Virginia class battleship
USS Virginia (BB-13) |
| Class overview |
| Operators: |
United States Navy |
| Preceded by: |
Maine class |
| Succeeded by: |
Connecticut class |
| Completed: |
5 |
| Retired: |
5 |
| Preserved: |
0 |
| General characteristics |
| Type: |
Pre-dreadnought battleship |
| Displacement: |
14,980 tons |
| Length: |
441 ft 3 in (134.49 m) |
| Beam: |
76 ft 3 in (23.24 m) |
| Draft: |
23 ft 9 in (7.24 m) |
| Propulsion: |
- Reciprocating engines
- 1 shaft
- 12 boilers
- 19,000 hp
|
| Speed: |
19 knots (22 mph; 35 km/h) |
| Complement: |
812 officers and men |
| Armament: |
- 4 × 12-inch (305 mm) guns
- 8 × 8-inch (203 mm) guns
- 12 × 6-inch (152 mm) guns
- 24 × 1 pounders
- 4 × .30-cal machine guns
- 4 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes
|
| Armor: |
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The Virginia class battleship was designed to be the first truly seagoing U.S. battleships. Five ships were commissioned between 1906 and 1907. The ships participated in the round-the-world cruise of the Great White Fleet. For the second and last time, the U.S. Navy experimented with mounting the 8" intermediate battery atop the 12" primary guns (half of the intermediate battery this time, the other half were in conventional turrets). As with the previous experiment in doing so (the Kearsarge class), this severely impaired the utility of the 8" guns so mounted. This was the first American capital ship class to use Krupp armor, years after European contemporaries.
Ships in class
- Designation: BB-13
- Laid down: 21 May 1902
- Launched: 6 April 1904
- Commissioned: 7 May 1906
- Operations:
- Victories: None
- Fate: Decommissioned 13 August 1920; sunk as a target ship, 5 September 1923
- Designation: BB-14
- Laid down: 4 July 1902
- Launched: 7 October 1904
- Commissioned: 1 July 1907
- Operations:
- Victories: None
- Fate: Decommissioned 2 July 1920; sold for scrap, November 1923
- Designation: BB-15
- Laid down: 31 August 1901
- Launched: 11 October 1904
- Commissioned: 24 September 1906
- Operations:
- Victories: None
- Fate: Decommissioned 15 July 1920; sold for scrap, 1 November 1923
- Designation: BB-16
- Laid down: 2 April 1902
- Launched: 10 November 1904
- Commissioned: 11 May 1906
- Operations:
- Victories: None
- Fate: Decommissioned 6 August 1920; sunk as a bombing target, November 1923
- Designation: BB-17
- Laid down: 1 May 1902
- Launched: 17 May 1904
- Commissioned: 19 February 1906
- Operations:
- Victories: None
- Fate: Decommissioned 30 June 1920; sold for scrap, 1 November 1923
See also
Sources
References
External links
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Virginia-class battleship
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