U.S. Navy Fleet Strength
Capital Ships
- Nevada-class battleships
- USS Nevada (BB-36)†
- USS Oklahoma (BB-37)†
- Pennsylvania-class battleships
- USS Pennsylvania (BB-38)†
- USS Arizona (BB-39)
- New Mexico-class battleships
- USS New Mexico (BB-40)†
- USS Mississippi (BB-41)
- USS Idaho (BB-42)
- Tennessee-class battleships
- USS Tennessee (BB-43)
- USS California (BB-44)
- Colorado-class battleships
- USS Colorado (BB-45)
- USS Maryland (BB-46)
- USS Washington (BB-47)
- USS West Virginia (BB-48)†
- South Dakota-class battleships
- USS South Dakota (BB-49)
- USS Indiana (BB-50)
- USS North Carolina (BB-54)
- USS Iowa (BB-55)
- USS Oregon (BB-56)
- Lexington-class battlecruisers
- USS Lexington (CC-1)
- USS Constellation (CC-2)
- USS Saratoga (CC-3)
- USS Yorktown (CC-4)†
- USS Constitution (CC-5)
- United States-class battlecruisers
- USS United States (CC-9)‡
- USS Antietam (CC-11)‡
- USS Constellation (CC-13)‡
† denotes ships placed in reduced commission for either treaty compliance or budgetary reasons.
‡ denotes ships under construction
Total: 17 active, 6 reserve, 3 under construction
Carriers
- Langley-class
- Kitty Hawk-class
- USS Kitty Hawk (CV-2)
- USS Ranger (CV-3)
- Gettysburg-class
- USS Gettysburg (CV-4)‡
- USS Shiloh (CV-5)‡
Total: 2 active, 1 reserve, 2 under construction
Other Ships:
Cruisers: 18 active, 6 reserve
Destroyers: 80 active, 27 reserve
Submarines: 55 active, 2 reserve
Mine warfare: 27 active
Auxiliary: 71 active
Specifications
Name: Lexington-class
Operators: US Navy
Preceded by: None
Succeeded by:
United States-class
Built: 1916-1923
In service: 1919-1946
Planned: 8
Completed: 5
Type: Battlecruiser
Displacement: 42,450 tonnes (standard)
48,700 tonnes (full load)
Length: 270 meters (886 ft)
Beam: 32.1 meters (105 ft)
Draft (full load): 10.8 meters (35 ft 5 in)
Installed power: 132,120 kW (180,000 shp)
Propulsion: Turbo-electric, four shafts, 16 boilers
Speed: 60 km/h (32 knots)
Range: 22,000 km at 19 km/hr
Complement: 1600
Armament: 4 x 2 - 16-inch/45 caliber Mark 1
8 x 2 - 6-inch/53 caliber Mark 12 guns
6 x 1 – 57mm/60 caliber Mark 8 AA guns
2 x 1 – 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes
Armor: Belt: 127 - 305 mm (5 - 12 in)
Barbette: 127 - 305 mm (5-12 in)
Conning tower: 76 mm (3 in)
Turret: 280 - 381 mm (11 - 15.1 in)
Deck: 76-105 mm (3 - 4 in)
Bulkheads: 152 mm (6 in)
Ships
Lexington (CC-1)
Constellation (CC-2)
Saratoga (CC-3)
Yorktown (CC-4)
Constitution (CC-5)
United States (CC-6) (12 percent complete, scrapped)
Ranger (CC-7) (17 percent complete, scrapped)
Enterprise (CC-8) (cancelled before keel-laying)
With the entry of the United States into the Great War, the General Board was confronted with the problem of German commerce raiders, of which existing cruisers were inadequate to counter. The possibility of a German battlecruiser breaking out into the North Atlantic to disrupt supply convoys gripped the imagination of the public, the United States Congress and the Admiralty alike.
Conceptual work on battlecruisers had been done since the concept first debuted with HMS
Invincible, but the General Board had hitherto shown no serious interest in procurement. The new reality of American military involvement on the Continent jumpstarted major development of an American battlecruiser beginning in October 1914.
With funding to produce a battlecruiser second to none provided by the US Congress, the
Lexington-class would be one of the largest capital ships hitherto conceived. Mounting eight 16-inch Mark 1 guns like her cousins the
Colorado-class, and capable of 34 knots on 180,000 SHP,
Lexington would be able to outgun anything she could not outrun, and outrun anything she could not outfight.
She and her sister ships were laid down a month before the Battle of Jutland as accelerated war builds. Unfortunately, like the
Admiral-class she paralleled, she was practically obsolete. New information streaming in forced repeated modifications to the ships in construction, including the addition of thicker belt and turret armor. Three were fitting out, and another two nearing completion when the Armistice was signed, slowing down the pace of their commissioning.
Following sea trials and the cutting of the US Navy's construction budget, the last three ships
United States (CC-6),
Ranger (CC-7) and
Enterprise (CC-8) were selected for scrapping in mid 1919.
