USS Washington (BB-47)
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Template:Infobox ship imageTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship characteristicsUSS Washington, hull number BB-47, was a Template:Sclass and the second ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the 42nd state. Her keel was laid down on 30 June 1919, at Camden, New Jersey, by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation. She was launched on 1 September 1921, sponsored by Miss Jean Summers, the daughter of Congressman John W. Summers of Washington.
On 8 February 1922, two days after the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty for the Limitation of Naval Armaments, all construction work ceased on the 75.9%-completed superdreadnought. She was sunk as a gunnery target on 26 November 1924, by the battleships Template:USS and Template:USS.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Design
In 1916, design work was completed on the next class of battleships to be built for the United States Navy beginning in 1917. These ships were nearly direct copies of the preceding Template:Sclass, with the exception of the main battery, which increased from twelve Template:Convert guns to eight Template:Cvt guns. The Colorado class proved to be the last class of battleships completed of the standard type.Template:Sfn
Washington was Template:Cvt long overall and she had a beam of Template:Cvt and a draft of Template:Cvt. She displaced Template:Cvt as designed and up to Template:Cvt at full load. The ship was powered by four General Electric turbo-electric drives with steam provided by eight oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers. The ship's propulsion system was rated at Template:Convert for a top speed of Template:Convert. She had a normal cruising range of Template:Cvt at Template:Cvt, but additional fuel space could be used in wartime to increase her range to Template:Cvt at that speed. Her crew numbered 64 officers and 1,241 enlisted men.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
She was armed with a main battery of eight 16 in /45 caliber Mark 1 guns in four twin-gun turrets on the centerline,Template:Efn two forward and two aft in superfiring pairs. The secondary battery consisted of twelve [[5-inch/51-caliber gun|Template:Convert/51 caliber guns]], mounted individually in casemates clustered in the superstructure amidships. She carried an anti-aircraft battery of eight [[3-inch/50-caliber gun|Template:Convert/50 caliber guns]] in individual high-angle mounts. As was customary for capital ships of the period, she had a Template:Cvt torpedo tube mounted in her hull below the waterline on each broadside. WashingtonTemplate:'s main armored belt was Template:Convert thick, while the main armored deck was up to Template:Convert thick. The main battery gun turrets had Template:Convert thick faces on Template:Convert barbettes. Her conning tower had Template:Convert thick sides.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
History
With fiscal year 1917 appropriations, bids on the four Colorados were opened on 18 October 1916; though MarylandTemplate:'s keel was laid on 24 April 1917. The other three battleships, including Washington, were not laid down until 1919–1920. With the cancellation of the first Template:Sclass, the Colorados were the last U.S. battleships to enter service for nearly two decades. They were also the final U.S. battleships to use twin gun turrets—the Template:Sclass and second Template:Sclasses used nine 16-inch/45 caliber Mark 6 guns and the Template:Sclasss used nine 16-inch/50 caliber Mark 7 gunsTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn in three triple turrets. Washington was laid down on 30 June 1919.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
On 8 February 1922, two days after the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty for the Limitation of all Naval Armaments, all construction work was stopped on the 75.9-percent-completed superdreadnought.Template:Sfn By that time, she had her underwater armored protection in place.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
The ship was towed out in November 1924, to be used as a gunnery target. On the first day of testing, the ship was hit by two Template:Convert torpedoes and three Template:Convert near-miss bombs causing minor damage and a list of three degrees. She then had 400 pounds of TNT detonated on board, but remained afloat. Two days later, the ship was hit by fourteen Template:Convert shells dropped from Template:Convert, but only one penetrated. The ship was finally sunk by Texas and New York with fourteen more 14-inch shells. After the test, it was decided that the existing deck armor on battleships was inadequate, and that future battleships should be fitted with triple bottoms, which was underwater armor with three layers.Template:Sfn
Footnotes
Notes
Citations
References
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