1.
United States Navy
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The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U. S. Navy is the largest, most capable navy in the world, the U. S. Navy has the worlds largest aircraft carrier fleet, with ten in service, two in the reserve fleet, and three new carriers under construction. The service has 323,792 personnel on duty and 108,515 in the Navy Reserve. It has 274 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of October 2016, the U. S. Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which was established during the American Revolutionary War and was effectively disbanded as a separate entity shortly thereafter. It played a role in the American Civil War by blockading the Confederacy. It played the role in the World War II defeat of Imperial Japan. The 21st century U. S. Navy maintains a global presence, deploying in strength in such areas as the Western Pacific, the Mediterranean. The Navy is administratively managed by the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Navy is itself a division of the Department of Defense, which is headed by the Secretary of Defense. The Chief of Naval Operations is an admiral and the senior naval officer of the Department of the Navy. The CNO may not be the highest ranking officer in the armed forces if the Chairman or the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The mission of the Navy is to maintain, train and equip combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression, the United States Navy is a seaborne branch of the military of the United States. The Navys three primary areas of responsibility, The preparation of naval forces necessary for the prosecution of war. The development of aircraft, weapons, tactics, technique, organization, U. S. Navy training manuals state that the mission of the U. S. Armed Forces is to prepare and conduct prompt and sustained combat operations in support of the national interest, as part of that establishment, the U. S. Navys functions comprise sea control, power projection and nuclear deterrence, in addition to sealift duties. It follows then as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, the Navy was rooted in the colonial seafaring tradition, which produced a large community of sailors, captains, and shipbuilders. In the early stages of the American Revolutionary War, Massachusetts had its own Massachusetts Naval Militia, the establishment of a national navy was an issue of debate among the members of the Second Continental Congress. Supporters argued that a navy would protect shipping, defend the coast, detractors countered that challenging the British Royal Navy, then the worlds preeminent naval power, was a foolish undertaking. Commander in Chief George Washington resolved the debate when he commissioned the ocean-going schooner USS Hannah to interdict British merchant ships, and reported the captures to the Congress
2.
United States Coast Guard
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The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the countrys seven uniformed services. This has happened twice, in 1917, during World War I, created by Congress on 4 August 1790 at the request of Alexander Hamilton as the Revenue Marine, it is the oldest continuous seagoing service of the United States. As Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton headed the Revenue Marine, by the 1860s, the service was known as the U. S. Revenue Cutter Service and the term Revenue Marine gradually fell into disuse, the modern Coast Guard was formed by a merger of the Revenue Cutter Service and the U. S. Life-Saving Service on 28 January 1915, under the U. S. Department of the Treasury. As one of the five armed services, the Coast Guard has been involved in every U. S. war from 1790 to the Iraq War. As of 2014 the Coast Guard had over 36,000 men and women on duty,7,350 reservists,29,620 auxiliarists. In terms of size, the U. S. Coast Guard by itself is the worlds 12th largest naval force. Because of its authority, the Coast Guard can conduct military operations under the U. S. Department of Defense or directly for the President in accordance with Title 14 USC 1–3. The Coast Guards enduring roles are maritime safety, security, to carry out those roles, it has 11 statutory missions as defined in 6 U. S. C. §468, which include enforcing U. S. law in the worlds largest exclusive economic zone of 3.4 million square miles, the Coast Guards motto is the Latin phrase, Semper Paratus. In a 2005 article in Time magazine following Hurricane Katrina, the author wrote, the Coast Guards most valuable contribution to may be as a model of flexibility, and most of all, spirit. Wil Milam, a swimmer from Alaska told the magazine, In the Navy. Practicing for war, training for war, in the Coast Guard, it was, take care of our people and the mission will take care of itself. The Coast Guard carries out three basic roles, which are subdivided into eleven statutory missions. Both agencies maintain rescue coordination centers to coordinate this effort, and have responsibility for military and civilian search and rescue. The two services jointly provide instructor staff for the National Search and Rescue School that trains SAR mission planners and coordinators, previously located on Governors Island, New York, the school is now located at Coast Guard Training Center Yorktown at Yorktown, Virginia. The NRC also takes Maritime Suspicious Activity and Security Breach Reports, details on the NRC organization and specific responsibilities can be found in the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan. The Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement database system is managed and used by the Coast Guard for tracking pollution, the five uniformed services that make up the U. S
3.
Tucker-class destroyer
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The Tucker class of destroyers was a ship class of six ships designed by and built for the United States Navy shortly before the United States entered World War I. The Tucker class was the fourth of five classes of destroyers that were known as the thousand tonners, because they were the first U. S. destroyers over 1,000 long tons displacement. The design of what became the Tucker class was the result of compromises between the General Board of the United States Navy and the U. S. Navys Bureau of Construction and Repair. S. Input from Construction and Repair resulted in a design that was a development of the OBrien class, which itself was similar to the first of the thousand tonners. Navy between July 1915 and May 1916, the ships had a median displacement of 1,060 long tons, were just over 315 feet in length, and had a beam of about 30 feet. All of the ships were designed for a speed of 29.5 knots. As built, they were armed with four 4-inch guns and had four twin 21-inch torpedo tubes with a load of eight torpedoes, but all were later equipped with depth charges. All six ships operated in the Atlantic or Caribbean until the U. S. entrance into World War I in April 1917, when all six were sent overseas to Queenstown, Ireland, for convoy escort duties. Several of the rescued passengers and crew from ships sunk by U-boats. All five surviving members of the class had returned to the United States by early 1919, between 1924 and 1926, four of the five were commissioned into the United States Coast Guard to help enforce Prohibition as a part of the Rum Patrol. They were returned to U. S. Navy custody between 1934 and 1936, and had all sold for scrapping by 1936. In September 1912, the General Board of the United States Navy asked the Navys Bureau of Construction, C&R came back with a design for a 385-foot long,2, 160-long-ton displacement, triple-screw super-destroyer requiring 40,000 shaft horsepower to make the design speed of 35 knots. The C&R design was similar to, but larger than the unique British destroyer HMS Swift of 1907, the General Board, whose main concern was the integrated operation of the United States battle fleet, pushed for the design to provide more scouting capabilities for fleet operations. But the high cost of the design—$1,900,000 for hull and machinery vs.5 knots, the C&R design for the Tucker class, DD-57 through DD-62, was approved by the Secretary of the Navy in December 1912, and authorized by Congress in 1913. As built, the Tucker-class ships were 315 feet 3 inches in length, were between 29 feet 9 inches and 30 feet 6 inches abeam, and had a draft of 9 feet 4 inches. The hull shape featured the high forecastle typical of U. S. destroyer classes since the 1908–09 Smith class. The ships displaced between 1,060 and 1,150 long tons with a median of 1,060 long tons. The ships were equipped with two shafts and two Curtis steam turbines fed by four Yarrow boilers, providing a minimum of 17,000 shaft horsepower to achieve the design speed of 29.5 knots
4.
Caldwell-class destroyer
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The Caldwell class of destroyers served in the United States Navy near the end of World War I. Four served as escorts in the Atlantic, the other two were completed too late for wartime service. They were effectively prototypes of the mass production Wickes and Clemson-class vessels which followed them, although somewhat slower, the forward sheer of the Caldwell class was improved to keep A mount from being constantly washed out, however, this was unsuccessful. The Caldwells had a cutaway stern rather than the stern of the later ships. The armament of the Sampsons was retained, but the broadside 4-inch guns were relocated to bandstands aft of the bridge, there were differences in appearance, Caldwell, Craven and Manley were built with four stacks, while Gwin, Conner and Stockton had only three. The middle stack of the ships was wider due to combining two boiler uptakes. Once the mass-production destroyers made the design prevalent, the Caldwells and she saw action at Guadalcanal, Kwajalein, Saipan, and the Philippines. Three entered Royal Navy service in 1940 under the Destroyers for Bases Agreement as part of the Town class, Conner, serving as HMS Leeds, provided cover at Gold Beach on 6 June 1944, her sisters served as convoy escorts. All three survived the war, two being sunk as targets and one scrapped, postwar, the armament repeated that of the preceding Sampson-class of thousand tonners, and would be retained in the subsequent mass production flush deckers. While the gun armament was typical for destroyers of this period, a factor in the size of the torpedo armament was the General Boards decision to use broadside rather than centerline torpedo tubes. The Mark 8 torpedo was equipped, the bandstand location of the waist 4-inch guns kept the mounts dry, but restricted the firing arc. These ships carried a 3-inch 23 caliber anti-aircraft gun, typically just aft of the bow 4-inch gun, the original design called for two 1-pounder AA guns, but these were in short supply and the 3-inch gun was more effective. Anti-submarine armament was added during World War I, or included in the design with DD-70. Typically, a depth charge rack was provided aft, along with a Y-gun depth charge projector forward of the aft deckhouse. As a somewhat experimental class, the Caldwells differed in their engineering, Gwin and Conner, built by Cramp, followed the classs original design, with three-shaft direct drive steam turbines. A high-pressure turbine on the center shaft exhausted to low-pressure turbines on the outboard shafts, a geared cruising turbine was provided on the center shaft for fuel economy at low and moderate speeds. The remaining ships had two shafts with geared turbines and no cruising turbines and this arrangement saw an increase from 18,500 to 20,000 shaft horsepower and the ships speed from 30 to 32 knots. With a further increase in horsepower, this geared turbine arrangement was adopted for the mass-production classes, the 6 ships of the Caldwell class were, Friedman, Norman
5.
Destroyer
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Before World War II, destroyers were light vessels with little endurance for unattended ocean operations, typically a number of destroyers and a single destroyer tender operated together. After the war, the advent of the missile allowed destroyers to take on the surface combatant roles previously filled by battleships. This resulted in larger and more powerful guided missile destroyers more capable of independent operation, the emergence and development of the destroyer was related to the invention of the self-propelled torpedo in the 1860s. A navy now had the potential to destroy an enemy battle fleet using steam launches to launch torpedoes. Fast boats armed with torpedoes were built and called torpedo boats, the first seagoing vessel designed to fire the self-propelled Whitehead torpedo was the 33-ton HMS Lightning in 1876. She was armed with two drop collars to launch these weapons, these were replaced in 1879 by a torpedo tube in the bow. By the 1880s, the type had evolved into small ships of 50–100 tons, in response to this new threat, more heavily gunned picket boats called catchers were built which were used to escort the battle fleet at sea. The anti-torpedo boat origin of this type of ship is retained in its name in other languages, including French, Italian, Portuguese, Czech, Greek, Dutch and, up until the Second World War, Polish. At that time, and even into World War I, the function of destroyers was to protect their own battle fleet from enemy torpedo attacks. The task of escorting merchant convoys was still in the future, an important development came with the construction of HMS Swift in 1884, later redesignated TB81. This was a torpedo boat with four 47 mm quick-firing guns. At 23.75 knots, while still not fast enough to engage torpedo boats reliably. Another forerunner of the torpedo boat destroyer was the Japanese torpedo boat Kotaka, designed to Japanese specifications and ordered from the London Yarrow shipyards in 1885, she was transported in parts to Japan, where she was assembled and launched in 1887. The 165-foot long vessel was armed with four 1-pounder quick-firing guns and six torpedo tubes, reached 19 knots, in her trials in 1889, Kotaka demonstrated that she could exceed the role of coastal defense, and was capable of accompanying larger warships on the high seas. The Yarrow shipyards, builder of the parts for the Kotaka, the first vessel designed for the explicit purpose of hunting and destroying torpedo boats was the torpedo gunboat. Essentially very small cruisers, torpedo gunboats were equipped with torpedo tubes, by the end of the 1890s torpedo gunboats were made obsolete by their more successful contemporaries, the torpedo boat destroyers, which were much faster. The first example of this was HMS Rattlesnake, designed by Nathaniel Barnaby in 1885, the gunboat was armed with torpedoes and designed for hunting and destroying smaller torpedo boats. Exactly 200 feet long and 23 feet in beam, she displaced 550 tons, built of steel, Rattlesnake was un-armoured with the exception of a 3⁄4-inch protective deck
6.
