Wyoming class battleship

USS Wyoming (BB-32)
Class overview
Name:	Wyoming class battleship
Builders:	William Cramp and Sons New York Shipbuilding Corporation
Operators:	United States Navy
Preceded by:	Florida-class battleship
Succeeded by:	New York-class battleship
Completed:	2
Retired:	2
Preserved:	0
General characteristics
Type:	Battleship
Displacement:	27,243 long tons
Length:	562 ft (171 m)
Beam:	93 ft 2 in (28.40 m)
Draft:	28 ft 7 in (8.71 m)
Propulsion:	28,000 shp
Speed:	21 knots (39 km/h)
Range:	5,190 nautical miles (9,610 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h) and 2,760 nautical miles (5,110 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h) Coal: 1,667 tons Oil: 266 tons
Complement:	1,063 officers and men
Armament:	12 × 12 inch/50 caliber 21 × 5 inch/51 caliber guns 2 × 3 inch/50 caliber guns 2 × 21 inch torpedo tubes
Armor:	Belt: 9–11 in (229–279 mm) Lower casemate: 9–11 in (229–279 mm) Upper casemate: 6.5 in (165 mm) Barbettes: 11 in (279 mm) Turret faces: 12 in (305 mm) Conning tower: 11.5 in (292 mm)

The Wyoming class battleship was the fourth series of two battleships built for the United States Navy. The class comprised two ships: Wyoming and Arkansas. At the time of the design of this pair of dreadnoughts, not a single one of the previous designs had yet gone to sea. While somewhat larger than their predecessors they retained all the features that were common to American battleships to date with centerline turrets, low freeboard, long service ranges, and very thick side armor.

The two ships served during both World War I and World War II. In the First World War, both ships were assigned to the 6th Battle Squadron of the British Grand Fleet, and saw limited action in the North Sea from 1917 to 1918. Wyoming and Arkansas were both rebuilt in the mid-1920s, as was the case for all of the American battleships of the era. Wyoming was reduced to a training ship after 1931, while Arkansas saw convoy escort duty during World War II. She also conducted shore bombardment in support of the invasion of Normandy, as well as in Southern France during Operation Dragoon, both of which were conducted in mid-1944. She was then transferred to the Pacific theater, where she bombarded Iwo Jima and Okinawa during the amphibious invasions of those islands. Both ships were struck from the Navy after the end of the war; Wyoming was scrapped in 1947, while Arkansas was expended as a target during the Operation Crossroads nuclear tests in 1946.

Design

The requirements for this class arose from the very general requirements of the Newport Conference. This designed marked the end of the Board on Construction and the rise of the General Board in US ship design. The class marked a significant growth over its predecessor—the Florida class—of some 20% in size.

The Wyoming class was the fourth class of 11 separate designs begun from 1906 to 1919, Some 29 battleships and 6 battle-cruisers would laid down during this period, though seven of the battleships and all six of the battle-cruisers would be cancelled. All except the Lexington Class Battle-cruisers would be 21-knot (39 km/h) designs and would range in weight from 16,000 to 42,000 tons. At this time no U.S. dreadnought class battleship had yet hit the water as all were either at some stage of building or in design. Virtually the entire U.S. Navy battle line was being designed by drawing on experience from pre-dreadnought designs or from observation of foreign battleship design.

Armament

This growth was caused by a concern that the next class of battleships would see a departure from the 12" naval gun that had dominated all dreadnought designs up to this time. This allowed the addition of a sixth main turret and increased armor. This brought the class' main armament up to twelve 12-inch (305 mm) guns in their twin mounts. Much of the discussion with this battleship's design included the argument that the U.S. should move to the 14" naval gun. However, there was little development on the 14" naval gun at that point and the existing port facilities would be mostly inadequate for a larger 14" armed ship. Developing both systems was a huge gamble given the pace of battleship design amongst the naval powers. The midships turret in both this and the following New York-class battleships proved problematic; the turrets and magazines were both located near the boiler spaces with high pressure steam piping surrounding the magazines. This produced a marked temperature difference in the powder charges and contributed to excessive dispersions in the pattern of shell fall from the two classes. Attempts to cool the 12" midship magazines were only moderately successful. The General Board estimated that battle ranges for the main armament would be 8,000 to 8,500 yards (7,800 m). The secondary battery would again be placed in a gallery deck below the main deck. This limited the use of the secondary battery as it was so wet at speed as to keep 1/3 of it useless.

Armor suite

Fire control limitations also explain the lack of deck armor that continued onward in this design. The armor suite also displayed other signs of transition with a heavy belt, and mid-grade 6.5" casement armor for the secondary battery and internal partitions to limit damage. The entire horizontal armor scheme was designed to stop shells at very shallow angles of attack. The idea being to cause the armor-piercing shells to burst on the thin deck armor and have the splinters of the shell caught on the even thinner 1" STS steel plate deck below the decapping armor above. The idea of plunging fire would not be addressed until the all or nothing scheme of the Nevada-class battleships two classes after the Wyoming class. The main armor belt remained at 11" tapering to 9" enough to protect against 12" naval guns of the period.

Engine design

Wyoming was the final battleship class in the United States to employ direct drive steam turbines for power. Geared turbines, triple expansion steam engines, and turbo-electric drive were all found to give better range for fuel expended.

Upgrades

Modernization began in 1925 finishing 1927. This included anti-torpedo blisters giving them broader beams, greater displacement and thicker deck armor. Oil-burning boilers were added with a single smoke stack and reduction to a single cage mast. Both were outfitted with newer gunfire controls. Some of the 5" secondary was moved to the superstructure. Arkansas was used as a gunnery training ship while Wyoming had all her 12" guns removed and had more 5" dual purpose guns added becoming an urgently needed anti-aircraft training platform.

History

Despite the class name, Arkansas preceded Wyoming both in construction and commissioning, although both were commissioned during September 1912. As the class was fitted with coal-fired boilers, both Wyoming and Arkansas were able to operate with the British Grand Fleet in the then-oil-deprived North Sea during World War I. Before the war, they served in the Atlantic Fleet and afterwards in both the Atlantic and Pacific, with modernization following in 1925-27. 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.

Ships in class

USS Wyoming

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

USS Arkansas

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, 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

References

• Friedman, Norman (1986). U.S. Battleships: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-715-1. http://books.google.com/books?id=Y41Ha_3HsrYC. 
• Conway's All the world's fighting ships 1906-1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. 1985. ISBN 0-87021-907-3.