Connecticut Class Battleship (1904)

Six Connecticut class battleships were completed for the U.S. Navy between 1906 and 1908.

Overview of 6 vessels
Citations for this data available on individual ship pages
Name	Builder	Laid Down	Launched	Completed	Fate
Connecticut	New York Navy Yard	10 Mar, 1903	29 Sep, 1904	29 Sep, 1906	Sold 1923
Louisiana	Newport News	7 Feb, 1903	27 Aug, 1904	2 Jun, 1906	Sold 1923
Vermont	Fore River	21 May, 1904	31 Aug, 1905	4 Mar, 1907	Sold 1923
Kansas	New York Shipbuilding	10 Feb, 1904	12 Aug, 1905	18 Apr, 1907	Sold 1923
Minnesota	Newport News	27 Oct, 1903	8 Apr, 1905	9 Mar, 1907	Sold 1924
New Hampshire	New York Shipbuilding	1 May, 1905	30 Jun, 1906	19 Mar, 1908	Sold 1923

Electrical

The British reported extensively on the details of this class in their 1903 Annual Report of the Torpedo School.

This class increased the voltage previously used to 125 volts.

Two distinct electrical systems were installed, "battle service" and "lighting service", with separate mains and feeders. Battle service supplied everything required in action: all lights below the protective deck (engine room, magazines, lighting at guns hoists, winches). Lighting service was for comfort items, such as in cabins, messes, and the forty five 12-in desk fans and eight 16-in fans in the officers' quarters. There were 1,100 lighting fixtures in all, 730 of them on the battle service.

Searchlights

Six 30-in hand-controlled projectors. They ran on 125 volts, drawing 80 amperes with 60 volts across the arc.

Armament

Main Battery

The two 12-in and four 8-in turrets trained electrically, each driven by two identical motors (25/15 H.P. for the 12-in and 8-in turrets, respectively). The training motors ordinarily worked together, but either was capable of training the turret individually. The Ward-Leonard control systems were modified over the system used in the previous class.

The same guns had 7/5 H.P. rammer motors. Each gun had its own ammunition hoist (30/8 H.P.) which would rapidly reverse and could run in any of five speeds. Elevation was also electrical, by 5/2.5 H.P. motors.

Secondary Battery

The 7-in guns were trained and elevated by hand.

Torpedoes

The British recorded the particulars in 1911 as

• four 21-in torpedoes firing on the broadside in two submerged flats

At 5 metres, the torpedoes were noted as being only as long as British 18-in torpedoes.

Twelve torpedoes were allowed, but generally six were in the forward flat and five in the aft.

See Also

• Wikipedia

Bibliography

• H.M.S. Vernon. Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1903, with Appendix (Wireless Telegraphy). Copy 478 at The National Archives. ADM 189/23.