The
Lexington-class can be be best compared to the
Admiral-class of the British Royal Navy. Both ships were designed for speed but forced to give expensive compromises to defense when the realities of naval strategy refuted much of the doctrine behind the battlecruiser. Like all battlecruisers, she would be too large and expensive to be attached to the scouting wings of the fleet like a proper cruiser, and yet also have serious weaknesses standing in a protracted engagement with other capital ships.
The long, fine hull of the
Lexington enabled efficient cruising and very high top speeds, especially compared to her contemporaries. But the additional weight in mid-construction refit gave the ship a much lower than desired freeboard and compromised seakeeping in rough seas.
The choice of a turbo-electric drive improved maneuverability, allowing her four screws to be utilized to assist her rudders. The surplus electrical power provided by the arrangement allowed the inclusion of amenities like air conditioning and refrigeration, highly important to crew morale on extended voyages.
Nonetheless, the
Lexington had a number of strengths over her British counterpart. In keeping with American naval architecture philosophy, she concentrated all armor around vital systems (engineering, magazines, armament, command and control) in an armored raft that had sufficient reserve buoyancy to keep the ship afloat even if the ends were totally flooded.
Her main belt, 12-inch thick face-hardened Class A armor, was inclined outward ten degrees to enhance horizontal protection. While inadequate against her own guns, it did provide an adequate protection zone against the 14-inch class guns that were the most common in extant world navies.
Underwater protection was insufficient. The rapidity of her construction outpaced important research on protecting capital ships against torpedoes. Her very minimal torpedo bulges gave little more protection against underwater explosions than normal cruisers. Several refit proposals were studied in the 1920s to improve this protection, but rejected due to budgetary constraints
In terms of armament, like most of her contemporaries her primary armament was quite sufficient, but secondary armament was quite lacking. The eight 16-inch Mark 1 guns were mounted in four twin turrets in a two fore, two aft arrangement. The turret mountings, drives and shell hoists were identical to those of the
Colorado-class battleships that were laid down contemporary with her. The turret armor was reduced in thickness to save weight.
As designed, the 16-inch Mark 1 could fire a 2,100 lb armor piercing projectile at 2,600 ft/s. With a maximum elevation of 30 degrees, this translated to a maximum range of just over 34,000 yards. With the limits of sighting and her mechanical gun directors, doctrine initially focused on engagements at half this range.
The secondary armament was more disappointing. Unlike the rest of the US Navy battle line, the
Lexington mounted a new type of 6-inch gun in her secondary mounts. The heavier shells were expected to extend engagement ranges and improve lethality against enemy destroyers, but the trade-off with rate of fire would prove too costly.
The
Lexington-class would also be one of the first in the US Navy to be commissioned with dedicated anti-aircraft guns, six navalized variants of the US Army's 57mm M1918 quick-firing guns, with timed airbursting fuzed shells.
Name: South Dakota-class
Operators: US Navy
Preceded by: Colorado-class
Succeeded by:
Monitor-class
Built: 1918-1923
In commission: 1921-1946
Planned: 8
Completed: 5
Cancelled: 3
Type: Battleship
Displacement: 43,200 tonnes (standard)
48,900 tonnes (full load)
Length: 208 meters (682 ft)
Beam: 32 meters (105 ft)
Draft: 11 meters (36 ft)
Installed power: 45,000 kW (61,000 shp)
Propulsion: Turbo-electric drive, four shafts, two turbogenerators, 12 boilers
Speed: 43 km/h (23 kts)
Range: 15,000 km at 19 km/hr
Armament: 4 x 3 - 16-inch/50 caliber Mark 2 guns
8 x 2 – 6-inch/53 caliber Mark 13 guns
4 x 3 - 3-inch/50 caliber Mark 17 dual purpose guns
8 x 1 – 57mm/60 caliber Mark 8 AA guns
Armor: Belt: 356 mm (14 in) on 19 mm (¾ in) STS, inclined at 15 degrees
Barbette: 114-356 mm (4.5 - 14 in)
Conning tower: 406 mm (16 in)
Turret: 305 - 457 mm (12 - 18 in)
Deck: 127 - 178 mm (5 - 7 in)
Bulkheads: 356 mm (14 in)
Ships
South Dakota (BB-49)
Indiana (BB-50)
Montana (BB-51) (12 percent complete, scrapped)
Massachusetts (BB-52) (cancelled)
New York (BB-53) (cancelled)
North Carolina (BB-54)
Iowa (BB-55)
Oregon (BB-56)
The
South Dakota-class were an evolution of the "Standard-type" battleships that formed the core of the American line-of-battle during the Great War. The Standard-type, thirteen ships spread across five classes, reflected a naval philosophy emphasising a homogenous line-of-battle composed of ships with nearly identical maneuvering capabilities.
Based on research conducted during the rapid naval buildup before the Great War, naval architects and planners developed a coherent doctrine concerning naval forces. The Standard-type doctrine emphasised, in order of importance: protection, firepower and maneuver. While other battleships in this era adopted various banded armor schemes, with different levels of protection in different areas of the ship, the Standards adopted a schema of "all-or-nothing" protection. All vital ship systems, such as machinery, magazines, weapons or command-and-control, would be concentrated in a single protected zone. This zone would have a uniform level of armor protection at expected combat ranges, preventing the possibility of the exploitation of weak points.
