Connecticut-class battleship

USS Connecticut (BB-18)
Class overview
Name	Connecticut-class battleship
Operators	United States Navy
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	Normal: 16,000 long tons (16,257 t) Full load: 17,666 long tons (17,949 t)
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	12 Babcock & Wilcox boilers 16,500 ihp (12,300 kW)
Propulsion	2 × triple-expansion steam engines 2 × screw propellers
Speed	18 kn (21 mph; 33 km/h)
Complement	827 officers and men
Armament	4 × 12 in (305 mm)/45 cal Mark 5 guns 8 × 8 in (203 mm)/45 caliber guns 12 × 7 in (178 mm)/45 caliber guns 20 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber guns 12 × 3-pounder (47 mm (1.9 in)) guns 4 × 1-pounder (37 mm (1.5 in)) guns 4 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor	Belt: 6–11 in (152–279 mm) Barbettes: 6–10 in (152–254 mm) Casemates: 8–10 in (203–254 mm) Deck: 1.5–3 in (38–76 mm) Turret Main: 8–12 in (203–305 mm) Turret secondary: 7 in (178 mm) Conning tower: 9 in (229 mm)

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.

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.