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:	Belt: 6–11 in (152–279 mm) Barbettes: 6–10 in (152–254 mm) Turrets (main): 6–12 in (152–305 mm) Turrets (secondary): 4–12 in (102–305 mm) Conning tower: 9 in (229 mm)

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

USS Virginia

• 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

USS Nebraska

• 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

USS Georgia

• 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

USS New Jersey

• 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

USS Rhode Island

• 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

• List of battleships of the United States Navy
• List of ship launches in 1904
• Lists of ship commissionings in: 1906 and 1907
• 1920

Sources

• Chesneau, Roger; Koleśnik, Eugène M.; Campbell, N.J.M. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-133-5. 
• Sondhaus, Lawrence (2001). Naval Warfare 1815–1914. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-21478-5. 
• Pike, John. "BB-13 Virginia Class". GlobalSecurity.org. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/bb-13.htm. Retrieved 2011-10-03. 

External links

• Statistics