Yarrow boiler
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Yarrow boilers are an important class of high-pressure water-tube boilers. They were developed by Yarrow & Co, shipbuilders and Engineers and were widely used on ships, particularly warships. The Yarrow boiler design is characteristic of the boiler, two banks of straight water-tubes are arranged in a triangular row with a single furnace between them. A single steam drum is mounted at the top between them, with water drums at the base of each bank. Circulation, both upwards and downwards, occurs within this same tube bank, the Yarrows distinctive features were the use of straight tubes and also circulation in both directions taking place entirely within the tube bank, rather than using external downcomers. Early use of the water-tube boiler within the Royal Navy was controversial at times and these first boilers, such as the Belleville and Niclausse, were large-tube designs, with simple straight tubes of around 4 diameter, at a shallow angle to the horizontal. These tubes were jointed into cast iron headers and gave much trouble with leakage at these joints, at the time, an assumption was that thermal expansion in these straight tubes was straining the joints. These boilers were also large, and although fitted to many pre-dreadnought battleships, could not be fitted to the torpedo boats. To provide a lighter boiler for smaller vessels, the Express types were developed and these used smaller water-tubes of around 2 diameter, giving a greater ratio of heating area to volume. Most of these were of the pattern, particularly of the Du Temple. This gave a more vertical arrangement of the water-tubes, thus encouraging thermosyphon circulation in these narrow tubes. The previous problems of tube expansion were still a concern and so the tubes were either curved, or even convoluted into hairpins and S shapes. Alfred Yarrow developed his boiler as a response to others that had already developed water-tube boilers and this was a long process based on theoretical experiment rather than evolution of practical boilers. Work began in 1877 and the first commercial boiler was not supplied until 10 years later, despite this long gestation, the boilers origins appear to have been most direct. Already expressed two of the three basic design principles. Early water-tube designers had been concerned with the expansion of the tubes when heated. Efforts were made to them to expand freely, particularly so that those closest to the furnace might expand relatively more than those further away. Typically this was done by arranging the tubes in large looping curves and these had difficulties in manufacturing and required support in use
7.
Steam turbine
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A steam turbine is a device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884, in 1551, Taqi al-Din in Ottoman Egypt described a steam turbine with the practical application of rotating a spit. Steam turbines were described by the Italian Giovanni Branca and John Wilkins in England. The devices described by Taqi al-Din and Wilkins are today known as steam jacks, in 1672 an impulse steam turbine driven car was designed by Ferdinand Verbiest. A more modern version of car was produced some time in the late 18th century by an unknown German mechanic. The modern steam turbine was invented in 1884 by Sir Charles Parsons, the invention of Parsons steam turbine made cheap and plentiful electricity possible and revolutionized marine transport and naval warfare. Parsons design was a reaction type and his patent was licensed and the turbine scaled-up shortly after by an American, George Westinghouse. The Parsons turbine also turned out to be easy to scale up. Parsons had the satisfaction of seeing his invention adopted for all major world power stations, a number of other variations of turbines have been developed that work effectively with steam. The de Laval turbine accelerated the steam to full speed before running it against a turbine blade, De Lavals impulse turbine is simpler, less expensive and does not need to be pressure-proof. It can operate with any pressure of steam, but is less efficient. He taught at the École des mines de Saint-Étienne for a decade until 1897, one of the founders of the modern theory of steam and gas turbines was Aurel Stodola, a Slovak physicist and engineer and professor at the Swiss Polytechnical Institute in Zurich. His work Die Dampfturbinen und ihre Aussichten als Wärmekraftmaschinen was published in Berlin in 1903, a further book Dampf und Gas-Turbinen was published in 1922. It was used in John Brown-engined merchant ships and warships, including liners, the present-day manufacturing industry for steam turbines is dominated by Chinese power equipment makers. Other manufacturers with minor market share include Bhel, Siemens, Alstom, GE, Doosan Škoda Power, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the consulting firm Frost & Sullivan projects that manufacturing of steam turbines will become more consolidated by 2020 as Chinese power manufacturers win increasing business outside of China. There are several classifications for modern steam turbines, Turbine blades are of two basic types, blades and nozzles. Blades move entirely due to the impact of steam on them and this results in a steam velocity drop and essentially no pressure drop as steam moves through the blades. A turbine composed of alternating with fixed nozzles is called an impulse turbine, Curtis turbine, Rateau turbine
8.
4"/50 caliber gun
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The 4/50 caliber gun was the standard low-angle, quick-firing gun for United States, first appearing on the monitor Arkansas and then used on Flush Deck destroyers through World War I and the 1920s. It was also the deck gun on S-class submarines, and was used to rearm numerous submarines built with 3-inch guns early in World War II. United States naval gun terminology indicates the gun fired a projectile 4-inch in diameter, and the barrel was 50 calibers long. The original 4-inch/50 caliber Mark 7 gun, M1898, serial nos. 213–254, 257–281, 316–338, was an entirely new high-power design built-up gun with a tube, jacket, hoop, locking ring, the ammunition was about 7 lb heavier than a 4-inch/40 caliber round. The Mod 1 was a Mod 0 that used a steel liner and the Mod 2 was either a Mod 0 or Mod 1 that was relined using a conical nickel-steel liner. Gun No.353 was the prototype of the Mark 8 and was test fired on 22 September 1910 and this gun had been ordered 16 June 1907 and delivered in November 1907. The simplified design of the Mark 8 had just a gun tube, the jacket extended all the way to the muzzle and ended in a muzzle bell. The production run was small with only 12 guns built, Nos. 353–364, the Mark 9 was a design directly resulting from tests with gun No.353. It was designed to be light in weight, and would go on to be the standard 4-inch gun used on destroyers, the gun would use an A tube, full-length jacket, a muzzle swell with a side swing Smith-Asbury breech mechanism and Welin breech block. The gun weighed about 2.725 short tons,365, the first Mark 9, was ordered from Midvale Steel on 18 October 1911. There were 390 Mark 9s built by four different manufacturers from 1911 until the US entered World War I in 1917, during the war another 1,885 guns were produced, with Root & VanDervoort, American Radiator Company and Poole Engineering joining the pre-war manufacturers. After the Armistice another 713 guns were produced, with orders for 3538 guns cancelled and it was decided after World War I that all destroyers would carry the 4-inch/50 caliber Mark 9 Mod 5 gun, the refits were completed in autumn 1921. 365-A, was order in 1915 but does not appear to have been completed until after WW I, the initial drawings were for a 4-inch/50 caliber anti-aircraft gun dated January and February 1915. Fixed ammunition with a 14. 5-pound charge of smokeless powder gave a 33-pound projectile a velocity of 2,900 ft/s, range was 9 mi at the maximum elevation of 20 degrees. Useful life expectancy was 400–500 effective full charges for a non-chrome plated barrel, increasing awareness of the need for improved anti-aircraft protection resulted in the mounting of dual purpose guns on destroyers beginning in the 1930s. The dual-purpose 5-inch/38 caliber gun became standard for United States destroyers constructed from the 1930s through World War II, United States destroyers built with 4-inch/50 caliber low-angle guns were mostly rearmed with dual-purpose 3-inch/50 caliber guns during the war. The 4-inch/50 caliber guns removed from destroyers were mounted on Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships of the British Merchant Navy, the unassigned numbers mostly corresponded to gun orders that were cancelled with the signing of the Armistice. They seem to have withdrawn in 1943 as other defenses were constructed
9.
QF 1-pounder pom-pom
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The QF1 pounder, universally known as the pom-pom due to the sound of its discharge, was a 37 mm British autocannon, the first of its type in the world. It was used by several countries initially as an infantry gun, hiram Maxim originally designed the Pom-Pom in the late 1880s as an enlarged version of the Maxim machine gun. Early versions were sold under the Maxim-Nordenfelt label, whereas versions in British service were labelled Vickers, Sons and they are all effectively the same gun. The Belgian Army used the gun on a field carriage mounting. A version was produced in Germany for both Navy and Army, in World War I, it was used in Europe as an anti-aircraft gun as the Maxim Flak M14. Four guns were used mounted on carriages in the German campaign in South West Africa in 1915. The British government initially rejected the gun but other countries bought it, in the Second Boer War, the British found themselves being fired on with success by the Boers with their 37 mm Maxim-Nordenfelt versions with ammunition made in Germany. In response, Vickers-Maxim of Britain shipped either 57 or 50 guns out to the British Army in South Africa and these early Mk I versions were mounted on typical field gun type carriages. In World War I, it was used as an early anti-aircraft gun in the defence of Britain. 25 were employed in August 1914, and 50 in February 1916, a Mk II gun on a Naval pedestal mounting was the first to open fire in defence of London during the war. However, the shell was insufficient to damage the German Zeppelin airships sufficiently to bring them down. The Ministry of Munitions noted in 1922, The pom-poms were of little value. There was no shrapnel available for them, and the provided for them would not burst on aeroplane fabric. Were of no use except at a lower elevation than a Zeppelin attacking London was likely to keep. Hogg of No.2 AA Section in III Corps was the first anti-aircraft gunner to shoot down an aircraft, with 75 rounds on 23 September 1914 in France. The gun was mounted on aircraft as the lighter 1-pounder Mk III. As a light gun, it was quickly replaced by the larger QF 1½ pounder. The British are reported to have used some Common pointed shells in the Boer War
10.
Torpedo tube
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A torpedo tube is a cylinder shaped device for launching torpedoes. There are two types of torpedo tube, underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships. Thus a submarine torpedo tube operates on the principle of an airlock, the diagram on the right illustrates the operation of a submarine torpedo tube. The diagram is somewhat simplified but does show the working of a torpedo launch. A torpedo tube has a number of interlocks for safety reasons. For example, an interlock prevents the door and muzzle door from opening at the same time. The submarine torpedo launch sequence is, in simplified form, Open the breech door in the torpedo room, load the torpedo into the tube. Hook up the connection and the torpedo power cable. Shut and lock the breech door, turn on power to the torpedo. A minimum amount of time is required for torpedo warmup, fire control programs are uploaded to the torpedo. This may be manually or automatically, from sea or from tanks. The tube must be vented during this process to allow for complete filling, Open the equalizing valve to equalize pressure in the tube with ambient sea pressure. If the tube is set up for Impulse Mode the slide valve will open with the muzzle door, if Swim Out Mode is selected, the slide valve remains closed. The slide valve allows water from the pump to enter the tube. Modern torpedoes have a safety mechanism that prevents activation of the torpedo unless the torpedo senses the required amount of G-force, the power cable is severed at launch. However, if a wire is used, it remains connected through a drum of wire in the tube. Torpedo propulsion systems vary but electric torpedoes swim out of the tube on their own and are of a smaller diameter,21 weapons with fuel-burning engines usually start outside of the tube. Once outside the tube the torpedo begins its run toward the target as programmed by the control system
11.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
12.
