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Photo # NH 92091:  Atlantic Fleet battleships steaming in column, with USS Kansas at left

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIP TYPES -- BATTLESHIPS --

Connecticut Class (Battleship #s 18-22 & 25),
Fiscal Years 1903 (#s 18 & 19), 1904 (#s 20-22) and 1905 (# 25)

The six ships of the Connecticut class were the definitive U.S. Navy mixed-battery battleships, a type shoved from the pinnacle of naval esteem by the "all-big-gun" HMS Dreadnought even before the last four went into commission. However, since it took several years to build a significant fleet of "dreadnoughts", these ships and their immediate predecessors formed the backbone of the U.S. Navy's battle line into the early 'Teens. Five of them took part in the 1907-09 World cruise of the "Great White Fleet", a striking demonstration of the strategic mobility of their type.

The Connecticuts were big ships for their day, with fully a thousand tons more displacement than the largest earlier U.S. battleships. Their main battery of four 12-inch guns in two turrets followed the pattern established before, though these guns fired their shells at a higher velocity. In its secondary battery, eight 8-inch guns in twin turrets at the superstructure corners and twelve 7-inch guns in casemates in the hull sides, the Connecticut class design marked the end of a notable internal debate within the U.S. Navy. There were also twenty single-mounted three-inch guns to drive away hostile torpedo craft.

At the end of their great World tour in early 1909, Connecticut, Louisiana, Vermont, Kansas and Minnesota, still resplendent in "white and buff" paint, were welcomed home by their final sister, New Hampshire, wearing the grey recently adopted by the Navy. They were soon modernized, trading in their solid "military" masts and elaborate upperworks for "cage" masts and reduced superstructures, losing a few three-inch guns and gaining submerged tubes for 21-inch torpedos. They also got grey paint, bringing to an end two decades of the Navy's most attractive, if militarily useless, warship color schemes. New Hampshire received a similar overhaul in 1910.

For the next eight years, the Connecticuts were kept busy with fleet maneuvers off the U.S. east coast and in the Caribbean, and in a number of armed interventions in troubled nations "south of the border". Before World War I erupted in Europe there were also occasional trans-Atlantic voyages and spectacular Naval reviews in New York harbor. During the United States' participation in the "Great War", the ships were employed in training and convoy escort. They gave up their seven-inch guns and most of their three-inchers for use afloat on other ships and ashore as heavy field artillery, but received more weather-resistant upperworks. A half-year's duty as transports marked their immediate post-war service, followed by a variety of training, diplomatic and other duties. All but Connecticut were decommissioned in 1920-21. She left the active fleet in 1923, the year that all were disposed of under the terms of the Washington naval limitations treaty.

The Connecticut class numbered six ships, all built on the east coast:

  • Connecticut (Battleship # 18). Built by the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y. Keel laid in March 1903; launched in September 1904; commissioned in September 1906.
  • Louisiana (Battleship # 19). Built by the Newport News Ship Building and Drydock Company, Newport News, Virginia. Keel laid in February 1903; launched in August 1904; commissioned in June 1906.
  • Vermont (Battleship # 20). Built by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, Quincy, Massachusetts. Keel laid in May 1904; launched in August 1905; commissioned in March 1907.
  • Kansas (Battleship # 21). Built by the New York Shipbuilding Company, Camden, New Jersey. Keel laid in February 1904; launched in August 1905; commissioned in April 1907.
  • Minnesota (Battleship # 22). Built by the Newport News Ship Building and Drydock Company, Newport News, Virginia. Keel laid in October 1903; launched in April 1905; commissioned in March 1907.
  • New Hampshire (Battleship # 25). Built by the New York Shipbuilding Company, Camden, New Jersey. Keel laid in May 1905; launched in June 1906; commissioned in March 1908.

    Connecticut class "as-built" design characteristics:

  • Displacement: 16,000 tons
  • Dimensions: 456' (length overall); 78' 10" (extreme beam)
  • Powerplant: 16,500 horsepower, triple-expansion reciprocating engines, two propellers, 18 knot maximum speed
  • Armament (Main Battery): four 12"/45 guns in two twin turrets; eight 8"/45 guns in four twin turrets (four guns per side); twelve 7"/45 guns in single casemate mountings (six guns per side)
  • Armament (Secondary Battery): Twenty 3"/50 guns in single mountings.

