The Standard-type battleship was a series of twelve
battleships across five classes ordered for the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
between 1911 and 1916 and commissioned between 1916 and 1923.
These were considered
super-dreadnoughts, with the ships of the final two classes incorporating many lessons from the
Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland (german: Skagerrakschlacht, the Battle of the Skagerrak) was a naval battle fought between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, under Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet, under Vic ...
.
Each vessel was produced with a series of progressive innovations, which contributed to the pre–
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
arms race.
The twelve vessels constituted the US Navy's main battle line in the interwar period, while many of the ten
earlier dreadnoughts were scrapped or relegated to secondary duties. Restrictions under the 1922
Washington Naval Treaty limited total numbers and size of battleships and had required some under construction to be cancelled, so it was not until the onset of World War II that
new battleships were constructed. On December 7, 1941, eight were at
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the ...
, one at
Bremerton, Washington, and three were assigned to the Atlantic Fleet.
Doctrine
The Standard type, by specifying common tactical operational characteristics between classes, allowed battleships of different classes to operate together as a tactical unit (
BatDiv
A BatDiv or BATDIV was a standard U.S. Navy abbreviation or acronym for "battleship division." The Commander of a Battleship Division was known, in official Navy communications, as COMBATDIV (followed by a number), such as COMBATDIV ONE.
World ...
) against enemy battleships. By contrast, other navies had fast and slow battleship classes that could not operate together unless limited to the performance of the ship with slowest speed and widest turning circle. Otherwise the battle line would be split into separate "fast" and "slow" wings. The Standard type was optimized for the
battleship-centric naval strategy of the era of their design.
The next US battleship classes, beginning with the designed in the late 1930s and commissioned in 1941, marked a departure from the Standard type, introducing the
fast battleships needed to escort the aircraft carriers that came to dominate naval strategy.
List of Standard-type battleships
Damaged as a result of the
attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawa ...
Total loss as a result of the
attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawa ...
Characteristics of the Standard type included:
*
all-or-nothing armor scheme
* All main guns on the centerline in fore and aft turrets with no amidships guns
* designed range of about at economical cruising speed
* top speed of
* tactical turn radius of 700 yards
The ''Colorado''-class, the first US battleships to mount guns, represented the endpoint of the gradual evolution of the "Standard Type" battleships. The next planned class of Standard battleships, the never-completed s, represented a significant increase in size and armament over the ''Colorado''s. They would have been long, displaced 43,200 tons, had a top speed of , and carried 12 guns. The preceding s were long, displaced 32,600 tons, had a top speed of , and carried a main battery of eight guns.
Service history
World War I
All the Standard Type were oil-burning. Since oil was scarce in the British Isles, only ''Nevada'' and ''Oklahoma'' actively participated in World War I by escorting convoys across the Atlantic Ocean between the United States and Britain.
Interwar years
All the Standard Types were modernized during the 1920s and 1930s. The
cage masts of all but the ''Tennessee'' and ''Colorado'' classes were replaced with tripod masts topped with
fire-control director
A fire-control system (FCS) is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a director, and radar, which is designed to assist a ranged weapon system to target, track, and hit a target. It performs the same task as a hu ...
s, torpedo tubes were removed and anti-aircraft guns were upgraded. Main battery elevation in the older ships was increased to 30 degrees for greater range. Most of the Standards received anti-torpedo bulges. Each ship received one or two catapults and recovery cranes for operating
floatplane
A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...
s for scouting and gunnery spotting.
World War II
On December 7, 1941, ''Colorado'' was undergoing overhaul at
Puget Sound Navy Yard, while the three ships of the ''New Mexico'' class were assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, and the remaining eight Standard Type battleships were at
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the ...
forming
Battleship Row
Battleship Row was the grouping of eight U.S. battleships in port at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, when the Japanese attacked on 7 December 1941. These ships bore the brunt of the Japanese assault. They were moored next to Ford Island when the attack co ...
.
During the
Pearl Harbor Attack
The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, ...
, ''Arizona''s forward magazine exploded from a bomb hit and ''Oklahoma'' capsized after multiple torpedo strikes, both with significant losses of life. ''West Virginia'' and ''California'' were also sunk, while ''Nevada'' managed to get underway and was beached shortly afterward. ''Tennessee'' and ''Maryland'' each received two bomb hits.
''Arizona'' and ''Oklahoma'' were considered permanent losses, but the other damaged and sunk battleships were salvaged and sent to the West Coast for repairs, where they also received varying degrees of upgrades similar to the features on the new ''South Dakota'' fast battleships. ''Tennessee'', ''California'' and ''West Virginia'' emerged as the most modernized, though their widened beam exceeded the
Panama Canal restrictions which limited their operations to the Pacific. ''Maryland'', ''Colorado'', and ''Pennsylvania'' received twin turret mounts of
5"/38 DP guns, while ''Nevada'' also had her superstructure significantly rebuilt.
The ten surviving Standard Type battleships served throughout World War II primarily as fire support for amphibious landings. Their low speed relegated them to second line duties as they were too slow to accompany the fleet carriers that had become the dominant combatant. Six of them participated in the last battleship versus battleship engagement in naval history, the
Battle of Surigao Strait, where none of them were hit.
Fates
''Arizona'' and ''Oklahoma'' were destroyed at
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the ...
on December 7, 1941. Their sister ships ''Pennsylvania'' and ''Nevada'' were used as targets in the
Operation Crossroads
Operation Crossroads was a pair of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. They were the first nuclear weapon tests since Trinity in July 1945, and the first detonations of nuclear devices since the ...
atomic tests in 1946. In 1946 ''Mississippi'' was converted to a test vessel for new gun and missile systems and served until 1956. Most other Standard-type battleships were decommissioned in 1946 or 1947 and placed in the reserve fleet; ultimately all were scrapped by 1959.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Standard Type Battleship
Battleships
Battleships of the United States
Battleships of the United States Navy
United States Standard type battleships
World War II battleships of the United States