O'Brien-class destroyer
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The OBrien class of destroyers was a class of six ships designed by and built for the United States Navy shortly before the United States entered World War I. The OBrien class was the third of five classes of destroyers that were known as the thousand tonners, the design of what became the OBrien class was the result of discussions between the General Board of the United States Navy and the U. S. Navys Bureau of Ordnance. What resulted was a design that was a development of the Aylwin class, which itself was similar to the first of the thousand tonners. The key difference in the OBrien class was the increase in torpedo size, the ships had a median displacement of 1,050 long tons, were just over 305 feet in length, and had a beam of about 31 feet. All of the ships had two steam turbines and a combination of other engines for cruising at speeds less than 15 knots. All of the ships were designed for a speed of 29 knots. As built, they were armed with four 4-inch guns and had four twin 21-inch torpedo tubes with a load of eight torpedoes, Navy between June 1914 and August 1915. All six ships operated in the Atlantic or Caribbean until the U. S. entrance into World War I in April 1917, all six members of the class had returned to the United States in January 1919 and were decommissioned by June 1922. In 1924, two of the six—Ericsson and McDougal—were commissioned into the United States Coast Guard to help enforce Prohibition as a part of the Rum Patrol and they were returned to U. S. Navy custody in 1932 and 1933, respectively. All six ships had been sold for scrapping by June 1936, for the 1913 fiscal year, the General Board of the United States Navy determined that six destroyers would be authorized. The design for Destroyers No.51 through No, 56—what became the OBrien class, was to closely follow the design of the Cassin and Aylwin classes from fiscal year 1912. The chief of the U. S. Navys Bureau of Ordnance suggested that the new destroyers be equipped with ten torpedo tubes and urged that the new 21-inch torpedo be adopted. The additional weight of the torpedoes,5 long tons of top weight, was offset by reducing the planned two aft-facing guns to a single one. This gave the class four 4-inch guns, which, again, the design for the OBrien class was approved on 20 August 1912, and authorized by Congress on 4 March 1913. As built, the OBrien-class ships were 305 feet 5 inches in length, were 31 feet 2 inches abeam, and had a standard draft of 9 feet 6 inches. The hull shape featured the high forecastle typical of U. S. destroyer classes since the 1908–09 Smith class. The ships displaced between 1,020 and 1,090 long tons with a median of 1,050 long tons, the ships were equipped with two propeller shafts and two direct-drive, Zoelly steam turbines fed by four White-Forster boilers. The power plant of the ships generated 17,000 shaft horsepower which drive the ships to the speed of 29 knots
13.
Wickes-class destroyer
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The Wickes-class destroyers were a class of 111 destroyers built by the United States Navy in 1917–19. Along with the 6 preceding Caldwell-class and 156 subsequent Clemson-class destroyers, only a few were completed in time to serve in World War I, including USS Wickes, the lead ship of the class. While some were scrapped in the 1930s, the rest served through World War II, most of these were converted to other uses, nearly all in U. S. service had half their boilers and one or more stacks removed to increase fuel and range or accommodate troops. Others were transferred to the British Royal Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy, All were scrapped within a few years after World War II. The destroyer type was at time a relatively new class of fighting ship for the U. S. Navy. The type arose in response to torpedo boats that had been developing from 1865, a series of destroyers had been built over the preceding years, designed for high smooth water speed, with indifferent results, especially poor performance in heavy seas and poor fuel economy. The lesson of these destroyers was the appreciation of the need for true seakeeping and seagoing abilities. There were few cruisers in the Navy, which was a fleet of battleships and destroyers so destroyers performed scouting missions. A report of October 1915 by Captain W. S. Sims noted that the smaller destroyers used fuel far too quickly, and that war games showed the need for fast vessels with a larger radius of action. As a result, the size of U. S. destroyer classes increased steadily, starting at 450 tons and rising to over 1,000 tons between 1905 and 1916. The increase in size has never stopped, with some US Arleigh Burke-class destroyers now up to 10,800 tons full load. With World War I then in its year and tensions between the U. S. and Germany increasing, the U. S. needed to expand its navy. The Naval Appropriation Act of 1916 called for a second to none. The Act authorized 10 battleships,6 Lexington-class battlecruisers,10 Omaha-class scout cruisers, a subsequent General Board recommendation for further destroyers to combat the submarine threat resulted in a total of 267 Wickes- and Clemson-class destroyers completed. However, the design of the ships remained optimized for operation with the battleship fleet, the requirements of the new design were high speed and mass production. The development of warfare during World War I created a requirement for destroyers in numbers that had not been contemplated before the war. A top speed of 35 knots was needed for operation with the Lexington battlecruisers, the final design had a flush deck and four smokestacks. It was a fairly straightforward evolution of the preceding Caldwell class, General dissatisfaction with the earlier 1,000 ton designs led to the fuller hull form of the flush deck type
14.
Clemson-class destroyer
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The Clemson class was a series of 156 destroyers which served with the United States Navy from after World War I through World War II. The Clemson class was a redesign of the Wickes class for greater fuel capacity. As finally built, the Clemson class would be a fairly straightforward expansion of the Wickes-class destroyers and these designs included a reduction in speed to between 26–28 knots by eliminating two boilers, freeing up displacement for depth charges and more fuel. This proposal foreshadowed the destroyer escorts of World War II, upgrading the gun armament from 4-inch to 5-inch guns was also considered, but only five ships were armed with 5-inch guns. In addition, the stern of the Wickes-class destroyers resulted in a large turning radius. In the end the General Board decided the 35 knots speed be retained so as to allow the Clemson class to be used as a fleet escort, the pressing need for destroyers overruled any change that would slow production compared to the proceeding Wickes class. Wing tanks for oil were installed on either side of the ships to increase the operational range. This design choice meant the oil would be stored above the waterline and create additional vulnerability. The class resulted from a General Board recommendation for further destroyers to combat the threat, culminating in a total of 267 Wickes-. However, the design of the ships remained optimized for operation with the battleship fleet, the main armament was the same as the Wickes class, four 4-inch /50 caliber guns and twelve 21-inch torpedo tubes. Although the design provided for two guns, most ships carried a single 3-inch /23 caliber AA gun, typically on the aft deckhouse. A frequent modification was replacing the aft 4-inch gun with the 3-inch gun to more room for the depth charge tracks. Anti-submarine armament was added during or after construction, typically, two depth charge tracks were provided aft, along with a Y-gun depth charge projector forward of the aft deckhouse. Despite the provision for 5-inch guns, only seven ships were built with a gun armament. USS Hovey and USS Long had twin 4-inch/50 mounts for a total of eight guns, while an increased rudder size helped, the answer would be in a redesigned stern, but this was not implemented. They were reported to be prone to rolling in light load conditions. The flush deck gave the great strength but this also made the deck very wet. Fourteen ships of the class were involved in the Honda Point Disaster in 1923, many never saw wartime service, as a significant number were decommissioned in 1930 and scrapped as part of the London Naval Treaty
15.
General Board of the United States Navy
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The General Board of the United States Navy was an advisory body of the United States Navy, somewhat akin to a naval general staff and somewhat not. The General Board was established by general order 544, issued on March 13,1900 by John Davis Long, the order was officially recognized by Congress in 1916. The General Board was disbanded in 1951, the war with Spain had underlined the need for adequate staff work and the success of the War Board had pointed the way for the future. Among the most persistent advocates of a staff for the Navy was Captain H. C. Taylor. He had first laid plans for such a staff before Roosevelt in May 1897, the board had two categories of members – the full time executive committee and ex officio members, senior officers holding specifics posts, who attended monthly board meetings. The ex officio members of the board included the President of the Naval War College, the director of intelligence. The general board was a version of the naval general staff proposed by a line officer. Originally consisting of nine officers, the membership of the board was changed frequently – in 1902 to 10, in 1904 to 14, in 1905 to seven, the board was headed by a chairman. George Dewey chaired the board from its inception until 1917, although a stroke in 1914 limited his abilities in the last three years of his tenure. The role that the General Board of the Navy played was the critical organizational dynamic in linking the treaty system and innovation in the fleet. In its beginning years, the General Board of the United States Navy was effectively a naval general staff, but started to lose its influence with the creation of the Chief of Naval Operations. During the latter years of its life – particularly since, the establishment of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the board was inactivated by order of Chief of Naval Operations Forrest Sherman in April 1951 and abolished the following month
16.
Gunwale
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The gunwale is the top edge of the side of a boat. Originally the gunwale was the gun ridge on a sailing warship and this represented the strengthening wale or structural band added to the design of the ship, at and above the level of a gun deck. It was designed to accommodate the stresses imposed by the use of artillery, in wooden boats, the gunwale remained, mounted inboard of the sheer strake, regardless of the use of gunnery. In modern boats, it is the top edge of the side there is usually some form of stiffening. On a canoe, the gunwale is typically the edge at the top of the side of the boat. Modern cedar-strip canoes have gunwales which consist of inner and outer parts called inwales and outwales and these two parts of the gunwale give rigidity and strength to the hull. The inwale will often have scuppers or slots cut into the inwale to allow water to drain when the hull is turned upside down for storing. On a rowing boat, the gunwale is sometimes referred to as the saxboard
17.
Anti-aircraft warfare
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Anti-aircraft warfare or counter-air defence is defined by NATO as all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action. They include ground-and air-based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and it may be used to protect naval, ground, and air forces in any location. However, for most countries the main effort has tended to be homeland defence, NATO refers to airborne air defence as counter-air and naval air defence as anti-aircraft warfare. Missile defence is an extension of air defence as are initiatives to adapt air defence to the task of intercepting any projectile in flight, a surface-based air defence capability can also be deployed offensively to deny the use of airspace to an opponent. Until the 1950s, guns firing ballistic munitions ranging from 20 mm to 150 mm were the weapons, guided missiles then became dominant. The term air defence was probably first used by Britain when Air Defence of Great Britain was created as a Royal Air Force command in 1925. However, arrangements in the UK were also called anti-aircraft, abbreviated as AA, after the First World War it was sometimes prefixed by Light or Heavy to classify a type of gun or unit. Nicknames for anti-aircraft guns include AA, AAA or triple-A, an abbreviation of anti-aircraft artillery, ack-ack, NATO defines anti-aircraft warfare as measures taken to defend a maritime force against attacks by airborne weapons launched from aircraft, ships, submarines and land-based sites. In some armies the term All-Arms Air Defence is used for air defence by nonspecialist troops, other terms from the late 20th century include GBAD with related terms SHORAD and MANPADS. Anti-aircraft missiles are variously called surface-to-air missile, abbreviated and pronounced SAM, non-English terms for air defence include the German FlaK, whence English flak, and the Russian term Protivovozdushnaya oborona, a literal translation of anti-air defence, abbreviated as PVO. In Russian the AA systems are called zenitnye systems, in French, air defence is called DCA. The maximum distance at which a gun or missile can engage an aircraft is an important figure, however, many different definitions are used but unless the same definition is used, performance of different guns or missiles cannot be compared. For AA guns only the part of the trajectory can be usefully used. By the late 1930s the British definition was that height at which an approaching target at 400 mph can be engaged for 20 seconds before the gun reaches 70 degrees elevation. However, effective ceiling for heavy AA guns was affected by nonballistic factors, The maximum running time of the fuse, the capability of fire control instruments to determine target height at long range. The essence of air defence is to detect aircraft and destroy them. The critical issue is to hit a target moving in three-dimensional space, Air defence evolution covered the areas of sensors and technical fire control, weapons, and command and control. At the start of the 20th century these were very primitive or non-existent
18.
