USS Indiana (BB-1)

The first USS "Indiana" (Battleship No. 1) was the first modern battleship of the United States Navy. She was modeled primarily after the design of Lt. Lewis Nixon, who worked for William Cramp and Sons as its chief naval architect until opening his own shipyard in January 1895.

Construction

"Indiana" was laid down on 7 May 1891, by William Cramp and Sons of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was launched on 28 February 1893, sponsored by Miss Jessie Miller (daughter of the Attorney General William H.H. Miller) with President Benjamin Harrison, his cabinet and his friends from Indiana in attendance. The battleship was commissioned on 20 November 1895, with Captain Robley D. Evans in command.

Indiana carried her four thirteen-inch guns in double turrets. The eight-inch guns were also turret-mounted in pairs, but the smaller guns had individual unprotected mounts. Indiana's complement of thirty-two officers and 441 enlisted men included two Marine officers and sixty-five enlisted Marines. The Marines crewed the six-inch guns aboard ship, and a three-inch fieldpiece was carried for them to use ashore. Captain Littleton Waller, USMC, was officer-in-charge of the Marine detachment and assistant division officer of the Weapons Division.

Although modern in 1893, Indiana had some quaint features. Her turrets were round and lacked a counterweight to offset the weight of the gun barrels. This meant that the ship listed in the direction to which the guns were trained, requiring added elevation to lay the gun on target. Indiana carried Whitehead electric torpedoes in bow and stern mounts, but they were never used in action.

The six-inch guns were mounted on a gundeck at the main deck level and fired through ports in the bulkheads. Although the guns were modern, their mounting and intended use harked back to the days of sail, since they were there for close quarters ship-to-ship fighting.

Indiana's prow was fashioned to a point, curved up and reinforced, exactly like the prow of an ancient trireme. Even at the dawn of the Twentieth Century, ramming enemy vessels was considered a viable tactic.

Indiana and her sisters Massachusetts and Oregon cost America the then-staggering sum of three million dollars apiece.

ervice history

Following fitting out at Philadelphia Navy Yard, "Indiana" trained off the coast of New England. This duty continued until the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, when "Indiana" formed part of Admiral William Sampson's Squadron. The ten ships sailed south to intercept Pascual Cervera's Spanish squadron, known to be en route to the Caribbean Sea. "Indiana" took part in bombardment of San Juan on 12 May 1898, and returned to Key West with the squadron to guard Havana, Cuba, on 18 May. After it was discovered that Cervera was at Santiago de Cuba, Sampson joined Winfield Scott Schley there on 1 June and took up the blockade.

In late June, Army units arrived and were landed for an assault on Santiago. Cervera saw that his situation was desperate and began his gallant dash out of Santiago 3 July 1898, hoping to outrun the American blockaders. "Indiana" did not join in the initial chase because of her extreme eastern position on the blockade, but was near the harbor entrance when destroyers "Pluton" and "Furor" emerged. In a short time both ships were destroyed by "Indiana's" guns and those of the other ships. Meanwhile the remaining Spanish vessels were sunk or run ashore, in one of the two major naval engagements of the war.

"Indiana" returned to her previous pattern of training exercises and fleet maneuvers after the war, and made practice cruises for midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy before decommissioning on 29 December 1903.

The battleship recommissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 9 January 1906. During this phase of her career, "Indiana" served with the Naval Academy Practice Squadron, sailing to Northern Europe and the Mediterranean. At Queenstown, Ireland, she fired a 21-gun salute on 22 June 1911, in honor of the coronation of King George V. This important work in training the Navy's future leaders ended in 1914 and she decommissionedat Philadelphia on 23 May 1914.

"Indiana" recommissioned a second time 24 May 1917, and served through World War I as a training ship for gun crews off Tompkinsville, New York, and in the York River of Virginia. She decommissioned at Philadelphia on 31 January 1919.

Disposition

On 29 March 1919, she was renamed "Coast Battleship Number 1" so that the name "Indiana" could be assigned to a newly authorized battleship. She was used as a target in an important series of tests designed to determine the effectiveness of aerial bombs and was sunk in November 1920. Her hulk was sold for scrap 19 March 1924.

References

* Alden, John D. "American Steel Navy: A Photographic History of the U.S. Navy from the Introduction of the Steel Hull in 1883 to the Cruise of the Great White Fleet." Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989. ISBN 0870212486
* Friedman, Norman. "U.S. Battleships: An Illustrated Design History." Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985. ISBN 0870217151
* Reilly, John C. and Robert L. Scheina. "American Battleships 1996-1923: Predreadnought Design and Construction." Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1980. ISBN 0870215248

External links

* [http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-i/bb1.htm Navy photographs of "Indiana" (BB-1)]
* [http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/us_navy_pages/uss_indiana_bb1.htm Maritimequest USS Indiana BB-1 Photo Gallery]
* [http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/01a.htm NavSource Online: Battleship Photo Archive BB-1 USS INDIANA 1891 - Pre Spanish American War]