Columbia-class cruiser

The ''Columbia''-class cruisers were two protected cruisers constructed in 1890 and 1891 and used by the United States Navy.Bauer and Roberts, p. 145 They were lightly gunned ships with only moderate armor that were built for the speed needed to overtake and destroy the fast ocean liners of the day as commerce raiders. However, the light armament and armor left these ships over-specialized and outclassed by ordinary similar sized protected cruisers that they might encounter. Also, the engines were expensive to operate and at full power the ships' range was greatly decreased. Due to the ongoing size and speed race in ocean liners, by 1907 they were outclassed in speed by the ill-fated and the German liner .

''Columbia'' was authorized by an Act of Congress approved 30 June 1890, and ''Minneapolis'' was authorized by an Act approved 2 March 1891.Gardiner and Chesneau, p. 154

Design and construction

Due to their design, this type of ship was criticized as being not much better than an armed merchant cruiser. During the Spanish–American War, for example, ''Columbia'' was used as a troop transport, while both ships of the class were used as scouts.

Foreign equivalents

This type of large (but under-armed) specialized commerce raider was built by several other countries. The German cruiser SMS ''Kaiserin Augusta'' also had a triple-screw design and was nearly as long as the American ''Columbia''-class ships, but had a more general role instead of a specialized commerce raider. The French copied the ''Columbia''-class concept with two large protected cruisers; of 1897 and of 1898 before switching to building only armored cruisers for the commerce-raiding role such as the of 1900. Later, Russia acquired a series of oversized protected cruisers such as the and es along with and up until the Russo-Japanese War (1905), although these were given a relatively stronger armament for their size. The British were the most probable target of most of these ships, and invested in various cruiser designs as a counter to the perceived threat.

Acquisition

US Representative Charles A. Boutelle of Maine was the primary advocate of these ships in Congress, and overcame significant opposition to get them built.Friedman, pp. 39-40, 463 William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia was the sole bidder for ''Columbia'', ordered in fiscal year 1891. ''Minneapolis'' was ordered the following year and described as the "most important ship" in that year's program. Bath Iron Works of Bath, Maine was the lowest bidder, but Bath could not build their own engines nor complete the ship in time. So the contract was awarded to Cramp, on condition that they lower their price $55,000 to meet Bath's bid.

Engineering

The engineering plant needed to meet the designed speed of was unprecedented in the US Navy. Engineer-in-Chief George W. Melville was personally involved in its design. The designed horsepower of was nearly double that of the battleship , and well in excess of the later 's . To achieve this a triple-screw powerplant, the first in the US Navy, was designed. Eight or ten (references vary, possibly 8 in ''Columbia'' and 10 in ''Minneapolis'') coal-fired cylindrical boilers supplied steam to three triple-expansion engines. The ships could economically cruise at on the center engine alone. Both ships exceeded their design speed on trials; ''Columbia'' made and ''Minneapolis'' made .

Consideration was also given to survivability in the event of battle damage. Each engine was in a separate compartment, and the center screw was aft of the outboard screws, minimizing the chance of more than one screw being disabled by a single hit. ''Columbia'' was built with four funnels while ''Minneapolis'' had two; it is possible this, along with the main gun placement on the aft deck, was intended to make the ships resemble their prey from a distance.

The normal coal allowance was 800 tons. However, the design allowance was 2,130 tons for a globe-girdling range of at . It seems this proved impractical, as the full load coal allowance is given in the same source as 1,576 tons.

In July 1895 ''Columbia'' made a transatlantic crossing from Southampton to Sandy Hook in 6 days, 23 hours, 49 minutes for an average speed of 18.41 knots. This was without forced draft and was said to be the fastest crossing for a warship to that date. However, the record holder at the time was an ocean liner, the German Hamburg America Line's with a time of 6 days, 10 hours, 32 minutes.

