 USS Virginia (BB-13) c. 1910–1913
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Virginia class |
| Operators |  United States Navy |
| Preceded by | Maine class |
| Succeeded by | Connecticut class |
| Built | 1902–1907 |
| In commission | 1906–1920 |
| Completed | 5 |
| Retired | 5 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Pre-dreadnought battleship |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 441 ft 3 in (134 m) |
| Beam | 76 ft 3 in (23 m) |
| Draft | 23 ft 9 in (7 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 19 kn (35 km/h; 22 mph) |
| Complement | 812 |
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
|
The Virginia class of pre-dreadnought battleships were built for the United States Navy in the early 1900s. The class comprised five ships: Virginia, Nebraska, Georgia, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. The ships carried a mixed-caliber offensive battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) and eight 8-inch (203 mm) guns; these were mounted in an uncommon arrangement, with four of the 8-inch guns placed atop the 12-inch turrets. The arrangement proved to be a failure, as the 8-inch guns could not be fired independently of the 12-inch guns without interfering with them. Additionally, by the time the Virginias entered service, the first "all-big-gun" battleships—including the British HMS Dreadnought—were nearing completion, which would render mixed battery ships like the Virginia class obsolete.
Nevertheless, the ships had active careers. All five ships took part in the cruise of the Great White Fleet in 1907–1909. 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 Virginia-class ships were used to train sailors for an expanding wartime fleet. In September 1918, they began to escort convoys to Europe, though Germany surrendered two months later, ending the conflict. 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. Virginia and New Jersey were sunk in bombing tests in 1923, and the other three ships were broken up for scrap later that year.