Pre-dreadnought battleship of the United States Navy
|
History
|
United States
|
Name
| Nebraska
|
Namesake
| State of Nebraska
|
Builder
| Moran Brothers Shipbuilding
|
Laid down
| 4 July 1902
|
Launched
| 7 October 1904
|
Commissioned
| 1 July 1907
|
Decommissioned
| 2 July 1920
|
Stricken
| 12 July 1922
|
Fate
| Sold for scrap
|
General characteristics
|
Class and type
| Virginia
-class
battleship
|
Displacement
| |
Length
| 441 ft 3 in (134 m)
|
Beam
| 76 ft 3 in (23 m)
|
Draft
| 23 ft 9 in (7 m)
|
Installed power
| |
Propulsion
| |
Speed
| 19
kn
(35
km/h
; 22
mph
)
|
Complement
| 812
|
Armament
| |
Armor
| |
USS
Nebraska
(BB-14)
was a
Virginia
-class
pre-dreadnought
battleship
of the
United States Navy
, the second of five members of the class, and the first ship to carry her name. She was built by the
Moran Brothers
shipyard in
Seattle
,
Washington
, with her keel-laying in July 1902 and her launching in October 1904. The completed ship was commissioned into the US Navy in July 1907. The ship was armed with an offensive
battery
of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns and eight 8-inch (203 mm) guns, and she was capable of a top speed of 19
knots
(35 km/h; 22 mph).
Nebraska
joined the
Great White Fleet
after it reached the west coast of the United States in 1908 and continued with it during its circumnavigation of the globe. From 1909 to 1914, the ship conducted normal training and ceremonial duties with the
Atlantic Fleet
. She was deployed twice to Mexico during the
Mexican Revolution
, in mid-1914 and mid-1916, before being decommissioned briefly in 1916. She was reactivated shortly before the United States entered
World War I
in April 1917, and was thereafter used as a
training ship
and later as a convoy escort. After the war, she transported American soldiers back from France, and in 1919 she was transferred to the
Pacific Fleet
, though she remained in service for less than a year, being decommissioned in July 1920. The 1922
Washington Naval Treaty
mandated her disposal, which was effected in November 1923, when she was
broken up
for scrap.
Design
[
edit
]
Design work on the
Virginia
class
began in 1899, after the United States' victory in the
Spanish?American War
, which had demonstrated the need for sea-going battleships suitable for operations abroad, finally resolving the debate between proponents of that type and those who favored low-
freeboard
types useful for coastal defense. The designers included a
superposed
arrangement of the main and some of the secondary guns, which proved to be a significant disappointment in service, as firing either set of guns interfered with the others, slowing the
rate of fire
.
Nebraska
was 441 feet 3 inches (134.49 m)
long overall
and had a
beam
of 76 ft 3 in (23.24 m) and a
draft
of 23 ft 9 in (7.24 m). She
displaced
14,948
long tons
(15,188
t
) as designed and up to 16,094 long tons (16,352 t) at
full load
. The ship was powered by two-shaft
triple-expansion
steam engines
rated at 19,000
indicated horsepower
(14,000 kW), with steam provided by twelve coal-fired
Babcock & Wilcox
boilers
. The propulsion system generated a top speed of 19
knots
(35 km/h; 22 mph). As built, she was fitted with heavy
military masts
, but these were quickly replaced by
cage masts
in 1909. She had a crew of 812 officers and enlisted men.
The ship was armed with a
main battery
of four
12 in (305 mm) /40 caliber
Mark 4
[a]
guns in two twin
gun turrets
on the
centerline
, one forward and aft. The
secondary battery
consisted of eight
8 in (203 mm) /45 caliber
guns and twelve
6 in (152 mm) /50 caliber
Mark 6 guns. The 8-inch guns were mounted in four twin turrets; two of these were superposed atop the main battery turrets, with the other two turrets abreast the forward
funnel
. The 6-inch guns were placed in
casemates
in the
hull
. For close-range defense against
torpedo boats
, she carried twelve
3-inch (76 mm)/50 caliber
guns, mounted in casemates along the side of the hull, and twelve
3-pounder
guns. As was standard for
capital ships
of the period,
Nebraska
carried four
21 inch (533 mm)
torpedo tubes
, submerged in her hull on the
broadside
.
Nebraska
'
s main
armored belt
was 11 in (279 mm) thick over the magazines and the machinery spaces and 6 in (152 mm) elsewhere. The faces of the main battery gun turrets (and the secondary turrets on top of them) were 12-inch (305 mm) thick. Each turret rested on a supporting
barbettes
that had 10 in (254 mm) of armor plating. The
conning tower
had 9 in (229 mm) thick sides.
Service history
[
edit
]
Pre-World War I
[
edit
]
The
keel
for
Nebraska
was
laid down
at the
Moran Brother's Shipyard
in Seattle, Washington on 4 July 1902. She was
launched
on 7 October 1904 and was
commissioned
into the fleet on 1 July 1907, the last member of the class to enter service.
Her first commander was Captain
Reginald F. Nicholson
. After entering service, she conducted
shakedown cruises
and had minor alterations made. In May 1908, she steamed to
San Francisco
, arriving on the 6th. There, she joined the
Great White Fleet
, which had departed
Hampton Roads
, Virginia, the previous year on the first leg of its global cruise.