Autocannon
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An autocannon or automatic cannon is a large, fully automatic, rapid-fire projectile weapon that fires armour-piercing or explosive shells, as opposed to the bullet fired by a machine gun. Autocannons often have a larger calibre than a gun, but are usually smaller than a field gun or other artillery. When used on its own, the word autocannon indicates a single-barrel weapon, when multiple rotating barrels are involved, the word rotary is added, and such a weapon is referred to as a rotary autocannon. As such, ammunition is fed from a belt to reduce reloading or for a faster rate of fire. They can use a variety of ammunition, common shells include high-explosive dual-purpose types, any variety of armour-piercing types, both the US25 mm Bushmaster and the British 30 mm Rarden have relatively slow rates of fire so as not to use ammunition too quickly. The rate of fire of a modern autocannon ranges from 90 rounds per minute, systems with multiple barrels can have rates of fire of over 10,000 rounds per minute. The first modern autocannon was the British QF1 pounder, also known as the pom-pom, during the First World War, autocannons were mostly used in the trenches as an anti-aircraft gun. Attempts to use them in aircraft failed as the severely limited both speed and altitude, thus making successful interception impossible. The more effective QF2 pounder naval gun would be developed during the war to serve as an anti-aircraft, autocannons would serve in a much greater capacity during the Second World War. During the inter-war years, aircraft underwent an evolution and the monoplane, pioneered as far back as the end of 1915, almost replaced wood. The subsequent increase in speed and durability greatly reduced the window of opportunity for defence and this was only reversed with the introduction of computer-controlled systems. The German Panzer II light tank, which was one of the most numerous in German service during the invasion of Poland and the campaign in France, used a 20 mm autocannon as its main armament. Although ineffective against tank armour even during the years of the war. Larger examples, such as the 40 mm Vickers S, were mounted in ground attack aircraft to serve as an anti-tank weapon, Polish 20 mm 38 Fk auto cannon was expensive to produce, but an exception. Unlike the Oerlikon, it was effective against all the tanks fielded in 1939, largely because it was built as an upgrade to the Oerlikon, Hispano—Suiza and it, with great difficulty, proved capable of knocking out even early Panzer IIIs and IVs. Only 55 were produced by the time of the Polish Defensive War, in aircraft, several factors brought about the replacement of rifle-calibre machine guns by autocannons. Early autocannons were heavy and had a rate of fire. Along with the speed, the size of aircraft grew substantially, particularly in the 1930s, so that the weight was less of an issue while the rate of fire, and reliability were greatly improved
19.
Anti-submarine weapon
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An anti-submarine weapon is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, a weapon is usually a projectile, missile or bomb that is optimized to destroy submarines. Prior to about 1890, naval weapons were used against surface shipping. With the rise of the submarine after this time, countermeasures were considered for use against them. The first submarine installation of tubes was in 1885 and the first ship was sunk by a submarine-launched torpedo in 1887. There were only two ways of countering the military initially, ramming them or sinking them with gunfire. However, once they were submerged, they were largely immune until they had to surface again, by the start of the First World War there were nearly 300 submarines in service with another 80 in production. World War I marked the first earnest conflict involving significant use of submarines, in particular, the United Kingdom was desperate to defeat the U-Boat threat against British merchant shipping. When the bombs that it employed were found to be ineffective it began equipping its destroyers with simple depth charges that could be dropped into the water around a suspected submarines location. During this period it was found that explosions of these charges were more efficient if the charges were set to explode below or above the submarine, however, many other techniques were used, including minefields, barrages and Q-ships and the use of cryptanalysis against intercepted radio messages. The airship was used to drop bombs but fixed-wing aircraft were used for reconnaissance. However, the most effective countermeasure was the convoy, in 1918 U-boat losses became unbearably high. Most of the losses were due to mines but two were torpedoed, french, Italian and Russian submarines were also destroyed. Before the war ended, the need for forward-throwing weapons had been recognized by the British, hydrophones had been developed and were becoming effective as detection and location devices. Also, aircraft and airships had flown with depth bombs, albeit small ones with poor explosives. In addition, the specialist hunter-killer submarine had appeared, HMS R-1, the main developments in this period were in detection, with both active sonar and radar becoming effective. The British integrated the sonar with fire control and weapons to form a system for warships. Germany was banned from having a fleet but began construction in secret during the 1930s
20.
Depth charge
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A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful. Most depth charges use high explosive charges and a set to detonate the charge. Depth charges can be dropped by ships, patrol aircraft, Depth charges were developed during World War I, and were one of the first effective methods of attacking a submarine underwater. They were widely used in World War I and World War II and they remained part of the anti-submarine arsenals of many navies during the Cold War. Depth charges have now largely replaced by anti-submarine homing torpedoes. A depth charge fitted with a warhead is known as a nuclear depth bomb. These were designed to be dropped from a plane or deployed by an anti-submarine missile from a surface ship, or another submarine. All nuclear anti-submarine weapons were withdrawn from service by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and they were replaced by conventional weapons whose accuracy and range had improved greatly as ASW technology improved. The first attempt to fire charges against submerged targets was with aircraft bombs attached to lanyards which triggered them, a similar idea was a 16 lb guncotton charge in a lanyarded can. Two of these together became known as the depth charge Type A. Problems with the lanyards tangling and failing to function led to the development of a chemical pellet trigger as the Type B and these were effective at a distance of around 20 ft. A1913 Royal Navy Torpedo School report described a device intended for countermining, at Admiral John Jellicoes request, the standard Mark II mine was fitted with a hydrostatic pistol preset for 45 ft firing, to be launched from a stern platform. Weighing 1,150 lb, and effective at 100 ft, the design work was carried out by Herbert Taylor at the RN Torpedo and Mine School, HMS Vernon. The first effective depth charge, the Type D, became available in January 1916 and it was a barrel-like casing containing a high explosive. There were initially two sizes—Type D, with a 300 lb charge for fast ships, and Type D* with a 120 lb charge for ships too slow to leave the area before the more powerful charge detonated. A hydrostatic pistol actuated by water pressure at a pre-selected depth detonated the charge, initial depth settings were 40 or 80 ft. Because production could not keep up with demand, anti-submarine vessels initially carried two depth charges, to be released from a chute at the stern of the ship
21.
Y-gun
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A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful. Most depth charges use high explosive charges and a set to detonate the charge. Depth charges can be dropped by ships, patrol aircraft, Depth charges were developed during World War I, and were one of the first effective methods of attacking a submarine underwater. They were widely used in World War I and World War II and they remained part of the anti-submarine arsenals of many navies during the Cold War. Depth charges have now largely replaced by anti-submarine homing torpedoes. A depth charge fitted with a warhead is known as a nuclear depth bomb. These were designed to be dropped from a plane or deployed by an anti-submarine missile from a surface ship, or another submarine. All nuclear anti-submarine weapons were withdrawn from service by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and they were replaced by conventional weapons whose accuracy and range had improved greatly as ASW technology improved. The first attempt to fire charges against submerged targets was with aircraft bombs attached to lanyards which triggered them, a similar idea was a 16 lb guncotton charge in a lanyarded can. Two of these together became known as the depth charge Type A. Problems with the lanyards tangling and failing to function led to the development of a chemical pellet trigger as the Type B and these were effective at a distance of around 20 ft. A1913 Royal Navy Torpedo School report described a device intended for countermining, at Admiral John Jellicoes request, the standard Mark II mine was fitted with a hydrostatic pistol preset for 45 ft firing, to be launched from a stern platform. Weighing 1,150 lb, and effective at 100 ft, the design work was carried out by Herbert Taylor at the RN Torpedo and Mine School, HMS Vernon. The first effective depth charge, the Type D, became available in January 1916 and it was a barrel-like casing containing a high explosive. There were initially two sizes—Type D, with a 300 lb charge for fast ships, and Type D* with a 120 lb charge for ships too slow to leave the area before the more powerful charge detonated. A hydrostatic pistol actuated by water pressure at a pre-selected depth detonated the charge, initial depth settings were 40 or 80 ft. Because production could not keep up with demand, anti-submarine vessels initially carried two depth charges, to be released from a chute at the stern of the ship
22.
Gear
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A gear or cogwheel is a rotating machine part having cut teeth, or cogs, which mesh with another toothed part to transmit torque. Geared devices can change the speed, torque, and direction of a power source, Gears almost always produce a change in torque, creating a mechanical advantage, through their gear ratio, and thus may be considered a simple machine. The teeth on the two meshing gears all have the same shape, two or more meshing gears, working in a sequence, are called a gear train or a transmission. A gear can mesh with a linear toothed part, called a rack, the gears in a transmission are analogous to the wheels in a crossed, belt pulley system. An advantage of gears is that the teeth of a gear prevent slippage, in transmissions with multiple gear ratios—such as bicycles, motorcycles, and cars—the term gear as in first gear refers to a gear ratio rather than an actual physical gear. The term describes similar devices, even when the ratio is continuous rather than discrete, or when the device does not actually contain gears. Early examples of gears date from the 4th century BC in China, examples of further development include, Ma Jun used gears as part of a south-pointing chariot. The Antikythera mechanism is an example of an early and intricate geared device. Its time of construction is now estimated between 150 and 100 BC, the water-powered grain-mill, the water-powered saw mill, fulling mill, and other applications of watermill often used gears. The first mechanical clocks were built in AD725, the 1386 Salisbury cathedral clock may be the worlds oldest working mechanical clock. The definite ratio that teeth give gears provides an advantage over other drives in precision machines such as watches that depend upon an exact velocity ratio, an external gear is one with the teeth formed on the outer surface of a cylinder or cone. Conversely, a gear is one with the teeth formed on the inner surface of a cylinder or cone. For bevel gears, a gear is one with the pitch angle exceeding 90 degrees. Internal gears do not cause output shaft direction reversal, spur gears or straight-cut gears are the simplest type of gear. They consist of a cylinder or disk with teeth projecting radially, though the teeth are not straight-sided, the edge of each tooth is straight and aligned parallel to the axis of rotation. These gears mesh together correctly only if fitted to parallel shafts, No axial thrust is created by the tooth loads. Spur gears are excellent at moderate speeds but tend to be noisy at high speeds, helical or dry fixed gears offer a refinement over spur gears. The leading edges of the teeth are not parallel to the axis of rotation, since the gear is curved, this angling makes the tooth shape a segment of a helix
23.
