ORIGINAL: The Dude
Even allowing a year for work up after thier completion dates at least a third of the ships would have been able to serve in a war scenario up to AUG 46
Year is way too long, actually 5 months would be about right for cruisers. Carriers take longer due to the need to work up an air group, but even then probably around 9 months. As and example the following Baltimore Class CA's that were known to have been in the Pacific by mid 1946:
CA Baltimore - Comm. 4/15/43 - In Pacific 11/20/43 = 7 months
CA Boston - Comm. 6/30/43 - In Pacific Jan 1944 = 6 months
CA Canberra - Comm. 10/14/1943 - 2/1/1944 Peral Harbor = 3.5 months
CA Pittsburg - Comm. 10/10/1944 - Pacific Feb 1945 - 5 months
CA St paul - Comm. 2/17/1945 - Hawaii 6/6/1945 - 3.5 months
CA Columbus - Comm. 6/8/1945 - Tsingtao China 1/13/46 (she was in the Pacific before this)
CA Helena - Comm 9/4/1945 - No Pacific date, but left Boston for World cruise 2/12/1946
CA Bremerton - Comm 4/29/1945 - 11/1945 transferred to pacific
CA Fall River - Comm. 7/1/1945 - 2/6/1946 HQ for Bikini Bomb tests
CA Los Angeles - Comm 7/22/1945 - 10/15/45 Departed for Western Pacific
Again, a year workup is way too long a time from commissioning to deployment.
Source:
Cruisers of the US Navy 1922-1962, Stefan Terzibauschitsch