USS North Carolina (ACR-12)
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| History | |
|---|---|
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| Name | USS North Carolina |
| Builder | Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company |
| Laid down | 21 March 1905 |
| Launched | 6 October 1906 |
| Commissioned | 7 May 1908 |
| Decommissioned | 18 February 1921 |
| Renamed | USS Charlotte, 7 June 1920 |
| Reclassified | CA-12, 7 June 1920 |
| Stricken | 15 July 1930 |
| Fate | Sold for scrap 29 September 1930 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Tennessee-class cruiser |
| Displacement | 14,500 long tons (14,700 t) |
| Length | 504 ft 6 in (153.77 m) |
| Beam | 72 ft 10 in (22.20 m) |
| Draft | 25 ft (7.6 m) |
| Installed power | 23,000 ihp (17,000 kW) |
| Propulsion | list error: <br /> list (help) 2 × vertical triple expansion steam engines 16 × Babcock and Wilcox boilers 2 × shafts |
| Speed | 22 kn (25 mph; 41 km/h) |
| Complement | 859 officers and men |
| Armament | list error: <br /> list (help) 4 × 10 in (250 mm)/40 cal Mark 3 guns (2x2) 16 × 6 in (150 mm)/50 cal Mark 8 guns (16x1) 22 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 cal guns (22x1) 4 × 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes |
| Armor |
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USS North Carolina (ACR-12) was a Tennessee-class armored cruiser of the United States Navy and the second Navy ship so named. She was also known as "Armored Cruiser No. 12" and later renamed Charlotte (CA-12).
She was laid down on 21 March 1905 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Virginia, launched on 6 October 1906, sponsored by Miss Rebekah Glenn, daughter of the Governor of North Carolina R. B. Glenn, and commissioned at Norfolk on 7 May 1908, Captain William A. Marshall in command.
Pre-World War I
Following shakedown along the eastern seaboard and in the Caribbean, North Carolina carried President-elect William Howard Taft on an inspection tour to the Panama Canal in January–February 1909. From 23 April – 3 August, the new cruiser cruised the Mediterranean. Sailing with Montana to protect Americans threatened by conflict in the Ottoman Empire. North Carolina sent a medical relief party ashore on 17 May to Adana, Turkey, to treat both wounded and desperately ill Armenians, victims of massacre. North Carolina provided food, shelter, disinfectants, distilled water, dressings and medicines, and assisted other relief agencies already on the scene. For the remainder of her Mediterranean cruise, North Carolina cruised the Levant succoring both American citizens and refugees from oppression.
In the years before World War I, North Carolina trained and maneuvered in the western Atlantic and Caribbean and participated in ceremonial and diplomatic activities. Highlights included attending centennial celebrations of the independence of Argentina (May–June 1910) and Venezuela (June–July 1911); carrying the Secretary of War for an inspection tour of Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo, Cuba, and the Panama Canal (July–August 1911); and bringing home from Cuba bodies of the crew of the destroyed Maine for their final interment in Arlington National Cemetery.
World War I
As war began in Europe, North Carolina departed Boston on 7 August 1914 to protect Americans in the Near East by helping them evacuate and return to the United States. She rendezvoused with the USS Tennessee off Cape Cod before crossing the Atlantic. After calling at ports of England and France, she cruised constantly between Jaffa, Beirut, and Alexandria, her presence a reminder of the might of still neutral America. She returned to Boston on 18 June for overhaul.
Pensacola, Florida on 9 September, North Carolina contributed to the development of naval aviation through service as station ship. On 5 November, she became the first ship ever to launch an aircraft (a Curtiss Model AB-2) by catapult while under way, flown by Captain Henry C. Mustin, Navy Air Pilot No.3, and Naval Aviator No. 11. This experimental work led to the use of catapults on battleships and cruisers through World War II, and to the steam catapults on present-day aircraft carriers.
When the U.S. entered the war, North Carolina sailed north to escort troop transports plying between Norfolk and New York.
Inter-war period
From December 1918 – July 1919, she brought men of the American Expeditionary Force home from Europe. Renamed Charlotte on 7 June 1920 so that her original name might be assigned to a new battleship, she decommissioned at Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington on 18 February 1921. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 15 July 1930, and she was sold for scrapping on 29 September.
References
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
- Alden, John D. American Steel Navy: A Photographic History of the U.S. Navy from the Introduction of the Steel Hull in 1883 to the Cruise of the Great White Fleet. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989. ISBN 0-87021-248-6
- Friedman, Norman. U.S. Cruisers: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1984. ISBN 0-87021-718-6
- Musicant, Ivan. U.S. Armored Cruisers: A Design and Operational History. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985. ISBN 0-87021-714-3
- Taylor, Michael J.H. (1990). Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I. Studio. ISBN 1-85170-378-0.