Wyoming-class battleship

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Wyoming as completed
Class overview
NameWyoming-class battleship
Builders
Operators United States Navy
Preceded byFlorida class
Succeeded byNew York class
Built1910–1912
In commission1912–1947
Completed2
Retired2
General characteristics (As built)[a]
Type
Dreadnought battleship
Displacement
Length
Beam93 ft 3 in (28.42 m)
Draft
  • 28 ft 6 in (8.69 m) (mean)
  • 29 ft 7 in (9.02 m) (max)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed20.5 kn (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph)
Range8,000 nmi (9,210 mi; 14,820 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement1,063 officers and enlisted
Armament
  • 12 ×
    12 in (305 mm)/50 caliber Mark 7 guns
  • 21 ×
    5 in (127 mm)/51 cal guns
  • 4 ×
    saluting guns
  • 2 ×
    torpedo tubes
    (submerged)
Armor

The Wyoming class was a pair of

12 in (305 mm)/50 caliber Mark 7 gun, addition of a sixth twin-gun turret and improved armor protection, including the first use of a torpedo bulkhead
on American battleships. The Navy considered using more powerful 14-inch (356 mm) guns, but this would have caused delays and required larger docks.

The two ships frequently served together, first in the

anti-aircraft guns
to defend against aerial attacks.

The London Naval Treaty of 1930 mandated that Wyoming be demilitarized; she accordingly was converted into a training ship, with half of her main battery turrets, belt armor, and anti-torpedo bulges removed. However, Arkansas was permitted to continue in service with the fleet. After the United States entered World War II, Arkansas was used to escort convoys to North Africa. By 1944, she served as a coastal bombardment vessel; in this role, she supported Allied landings at Normandy (Operation Overlord) and southern France (Operation Dragoon) before being transferred to the Pacific, where she provided fire support to Marines fighting on Iwo Jima and at Okinawa in 1945. Wyoming meanwhile continued as a training ship, being modified further in 1944 to include the various types of anti-aircraft guns that trainees would operate in the fleet. Both ships were decommissioned shortly after the war, with Arkansas being expended as a target ship during the 1946 nuclear tests at Operation Crossroads, and Wyoming being sold for scrap in 1947.

Design

On 22 July 1908, the Newport Conference was held; this included the

Victor Metcalf, issued a request for eight- and ten-gun battleships armed with the 14-inch weapons to the Bureau of Construction and Repair (C&R). Speed was to be at least 20 kn (37 km/h; 23 mph), with as much armor as could be accommodated.[2]

BuOrd argued that at likely battle ranges, 8,000 to 8,500 yd (7,300 to 7,800 m), the 12-inch gun was powerful enough to penetrate existing armor, and so the 14-inch gun was unnecessary. C&R produced three designs to meet Metcalf's request, all based on the preceding Florida design; the first, referred to as design 404, was a battleship armed with eight 14-inch guns. The second, design 502, had an additional twin turret for a total of ten 14-inch guns. The third, design 601, would be fitted with twelve 12-inch guns. The General Board chose 601, since the design work for the 14-inch gun had not begun, and adopting it would have caused the class to be delayed. In addition, the ships' displacement would have increased more dramatically with the larger gun, requiring extensive improvements to harbor facilities; design 502 would have only been able to dock in Pearl Harbor and Puget Sound with the existing facilities. The placement of the secondary battery also proved to be problematic. The cruise of the Great White Fleet in 1907–09 had demonstrated the problems with casemates on the main deck. They were too easily washed out in even moderate seas, making them unusable. Some officers at the Newport Conference had advocated placing them in the superstructure, but the heavy 5-inch (127 mm) guns used by the Navy would have added excessive top weight. Another alternative was to place them in the forecastle, but the additional weight forward would have strained the ship where the forecastle stepped down to the main deck. The designers ultimately settled on a full-length forecastle, which allowed the casemates to be moved about 4 ft (1.2 m) higher in the hull.[3]

The ships' armor protection was improved over earlier designs. The

belt and barbette armor was increased by an inch compared to an earlier version of the twelve-gun battleship. A new protection scheme for the funnels was devised, after the Russian experience at the Battle of Tsushima three years before had highlighted the risk of a destroyed exhaust system. The designers also emphasized the need for improved underwater protection. As a result, the Wyomings design incorporated a torpedo bulkhead, the first time the feature was included on an American battleship design.[4] Congress approved two new battleships, BB-32 and BB-33, on 3 March 1909.[5] Design 502 later proved to be the basis for the subsequent class of battleships, the New Yorks.[6]