USS Allen (DD-66)
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USS Allen was a Sampson-class destroyer of the United States Navy launched in 1916. She was the second Navy ship named for Lieutenant William Henry Allen, final delivery from Bath Iron Works recorded as 22 October 1917, per the official records of the Bath Iron Works Company. Over the next five months, Allen conducted patrol and escort duty along the eastern seaboard, during that time, the United States entered World War I on the side of the Allies on 6 April. On 14 June, the put to sea from New York in the escort of one of the first convoys to take American troops to Europe. Cooke was later awarded with Navy Cross for his leadership of USS Allen and that duty included escort missions into both French and British ports. Following that mission, the returned to Queenstown, whence she departed on the day after Christmas. Allen pulled into New York on 7 January 1919, after voyage repairs, the destroyer resumed duty along the east coast and in the West Indies with the United States Atlantic Fleet. That duty continued until 22 June 1922 at which time she was placed out of commission and she was placed back in commission three years later, on 23 June 1925. Allen spent almost three years as a platform for naval reservists at Washington, D. C. In March 1928, the returned to the Reserve Fleet and was berthed at Philadelphia. There, she remained for more than 12 years, on 23 August 1940, Allen was recommissioned at Philadelphia, Lieutenant Commander Frederick P. Williams in command. Following a brief period of service on the United States East Coast, by the time Allen returned to commission, the Pacific Fleet had been moved from its base on the United States West Coast to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as a gesture to restrain the Japanese. Therefore, Allen moved to the Hawaiian base whence she operated until the beginning of hostilities between the United States and Japan. On the morning of 7 December 1941, Allen was moored in East Loch to the northeast of Ford Island, following the attack, Allen began duty escorting ships between islands of the Hawaiian chain and patrolling the area for enemy ships, primarily submarines. A primary training function of Allen during this period was to new submarine crews in penetrating ASW defensive positions. This task is recorded in several histories of US submarine operations in the Pacific as their first actual action against a ship and she also made periodic round-trip voyages to the United States West Coast. Such duty remained her occupation throughout World War II, in September 1945, Allen steamed from Hawaii to Philadelphia, where she was placed out of commission on 15 October 1945. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 1 November 1945, being in service prior to the US entry into World War I, and serving through World War II, Allen was the longest-serving destroyer on the Naval Register when she was sold
24.
USS Wilkes (DD-67)
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USS Wilkes was a Sampson-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I. She was the second Navy ship named for Commodore Charles Wilkes and she served with the United States Coast Guard as. She returned from operations at the height of the crisis over the German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare. Just one month later, on 6 April, the United States joined the war against the Central Powers, at the end of April, the destroyer escorted the French cruiser Amiral Auge from Norfolk to New York. On 15 June, she departed New York in the screen of the first American troop convoy to voyage to Europe and she escorted her charges into Saint Nazaire on 26 June then headed for Portsmouth, England, where she celebrated Independence Day. From there, she continued on to her permanent European base, Queenstown, Ireland, Wilkes operated from the Queenstown base for the duration of World War I. For the most part, she conducted patrols and escorted convoys bound for England on the last leg of their voyage. Occasionally, however, she was called upon to shepherd convoys into port at Brest and Saint Nazaire, although her duties appeared routine, they were strenuous. She spent many days at sea in the stormy Atlantic with only hours or, at most. She continued her patrol and escort duties until after Christmas 1918, on 26 December, she departed Queenstown and headed for home. On 7 January 1919, she arrived in New York, immediately upon her return, Wilkes began overhaul at New York. That occupied her time until 1 May when the destroyer embarked upon her most noteworthy postwar mission—duty as a ship for the first transatlantic flight. Only one of the four Navy-Curtiss flying boats slated for the mission actually completed the flight, NC-4 reached the Azores at Horta on 17 May, made the hop to Ponta Delgada on the 20th, and departed the Azores for Lisbon, Portugal, on the 27th. Wilkes served as a picket on that leg of the flight as the fourth ship in a line of 14 destroyers between the Azores and the European continent. The NC-4 reached her destination that same day, and Wilkes part in the event was completed, while NC-4 finished the third and last leg of its flight—from Lisbon to Plymouth, England—on 30 and 31 May, Wilkes pointed her bow homeward. The destroyer reentered New York harbor on 4 June and resumed operations along the Atlantic coast. For the next 34 months, she plied the waters off the eastern seaboard in the spring, summer, late each fall, she headed south to participate in fleet maneuvers in Cuban waters, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico. During that time, she was based at three different ports—Newport, R. I, New York, N. Y. and Charleston, S. C
25.
USS Shaw (DD-68)
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USS Shaw was a Sampson-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I. She was later transferred to the United States Coast Guard as CG-22, Shaw sailed from Mare Island on 25 May 1917 and arrived at New York on 10 June 1917 ready for distant service. She sailed a week later as one of the escort of Group 4 of the Expeditionary Force from the United States to France, on 26 June, she fueled at sea from a tanker, and the convoy arrived at Quiberon Bay, France, on 1 July. On the 4th, she sailed from St. Nazaire and arrived at Cobh, Ireland, on 1 July 1918, she received an SOS from the torpedoed American transport, Covington, and rushed to her aid. On arrival, she found that Covingtons survivors had been removed, but, the crippled transport sank later in the day. On 25 September, a ship in Shaws convoy was attacked by a submarine, on 9 October 1918, while escorting Aquitania, Shaws rudder jammed just as she was completing the right leg of a zigzag, leaving her headed directly towards the transport. A moment later, Aquitania struck Shaw, cutting off 90 feet of the bow, mangling her bridge. Shaws crew heroically brought her damage control, and a skeleton crew of 21 men took the wreck 40 miles into port under her own power. 12 men died in the accident, Shaw remained under repair at Portsmouth, England, until 29 May 1919 when she sailed for the United States. She arrived at New York on 17 June 1919 and moved to the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 2 October where she joined the destroyer group and was decommissioned on 21 June 1922. Shaw was struck from the Navy list on 25 March 1926 and transferred to the Coast Guard the same day and she was returned to the Navy by the Coast Guard and reinstated on the Navy list effective 30 June 1933. Her name was canceled on 1 November 1933 for assignment to a new destroyer, list of United States Navy destroyers This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here, tin Can Sailors. com USS Shaw DD-68 Navy Source. org
26.
U-boat Campaign (World War I)
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The U-boat Campaign from 1914 to 1918 was the World War I naval campaign fought by German U-boats against the trade routes of the Allies. It took place largely in the seas around the British Isles, in the course of events, German U-boats sank almost 5,000 ships with nearly 13 million gross register ton, losing 178 boats and about 5,000 men in combat. In August 1914, a flotilla of nine U-boats sailed from their base in Heligoland to attack Royal Navy warships in the North Sea in the first submarine war patrol in history. Their aim was to sink capital ships of the British Grand Fleet, the first sortie was not a success. Only one attack was carried out, when U-15 fired a torpedo at HMS Monarch, two of the ten U-boats were lost. Later in the month, the U-boats achieved success, when U-21 sank the cruiser HMS Pathfinder, in September, SM U-9 sank three armored cruisers in a single action. In October U-9 sank the cruiser Hawke, and on the last day of the year SM U-24 sank the pre-dreadnought battleship Formidable, by the end of the initial campaign, the U-boats had sunk nine warships while losing five of their own number. The initial phase of the U-boat campaign in the Mediterranean comprised the actions by the Austro-Hungarian Navys U-boat force against the French, nevertheless, they had a number of successes. On 21 December 1914 U-12 torpedoed the French battleship Jean Bart, causing her to retire, but the Austro-Hungarian boats were unable to offer any interference to allied traffic in the Mediterranean beyond the Straits of Otranto. Its disadvantages were less obvious, but became apparent during the campaign, also, in the two main surface actions of this period the U-boat was unable to have any effect, the High Seas Fleet was unable to draw the Grand Fleet into a U-boat trap. The first attacks on merchant ships had started in October 1914, at that time there was no plan for a concerted U-boat offensive against Allied trade. It was recognized the U-boat had several drawbacks as a commerce raider, in the six months to the opening of the commerce war in February 1915, U-boats had sunk 19 ships, totalling 43,000 GRT. By early 1915, all the combatants had lost the illusion that the war could be won quickly, the blockade was unusually restrictive in that even food was considered contraband of war. Germany could not possibly deal with British naval strength on a basis. The German Chancellor, Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, felt such a submarine blockade, based on shoot without warning, would antagonise the United States. However, he was unable to back the pressures for taking such a step. From February 18 onwards every enemy merchant vessel encountered in this zone will be destroyed, nor will it always be possible to avert the danger thereby threatened to the crew, in time, this would bring non-European nations into the war. The German U-boat force was now based at Ostend in Belgium
27.
Rum Patrol
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The Rum Patrol was an operation of the United States Coast Guard to interdict liquor smuggling vessels, known as rum runners in order to enforce prohibition in American waters. On 18 December 1917, the 18th Amendment to the Constitution was submitted to the states by Congress, some began to show signs of wear and tear after the often arduous pace of operations on the Rum Patrol and required replacement. Accordingly, five of the flush deck destroyers were transferred to the Treasury Department in 1930–1931. It was thought that adapting these older vessels for Coast Guard service would be less costly than building new ships, in the end, however, the rehabilitation of the vessels became a saga in itself because of the exceedingly poor condition of many of these war-weary ships. In many instances, it nearly a year to bring the vessels up to seaworthiness. Additionally, these were by far the largest and most sophisticated vessels ever operated by the service, as a result, Congress authorized hundreds of new enlistees. These inexperienced men generally made up the destroyer crews, some of the destroyers were pre-World War I 742-ton flivvers, capable of over 25 kn — an advantage in the rum-chasing business. They were, however, easily outmaneuvered by smaller vessels, the destroyers’ mission, therefore, was to picket the larger mother ships and prevent them from off-loading their cargo onto the smaller, speedier contact boats that ran the liquor into shore. On 20 February 1933, the 21st Amendment to the Constitution and this eliminated the need for the Rum Patrol. The remaining destroyers were returned to the Navy and sold for scrap
28.
London Naval Treaty
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Ratifications were exchanged in London on October 27,1930, and the treaty went into effect on the same day. It was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on February 6,1931, the terms of the treaty were seen as an extension of the conditions agreed in the Washington Naval Treaty. That treaty had been an effort to prevent an arms race after World War I. The Conference was a revival of the efforts which had gone into the Geneva Naval Conference of 1927, at Geneva, the various negotiators had been unable to reach agreement because of bad feeling between the British Government and that of the United States. Submarine gun caliber was also restricted for the first time to 6.1 inches with one exception and this put an end to the big-gun submarine concept pioneered by the British M class and the French Surcouf. The Treaty also established a distinction between cruisers armed with no greater than 6.1 inches from those with guns up to 8 inches. The number of cruisers was limited – Britain was permitted 15 with a total tonnage of 147,000, the U. S.18 totalling 180,000. For light cruisers, no numbers were specified but tonnage limits were 143,500 tons for the U. S.192,200 tons for the British, and 100,450 tons for the Japanese. Destroyer tonnage was also limited, with destroyers being defined as ships of less than 1,850 tons and guns not exceeding 5.1 inches, the Americans and British were permitted up to 150,000 tons and Japan 105,500 tons. Article 22 relating to submarine warfare declared international law applied to them as to surface vessels, also merchant vessels which demonstrated persistent refusal to stop or active resistance could be sunk without the ships crew and passengers being first delivered to a place of safety. Active negotiations amongst the other treaty signatories continued during the following years and this was followed by the Second London Naval Treaty of 1936. Treaty for the Limitation of Naval Armament Second London Naval Treaty – List of treaties signed in London, Treaty of London – List of treaties signed in London. May 15 Incident - attempted coup in Japan Steiner, Zara S, the Lights that Failed, European International History 1919–1933. ISBN 978-0-19-822114-2, OCLC58853793 Text of the treaty
29.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
30.
