| Colorado Class Battleship |
Article Index for Colorado |
Shopping Battleship |
Website Links For Colorado |
Information AboutColorado Class Battleship |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT COLORADO CLASS BATTLESHIP | |
| battleship classes | |
| colorado class battleships | |
|
The ''Colorado'' class battleships (or ''Maryland'' class, under European standards, which names a class of ship after the first unit to be completed) were up-gunned versions of the preceding ''Tennessee'' Class , sharing their general design and appearance, but replacing the earlier ships' twelve 14 inch (356 mm) 50-caliber guns with eight 16 inch (406 mm) 45s. Built with Fiscal Year 1917 appropriations and delayed by higher priorities during World War I , two of the ''Colorado''s were the last new U.S. Battleship s to enter service for nearly two decades, and the last U.S. battleships ever to use the twin turrets - the World War II ships had a uniform main battery of nine 16" (16"/45 in the ''North Carolina'' and ''South Dakota'' classes and 16"/50 in the ''Iowa'' and never-laid-down ''Montana'' classes. The fourth of the class, ''Washington'', was the only new U.S. ship cancelled under the Washington Naval Treaty for the Limitation of Naval Armaments that had actually been launched. Their 32,600 ton standard displacement was slightly heavier than that of the ''Tennessee'' class, and the power and accuracy of their sixteen-inch (406 mm) guns represented a notable improvement. The multi-layered anti-torpedo side protection system, armor, turbo-electric drive, and improved fire controls of the ''Tennessee''s were repeated in the ''Colorado'', which were typical U.S. battleships of the day: robust, heavily-armed and armored but relatively slow. During the 1920s and 1930s , the five ships of these two classes were popularly known as the Battle Fleet's "Big Five." During the early 1930s , it was intended to modernize the "Big Five," but the only work actually done produced a modest increase in anti-aircraft guns and the associated fire control systems. Two of the ''Colorado'' class, ''Maryland'' and ''West Virginia'' were present at the Attack On Pearl Harbor . The latter was sunk, her side protection system overwhelmed by a mass of Japanese torpedoes. ''Colorado'' was then completing an overhaul that added additional depth to the side protection, increasing her beam to 32.9 meters (108 ft), and ''Maryland'' soon received similar improvements. Both ships were further altered later in 1942 , with their "cage" mainmasts cut down and anti-aircraft guns increased in numbers. Later, they received new after superstructures to carry better gun directors. Following '' Kamikaze '' damage in late 1944 , ''Maryland'' was fitted with a sixteen-gun five-inch (127 mm) 38 dual-purpose secondary battery, replacing the previous mixed lot of low-angle five-inch (127 mm) 51s and high-angle five-inch (127 mm) 25s. ''Colorado'' finished her days with the mixed second battery. The massively damaged ''West Virginia'' was salvaged in 1942 and 1943 , and received the same extensive modernization applied to the two ''Tennessee''s: hull widened to 34.7 meters (114 ft), greatly improved fire controls and anti-aircraft batteries, a secondary battery of sixteen five-inch (127 mm) 38-caliber guns in twin mounts, and a generally "modern" appearance. These ships saw the usual wartime employment of older battleships, serving as a "fleet in being" in 1942 and 1943 and thereafter providing big-gun bombardment in support of amphibious operations. ''Maryland'' and ''West Virginia'' were present for the last fight between opposing battleships, the Battle Of Surigao Strait on 25 October 1944 . Laid up after the War, the three ''Colorado'' class ships were part of the Reserve Fleet until 1959 , when they were sold for scrapping. The ''Colorado'' class was part of the "Standard type battleship" concept of the US Navy, a design concept which gave the US Navy a homogeneous line of battle (very important, as it allowed the Navy to plan maneuvers for the whole line of battle rather than detaching "fast wing"s and "slow wing"s). The "Standard" concept included long-range gunnery, moderate speed of 21 knots (39 km/h), a tight tactical radius of 700 yards (640 m) and improved damage control. The other Standards were the ''Nevada'', ''Pennsylvania'', ''New Mexico'' and ''Tennessee'' classes. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
EXTERNAL LINKS |
|
|