|
The USS ''Idaho'' on the Hudson River |
| |
|---|
| Laid down: | 1904-05-12 |
| Launched: | 1905-12-09 |
| Commissioned: | 1908-04-01 |
| Decommissioned: | 1914-07-30 |
| Fate: | transferred to Greece , sunk by German aircraft, April 1941 |
|
|---|
| Displacement: | 13,000 t |
| Length: | 382 ft |
| Beam: | 77 ft |
| Draft: | 24.7 ft |
| Speed: | 17 knots |
| Complement: | 744 officers and men |
| Armament: | 4 x 12-inch guns, 8 x 8-inch guns, 8 x 7-inch guns, 12 x 3-inch guns, 2 x 21-inch torpedo tubes |
, a
''Mississippi''-class Battleship , was the
second ship of the
United States Navy named in honor of
The 43rd State .
Her construction was authorized on
1903-03-03 and her keel was laid down on
1904-05-12 by
William Cramp And Sons of
Philadelphia ,
Pennsylvania . She was
Launched on
1905-12-09 sponsored by
Louise Gooding , daughter of Governor
Frank Gooding of
Idaho , and
Commissioned at
Philadelphia Navy Yard on
1908-04-01 with Captain
S.W.B. Diehl in command.
Designed as cheaper "second class" battleships, the
''Mississippis'' suffered from rolling and poor sea-keeping.
The new battleship conducted a shakedown cruise to
Cuba in April and May
1908 , and after a visit to
Panama returned to Philadelphia for alterations. The ship took part in the giant
Naval Review in
Hampton Roads on
1909-02-22 celebrating the return of the
Great White Fleet from its around-the-world cruise. In March she returned to the
Caribbean Sea for maneuvers, continuing to take part in training operations until October
1910 . She sailed on
1910-10-29 for exercises in British and French waters, and upon her return participated in gunnery exercises in
Chesapeake Bay from
1911-03-19 to
1911-03-28 .
''Idaho'' sailed from Philadelphia on
1911-05-04 for a cruise up the
Mississippi River to
Louisiana ports. She then steamed to the east coast of
Florida for battleship maneuvers, and continued to operate off the coast and in the Caribbean until entering the reserve at Philadelphia on
1918-10-27 . There she remained until
1914-05-09 , when the ship sailed to the
Mediterranean Sea with midshipmen for at sea training. After visiting various ports in
North Africa and
Italy and carrying out a rigorous training program, ''Idaho'' arrived at
Villefrache, Greece on
1914-07-17 , transferred her crew to
''Maine'' , and decommissioned
1914-07-30 . She was turned over to the government of
Greece , whom she served as coastal defense ship ''Lemnos'' until being sunk at the naval base at
Salamis Island by
German aircraft in April
1941 .
Although the ''Mississippi''s were decommissioned before the fleet designation reworkings in 1920, and thus never carried the "BB"
Hull Classification Symbol in service, many lists of American battleships (including the one in this encyclopedia) list them as "BB-23" and "BB-24" for completeness.
