Virginia class battleship
Encyclopedia
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 ), 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.
Great White Fleet
The Great White Fleet was the popular nickname for the United States Navy battle fleet that completed a circumnavigation of the globe from 16 December 1907 to 22 February 1909 by order of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. It consisted of 16 battleships divided into two squadrons, along with...
. 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 ), 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.
- 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
- List of battleships of the United States Navy
- List of ship launches in 1904
- Lists of ship commissionings in: 1906 and 1907
- 1920