Indiana-Klasse

Vorlage:Infobox Ship ImageVorlage:Infobox Ship Class OverviewVorlage:Infobox Ship Characteristics

The three Indiana-class battleships were the first modern battleships to be built by the United States Navy. All launched in 1893, they were designed for coastal defense, being too low in the water to deal well with the waves of the open ocean. However, despite their low freeboard, they gave good service in the Spanish-American War and for over a decade afterward, until dreadnought battleships began to come into the fleet in numbers.

Design

The Indiana class battleships were designed specifically for coastal defense. This was reflected in their limited coal capacity and low freeboard, which made them unsuited for offensive operations.Vorlage:Cn Contemporary to the British Royal Sovereign class, the Indiana class was Vorlage:Convert shorter and had a lower maximum speed. It's primary and secondary batteries, armor and engines were similar to the Royal Sovereign class. However, it also featured an intermediate battery consisting of eight Vorlage:Convert guns, giving it a very respectable amount of firepower for it's time.

Background

In 1889, three years after the Vorlage:USS and the Vorlage:USS were authorized, a special policy board was was convened by the secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy, with the objective to study the American Naval situation. The boards report was ambitious, suggesting a 15 year naval construction program. Ten "first-class battleships of great endurance" and 25 battleships of "limited endurance" were to be built. The first were intended for all round use, while the latter were supposed to operate near the East Coast of the United States for defense and backup of the "great endurance" battleships. The report also recommended construction of 167 smaller ships, estimating the total cost for the entire program at $ 281,550,000.

Congress did not share the view given by the board and fierce resistance was given by senators who associated battleships with aggression and imperialism, so the advice was ignored. The naval department tried again and on 20 june 1890 three "sea-going, coast-line battleships" were authorized, out of eight requested by the Naval Department. These ships were 50 feet longer and had a heavier secondary battery then the "limit endurance" battleships suggested the year before, but were similar in design.

Armament

The Indiana class had a formidable armament for its time: four Vorlage:Convert guns, an intermediate battery of eight Vorlage:Convert guns and a secondary battery of four Vorlage:Convert guns, twenty Hotchkiss 6-pounders, six Maxim-Nordenfelt 1-pounders as well as six Vorlage:Convert Whitehead torpedo tubes

The four Vorlage:Convert guns were mounted in two centerline turrets, located fore and aft. The turrets were originally designed to feature sloping side armor, but space requirements made this impossible without using significantly larger gun turrets or redesigning the gun mounts (which was later done for the Illinois class battleships). The ships low freeboard greatly hindered the use of the main battery in rough weather conditions, because the deck would become awash. Also, because the ship lacked a counterweight to offset the weight of the gun barrels, the ship would list in the direction the guns were trained. This reduced the maximum arc of elevation (and thus range) to about 5 degrees, brought the main armor belt under water on that side and exposed the unarmored bottom on the other side. Counterweights were added in the early 1900s, but other mechanical problems occurred and the design was never considered a success.

The 8-inch guns were in turret mounted pairs. The smaller 6-inch guns had individual unprotected mounts that were mounted on a gundeck at the main deck level and fired through ports in the bulkheads.

The three Indianas cost three million dollars apiece.

Ships in class

USS Indiana (BB-1)

USS Indiana

• Designation: BB-1 (later redesignated Coastal Battleship No. 1)
• Laid down: 7 May 1891
• Launched: 28 February 1893
• Commissioned: 20 November 1895
• Operations: Bombardment of San Juan, Battle of Santiago de Cuba, World War I training missions
• Victories: Spanish destroyers Furor and Pluton
• Fate: Decommisioned 31 March 1919, was then sunk as explosive-test target until she was sold for scrap 19 March 1924

USS Massachusetts (BB-2)

USS Massachusetts

• Designation: BB-2 (later redesignated Coastal Battleship No. 2)
• Laid down: 25 June 1891
• Launched: 10 June 1893
• Commissioned: 10 June 1896
• Operations: Bombardment of San Juan, Battle of Santiago de Cuba, World War I training missions
• Victories: Spanish cruiser Reina Mercedes
• Fate: Decommisioned 31 March 1919, Sunk as a gunnery target in Pensacola Bay in 1921, is since 1993 a Florida Underwater Archaeological Preserve

USS Oregon (BB-3)

USS Oregon

• Designation: BB-3
• Laid down: 19 November 1891
• Launched: 26 October 1893
• Commissioned: 16 July 1896
• Operations: 14,000 cruise during the Spanish-American War, Philippine-American War, Asiatic Fleet
• Victories: Spanish cruiser Reina Mercedes
• Fate: Decommissioned 17 July 1920, initially for preservation, but was sold and partially scrapped during WO II. The stripped hulk was commissioned as a munitions barge by the US navy and used in the Battle of Guam. 15 March 1956 it was sold again for scrap.

See also

• Royal Sovereign class battleship - contemporaneous British ships
• List of battleships of the United States Navy
• List of battleships
• Battleship Illinois (replica)

Notes

References

• Robert Gardiner: Steam, steel & shellfire: The steam warship 1815-1905. Conway Maritime Press, London 1992, ISBN 0-85177-564-0. 
• John C. Reilly, Scheina Robert L.: American Battleships 1886-1923. Arms and Armour press, London & Melbourne 1980, ISBN 0-85368-446-4. 

External links

• U.S. Navy photos of BB-2
• Navsource.org photos of BB-2
• U.S. National Park Service photos of BB-2 wreckage off Fort Pickens, Florida