General characteristics and machinery

The ships of the Wyoming class were 554 ft (169 m)

full load. They had a full length flush deck, which improved sea-keeping and the ability to work the secondary guns in heavier seas. Both ships were fitted with lattice masts. Their transverse metacentric height was 5.4 ft (2 m).[7][8] Freeboard was 25 ft (7.6 m) forward, 19 ft 2 in (5.84 m) amidships, 18 ft (5.5 m) at the aftmost turret, and 16 ft 3 in (4.95 m) at the stern.[9] They had a crew of 58 officers and 1,005 enlisted men.[8]

The ships were powered by four-shaft

kW). Steam was provided by twelve mixed oil and coal-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers, which were trunked into two closely spaced funnels amidships. The engines generated a top speed of 20.5 kn (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph), though on speed trials Arkansas made 21.22 knots (39.30 km/h; 24.42 mph) from 25,546 shp (19,050 kW). Fuel capacity was 1,667 long tons (1,694 t) of coal and 266 long tons (270 t) of oil. This allowed the ships to cruise for 6,700 nmi (12,400 km; 7,700 mi) at a speed of 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph). At 20 kn (37 km/h; 23 mph), the range fell considerably, to 2,655 nmi (4,917 km; 3,055 mi). Steering was controlled by a single rudder.[7][10]

Armament

Arkansas's four aft turrets firing during gunnery practice

The ships were armed with a

12-inch/45-caliber Mark 5 gun. The Mark 7 had significantly better armor penetrating capabilities, owing to its higher muzzle velocity (and thus higher striking velocity). At a range of 12,000 yd (11,000 m), the gun could penetrate 12.3 in (310 mm) of contemporary face-hardened armor, compared to 10.8 in (270 mm) for the Mark 5. The guns were mounted in the Mark IX gun turret, which allowed for elevation to 15 degrees and depression to −5 degrees. Unlike the turrets used on earlier dreadnoughts, the Mark IX turret required the guns to return to 0 degrees to reload.[11]

The secondary battery consisted of twenty-one

5-inch/51 caliber guns mounted in casemates along the side of the hull.[10] These guns fired a 50 lb (23 kg) shell with a charge of 24.5 lb (11.1 kg), at a muzzle velocity of 3,150 ft/s (960 m/s).[12] As was standard for capital ships of the period, they carried a pair of submerged 21-inch (530 mm) torpedo tubes in the hull on the broadside.[10] They were equipped with the Mark III Bliss-Leavitt design, which carried a 218 lb (99 kg) warhead and had a range of 4,000 yd (3,700 m) at a speed of 26.5 kn (49.1 km/h; 30.5 mph).[13]

Armor

The main

armored belt, which was 8 ft (2.4 m) high, was 11 in (279 mm) thick over the central portion of the ship, where it protected the ammunition magazines and machinery spaces. The belt reduced to 5 in (130 mm) toward the stern. On the bottom edge it was reduced to 9 in (230 mm). The forward end of the belt was connected with an 11 in thick transverse bulkhead with the forward-most main battery barbette, while the aft end of the belt was connected with a 9 in bulkhead. The main armored deck was 2.5 in (64 mm) of special treatment steel, reduced to 1.5 in (38 mm) in less critical areas. The conning tower had 11.5 in (292 mm) thick sides and a 3 in (76 mm) thick roof.[7][14]

The gun turrets had 12 in (305 mm) thick faces and 3 in thick roofs. Their supporting barbettes had 11 in thick sides where they were exposed; the portions that were masked by the armored belt were reduced to 4.5 in (110 mm). The lower half of the casemate armor was 11 in thick, and the upper half was reduced to 6.5 in (170 mm). Inboard of the casemate battery were longitudinal armored bulkheads; these were designed to protect the uptakes to the funnels. These were deemed important because during the Russo-Japanese War, three years before, Russian battleships had had their uptakes damaged, which ducted the boiler smoke into the ship rather than out through the funnels.[7][15]

Modifications

Both ships were significantly modified throughout their careers. During and shortly after

anti-aircraft guns were installed.[16] Following the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty in February 1922, modernization work was strictly controlled. The treaty governed what modifications could be made to existing ships, and included restrictions on what could be changed or added. Displacement could rise by no more than 3,000 long tons (3,048 t) and no alterations of any kind could be made to the main battery guns or mounts. The primary areas that could be improved were those that concerned defense against aerial and underwater attack, along with propulsion systems.[17]

