USS Washington (BB-47)

USS Washington (BB-47), a Colorado-class battleship, was the second ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the 42nd state. Her keel was laid down on 30 June 1919, at Camden, New Jersey, by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation. She was launched on 1 September 1921, sponsored by Miss Jean Summers, the daughter of Congressman John W. Summers of Washington.

On 8 February 1922, two days after the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty for the Limitation of Naval Armaments, all construction work ceased on the 75.9%-completed superdreadnought. She was sunk as a gunnery target on 26 November 1924, by the battleships USS New York (BB-34) and USS Texas (BB-35).

Design


In 1916, design work was completed on the next class of battleships to be built for the United States Navy beginning in 1917. These ships were nearly direct copies of the preceding Tennessee-class battleship, with the exception of the main battery, which increased from twelve 14 in guns to eight 16 in guns. The Colorado class proved to be the last class of battleships completed of the standard type.

Washington was 624 ft long overall and she had a beam of 97 ft and a draft of 30 ft. She displaced 32693 LT as designed and up to 33590 LT at full load. The ship was powered by four General Electric turbo-electric drives with steam provided by eight oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers. The ship's propulsion system was rated at 28900 shp for a top speed of 21 kn. She had a normal cruising range of 8000 nmi at 10 kn, but additional fuel space could be used in wartime to increase her range to 21100 nmi at that speed. Her crew numbered 64 officers and 1,241 enlisted men.

She was armed with a main battery of eight 16 in /45 caliber Mark 1 guns in four twin-gun turrets on the centerline, two forward and two aft in superfiring pairs. The secondary battery consisted of sixteen 5 in/51 caliber guns, mounted individually in casemates clustered in the superstructure amidships. She carried an anti-aircraft battery of eight 3 in/50 caliber guns in individual high-angle mounts. As was customary for capital ships of the period, she had a 21 in torpedo tube mounted in her hull below the waterline on each broadside. Washington's main armored belt was 8 – thick, while the main armored deck was up to 3.5 in thick. The main battery gun turrets had 18 in thick faces on 13 in barbettes. Her conning tower had 16 in thick sides.

History
With fiscal year 1917 appropriations, bids on the four Colorados were opened on 18 October 1916; though Maryland's keel was laid on 24 April 1917. The other three battleships, including Washington, were not laid down until 1919–1920. With the cancellation of the first South Dakota-class battleship (1920), the Colorados were the last U.S. battleships to enter service for nearly two decades. They were also the final U.S. battleships to use twin gun turrets—the North Carolina-class battleship and second South Dakota-class battleship (1939)es used nine 16-inch/45 caliber Mark 6 guns and the Iowa-class battleships used nine 16-inch/50 caliber Mark 7 guns in three triple turrets. Washington was laid down on 30 June 1919.

On 8 February 1922, two days after the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty for the Limitation of all Naval Armaments, all construction work was stopped on the 75.9-percent-completed superdreadnought. By that time, she had her underwater armored protection in place.

The ship was towed out in November 1924, to be used as a gunnery target. On the first day of testing, the ship was hit by two 400 lb torpedoes and three 1 t near-miss bombs causing minor damage and a list of three degrees. She then had 400 pounds of TNT detonated on board, but remained afloat. Two days later, the ship was hit by fourteen 14 in shells dropped from 4000 ft, but only one penetrated. The ship was finally sunk by Texas and New York with fourteen more 14-inch shells. After the test, it was decided that the existing deck armor on battleships was inadequate, and that future battleships should be fitted with triple bottoms, which was underwater armor with three layers.