philadelphia. As flagship of Commander, Destroyer Squadrons, Scouting Fleet, she cruised the Caribbean and sailed through the Panama Canal to exercise in the Hawaiian Islands in 1924–1925. Continuing to operate in the Atlantic, she joined in the Presidential Fleet Review taken by Calvin