USS Nevada (BM-8)

The first USS Nevada, a monitor, was ordered on 4 May 1898. She was awarded to the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine on 19 October 1898 and laid down as Connecticut, 17 April 1899. Connecticut was launched 24 November 1900; sponsored by Miss Grace Boutelle; renamed Nevada, January 1901; and commissioned on 5 March 1903, Commander Thomas B. Howard in command. The total cost for the hull, machinery, armor and armament was $1,851,313.22.

Nevada was renamed Tonopah in 1909 to free up the name for a new battleship.

Design
The Arkansas-class monitors had been designed to combine a heavy striking power with easy concealment and negligible target area. They had a displacement of 3225 LT, measured 255 ft in overall length, with a beam of 50 ft and a draft of 12 ft. She was manned by a total crew of 13 officers and 209 men.

Nevada was powered by two vertical triple expansion engines driving two screw propellers with steam generated by four Niclausse boilers. The engines in Nevada were designed to produce 2400 ihp with a top speed of 12.5 kn, however, on sea trials she was only able to produce 1970 ihp but with a top speed of 13.04 kn. Nevada was designed to provide a range of 2360 nmi at 10 kn.

The ship was armed with a main battery of two 12 in/40 caliber guns, either Mark 3 or Mark 4, in a Mark 4 turret. The secondary battery consisted of four 4 in/50 caliber Mark 7 guns along with three 6-pounder 57 mm guns. The main belt armor was 11 in in the middle tapering to 5 in at the ends. The gun turrets were between 10 and 9 in, with 11 to 9 in barbettes. Nevada also had a 1.5 in deck.

Service history
On 2 March 1909, the monitor was renamed Tonopah to allow Battleship Number 36 to be named Nevada. Assigned to the Atlantic Fleet's submarine force as a tender, Tonopah operated along the east coast from Massachusetts to Key West until January 1918. Then briefly assigned to Bermuda, she was ordered to Ponta Delgada, São Miguel Island, Azores in February. Between then and December she tended the submarines USS K-1 (SS-32), USS K-2 (SS-33), USS K-3 (SS-34), USS K-5 (SS-36), and USS E-1 (SS-24) and submarine chasers operating in the strategic area of the Azores.

In December, she was towed to Lisbon, and, upon her return to the United States, decommissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 1 July 1920. She was one of several vessels sold on 26 January 1922, to Henry A. Hitner's Sons Company of Philadelphia.