This protected zone would also be an armored raft with enough reserve buoyancy to keep the ship afloat should the rest become totally flooded. Thus, even if totally immobilised, so long as the armored citadel remained intact the ship could fight.
The previous battleship class, the
Colorado, had traded out twelve 14-inch guns for eight 16-inch guns in response to British and German 15-inch guns entering production, but in other respects remained true to the Standard-type.
The
South Dakota was envisioned as the lead of a new Standard-type that would eventually replace the old line. Consequently she was a third more massive than the
Colorado. The major increase in displacement enabled the mounting of twelve 16-inch/50 caliber Mark 2 guns in four triple turrets. The heavier Mark 2 had improved muzzle velocity as well as a maximum inclination of 45 degrees to exploit over-the-horizon plunging fire guided by radio and spotter plane.
The increase in armament came with a major increase in protection. The main belt was thickened to 14-inches. Protection was further improved by the adoption of a fifteen degree outward incline to increase horizontal protection. The face-hardened belt was backed by a ¾ in structural member made from Special Treatment Steel. This new and expensive high tensile steel alloy had identical ballistic characteristics to Navy Class B armor.
Based on the experienced gleaned from the Battle of Jutland, vertical protection was nearly doubled, to seven inches at the thickest. While this was developed as an answer to increasing practical gunnery ranges and the resulting danger of plunging shell fire, it would also improve resistance against aerial armor piercing bombs.
The biggest difference from the previous ships was the adoption of a comprehensive underwater protection system developed after Great War cooperation with the Royal Navy. The torpedo belt consisted of a honeycomb pattern with an outer air space and inner buoyancy space, filled either with water or oil, terminating at a 2-inch thick steel bulkhead. The system was tested as proof against a 750 pound torpedo warhead.
The
South Dakota also improved aerial protection with the addition of twelve 3-inch dual purpose guns as well as 57 mm anti-aircraft guns. While considered more than adequate when the ships were ordered in the summer of 1918, they became quickly obsolete as aircraft technology advanced.
Eight ships were initially ordered, matching the accelerated build table of eight
Lexington-class battlecruisers. But with the close of the Great War and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, funding was put in jeopardy. New fiscal realities as well as negotiations for a comprehensive naval arms treaty suspended construction on three of ships. Ultimately, only the five furthest along in construction would be completed.
Name: Kitty Hawk-class
Operators: US Navy
Preceded by: USS
Langley (CV-1)
Succeeded by:
Gettysburg-class
Built: 1923-1930
In commission: 1926-1943
Planned: 2
Completed: 2
Type: Aviation cruiser
Displacement: 15,000 tonnes (standard)
18,220 tonnes (full load)
Length: 222.1 meters (waterline)
234.4 meters (overall)
Beam: 24.4meters (waterline)
33.4 meters (overall)
Draft: 6.8 meters
Installed power: 40,000 kW (55,000 shp)
Propulsion: two shafts, two geared steam turbines, six boilers
Speed: 54 km/h (29 kts)
Range: 19,000 km at 28 km/hr
Armament: 8 x 1 – 125 mm/40 caliber Mark 18 guns
8 x 1 – 57mm/60 caliber Mark 8 AA guns
12 x 2 – 12.7 x 99 mm M1921 machine guns
Armor: Belt: 51 mm
Conning tower: 100 mm
Deck: 25 mm (3rd deck)
Bulkheads: 51 mm
Aircraft: 75
Aviation facilities: 2 catapults
3 aircraft elevators
Ships
Kitty Hawk (CV-2)
Ranger (CV-3)
Following the success of the converted collier
Langley, the US Navy secured funding for a purpose built aviation cruiser. The new ship would be built on a cruiser style hull of approximately the same displacement as the
Langley, but envisioned as a complement to the fast cruiser wings of the fleet.
CV-2 was not envisioned as a capital ship, but rather as an integral part of the scouting wing that would support the battle line of heavy dreadnoughts in a fleet engagement, both by denying access to enemy scout planes as well as tracking enemy fleets. Design iterations emphasized speed over protection, envisioning her planes acting as over the horizon spotters for long range battleship gunnery.
Kitty Hawk would be laid down in the Fall of 1923. Initially conceived as a flush deck carrier like her predecessor, she would displace just over 18,000 tonnes at full load, significantly heavier than her original drafts. With two shafts and a modest 54,000 horsepower geared steam turbine propulsion, she would manage just over 29 knots in her sea trials.
Initial testing resulted in a number of innovations in command and control, but she failed to perform to the Navy's expectations. Her sister ship,
Ranger, would be modified with an island structure during fitting out based on the recommendations to the General Board, a refit which
Kitty Hawk would soon gain.
Both ships participated in a number of Fleet Problems in the early 30s. With the Navy hemorrhaging money, and construction on the
United States battlecruisers now occurring in fits and starts, the relative success of the new aviation cruisers, combined with British and Japanese developments would ultimately secure the conversion of two of the battlecruisers as a "cost-saving" measure.