Nebraska
replaced the battleship
USS
Alabama
(BB-8)
, and the fleet departed San Francisco on 7 July.
The cruise of the Great White Fleet was conceived as a way to demonstrate American military power, particularly to Japan. Tensions had begun to rise between the United States and Japan after the latter's victory in the
Russo-Japanese War
in 1905, particularly over racist opposition to Japanese immigration to the United States. The press in both countries began to call for war, and Roosevelt hoped to use the demonstration of naval might to deter Japanese aggression.
The Great White Fleet then began its crossing of the Pacific, with a visit to Hawaii on the way. Stops in the South Pacific included
Melbourne
,
Sydney
, and
Auckland
.
After leaving Australia, the fleet turned north for the Philippines, stopping in
Manila
, before continuing on to Japan where a welcoming ceremony was held in
Yokohama
. Three weeks of exercises followed in
Subic Bay
in the Philippines in November. The ships passed
Singapore
on 6 December and entered the Indian Ocean; they coaled in
Colombo
before proceeding to the
Suez Canal
and coaling again at
Port Said
, Egypt. The fleet called in several Mediterranean ports before stopping in
Gibraltar
, where an international fleet of British, Russian, French, and Dutch warships greeted the Americans. The ships then crossed the Atlantic to return to Hampton Roads on 22 February 1909, having traveled 46,729 nautical miles (86,542 km; 53,775 mi). There, they conducted a
naval review
for President
Theodore Roosevelt
.
After the conclusion of the ceremonies,
Nebraska
remained in service with the
Atlantic Fleet
. In late 1909 she took part in the
Hudson?Fulton Celebration
in New York.
The celebration saw an international fleet of warships from Germany, Britain, France, Italy, and other countries join the Atlantic Fleet to commemorate
Henry Hudson
's discovery of the
Hudson River
.
In 1912,
Nebraska
took part in a ceremony for the centennial anniversary of
Louisiana
's entrance into the United States. The ship was deployed to Mexico twice to protect American interests during the
Mexican Revolution
, the first from 1 May to 21 June 1914, and the second from 1 June to 13 October 1916. For these actions, the ship was awarded the
Mexican Service Medal
. The ship was briefly decommissioned in 1916, but returned to service on 3 April 1917.
World War I
[
edit
]
Three days after
Nebraska
was recommissioned, the United States declared war on Germany over the latter's
unrestricted submarine warfare
campaign, thereby joining
World War I
. The ship was assigned to the 3rd Division, Battleship Force of the Atlantic Fleet, and on 13 April, she joined the rest of the fleet for battle training in the
Chesapeake Bay
. She remained on the eastern coast of the United States and was tasked with training guard crews for transport ships. On 15 April 1918, she entered the
Norfolk Navy Yard
for periodic maintenance. On 16 May,
Nebraska
embarked the remains of the recently deceased Uruguayan ambassador,
Carlos DePena
, at Hampton Roads. She departed that day with the
armored cruiser
Pittsburgh
?the
flagship
of the
Pacific Fleet
?and arrived in
Montevideo
, Uruguay on 10 June. The commander of the Pacific Fleet came aboard
Nebraska
for the transfer ceremonies. The two ships left Montevideo on 15 June and reached Hampton Roads on 26 July.
Starting in September,
Nebraska
began to be employed as an escort for
convoys
to Europe. On the 17th, she departed New York with convoy HX 49, a group of eighteen ships; the rest of the escort included the
destroyer
Dent
and the
armed merchant cruiser
(AMC)
Rochester
, and the British AMC
HMS
Arlanza
.
At a rendezvous point in the eastern Atlantic, she handed the convoy off to other escorts that would take the ships to France.
Nebraska
arrived back in Hampton Roads on 3 October. She escorted another two convoys before the war ended in November 1918. In December, she was equipped to carry American soldiers back from France. She made four such trips to
Brest, France
, and carried some 4,540 men back to the United States. The first trip began on 30 December; she reached Brest on 11 January 1919 and after embarking a contingent of soldiers, departed for
Newport News
, Virginia, where they arrived on 28 January. The fourth trip concluded on 21 June 1919, also in Newport News.
On 22 June 1919,
Nebraska
was transferred from the Cruiser and Transport Force to the Pacific Fleet. She departed the east coast shortly thereafter, bound for the Pacific. On 2 July 1920, the ship was decommissioned, and on the 15th she was reclassified as BB-14. She remained out of service until 12 July 1922 when she was stricken from the
naval register
in accordance with the
Washington Naval Treaty
signed earlier that year. The terms of the treaty mandated significant reductions in naval strength, and on 9 November 1923,
Nebraska
was declared to have been rendered unfit for further warlike service in accordance with the treaty. She was then sold to
ship breakers
.
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
/40 refers to the length of the gun in terms of
calibers
. A /40 gun is 40 times long as it is in bore diameter.
Citations
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Alden, John D. (1989).
American Steel Navy: A Photographic History of the U.S. Navy from the Introduction of the Steel Hull in 1883 to the Cruise of the Great White Fleet
. Annapolis:
Naval Institute Press
.
ISBN
978-0-87021-248-2
.
- Reilly, John C.; Scheina, Robert L. (1980).
American Battleships 1886?1923: Predreadnought Design and Construction
. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.
ISBN
978-0-87021-524-7
.
External links
[
edit
]