Wyoming class battleship

The "Wyoming" class battleship was the fourth series of two battleships of the United States Navy which served during World War I and World War II. Launched in 1912. It should be noted that at the design of this pair of Dreadnoughts that not a single one of the previous designs had yet gone to sea. While somewhat larger than their predessors they retained all the features that were common to American Battleships to date with centerline turrets, low freeboard, long service ranges, and very thick side armor.

Design

The requirements for this class arose from the very general requirements of the Newport Conference. [Friedman, Norman:U.S. Battleships, An illustrated design history ISBN 0-87021-715-1 P85] This designed marked the end of the Board on Construction and the rise of the General Board in US ship design. [Friedman, Norman:U.S. Battleships, An illustrated design history ISBN 0-87021-715-1 P85] The class marked a significant growth over its predecessor--the "Florida" class--of some 20% in size.

Armament

This growth was caused by a concern that the next class of battleships would see a departure from the 12" naval gun that had dominated all dreadnought designs up to this time. [Friedman, Norman:U.S. Battleships, An illustrated design history ISBN 0-87021-715-1 P85] This allowed the addition of a sixth main turret and increased armor. This brought the class' main armament up to twelve convert|12|in|mm|0|sing=on guns in their twin mounts. Much of the discussion with this battleship's designed went to the argument that the U.S. should move to the 14" naval gun at this time. The problem with this was the lack of development on the 14" naval gun to this point. Developing both systems was a huge gamble given the pace of battleship design amongst the naval powers at this time. [Friedman, Norman:U.S. Battleships, An illustrated design history ISBN 0-87021-715-1 P86] The midships turret in both this and the following Sclass|New York|battleship|1s proved problematic; the turrets and magazines were both located near the boiler spaces with high pressure steam piping surrounding the magazines. This produced a marked temperature difference in the powder charges and contributed to excessive dispersions in the pattern of shell fall from the two classes. Attempts to cool the 12" midship magazines were only moderately successful. It is worth noting that the General Board estimated that battle ranges for the main armament would be 8,000 to convert|8500|yd|m|-2. The secondary battery would again be placed in a gallery deck below the main deck. This limited the use of the secondary battery as it was so wet at speed as to keep 1/3 of it useless.

Armor suite

Fire control limitations also explain the lack of deck armor that continued onward in this design. [Friedman, Norman:U.S. Battleships, An illustrated design history ISBN 0-87021-715-1 P86] The armor suite also displayed other signs of transition with a heavy belt, and mid grade 6.5" casement armor for the secondary battery and internal partitions to limit damage. [Friedman, Norman:U.S. Battleships, An illustrated design history ISBN 0-87021-715-1 P89] The entire scheme was designed to stop shells at very shallow angles of attack. The idea being to cause the armor piercing shells to burst on the thin armor and have it caught on the even thinner 1" STS steel plate deck below the decapping armor above. [Friedman, Norman:U.S. Battleships, An illustrated design history ISBN 0-87021-715-1 P90] The idea of plunging fire would not be addressed until the all or nothing scheme of the Nevada Class Battleships two classes after the Wyoming class. The main armor belt remained at 11" tapering to 9" enough to protect against 12" naval guns of the period. [Friedman, Norman:U.S. Battleships, An illustrated design history ISBN 0-87021-715-1 P93]

Engine design

"Wyoming" was the final battleship class in the United States to employ direct drive steam turbines for power. Geared turbines, triple expansion steam engines, and turbo-electric drive were all found to give better range for fuel expended.

Upgrades

Modernization began in 1925 finishing 1927. This included anti-torpedo blisters giving them broader beams, greater displacement and thicker deck armor. Oil-burning boilers were added with a single smoke stack and reduction to a single cage mast. Both were outfitted with newer gunfire controls. Some of the 5" secondary was moved to the superstructure. Arkansas was used as a gunnery training ship while Wyoming had all her 12" guns removed and had more 5" dual purpose guns added becoming an urgently needed anti-aircraft training platform.

History

Despite the class name, "Arkansas" preceded "Wyoming" both in construction and commissioning, although both were commissioned during September 1912. As the class was fitted with coal-fired boilers, both Wyoming and Arkansas were able to operate with the British Grand Fleet in the then-oil-deprived North Sea during World War I. Before the war, they served in the Atlantic Fleet and afterwards in both the Atlantic and Pacific, with modernization following in 1925-27. Both ships served in both world wars, and like many older American ships were quickly retired at the end of the second. "Wyoming" marked the end of the class' nearly 35 years of service when decommissioned 1 August 1947 for scrapping. "Arkansas" had already been sunk during nuclear testing in the Pacific.

See also

* List of battleship classes
* List of battleships of the United States Navy
* List of ship launches in 1911
* List of ship commissionings in 1912
* List of ship decommissionings in 1946
* List of ship decommissionings in 1947
* List of shipwrecks in 1947

Ships in class

= USS "Wyoming" =

* Designation: Battleship No.32, BB-32, AG-17
* Builder: William Cramp and Sons in Philadelphia
* Laid down: 9 February 1910
* Launched: 25 May 1911
* Commissioned: 25 September 1912
* Operations: World War I convoy escort in the North Sea, interwar and World War II gunnery trainer
* Victories:
* Fate: Decommissioned 1 August 1947 and scrapped

= USS "Arkansas" =

* Designation: Battleship No.33, BB-33
* Builder: New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden, New Jersey
* Laid down: 25 January 1910
* Launched: 14 January 1911
* Commissioned: 17 September 1912
* Operations: Tampico Affair, Operation Torch, D-Day, Operation Anvil, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Operation Magic Carpet, Operation Crossroads
* Victories:
* Fate: Decommissioned 29 July 1946 and sunk at Bikini Atoll in nuclear tests

Source

* Friedman, Norman:U.S. Battleships, An illustrated design history ISBN 0-87021-715-1

Footnotes