Arkansas in her 1944 configuration, with tripod foremast

The two Wyomings, along with the Floridas and New Yorks, were heavily modernized in the 1920s. All six ships were converted to completely oil-fired boilers with equipment taken from the cancelled

main mast, which was replaced by a short tripod mast that carried searchlights and radio antennas. Some of their secondary battery guns were relocated higher in the ship to improve their workability in heavy seas. A sponson for six guns was built into the hull abreast of the conning tower and the eight 3-inch anti-aircraft guns were moved to the top of the sponson. Both ships had their torpedo tubes removed.[19]

Under the terms of the 1930

20 mm Oerlikons,[16] and the number of 3-inch guns had been increased to ten.[21]

Ships in class

Construction data
Ship name Hull no. Builder[7] Laid down[7] Launched[7] Commissioned[7] Decommissioned Fate
Wyoming BB-32 William Cramp & Sons 9 February 1910 25 May 1911 25 September 1912 1 August 1947 Struck 16 December 1947; Sold for scrap, 30 October 1947
Arkansas BB-33 New York Shipbuilding Corporation 25 January 1910 14 January 1911 17 September 1912 29 July 1946 Struck 15 August 1946; Sunk on 25 July 1946, as part of Operation Crossroads

Service history

Arkansas underway in 1920

After entering service, both ships were assigned to the

occupation of Veracruz during the Mexican Revolution, and Wyoming arrived later to support the operation. Two men from Arkansas earned the Medal of Honor for their actions during the initial occupation of the city. After the United States declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917, Wyoming, along with the rest of Battleship Division 9 (BatDiv 9), steamed to Britain to reinforce the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet, stationed in Scapa Flow. Arkansas initially remained in the United States, training gun crews for the expanding wartime fleet. In July 1918, she too was sent to Britain. Neither ship saw action during the war, though they were present when the German High Seas Fleet surrendered in November 1918.[20][22]

From mid-1919 to mid-1921, Arkansas and Wyoming served in the

Wyoming after conversion to a gunnery training ship

From early 1932 to early 1934, Arkansas returned for another stint in the Pacific Fleet, followed by another tour of Europe later in the year. After the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, she was assigned to the reserve force for the Neutrality Patrols. She supported the replacement of Canadian troops by American ones maintaining the occupation of Iceland in July 1941 as an escort for the troopship convoys. In November, as it became increasingly apparent that the United States would become involved in World War II, Wyoming was reassigned as a gunnery training ship, a role she served in for the duration of the war. Arkansas, meanwhile, continued in front-line service during the war, first as an escort to convoys to North Africa, and then as a shore bombardment vessel. She supported the landings at Normandy in June 1944, shelling German positions at Omaha Beach, before bombarding Cherbourg later in the month. Her next bombardment mission came with Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France, in August that year. She was then transferred to the Pacific Theater of Operations for action against the Japanese. She bombarded Japanese positions on Iwo Jima in February 1945 and on Okinawa in April.[20][22]

With the end of the war in September 1945, Arkansas was employed with Operation Magic Carpet, repatriating American soldiers in the Pacific. Wyoming remained in service briefly after the war, though she was decommissioned in August 1947. She was sold for scrap in October and subsequently broken up. Arkansas was instead retained for use as a target ship during the Operation Crossroads nuclear tests in mid-1946. She survived the first test, an air-burst code-named ABLE, though the second experiment, an underwater detonation code-named BAKER, sank the ship.[20][22]

Notes

Footnotes

  1. ^ Many of these figures changed dramatically during the careers of the ships.
  2. ^ /50 refers to the length of the gun in terms of calibers. A /50 gun is 50 times long as it is in bore diameter.

Citations

  1. ^ Friedman 1985, pp. 81, 85.
  2. ^ Friedman 1985, p. 86.
  3. ^ Friedman 1985, pp. 87–89.
  4. ^ Friedman 1985, pp. 89–93.
  5. ^ Friedman 1985, p. 88.
  6. ^ Friedman 1985, p. 93.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Friedman 1986, p. 114.
  8. ^ a b Friedman 1985, pp. 434–435.
  9. ^ Moore, p. 135.
  10. ^ a b c d Friedman 1985, p. 434.
  11. ^ Friedman 2011, pp. 172–173.
  12. ^ Friedman 2011, p. 185.
  13. ^ Friedman 2011, p. 342.
  14. ^ Friedman 1985, pp. 90, 434.
  15. ^ Friedman 1985, pp. 90–91, 434.
  16. ^ a b Friedman 1980, p. 91.
  17. ^ Friedman 1985, p. 189.
  18. ^ Friedman 1985, p. 193.
  19. ^ Friedman 1985, pp. 195–196.
  20. ^ a b c d e f Cressman.
  21. ^ a b Breyer, p. 202.
  22. ^ a b c d DANFS Arkansas.

References