    This page features a modest selection of photographs of Connecticut class battleships, plus images related to these ships' basic design features, and provides links to more extensive pictorial coverage of the individual ships.

    For coverage of other classes of U.S. Navy battleships, see: Battleships -- Overview and Special Image Selection.

    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 59575

    USS Louisiana
    (Battleship # 19)

    Photographed in 1906 by Enrique Muller.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 98KB; 740 x 535 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 101072

    USS Vermont
    (Battleship # 20)

    Underway in heavy seas, circa 1907-1909, possibly during the cruise around the World of the "Great White Fleet".

    From the album of Francis Sargent; Courtesy of Commander John Condon, 1986.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 73KB; 740 x 435 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 101500

    USS Minnesota
    (Battleship # 22)

    Photographed by Brown & Shaffer, 1909.

    Collection of Chief Quartermaster John Harold.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 67KB; 740 x 440 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 2325

    USS Connecticut
    (Battleship # 18)

    Dressed with flags while at anchor in the Hudson River, off New York City, prior to World War I. The occasion may be the Fleet Review of October 1911.
    Steam launch at left is from USS Washington (Armored Cruiser # 11).

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 87KB; 740 x 570 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 2896

    USS Kansas
    (Battleship # 21)

    At anchor, circa 1912.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 84KB; 740 x 535 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 2891

    USS New Hampshire
    (Battleship # 25)

    In the Hudson River, New York, 27 December 1918.
    Note wartime modifications, including removal of some of the seven-inch and three-inch broadside guns and fitting of blast deflection shields on the "cage" mast fire control positions.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 87KB; 740 x 580 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 93862

    USS Kansas
    (Battleship # 21)

    In a French port, probably Brest, during a post-World War I trooping voyage, circa January-June 1919.
    Note French sailing lugger in the foreground, with number C1667 on her mainsail.
    Kansas' seven-inch broadside guns have been removed.
    Battleships in the distance are: USS New Hampshire (left) and USS Connecticut (right).

    Courtesy of Paul Silverstone, 1982.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 58KB; 740 x 500 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 73105

    USS New Hampshire
    (Battleship # 25)

    Firing her 12"/45 main battery guns at the target ship San Marcos (ex-Texas) in Chesapeake Bay, March 1911.
    Photographed by N.G. Moser.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 106KB; 740 x 520 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 63640

    USS Connecticut
    (Battleship # 18)

    Firing a gun of her after starboard eight-inch turret, during battle practice in 1913. The 12"/45 guns of the battleship's after turret are in the foreground.
    Photographed by Enrique Muller.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 51KB; 740 x 460 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 92091

    U.S. Atlantic Fleet Battleships


    Steaming in column, probably while departing Hampton Roads, Virginia, at the start of their cruise around the World, December 1907.
    Photographed by C.E. Waterman, Hampton, Va.
    USS Kansas (Battleship # 21) is at left, followed by USS Vermont (Battleship # 20).

    Collection of Roy D. France.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 490 pixels

     


    Note: for comments concerning alternative dates and locations for this photograph, see: Photo #: NH 59537 (NH 92091 is a cropped version of NH 59537).

    Photo #: NH 63337

    Battleships of the 4th Division, Atlantic Fleet


    Maneuvering in line abreast off the Atlantic coast, 1917, as seen from the masthead of USS Minnesota (Battleship # 22), the Division flagship.
    Ships seen are (from front to rear):
    USS Louisiana (Battleship # 19);
    USS Kansas (Battleship # 21); and
    USS New Hampshire (Battleship # 25).

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 129KB; 740 x 570 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 105386

    Connecticut Class Battleships


    Steaming in column, probably during a training operation circa 1918.
    Letterpress reproduction of a photograph. It was published with a quite incorrect caption identifying these ships as units of the Sixth Battle Squadron in the North Sea.

    Donation of Charles R. Haberlein Jr., 2007.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image size: 104KB; 740 x 515 pixels

     

    For more views of Connecticut class battleships, see:

  • Connecticut (Battleship # 18);
  • Louisiana (Battleship # 19);
  • Vermont (Battleship # 20);
  • Kansas (Battleship # 21);
  • Minnesota (Battleship # 22); and
  • New Hampshire (Battleship # 25).

    For coverage of other classes of U.S. Navy battleships, see: Battleships -- Overview and Special Image Selection.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 7 June 2001
    New image and link added 12 May 2008