INDIANA CLASS BATTLESHIP

'''Indiana''-class battleship'
Class Overview
Class type:	Battleship
Class name:	The State of Indiana
Preceded by:	USS ''Maine'' and USS ''Texas''
Succeeded by:	''Kearsarge'' class
Ships of the line:	''Indiana (BB-1), Massachusetts (BB-2) Oregon (BB-3)''
General characteristics (USS ''Indiana'')
Displacement:	Standard: 10,288  tons; Mean War Service:
Length:	350 ft 9 in
Beam:	69 ft 3 in
Draft:	24 ft
Speed:	15 knots
Complement:	473 officers and men
Max. cruising radius
Power:
Drive:
Fuel:
Armour	Belt: Bulkheads: Barbettes: Turrets: Decks:

The three '''Indiana''-class battleships' of the United States Navy were the first series of modern battleships to be built. 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.

Contents

Description

Ships in class

External links

See also

Description

★ Displacement: 10,288 tons

★ Length: 350 feet 11 inches

★ Beam: 69 feet 4 inches

★ Draft:

★ Propulsion:

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★ Engines: Two vertical inverted triple expansion engines

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★ Shafts: 2

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★ Power: 9,000 shp

★ Complement: 473

★ Armor:

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★ Belt: 18 inches (450 mm)

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★ Turret: 15 inches (375 mm)

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★ Tower: 10 inches (250 mm)

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★ Deck: 3 inches (75 mm)

★ Armament:

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★ Main guns: 4 × guns

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★ Secondary guns: 8 × guns and 4 × guns

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★ Light guns: 20 x 6 pounder guns and 6 x 1 pounder guns

Ships in class

=== 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: Decommissioned 31 May 1919 for use as a gunnery target


=== 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: Decommissioned 31 March 1919 for use as a gunnery target


=== 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 sold for scrap 15 March 1956

External links

★ http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/ships/battleships/massachusetts/bb2-mass.html - U.S. Navy photos of BB-2

★ http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/02.htm - Navsource.org photos of BB-2

★ http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/flshipwrecks/mas.htm - U.S. National Park Service photos of BB-2 wreckage off Fort Pickens, Florida

See also

★ List of battleships of the United States Navy

★ List of battleships

★ List of ship launches in 1893

★ List of ship commissionings in 1895

★ List of ship commissionings in 1896

★ List of ship decommissionings in 1919

★ List of ship decommissionings in 1920