![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/USS_Connecticut_-_NH_73318.jpg/640px-USS_Connecticut_-_NH_73318.jpg&w=640&q=50)
Connecticut-class battleship
Pre-dreadnought battleship class of the United States Navy / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Connecticut class battleship?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
The Connecticut class of pre-dreadnought battleships were the penultimate class of the type built for the United States Navy. The class comprised six ships: Connecticut, Louisiana, Vermont, Kansas, Minnesota, and New Hampshire, which were built between 1903 and 1908. The ships were armed with a mixed offensive battery of 12-inch (305 mm), 8-inch (203 mm), and 7-inch (178 mm) guns. This arrangement was rendered obsolete by the advent of all-big-gun battleships like the British HMS Dreadnought, which was completed before most of the Connecticuts entered service.
![]() USS Connecticut (BB-18) | |
Class overview | |
---|---|
Name | Connecticut-class battleship |
Operators | ![]() |
Preceded by | Virginia class |
Succeeded by | Mississippi class |
Built | 1903–1908 |
In commission | 1906–1923 |
Completed | 6 |
Retired | 6 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Pre-dreadnought battleship |
Displacement | |
Length | 456 ft 4 in (139.09 m) |
Beam | 76 ft 10 in (23.42 m) |
Draft | 24 ft 6 in (7.47 m) |
Installed power |
|
Propulsion | |
Speed | 18 kn (21 mph; 33 km/h) |
Complement | 827 officers and men |
Armament | |
Armor |
|
Nevertheless, the ships had active careers. The first five ships took part in the cruise of the Great White Fleet in 1907–1909—New Hampshire had not entered service. From 1909 onward, they served as the workhorses of the US Atlantic Fleet, conducting training exercises and showing the flag in Europe and Central America. As unrest broke out in several Central American countries in the 1910s, the ships became involved in police actions in the region. The most significant was the American intervention in the Mexican Revolution during the occupation of Veracruz in April 1914.
During the American participation in World War I, the Connecticut-class ships were used to train sailors for an expanding wartime fleet. In late 1918, they began to escort convoys to Europe, and in September that year, Minnesota was badly damaged by a mine laid by the German U-boat SM U-117. After the war, they were used to bring American soldiers back from France and later as training ships. The 1922 Washington Naval Treaty, which mandated major reductions in naval weapons, cut the ships' careers short. Within two years, all six ships had been sold for scrap.