Difference between revisions of "U.S.S. Indiana (1893)"
| Line 92: | Line 92: | ||
The contract for the United States Coastline Battleship ''Indiana'' was signed on 19 November, 1890 for the price of $3,063,333 with a completion time of three years. | The contract for the United States Coastline Battleship ''Indiana'' was signed on 19 November, 1890 for the price of $3,063,333 with a completion time of three years. | ||
| − | The ''Indiana'' was laid down 7 May, 1891 by William Cramp & Sons' Ship and Engine Building Company of Philadelphia, PA and was built to design specifications furnished by the Navy Department.<ref>Hall, Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers, Vol. VII No. 4, November 1895, p. 637.</ref> | + | The ''Indiana'' was laid down 7 May, 1891 by [[Cramp Philadelphia|William Cramp & Sons' Ship and Engine Building Company]] of Philadelphia, PA and was built to design specifications furnished by the Navy Department.<ref>Hall, Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers, Vol. VII No. 4, November 1895, p. 637.</ref> |
===Launch=== | ===Launch=== | ||
Revision as of 21:49, 11 May 2012
| Career | Details |
|---|---|
| Hull Number: | Battleship No. 1 (1893) B-1 (1907) |
| Built By: | William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia |
| Ordered: | 19 November, 1890 |
| Laid down: | 7 May, 1891 |
| Launched: | 28 February, 1893 |
| Commissioned: | 20 November, 1895 |
| Decommissioned: | 29 December, 1903 |
| Recommissioned: | 9 January, 1906 |
| Decommissioned: | 23 May, 1914 |
| Recommissioned: | 24 May, 1917 |
| Decommissioned: | 31 January, 1919 |
| Fate: | Sunk as target off Tangier Island, Maryland – 1 November, 1920 Hulk sold and broken up for scrap – 19 March, 1924 |
| Specifications | |
| Displacement: | 10,288 tons |
| Length: | 350 feet 11 inches (107 metres) |
| Beam: | 69 feet 3 inches (21.1 metres) |
| Draught: | 27 feet 2 inches (8.3 metres) |
| Armour: | Belt: 18 inches Deck: 3 inches |
| Armament: |
|
| Propulsion: | Boilers: 4 x double-ended main boilers operating at 160 psi and 2 x single-ended auxiliary boilers operating at 160 psi Engines: 2 vertical, inverted, triple expansion steam engines |
| Range: | 5,640 nautical miles at 10 knots |
| Complement: | 473 |
Contents
Construction
The contract for the United States Coastline Battleship Indiana was signed on 19 November, 1890 for the price of $3,063,333 with a completion time of three years.
The Indiana was laid down 7 May, 1891 by William Cramp & Sons' Ship and Engine Building Company of Philadelphia, PA and was built to design specifications furnished by the Navy Department.[1]
Launch
Battleship No. 1 was launched 28 February, 1893. Indiana was sponsored by Miss Jessie Miller, daughter of the Attorney General of the United States and commissioned 20 November, 1895, Captain Robley D. Evans in command.[2]
Armament
The main battery consisted of four 13-in, 35 calibre Mark 1 breech loading rifles mounted in pairs in two Mark 2 turrets. These turrets were trained by steam power and the guns elevated hydraulically. These turrets were mounted on the centerline with one forward and one aft.
Eight 8-in, 35 calibre breech loading rifles were mounted in pairs in four Mark 7 turrets. The turrets were trained by steam power and the guns elevated by hand. Two of the turrets were mounted to port and two to starboard.
Four 6-in, 40 calibre breech loading rifles mounted on Mark 5 central pivots and were completely operated by hand.
The secondary battery consisted of twenty 6-pounder Hotchkiss rapid fire guns, six 1-pounder Hotchkiss rapid fire guns, and four light machine guns in the military tops.
While the original design called for six 18-in torpedo tubes, Indiana was only outfitted with four. The torpedo tubes fired Whitehead torpedoes and were mounted on the berth deck.[3]
Armor
Belt
Indiana's armor belt was made of nickel steel utilizing the Harvey process extending through the machinery and boiler spaces and to the bases of the 13-in gun turrets. The armor extended 3 feet above and 4 feet 6 inches below the load water line amidships. The armor diminished to 4 feet 2 1/2 inches below the load water line at the ends.
The outside surfaced conformed to the shape of the hull with a thickness of 18 inches from the top of the armor down to 12 inches below the load water line. At this point, the armor tapered down to 8 inches at the bottom.