USS Sampson (DD-63)
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USS Sampson was the lead ship of her class of destroyers of the United States Navy. She was the first Navy ship named for Admiral William T. Sampson, torpedo-boat destroyer Sampson was assigned to Division 9 of the Atlantic Destroyer Force and conducted shakedown training out of Narragansett Bay. During the First World War she was commanded by Lieutenant Commander Mark L. Hersey, Hersey received the Navy Cross for distinguished service while commanding the Sampson and would rise to the rank of commodore during the Second World War. On 18 June 1917, Sampson rescued two small boat loads of survivors of the English Monarch and the captain and 13 sailors from Elele, the next morning, she picked up another 17 survivors of Elele, and, on the 20th, she landed all at Queenstown. Sampson answered other distress calls before the end of the war, returning to Queenstown on 14 December, she sailed for home on the 26th and arrived at the New York Navy Yard on 7 January 1919. Sampson entered the New York Navy Yard on 1 December 1919 for deactivation overhaul which was completed on 14 February 1921, towed to the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Sampson was decommissioned on 15 June 1921. She remained inactive during the years followed, and on 17 July 1935, was ordered scrapped in accordance with the London Treaty for the reduction of naval armaments. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 7 January 1936, list of United States Navy destroyers Tin Can Sailors. com DD-63 USS Sampson This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here
31.
Fore River Shipyard
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Fore River Shipyard was a shipyard owned by General Dynamics Corporation located on Weymouth Fore River in Braintree and Quincy, Massachusetts. It began operations in 1883 in Braintree, and moved to its location on Quincy Point in 1901. In 1913, it was purchased by Bethlehem Steel, and later transferred to Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation and it was sold to General Dynamics in 1963, and closed in 1986. During its operation, yardworkers constructed hundreds of ships, for military and civilian clients. Most of the ships at the yard were built for the United States Navy, the yard also built early submarines for Electric Boat, including USS Octopus and USS Sunfish. Fore River also constructed the battleship USS Massachusetts, and the cruisers USS Springfield and USS Salem as well as the Navys first carrier USS Lexington and its successor USS Lexington. General Dynamics Quincy Shipbuilding Division, as it came to be known, ended its career as a producer of various LNG tankers. According to one theory, the yard was the origin of the Kilroy was here pop culture reference, in addition, the yard owned Bethlehem Atlantic Works, a drydock facility which was located in East Boston. The shipyard traces its beginnings back to 1882, when Thomas A. Watson purchased a farm alongside the Fore River in East Braintree, Massachusetts. In 1884, Watson attempted to farm the land, but soon realizing that it was a failure, work on the engine began in 1884, and continued into 1885, when it was deemed a financial failure. At this point, Watson decided to work with his business partner Frank O. Wellington on ship building, creating the Fore River Engine Company. The success of this operation was strengthened the fact that the shipyard was producing a quality engine. Soon, a new engine-building facility was constructed, employing between twenty and thirty workers, additionally, the Prouty Printing Press and Sims-Dudley dynamite gun, staple guns for shoes, and electric light accessories were produced by Fore River. In addition, the diversity of Fore Rivers products was due to the fact that Watson desired to employ as many friends as possible, the Panic of 1893 brought a new era to the company, as the depression limited the Fore Rivers possibilities. Fortunately for Fore River, the United States Navy awarded a contract to them to construct USS Lawrence and these two ships were the last to be constructed at the East Braintree location, as the yard moved down the river to a site on nearby Quincy Point in 1901. The construction of United States lightship LV-72 alongside the destroyers further strengthened the company financially, the awarding of USS Des Moines was also beneficial for Fore River. Faced with the problem of not having a large area to build the cruiser. The Des Moines was launched in 1902 and commissioned in 1904, bringing with it some stability to the yard
32.
USS Rowan (DD-64)
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USS Rowan was a Sampson-class destroyer of the United States Navy. She was the second Navy ship named for Vice Admiral Stephen C, Rowan was laid down on 10 May 1915 by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, Quincy, Massachusetts, launched 23 March 1916, sponsored by Miss Louise McL. Ayres, great-niece of Admiral Rowan, and commissioned at Boston, Massachusetts on 22 August 1916, Lieutenant William R. Purnell in command. Following shakedown, Rowan, based at Newport, Rhode Island, operated along the Atlantic coast during the fall of 1916, then participated in exercises in the Caribbean. At Norfolk, Virginia, when the United States entered World War I, she patrolled off the mouth of the York River, on 7 May 1917, she departed Boston for Ireland, arriving with Division 7 at Queenstown on the 27th. From then, through the remainder of the war, Rowan conducted antisubmarine patrols, on 28 May 1918, she joined two other destroyers in attacking a U-boat, dropped 14 depth charges, and had the satisfaction of watching oil cover the surface in the attack area. Rowan departed Queenstown on 26 December 1918 and reached New York on 8 January 1919, into the summer, she conducted exercises along the east coast and in the Caribbean. On 29 August, she entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard and was placed in reduced commission, designated DD-64 the following summer,1920, Rowan resumed operations with the Atlantic Fleet in March 1921 and continued them until March 1922. She then returned to Philadelphia where she was decommissioned on 19 June 1922 and she remained inactive, laid up at League Island, until struck from the Navy list on 7 January 1936. Her hulk was sold for scrap on 20 April 1939, list of United States Navy destroyers This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here, tin Can Sailors. com USS Rowan DD-64 USS Rowan Reunion Association
33.
USS Davis (DD-65)
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USS Davis was a Sampson-class destroyer in the United States Navy during World War I. She was the second Navy ship named for Rear Admiral Charles Henry Davis and she served with the United States Coast Guard as. Assigned to Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet, Davis operated on the east coast and she sailed from Boston 24 April 1917 as one of six destroyers in the first American destroyer detachment to reach European waters, arriving at Queenstown, Ireland,4 May. She performed patrol duty off the coast of Ireland and escorted merchant convoys through the zone of greatest danger from submarines, between 25 and 28 June she met and escorted troop transports carrying the first American Expeditionary Force to France. Davis returned to New York 7 January 1919 and after an overhaul there joined Division 4, Flotilla 8, Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet, from September 1919 to November 1920 she was in reserve at Philadelphia Navy Yard. Arriving at Charleston, South Carolina,3 December 1920, she operated from that port and Newport in reduced commission until arriving at Philadelphia Navy Yard 29 March 1922 and she was decommissioned there 20 June 1922 and transferred to the Coast Guard 25 March 1926. Homeported in New London, Connecticut, she served as part of the Rum Patrol, Davis returned to the Navy on 30 June 1933. She was retained in a decommissioned status until sold 22 August 1934 and this article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here, tin Can Sailors. com USS Davis history
34.
Bath Iron Works
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Bath Iron Works is a major American shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine. Since its founding in 1884, BIW has built private, commercial and military vessels, the shipyard has built and sometimes designed battleships, frigates, cruisers and destroyers, including the Arleigh Burke class, which are currently among the worlds most advanced surface warships. Since 1995, Bath Iron Works has been a subsidiary of General Dynamics, during World War II, ships built at BIW were considered by sailors and Navy officials to be of superior toughness, giving rise to the phrase Bath-built is best-built. Bath Iron Works was incorporated in 1884 by General Thomas W. Hyde, after the war, Hyde bought a local shop that helped make windlasses and other iron hardware for the wooden ships built in Baths many shipyards. He expanded the business by improving its practices, entering new markets, by 1882, Hyde Windlass was eyeing the new and growing business of iron shipbuilding, two years later, it incorporated as Bath Iron Works. On February 28,1890, BIW won its first contract for complete vessels, the Machias, one of these 190-foot gunboats, was the first ship launched by the company. In 1892, the yard won its first commercial contract for a steel vessel, in the 1890s, the company built several yachts for wealthy sailors. In 1899, General Hyde, suffering from the Brights Disease that would kill him later that year, resigned from management of the shipyard, leaving his sons Edward and that year the shipyard began construction of the Georgia, the only battleship to be built in Bath. The ship dominated the yard for five years until its launching in 1904, the yard faced numerous challenges because of the weight of armor and weapons. In sea trials, the Georgia averaged 19.26 knots for four hours, making her the fastest ship in her class, the company continued to rely on Navy contracts, which provided 86% of the value of new contracts between 1905 and 1917. The yard also produced fishing trawlers, freighters, and yachts throughout the first half of the century, at peak production during World War II, the shipyard launched a destroyer every 17 days. Bath Iron Works ranked 50th among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts, in 1981, Falcon Transport ordered two tankers, the last commercial vessels built by BIW. In 1988, the USS Samuel B, Roberts, commissioned two years earlier at Bath, survived a mine explosion that tore a hole in its engine room and flooded two compartments. Over the next two years, BIW repaired the Roberts in unique fashion, the guided missile frigate was towed to the companys dry dock in Portland, Maine, and put up on blocks, where its damaged engine room was cut out of the ship. Meanwhile, workers in Bath built a 315-ton replacement, when it was ready, the module was floated south to Portland, placed on the dry dock, slid into place under the Roberts, jacked up, and welded into place. In 2001, BIW wrapped up an effort to build an enormous concrete platform. Instead of being built on a way so that they could slide into the Kennebec at launch. This greatly reduced the work involved in building and launching the ships, the 750-foot,28, 000-ton dry dock was built by Chinas Jiangdu Yuchai Shipbuilding Company for $27 million
35.
William Cramp & Sons
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William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company of Philadelphia was founded in 1830 by William Cramp, and was the preeminent U. S. iron shipbuilder of the late 19th century. In 1890 the company built the battleships USS Indiana and USS Massachusetts, armored cruiser USS New York, three of these ships took a part in the battle with the Spanish fleet in 1898 at Santiago de Cuba. In 1940, the Navy spent $22 million to reopen the yard as Cramp Shipbuilding to build cruisers, Cramp used the long slipways to construct two submarines at a time, with the intention of launching them simultaneously. However, the submarine construction program was not especially successful. The first delivery was made two years after laying, and fitting out was then done by Portsmouth Navy Yard. The best construction time for a submarine was 644 days, Cramp closed in 1947 and the site, on the Delaware River in Philadelphias Port Richmond neighborhood, became an industrial park. SS Valencia, an ocean liner built for the Red D Line in 1882. She was wrecked on the coastline of Vancouver Island, on January 22,1906, valencias loss is considered one of the worst shipwrecks in the region known as the Graveyard of the Pacific. USS New York, was launched on 2 December 1891 and became flagship of Admiral William T. Sampsons squadron during the Spanish–American War, USS Indiana, Battleship No.1 of the United States Navy, launched 28 February 1893. SS St. Louis and SS St. Paul —the first major ocean liners built in the United States after the collapse of the Collins Line in the 1850s, varyag contracted by Russian Imperial Admiralty, launched October 31,1899. The cruiser was sunk by the crew in Russo-Japanese War, salvaged by the Japanese, SS Evangeline, a coastal passenger liner built in 1927 for the Eastern Steamship Company. While operating as the cruise ship Yarmouth Castle in 1965, she caught fire, on 6 September 1941, the keel for the Cleveland-class light cruiser designated CL-90 was laid down by the Cramp Shipbuilding Company. On 6 March 1943, CL-90 USS Astoria was launched, on 8 December 1942, the keel to the Cleveland-class light cruiser designated CL-91, was laid down by the Cramp Shipbuilding Company. On 22 April 1943, Oklahomans were outraged, having just learned that the Japanese had executed the captured American pilots from Jimmy Doolittles bombing raid over Tokyo. That same day, booths were set up in Oklahoma City with the a goal to sell $40 million in War Bonds to fund the construction of a cruiser and that goal was topped by $5 million when the booths closed that night. CL-91 then became the USS Oklahoma City, the last ship Cramps built was the cruiser USS Galveston, launched on April 22,1945. SSW of Pensacola Pass, Pensacola, Florida Philadelphia Naval Shipyard Lewis Nixon and Arthur Leopold Busch, ships Built - Cramp Shipbuilding, Philadelphia
36.
