USS Nebraska

Description

USS Nebraska

USS Nebraska (BB-14) was a Virginia-class pre-dreadnought battleship of the United States Navy, the second of five members of the class, and the first ship to carry her name. She was built by the Moran Brothers shipyard in Seattle, Washington, with her keel laying in July 1902 and her launching in October 1904. The completed ship was commissioned into the US Navy in July 1907. The ship was armed with an offensive battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns and eight 8-inch (203 mm) guns, and she was capable of a top speed of 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph).

Nebraska joined the Great White Fleet after it reached the west coast of the United States in 1908 and continued with it during its circumnavigation of the globe. From 1909 to 1914, the ship conducted normal training and ceremonial duties with the Atlantic Fleet. She was deployed twice to Mexico during the Mexican Revolution, in mid-1914 and mid-1916, before being decommissioned briefly in 1916. She was reactivated shortly before the United States entered World War I in April 1917, and was thereafter used as a training ship and later as a convoy escort. After the war, she transported American soldiers back from France, and in 1919 she was transferred to the Pacific Fleet, though she remained in service for less than a year, being decommissioned in July 1920. The 1922 Washington Naval Treaty mandated her disposal, which was effected in November 1923, when she was broken up for scrap.

Design

USS Nebraska was 441 feet 3 inches (134.49 m) long overall and had a beam of 76 ft 3 in (23.24 m) and a draft of 23 ft 9 in (7.24 m). She displaced 14,948 long tons (15,188 t) as designed and up to 16,094 long tons (16,352 t) at full load. The ship was powered by two-shaft triple-expansion steam engines rated at 19,000 indicated horsepower (14,000 kW) and twelve coal-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers, generating a top speed of 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph). As built, she was fitted with heavy military masts, but these were quickly replaced by cage masts in 1909. She had a crew of 812 officers and enlisted men.

The ship was armed with a main battery of four 12-inch/40 caliber Mark 4 guns in two twin gun turrets on the centerline, one forward and aft. The secondary battery consisted of eight 8-inch/45 caliber guns and twelve 6-inch (152 mm)/50 caliber Mark 6 guns. The 8-inch guns were mounted in four twin turrets; two of these were superposed atop the main battery turrets, with the other two turrets abreast the forward funnel. The 6-inch guns were placed in casemates in the hull. For close-range defense against torpedo boats, she carried twelve 3-inch (76 mm)/50 caliber guns, mounted in casemates along the side of the hull, and twelve 3-pounder guns. As was standard for capital ships of the period, Nebraska carried four 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes, submerged in her hull on the broadside.

USS Nebraska’s main armored belt was 11 in (279 mm) thick over the magazines and the machinery spaces and 6 in (152 mm) elsewhere. The main battery gun turrets (and the secondary turrets on top of them) had 12-inch (305 mm) thick faces, and the supporting barbettes had the 10 in (254 mm) of armor plating. The conning tower had 9 in (229 mm) thick sides.