Wyoming class battleship
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| Wyoming-class battleship | |
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| Class Overview | |
| Class type: | Battleship |
| Class name | The State of Wyoming |
| Preceded by: | Florida class |
| Succeeded by: | New York class |
| Ships of the line: | Wyoming (BB-32), Arkansas (BB-33) |
| General Characteristics (USS Wyoming) | |
| Displacement: | Standard:27,243 tons Mean War Service: |
| Length: | 562 ft |
| Beam: | 93 ft 2 in |
| Draft: | 28 ft 5 in |
| Speed: | 21 knots (39 km/h) |
| Complement: | 1,063 officers and men |
| Armour | Turrets: 6 |
The Wyoming class battleship was a series of two battleships of the United States Navy which served during World War I and World War II.
Contents |
[edit] Description
The class marked a significant growth over its predecessor--the Florida class--of some 20% in size. This allowed the addition of a sixth main turret and increased armor. This brought the class' main armament up to twelve 12 inch guns in their twin mounts. The midships turret in both this and the following New York class battleships proved problematic; the turrets and magazines were both mounted near the boiler spaces, making refrigeration difficult throughout their lives.
Wyoming was the final battleship class in the United States to employ direct drive steam turbines for power.
While both ships received upgrades over their lives, the Wyoming was reconfigured drastically, ultimately landing all of its 12 inch guns in favor of 5 inch mountings for use in its gunnery training and testing role.
[edit] History
Despite the class name, Arkansas preceded Wyoming both in construction and commissioning, although both were commissioned during September 1912. Both ships served in both world wars, and like many older American ships were quickly retired at the end of the second. Wyoming marked the end of the class' nearly 35 years of service when decommissioned 1 August 1947 for scrapping. Arkansas had already been sunk during nuclear testing in the Pacific.
[edit] See also
- List of battleship classes
- List of battleships of the United States Navy
- List of ship launches in 1911
- List of ship commissionings in 1912
- List of ship decommissionings in 1946
- List of ship decommissionings in 1947
- List of shipwrecks in 1947
[edit] Ships in class
[edit] USS Wyoming
- Designation: Battleship No.32, BB-32, AG-17
- Builder: William Cramp and Sons in Philadelphia
- Laid down: 9 February 1910
- Launched: 25 May 1911
- Commissioned: 25 September 1912
- Operations: World War I convoy escort in the North Sea, interwar and World War II gunnery trainer
- Victories:
- Fate: Decommissioned 1 August 1947 and scrapped
[edit] USS Arkansas
- Designation: Battleship No.33, BB-33
- Builder: New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden, New Jersey
- Laid down: 25 January 1910
- Launched: 14 January 1911
- Commissioned: 17 September 1912
- Operations: Tampico Affair, Attack on Pearl Harbor, Operation Torch, D-Day, Operation Anvil, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Operation Magic Carpet, Operation Crossroads
- Victories:
- Fate: Decommissioned 29 July 1946 and sunk at Bikini Atoll in nuclear tests
| Wyoming-class battleship |
| Wyoming | Arkansas |
List of battleships of the United States Navy |