Mare Island Naval Shipyard
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The Mare Island Naval Shipyard was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located 25 miles northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, the Napa River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates the peninsula shipyard from the main portion of the city of Vallejo. MINSY made a name for itself as the premier US West Coast submarine port as well as serving as the force in San Francisco Bay Area shipbuilding efforts during World War II. The base closed in 1996 and has gone through several redevelopment phases and it was registered as a California Historical Landmark in 1960, and parts of it were declared a National Historic Landmark District in 1975. They managed to survey the Mare Island Strait before steaming to Hawaii to obtain crewmen from Hawaiian monarch King Kamehameha III. They returned to San Francisco in the spring of 1850 with the survey of northern California beginning on April 4,1850. On August 1,1850, while still in Oregon, McArthur purchased a 1⁄16 interest in Mare Island for $468.50 then returned to San Francisco later that month to prepare charts, on January 15,1852, Secretary of the Navy Will A. Graham ordered a Naval Commission to select a site for a yard on the Pacific Coast. Commodore D. Sloat along with Commodore C, sanger were appointed to the commission. On July 13,1852, Sloat recommended the island across the Napa River from the settlement of Vallejo, the Navy purchased the original 956 acres of MINSY on January 4,1853. MINSY served as a major Pacific Ocean repair station during the late 19th century, handling American as well as Japanese, in 1861, the longest lived of the clipper ships, Syren, was brought to Mare Island Navy Yard for $15,000 of repairs. Syren had struck Mile Rock two times while trying to out of the Golden Gate. Marines first arrived for duty in 1862 under the command of Maj. Addison Garland, Mare Island Naval Shipyard also took a commanding role in civil defense and emergency response on the West Coast, dispatching warships to the Pacific Northwest to subdue Native American violence. MINSY sent ships such as Wyoming south to Central America and the Panama Canal to protect US political and commercial interests, some of the support, logistics and munition requirements for the Spanish–American War were filled by Mare Island. MINSY sent men, materiel and ships to San Francisco in response to the following the 1906 earthquake. Arctic rescue missions were mounted as necessary, ordnance manufacturing and storage were two further key missions at MINSY for nearly all of its active service, including ordnance used prior to the American Civil War. In 1911, the Marine Corps established two West Coast recruit training depots first at Mare Island, the second at Puget Sound, Mare Island eventually became the West Coasts only recruit training facility when the Puget Sound operation consolidated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1912. Instructors trained recruits there until August 10,1923, when they relocated to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, in March 1917 MINSY was the site of a major explosion of barges loaded with munitions
37.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
38.
Public domain
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The term public domain has two senses of meaning. Anything published is out in the domain in the sense that it is available to the public. Once published, news and information in books is in the public domain, in the sense of intellectual property, works in the public domain are those whose exclusive intellectual property rights have expired, have been forfeited, or are inapplicable. Examples for works not covered by copyright which are therefore in the domain, are the formulae of Newtonian physics, cooking recipes. Examples for works actively dedicated into public domain by their authors are reference implementations of algorithms, NIHs ImageJ. The term is not normally applied to situations where the creator of a work retains residual rights, as rights are country-based and vary, a work may be subject to rights in one country and be in the public domain in another. Some rights depend on registrations on a basis, and the absence of registration in a particular country, if required. Although the term public domain did not come into use until the mid-18th century, the Romans had a large proprietary rights system where they defined many things that cannot be privately owned as res nullius, res communes, res publicae and res universitatis. The term res nullius was defined as not yet appropriated. The term res communes was defined as things that could be enjoyed by mankind, such as air, sunlight. The term res publicae referred to things that were shared by all citizens, when the first early copyright law was first established in Britain with the Statute of Anne in 1710, public domain did not appear. However, similar concepts were developed by British and French jurists in the eighteenth century, instead of public domain they used terms such as publici juris or propriété publique to describe works that were not covered by copyright law. The phrase fall in the domain can be traced to mid-nineteenth century France to describe the end of copyright term. In this historical context Paul Torremans describes copyright as a coral reef of private right jutting up from the ocean of the public domain. Because copyright law is different from country to country, Pamela Samuelson has described the public domain as being different sizes at different times in different countries. According to James Boyle this definition underlines common usage of the public domain and equates the public domain to public property. However, the usage of the public domain can be more granular. Such a definition regards work in copyright as private property subject to fair use rights, the materials that compose our cultural heritage must be free for all living to use no less than matter necessary for biological survival
39.
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
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The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships is the official reference work for the basic facts about ships used by the United States Navy. When the writing project was developed the parameters for this series were designed to cover only commissioned US Navy ships with assigned names, if the ship was not assigned a name it was not included in the histories written for the series. In addition to the entries, DANFS and the online links have been expanded to include appendices on small craft, histories of Confederate Navy ships. DANFS was published in print by the Naval Historical Center as bound volumes, ordered by ship name. Several volumes subsequently went out of print, in 1991 a revised Volume I Part A, covering only ship names beginning with A, was released. Work continues on revisions of the remaining volumes, volunteers at the Hazegray website undertook to transcribe the DANFS and make it available on the World Wide Web. The project goal is a transcription of the DANFS, with changes limited to correcting typographical errors. In 2008 the NHC was re-designated as the Naval History and Heritage Command and it has developed an online version of DANFS through a combination of optical character recognition and hand transcription. The NHHC is slowly updating its online DANFS to correct errors, the NHHC has begun a related project to place Ship History and Command Operations Reports online at their DANFS site. As the DANFS is a work of the U. S. government, its content is in the domain. Many websites organized by former and active members of U. S. Navy vessels include a copy of their ships DANFS entries. The Dictionary limits itself largely to basic descriptions and brief operational notes, and includes almost no analysis or historical context
40.
Dreadnought
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The dreadnought was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. Dreadnoughts design had two features, an all-big-gun armament scheme, with more heavy-calibre guns than previous ships. As dreadnoughts became a symbol of power, the arrival of these new warships was a crucial catalyst in the intensifying naval arms race between the United Kingdom and Germany. With the launch of a ship, Dreadnought, the scales of naval power were reset overnight. As a result, dreadnought races sprang up around the world, including in South America, successive designs increased rapidly in size and made use of improvements in armament, armour, and propulsion throughout the dreadnought era. Within five years, new battleships had outclassed Dreadnought and these more powerful vessels were known as super-dreadnoughts. The only surviving dreadnought is USS Texas, located near the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site, dreadnought-building consumed vast resources in the early 20th century, but there was only one battle between large dreadnought fleets. In the 1916 Battle of Jutland, the British and German navies clashed with no decisive result, some designs had an intermediate battery of 8-inch guns. Serious proposals for an all-big-gun armament were circulated in several countries by 1903, all-big-gun designs commenced almost simultaneously in three navies. In 1904, the Imperial Japanese Navy authorized construction of Satsuma, work began on her construction in May 1905. The Royal Navy began the design of HMS Dreadnought in January 1905, finally, the US Navy gained authorization for USS Michigan, carrying eight 12-inch guns, in March 1905, with construction commencing in December 1906. The newest 12-inch guns had longer range and fired heavier shells than a gun of 10-inch or 9. 2-inch calibre, there is still debate as to whether this feature was important. At these ranges, lighter guns had good accuracy, and their rate of fire delivered high volumes of ordnance on the target. Naval gunnery was too inaccurate to hit targets at a longer range, by the early 20th century, British and American admirals expected future battleships would engage at longer distances. Newer models of torpedo had longer ranges, for instance, in 1903, the US Navy ordered a design of torpedo effective to 4,000 yards. Both British and American admirals concluded that they needed to engage the enemy at longer ranges, in 1900, Admiral Sir John Jackie Fisher, commanding the Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet, ordered gunnery practice with 6-inch guns at 6,000 yards. By 1904 the US Naval War College was considering the effects on battleship tactics of torpedoes with a range of 7,000 yards to 8,000 yards, the range of light and medium-calibre guns was limited, and accuracy declined badly at longer range. At longer ranges the advantage of a rate of fire decreased, accurate shooting depended on spotting the shell-splashes of the previous salvo
41.
Battleship
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A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries the battleship was the most powerful type of warship, the word battleship was coined around 1794 and is a contraction of the phrase line-of-battle ship, the dominant wooden warship during the Age of Sail. The term came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ironclad warship. In 1906, the commissioning of HMS Dreadnought heralded a revolution in battleship design, subsequent battleship designs, influenced by HMS Dreadnought, were referred to as dreadnoughts. Battleships were a symbol of naval dominance and national might, the launch of Dreadnought in 1906 commenced a new naval arms race. Jutland was the largest naval battle and the only full-scale clash of battleships in the war, the Naval Treaties of the 1920s and 1930s limited the number of battleships, though technical innovation in battleship design continued. The value of the battleship has been questioned, even during their heyday, there were few of the decisive fleet battles that battleship proponents expected, and used to justify the vast resources spent on building battlefleets. Battleships were retained by the United States Navy into the Cold War for fire support purposes before being stricken from the U. S. Naval Vessel Register in the 2000s. A ship of the line was a large, unarmored wooden sailing ship which mounted a battery of up to 120 smoothbore guns, from 1794, the alternative term line of battle ship was contracted to battle ship or battleship. The sheer number of guns fired broadside meant a sail battleship could wreck any wooden enemy, holing her hull, knocking down masts, wrecking her rigging, and killing her crew. However, the range of the guns was as little as a few hundred yards. The first major change to the ship of the concept was the introduction of steam power as an auxiliary propulsion system. Steam power was introduced to the navy in the first half of the 19th century, initially for small craft. The French Navy introduced steam to the line of battle with the 90-gun Napoléon in 1850—the first true steam battleship, Napoléon was armed as a conventional ship-of-the-line, but her steam engines could give her a speed of 12 knots, regardless of the wind condition. This was a decisive advantage in a naval engagement. The introduction of steam accelerated the growth in size of battleships, the adoption of steam power was only one of a number of technological advances which revolutionized warship design in the 19th century. The ship of the line was overtaken by the ironclad, powered by steam, protected by metal armor, and armed with guns firing high-explosive shells. In the Crimean War, six ships and two frigates of the Russian Black Sea Fleet destroyed seven Turkish frigates and three corvettes with explosive shells at the Battle of Sinop in 1853
42.
