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Chapter One
Early Battleships
The first all metal-clad and mechanically-driven ship of the US navy debuted during the American Civil War (1861â65) and was named the Monitor. The ship was launched on 30 January 1862. The Monitor was built in response to the building of the Confederate iron-clad ship named the Virginia. The two ships met in battle on 9 March 1862 with inconclusive results. Despite limited success in its first battle, the US navy launched many more metal ships with different names but all were classified as âmonitorsâ.
Following the civil war, the US navy entered a period of serious decline as reactionaries within its officer corps refused to embrace emerging technologies such as mechanically-driven ships. Part of the problem was the high cost of coal that made wooden sailing ships more economical to operate over long distances. This self-inflicted decline in capabilities was not addressed until civilian Secretary of the Navy William H. Hunt (1881â82) and his successor William E. Chandler (1882â85) persuaded the American Congress to authorize the first steel ships of what would become known as the âNew Navyâ.
In contrast to the âOld Navyâ that consisted of ocean-going wooden sailing ships and a small number of coastal waterway monitors armoured with iron plate, the New Navy consisted of modern all-steel ships. First out of the shipyards between 1884 and 1890 were the protected cruisers Atlantic, Baltimore and Chicago, along with the smaller gunboat, the Dolphin. The three cruisers were intended to operate independently as commerce raiders. In 1876 the French navy launched the first ship that was primarily made of steel.
The First US Navy Battleships
It fell to William C. Whitney, who served as Secretary of the Navy from 1885 to 1889, to begin the story of Americaâs battleships. He convinced the American Congress to authorize (fund) the construction of one heavy armoured cruiser in 1886, later reclassified as âsecond-class battleshipsâ, named the Maine. The second ship was named Texas and was classified as a battleship from the beginning. The Maine was an American-designed and built ship, whereas the Texas was based on a British ship design but constructed in an American shipyard.
Both the Maine and the Texas were commissioned by the US navy in 1895 and served as prototypes for the battleships that would follow. The Maine had a standard displacement of 6,682 tons and the Texas 6,315 tons. The Maine was 319 feet long and had a beam (width) of 57 feet, while the Texas was 308 feet 10 inches long with a beam of 64 feet 1 inch.
In-between the authorization of a ship and its commissioning are some important benchmarks. These include the date its keel (backbone) is âlaid downâ. When a shipâs hull and basic superstructure is completed it will then be âlaunchedâ. Following its launching the ship is then taken to a pier for its âfitting outâ, which involves adding all the components (from the propulsion system to weapons) necessary to make it functional. In the case of battleships, the fitting-out stage can take years. Once the ship is functional it is then tested by the US navy to confirm that the builder has met all the contract requirements. Once the US navy is satisfied that the builder has met all their contractual obligations, the ship is formally âcommissionedâ into regular US navy service.
The main gun battery of the Maine was four 10-inch guns divided between two turrets, each mounting two guns. These circular main gun battery turrets were located on either side of the shipâs superstructure (but not directly opposite each other) and were often referred to as âwing turretsâ. They could be fired over the front, sides and rear of the ship. In theory, they could also be fired across the deck (athwartships) through breaks in the superstructure. However, in actual practice, the firing of the main gun battery turrets athwartships led to damaging the shipâs superstructure.
The intermediate gun battery of the Maine consisted of six pedestal-mounted 6-inch guns, four in casemates and two in open mounts. A casemate is either an armoured or unarmoured enclosure for a weapon, typically with limited traverse and elevation. The shipâs secondary gun battery was made up of a number of pedestal-mounted 6-pounder (57mm) guns and two types of 1-pounder (37mm) guns arranged around the perimeter of the shipâs upper decks (floors). These were generally referred to as quick-firing (QF) guns as they employed fixed rounds (with the brass cartridge case and the projectile joined together), in contrast to the separate-loading rounds of the main and intermediate battery guns on the ship.
The vertical surfaces of the main gun battery turrets on the Maine were protected by armour 8 inches thick. The shipâs hull belt armour was 12 inches at its thickest point, with the weather/protective deck having a maximum thickness of 3 inches. The shipâs conning tower was constructed of steel armour with a maximum thickness of 10 inches. The Maineâs underwater protection from natural or man-made dangers consisted of a double hull.
A conning tower is an armoured structure, typically located forward of a shipâs unarmoured navigation bridge, housing a secondary set of bridge controls from which the ship and its weapons can be directed in battle by its command staff.
The Texas main gun battery consisted of two 12-inch guns. Each of these was mounted in its own circular armoured wing turret on either side of the shipâs super-structure. Like the circular wing turrets on the Maine, the wing turrets on the Texas could be fired across athwartships. The intermediate gun battery on the Texas consisted of six pedestal-mounted 6-inch guns, four in casemates and two in open mounts. Like the Maine, the Texas also had a secondary gun battery of smaller pedestal-mounted QF 6-pounder and 1-pounder guns arranged around the perimeter of the shipâs decks. Besides the various main, intermediate and secondary battery guns, both the Maine and the Texas were equipped with surface-fired torpedo tubes.
The vertical surface of the main gun battery turrets on the Texas was protected by armour 12 inches thick. The shipâs horizontal hull belt armour was also 12 inches at its thickest point, with the weather/protective deck having a maximum armour thickness of 3 inches. The shipâs armoured conning tower was 9 inches thick. Like the Maine, the Texas had a double hull for underwater protection.
Both the Maine and the Texas had a top speed of 17 knots and had triple-expansion steam engines powered by coal-fired boilers. (A knot is a unit of speed equal to one nautical mile (6,080 feet) per hour.) The Maine had a crew of 374 officers and enlisted men, while the Texas had a crew of 392. The Maine was sunk in an accident in February 1898 in Havana Harbor, Cuba, leading to the Spanish-American War. The Texas had its final decommissioning in 1911 and was later used as a target ship for many decades by the US navy. Sometimes the US navy takes ships out of service to be stored or modernized. When this occurs, they are decommissioned and when they are returned to service, they are recommissioned.
Battleship Naming Policy
The US navy policy of naming large wooden sailing ships-of-the-line after states had begun in 1817 and was later continued for the new steel battleships. The term âshipof-the-lineâ refers to the tactic practised by navies since the seventeenth century of travelling in a linear formation in order to bring the maximum number of weapons to bear on the enemyâs ships. The name âbattleshipâ is a contraction of the phrase âlineof-battle shipâ. Battleships were also referred to as âcapital shipsâ.
Most American states had at least one battleship that would eventually bear their name. Some states would have more than one battleship named after them, much to the chagrin of other statesâ politicians. When a new battleship was assigned the name of an older vessel, its predecessor would have typically already been decommissioned and removed from US navy service. A few were reclassified and given new roles, such as a crane ship or an ammunition storage ship.
Indiana Class
Following in the footsteps of William C. Whitney in expanding the offensive might of the New Navy was Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy, who served from 1889 to 1893. Tracy proposed to the American Congress the building of a fleet of 200 naval ships of all types. However, Congress quickly balked at the scope and cost of what Tracy envisioned. As a consolation prize, they authorized the building of three battleships in the Navy A...