Protection

The protection system included an armored deck as in other protected cruisers, on the sloped sides and in the flat middle. The gun shields were , as were the sponsons for the 4-inch guns. The conning tower was . Compared with other US protected cruisers, the armor was not inferior except in relation to the ships' size: the 7,000-ton ''Columbia''s had similar armor to 4,000-ton ships such as .

Armament

The originally designed main armament for ''Columbia'' was four /40 caliber guns, two forward and two aft, but during construction the aft pair was replaced by a single /40 caliber Mark 5 gun.DiGiulian, Tony, 8"/35 and 8"/40 US Navy guns at NavWeaps.com
/ref> The two 6-inch guns were side by side just forward of the superstructure. Secondary armament included eight /40 caliber rapid fire (RF) guns in sponsons in the hull, 12 6-pounder () RF guns, four 1-pounder () RF guns, and four Gatling guns. A field artillery piece on a wheeled carriage was also carried for use by landing parties.USS ''Columbia'' at SpanAmWar.com
/ref> The ships also had four torpedo tubes, on ''Columbia'' for Howell torpedoes and 18 inch (450 mm) on ''Minneapolis''.

Refits

All torpedo tubes were removed by 1904. Both ships were out of commission for a long period, ''Columbia'' 1907–1915 and ''Minneapolis'' 1906–1917. During re-activation refits at the end of these periods the lone 8-inch gun was replaced by a third /40 caliber gun. This was part of a general withdrawal from service of 8-inch Mark 5 guns due to a tendency to burst. Two 4-inch guns were also removed by 1917, leaving six guns. One source states that two additional 4-inch guns were removed and two /50 caliber anti-aircraft guns were added circa 1918.

Service

Both ships were commissioned in 1894 and were initially assigned to the North Atlantic Squadron. ''Columbia'' was involved in an intervention in Nicaragua July–August 1894. She cruised to Europe before being placed in reserve in May 1897. ''Minneapolis'' was in the European Squadron from 1895 to 1897 and was then placed in reserve in July 1897.

Both ships were re-activated with the outbreak of the Spanish–American War in March 1898, commencing the search for Admiral Cervera's squadron soon after. It was feared that Cervera's fleet would bombard the US East Coast. ''Columbia'' searched as far north as Maine, ''Minneapolis'' as far south as Venezuela. Neither appears to have encountered enemy ships during the war. ''Columbia'' carried troops to the invasion of Guánica, Puerto Rico on 25–26 July and supported the Puerto Rican Campaign through 14 August.

''Minneapolis'' was placed in reserve in August 1898 as soon as hostilities ceased, ''Columbia'' following her in March 1899. Both recommissioned as receiving ships in 1902, ''Columbia'' soon joining the Atlantic Training Squadron until again decommissioning in 1907. ''Minneapolis'' joined a Special Service Squadron in 1905, making astronomical and other observations off Spain and Africa, including a solar eclipse on 30 August. She was present for the arrival of the body of John Paul Jones at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland in mid-1906. After some training cruises, she was decommissioned in late 1906.

''Columbia'' was recommissioned in 1915 as flagship of the Submarine Flotilla. Following the American entry into World War I in April 1917, ''Minneapolis'' was recommissioned and both ships served as convoy escorts. In early 1919, with the war over, ''Columbia'' served in the Atlantic and ''Minneapolis'' served in the Pacific until both were decommissioned in 1921. Both were sold for scrap in 1921–22.

Legacy

''Minneapolis'' mast and bell, the only surviving parts of her, are preserved on the northeastern shore of Lake Calhoun, near Lake Street in Minneapolis. The ship's wheel was also preserved, but was stolen.

Ships in class

The two ships of the ''Columbia'' class were:

''Columbia'' was renamed ''Old Columbia'' on 17 November 1921 to avoid confusion with the auxiliary ship . On 17 July 1920 these ships were redesignated with the new hull numbers CA-16 (heavy cruiser) and CA-17.

See also

* List of cruisers of the United States Navy

References

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Bibliography

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External links

Cruiser Photo Gallery Index at NavSource Naval History

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Cruiser classes