South Carolina-class battleship
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The South Carolina-class battleships, also known as the Michigan-class, were built during the first decade of the twentieth century for the United States Navy. Named South Carolina and Michigan, they were the first American dreadnoughts—powerful warships whose capabilities far outstripped those of the older battleships. In the opening years of the century, the prevailing theory of naval combat was that battles would continue to be fought at relatively close range using many small. As such, each of the ships in the United States previous battleship class had many medium-sized weapons alongside four large guns. This paradigm, however, was soon to be subverted, as American naval theorists proposed that a ship mounting a battery of large guns would be more effective in battle. As their ideas began to enjoy wider acceptance, the US Congress authorized the countrys Navy to construct two small 16,000 long tons battleships and this displacement was roughly the same size as the Connecticut class and at least 2,000 long tons smaller than the foreign standard. With their superfiring main armament, press accounts billed South Carolina and Michigan, alongside the British HMS Dreadnought, both, however, were soon surpassed by ever-larger and stronger super-dreadnoughts. The class low top speed of about 18.5 kn, as compared to the 21 kn standard of later American battleships, relegated them to serving with older, thereafter, both South Carolinas were scrapped with the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty. The premier battleship class then under construction carried four large 12-inch, eight 8-inch, and twelve 7-inch guns, the Naval Institutes Proceedings magazine devoted space in two of its 1902 issues to possible improvements in battleship design. The first article was authored by Lieutenant Matt H. Signor, the secondary battery would be composed of 5-inch /60 guns. These comments expressed doubt that the vessel could be modified into a feasible design. Naval historian Norman Friedman believes that this was one of the earliest serious proposals for a homogeneous big-gun battery, the suggestion leading directly to the South Carolina class came from Homer Poundstone, a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy, who became the principal proponent of an American all-big-gun design. In a December 1902 paper written for President Theodore Roosevelt, he argued for increasing the size of current battleships. However, by the March and June 1903 editions of Proceedings, Poundstone began advocating for an all-big-gun arrangement, featuring twelve 11-inch guns mounted on a 19,330 long tons ship. In October of the year, the Italian naval architect Vittorio Cuniberti presented a similar idea in an article for Janes Fighting Ships entitled An Ideal Battleship for the British Navy. He argued in favor of a ship with twelve 12-inch guns on a larger displacement than the battleships in service at the time,17,000 long tons. He believed that the weight would allow 12 inches of armor. Poundstone used what he believed to be the great popularity for this idea among Europeans to justify the all-big-gun design, in 1903, Poundstones designs began receiving attention from American naval authorities
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Delaware-class battleship
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The Delaware-class battleships of the United States Navy were the second class of American dreadnoughts. Launched in 1909, these became the first in US naval history to exceed 20,000 long tons. The Delawares carried a battery of ten 12-inch guns in five turrets, with these ships, the US Navy re-adopted a full-fledged medium-caliber weapon for anti-torpedo boat defense. While the 5-inch gun was smaller than used by other major navies. As for speed, the Delawares were capable of 21 kn and this would become the speed for all American standard-type battleships. Propulsion systems were mixed, while North Dakota was fitted with steam turbines, US turbines at this point did not give great advantages in output or speed over triple-expansion systems, as turbine manufacturers in the US still faced great engineering difficulties. Turbines were also much less fuel-efficient, a significant concern for a Navy with Pacific responsibilities and these ships saw varied service during their careers. During World War I, Delaware was part of Battleship Division Nine of the US Atlantic Fleet and she escorted convoys and participated in the blockade of the German High Seas Fleet. In contrast, North Dakota remained on the American coast throughout the war, post-war, they conducted training cruises with the US Atlantic Fleet. In 1924, Delaware was broken up for scrap metal in accordance with the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, North Dakota survived until 1931, when she too was scrapped, under the terms of the 1930 London Naval Treaty. Actually, the South Carolinas were inferior only in speed to Dreadnought, they carried fewer guns but, unlike Dreadnought. Because of this, they could fire an equal weight of metal, also, because greater time and care had been taken with their armor and bulkhead arrangement, they were better protected than the British ship. None of this was realized at the time, seeing now that those limits had become unrealistic, Congress ended them, any subsequent constraints would be dictated by treaty limitations. Except for the Lexington-class battlecruisers, these were all relatively slow ships and they ranged in displacement from 16,000 to 42,000 long tons. At this time, no US dreadnought class battleship had yet hit the water as all were either at some stage of building or in design. Virtually the entire US Navy battle line was being designed by drawing on experience from pre-dreadnought designs, the design for these ships was actually ready in 1905 or 1906. Two variants were offered—a 10-gun version on 20,500 long tons, the larger ship was rejected as too expensive for the firepower it offered, even after its displacement was reduced to 22,000 long tons tons. Also, because C&R was required to consider private designs, construction on the Delawares did not commence until 1907, none of the private designs was considered remotely satisfactory by the Navy
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Florida-class battleship
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The Florida-class battleships of the United States Navy comprised two ships, Florida and Utah. Launched in 1910 and 1909 respectively and commissioned in 1911, they were larger than the preceding Delaware class design but were otherwise very similar. This was the first US battleship class in all ships received steam turbine engines. In the previous Delaware-class, North Dakota received steam turbine propulsion as an experiment while Delaware retained triple-expansion engines, both ships were involved in the 1914 Second Battle of Vera Cruz, deploying their Marine contingents as part of the operation. Following the entrance of the United States into World War I in 1917, Florida was assigned to the British Grand Fleet and based in Scapa Flow, in December 1918 she escorted President Woodrow Wilson to France for the peace negotiations. Utah was assigned to escort duty, she was based in Ireland and was tasked with protecting convoys as they approached the European continent. Florida was scrapped, Utah converted into first a radio-controlled target ship and she served in the latter role until sunk by the Japanese during the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Her hull, never raised, remains on the bottom of the harbor as a war memorial, the Floridas were the third of 10 separate classes built between 1906 and 1919, a total of 22 battleships being commissioned. American capital ship design was heavily influenced by war games conducted at the US Navys Naval War College. Captain William Sims led a movement that assigned warship design to the General Board. These ships were an improvement over the preceding Delaware class and their engine rooms were larger to hold four Curtis or Parsons steam turbines. Their larger beam gave them greater height, in which the Delawares were notably deficient. The ships mounted new 5-inch /51 caliber guns as secondary batteries in casemates that boasted increased armor protection, the class retained the large and fully enclosed conning towers that were adopted for the preceding Delawares, as a result of American studies of the Battle of Tsushima in 1905. The design reduced the vulnerability of the command staff, overall, these ships were much better protected than their British counterparts, although they were modified extensively during the interwar period. The Florida-class ships were 510 ft long at the waterline and 521 ft 6 in overall and they had a beam of 88 ft 3 in and a draft of 28 ft 6 in. They displaced 21,825 long tons at standard displacement and 23,033 long tons at full load and this was an increase of approximately 2,500 long tons over the previous Delaware class. The ships also had some of their superstructure rearranged, including the lattice masts, the Florida-class ships had a crew of 1,001 officers and men. The engine rooms on these ships were lengthened to accommodate the larger Parsons steam turbines, the remaining boiler rooms were widened by 4 ft, to do this and maintain adequate underwater and coal bunker protection, the ships were made 3 ft beamier than the Delawares
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Wyoming-class battleship
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The Wyoming class was a pair of dreadnought battleships built for the United States Navy. The two ships, Wyoming and Arkansas, were authorized in early 1909, and they were built between 1910 and 1912 and they were the fourth dreadnought design of the US Navy, and they marked an incremental improvement over the preceding Florida class. The two ships frequently served together, first in the Atlantic Fleet in the 1910s, both vessels were deployed to British waters after the United States entered World War I in April 1917 to reinforce the Royal Navys Grand Fleet. They served in the Pacific Fleet in 1919–21, before returned to the Atlantic Fleet. Much of their time in the Atlantic Fleet was spent conducting training exercises. Arkansas was permitted to continue in service with the fleet, however, after the United States entered World War II, Arkansas was used to escort convoys to North Africa. Wyoming meanwhile continued as a ship, being modified further in 1944 to include the various types of anti-aircraft guns that trainees would operate in the fleet. Both ships were decommissioned shortly after the war, with Arkansas being expended as a ship during the 1946 nuclear tests at Operation Crossroads. This conference examined a series of issues relating to existing battleships and new designs, the Bureau of Ordnance estimated that design work on the new gun, production, and testing would take two years. On 26 August, the Secretary of the Navy, Victor Metcalf, issued a request for eight- and ten-gun battleships armed with the 14-inch weapons to the Bureau of Construction, speed was to be at least 20 kn, with as much armor as could be accommodated. BuOrd argued that at likely battle ranges,8,000 to 8,500 yd, the 12-inch gun was powerful enough to penetrate existing armor, and so the 14-inch gun was unnecessary. C&R produced three designs to meet Metcalfs request, all based on the preceding Florida design, the first, the second, design 502, had an additional twin turret for a total of ten 14-inch guns. The third, design 601, would be fitted with twelve 12-inch guns, the General Board chose 601, since the design work for the 14-inch gun had not begun, and adopting it would have caused the class to be delayed. The placement of the battery also proved to be problematic. The cruise of the Great White Fleet in 1907–09 had demonstrated the problems with casemates on the main deck and they were too easily washed out in even moderate seas, making them unusable. Some officers at the Newport Conference had advocated placing them in the superstructure, another alternative was to place them in the forecastle, but the additional weight forward would have strained the ship where the forecastle stepped down to the main deck. The designers ultimately settled on a full-length forecastle, which allowed the casemates to be moved about 4 ft higher in the hull, the ships armor protection was improved over earlier designs. The belt and barbette armor was increased by an inch compared to a version of the twelve-gun battleship
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New York-class battleship
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The New York class of battleship was a class of ships designed and constructed by the United States Navy between 1908 and 1914. The two ships of the class, New York and Texas, each saw extensive service beginning in the occupation of Veracruz, World War I, and World War II. The class also suffered several deficiencies such as a lack of weaponry and armor layout. Because of these deficiencies, both ships saw several extensive overhauls over the course of their careers which greatly changed their profiles, both ships undertook numerous training exercises and overhauls during the interwar era, and joined the Neutrality Patrol at the beginning of World War II. Outmoded by more advanced battleships in service, both served primarily as convoy escorts and naval artillery during the war. New York supported Operation Torch in North Africa, undertook convoy patrols and training in the Atlantic, and supported the Battle of Iwo Jima, Texas supported Operation Torch, Operation Overlord, the bombardment of Cherbourg, Operation Dragoon and the battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The New York class was the fifth of 11 separate classes planned by the United States Navy between 1906 and 1919, a total of 29 battleships and 6 battlecruisers, virtually the entire American battle line was being designed from pre-dreadnought experience and observation of foreign designs. There was debate at the time as to whether the Florida-class battleships, laid down in 1909 and these would become the Wyoming class. The class is referred to as the New York class. As designed, the ships had a displacement of 27,000 long tons. They were 573 ft in length overall,565 ft at the waterline, and had a beam of 95 ft 6 in, the ships underwent significant changes and increases in armor and armament over their operational lives. Following her fourth and final refit in 1943, New York increased her displacement to 29,340 long tons standard and 34,000 long tons full-load. The final refit for Texas came in 1945, after which she displaced 29,500 long tons standard and 32,000 long tons at full load, as designed, the ships had a crew complement consisting of 1,042 officers and enlisted men. By 1945, Texas was carrying 1,723 officers and enlisted men with the addition of crews for additional weapons as well as a new complement of Marines. The main battery of the class consisted of ten 14-inch/45 caliber guns, arrayed in five 2-gun turrets designated 1,2,3,4, and 5, the class was the last to feature a turret mounted amidships. In 1910 the US Navys Bureau of Ordnance had successfully designed and tested its 14-inch naval gun, the gun proved to have remarkable accuracy and uniformity of pattern. The New York class was the class of US dreadnought battleship design created, and work had already started on the sixth design. By 1910 no US dreadnought class battleship had yet hit the water, virtually the entire US Navy battle line was being designed by drawing on experience from pre-dreadnought designs or from observation of foreign battleship designs
