USS North Dakota (BB-29)
 North Dakota steaming through the Panama Canal |
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| Career (United States) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | North Dakota |
| Namesake: | State of North Dakota |
| Builder: | Fore River Shipyard |
| Laid down: | 16 December 1907 |
| Launched: | 10 November 1908 |
| Commissioned: | 11 April 1910 |
| Decommissioned: | 22 November 1923 |
| Reclassified: | 24 May 1924 as "unclassified" |
| Struck: | 7 January 1931 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap 16 March 1931 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class and type: | Delaware-class battleship |
| Displacement: | 20,000 tons |
| Length: | 518.8 ft (158.1 m) |
| Beam: | 85.3 ft (26.0 m) |
| Draft: | 26.9 ft (8.2 m) |
| Speed: | 21 kn (24 mph; 39 km/h) |
| Complement: | 933 officers and men |
| Armament: |
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| Armor: | |
USS North Dakota (BB-29), a Delaware-class battleship, was the first ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the U.S. state of North Dakota.
North Dakota was laid down on 16 December 1907 by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company of Quincy, Massachusetts. She was launched on 10 November 1908 sponsored by Miss Mary Benton, daughter of Colonel John Benton of Fargo, North Dakota and commissioned at Boston, Massachusetts on 11 April 1910, Commander Charles P. Plunkett in command.
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[edit] Pre-World War I
On 8 September 1910, the ship suffered an oil-tank explosion and fire while at sea. Six men—Chief Watertenders August Holtz and Patrick Reid, Chief Machinist's Mates Thomas Stanton and Karl Westa, Machinist's Mate First Class Charles C. Roberts, and Watertender Harry Lipscomb—each received the Medal of Honor "for extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession" during the fire.
In her first years, North Dakota operated with the Atlantic Fleet in maneuvers along the East Coast and in the Caribbean Sea. She sailed on 2 November for her first Atlantic crossing, visiting England and France prior to winter-spring maneuvers in the Caribbean. In the summers of 1912–1913, she carried United States Naval Academy midshipmen for training in New England waters, and on 1 January 1913 she joined the honor escort for HMS Natal as the British ship entered New York City harbor with the body of the late Whitelaw Reid, United States Ambassador to Great Britain.
[edit] World War I
As Mexican political disturbances strained relations with the United States, North Dakota sailed for Veracruz, where she arrived on 26 April 1914, five days after American sailors had occupied the city. She cruised the coast of Mexico to protect Americans and their interests until a more stable government took office, and returned to Norfolk, Virginia on 16 October. An even more intensive program of training was taken up by the Atlantic Fleet as war threatened, and North Dakota was in Chesapeake Bay for gunnery drills when the United States entered World War I. Throughout the war, North Dakota operated in the York River, Virginia, and out of New York training gunners and engineers for the expanding fleet.
[edit] Inter-war period
Then, on 13 November 1919, she stood out of Norfolk to carry home the remains of the late Italian Ambassador to the United States. While in the Mediterranean Sea she called at Athens, Constantinople, Valencia, and Gibraltar before returning to the Caribbean for the annual spring maneuvers. In the summer of 1921, she took part in the Army-Navy bombing tests off the Virginia Capes in which Frankfurt and Ostfriesland were sunk to demonstrate the potentialities of air power. She interrupted fleet operations during the next two summers to again cruise with midshipmen, contributing to the future strength of the Navy by educating its officers-to-be. The cruise of 1923 took her to Scandinavia, Scotland, and Spain.
North Dakota was decommissioned at Norfolk on 22 November 1923 with a number of other battleships, under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty. Demilitarized and reclassified as "unclassified" on 29 May 1924, North Dakota was converted to a Mobile Gunnery Target ship and remained in that service until replaced by Utah in 1930. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 7 January 1931 and she sold for scrapping to the Union Shipbuilding Co of Baltimore, Md on 16 March 1931.[3] Her steam turbine engines were fitted in Nevada.
A model of North Dakota is on display at the North Dakota Heritage Center on the grounds of the state capitol in Bismarck, North Dakota.
[edit] References
- ^ Gardiner & Gray 1985, p. 113.
- ^ Breyer 1973, p. 189.
- Bibliography
- Breyer, Siegfried (1973). Battleships and Battle Cruisers 1905–1970. Doubleday and Company. ISBN 0385-0-7247-3.
- Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906–1921. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-87021-907-3.
Battleship North Dakota's silver service is also on display at the North Dakota Herritage Museum at Bismarck ND (free to the public)
[edit] External links
Media related to USS North Dakota (BB-29) at Wikimedia Commons
- USS North Dakota (Battleship # 29, later BB-29), 1910–1931
- Maritimequest USS North Dakota BB-29 Photo Gallery
- NavSource Online: Battleship Photo Archive BB-29 USS NORTH DAKOTA 1908–1916
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