At each end of the belt, there was an athwartship belt 14 inches thick. These atwartship belts along with the port and starboard water line belts formed the vertical bulkheads of the armored citadel. The citadel was covered with a 2 3/4 inch nickel steel armored deck.[4]
Casemate
A 5 inch armored casemate consisting of two plates 1/2 inch thick and one 4 inch plate extended from the top of the armor belt to the main deck.[5]
Turrets and Guns
The turrets for the 13-in guns was 17 inch thick nickel steel with the bases of the turrets protected by barbettes of the same thickness.
The 8-in gun turrets were 6 inches thick with 2 inch thick top plating. The sighting towers were 5 inches and 3 inches thick. The barbettes of the 8-in gun turrets were 8 inches thick on the outboard side and 6 inches thick on the inboard side.
The 6-in guns were protected by 5 inches of armor with a combination of two inner 1/2 inch thick and one outer 4 inch thick armor sections.
The armored protection for the 6-pounder guns on the main deck was 2 inches thick.
The armored protection for the 1-pounder guns at the ends of the ship consisted an increased thickness of 2 inches as the gun ports were folded when in use to act as a shield.[6]
Conning Tower
The conning tower, located above the superstructure deck, was forged hollow from steel 10 inches thick with an inside diameter of 6 feet 11 inches.
An armored tube 7 inches thick with an inside diameter of 12 inches extended from the conning tower to the armored deck and provided protection for electric wires, voice tubes, engine room telegraph connections, engine tell-tales, and the steering gear.[7]
Career
Pre war
Following fitting out at Philadelphia Navy Yard, Indiana trained off the coast of New England. This duty continued until the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, when Indiana formed part of Admiral William Sampson's squadron. The 10 ships sailed south to intercept Almirante Cervera's Spanish squadron, known to be en route to the Caribbean. Indiana took part in bombardment of San Juan 12 May, 1898, and returned to Key West with the squadron to guard Havana 18 May. After it was discovered that Almirante Cervera's was at Santiago, Admiral William Sampson joined Schley there 1 June and took up the blockade.
In late June, Army units arrived and were landed for an assault on Santiago. Almirante Cervera's saw that his situation was desperate and began his gallant dash out of Santiago 3 July, 1898, hoping to outrun the American blockaders. Indiana did not join in the initial chase because of her extreme eastern position on the blockade, but was near the harbor entrance when destroyers Pluton and Furor emerged. In a short time both ships were destroyed by Indiana's guns and those of the other ships. Meanwhile the remaining Spanish vessels were sunk or run ashore, in one of the two major naval engagements of the war.
Indiana returned to her previous pattern of training exercises and fleet maneuvers after the war and made practice cruises for midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy before decommissioning on 29 December, 1903.
The battleship recommissioned at New York Navy Yard 9 January, 1906. During this phase of her career, Indiana served with the Naval Academy Practice Squadron, sailing to Northern Europe and the Mediterranean. At Queenstown, Ireland, she fired a 21-gun salute on 22 June, 1911 in honor of the coronation of King George V. This important work in training the Navy's future leaders ended in 1914 and she decommissioned at Philadelphia on 23 May, 1914.[8]
War service
Indiana recommissioned a second time 24 May, 1917, and served through the First World War as a training ship for gun crews off Tomkinsville, N.Y., and in the York River, Va.[9]
Post war
She decommissioned at Philadelphia 31 January, 1919. The name Indiana was cancelled 29 March, 1919 and she was reclassified Coast Battleship Number 1 so that the name could be assigned to a newly authorized battleship. She was used as a target in an important series of tests designed to determine the effectiveness of aerial bombs and was sunk in November, 1920. Her hulk was sold for scrap 19 March, 1924.[10]
See Also
Footnotes
- ↑ Hall, Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers, Vol. VII No. 4, November 1895, p. 637.
- ↑ Indiana-I, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Naval History and Heritage Command
- ↑ Hall, Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers, Vol. VII No. 4, November 1895, p. 642.
- ↑ Hall, Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers, Vol. VII No. 4, November 1895, p. 641.
- ↑ Ibid
- ↑ Hall, Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers, Vol. VII No. 4, November 1895, p. 641-642.
- ↑ Hall, Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers, Vol. VII No. 4, November 1895, p. 642.
- ↑ Indiana-I, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Naval History and Heritage Command
- ↑ Ibid
- ↑ Ibid
Bibliography
