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USS North Carolina (ACR-12)

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For other ships with the same name, see USS North Carolina and USS Charlotte.

USS North Carolina (ACR-12), starboard bow view while underway, date and location unknown.
History
United States
NameNorth Carolina
NamesakeState of North Carolina
BuilderNewport News Drydock & Shipbuilding Co., Newport News, Virginia
Laid down21 March 1905
Launched6 October 1906
Commissioned7 May 1908
Decommissioned18 February 1921
RenamedCharlotte, 7 June 1920
Stricken15 July 1930
Fatesold for scrap, 29 September 1930
General characteristics
Class and typeTemplate:Sclass- armored cruiser
Displacement
  • 14,500 long tons (14,733 t) (standard)
  • 15,981 long tons (16,237 t) (full load)
Length504 ft 5 in (153.75 m) oa
Beam72 ft 10 in (22.20 m)
Draft25 ft (7.6 m)
Installed power
Propulsion2 × Triple expansion steam engines
Speed22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph)
Complement914
Armament
Armor

USS North Carolina (ACR-12/CA-12) was a Template:Sclass- 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 and reclassified 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.

She was sold for scrap on 29 September 1921.

Design

Line-drawing of a Tennessee-class cruiser, with mid-ship cross section
Main article: Tennessee-class cruiser

North Carolina was 504 ft 6 in (153.77 m) long overall and had beam of 72 feet 10 inches (22.20 m) and a draft of 25 ft (7.6 m). She displaced 14,500 long tons (14,700 t) normally and up to 15,981 long tons (16,237 t) at full load.[1] The ship was propelled by two 4-cylinder, vertical triple-expansion engines, with steam provided by sixteen coal-fired Babcock & Wilcox water-tube boilers trunked into four funnels. The engines were rated at 23,000 indicated horsepower (17,000 kW), which produced a top speed of 22 knots (25 mph; 41 km/h). She had a storage capacity for up to 2,000 long tons (2,000 t) of coal, which allowed her to steam for 6,500 nautical miles (12,000 km; 7,500 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). She had a crew of 914 officers and men. Originally fitted with a pair of military masts, North Carolina had her foremast replaced with a cage mast in 1911.[2][3]

North Carolina was armed with a main battery of four 10-inch (254 mm) 40-caliber Mark 3 guns in two twin gun turrets, one forward and one aft. These were supported by a secondary battery of sixteen 6-inch (152 mm) 40-caliber Mark 8 guns mounted in casemates, eight on each broadside. For defense against torpedo boats, she carried twenty-two 3-inch (76 mm) 50-caliber guns in single pedestal mounts either in casemates or sponsons in the hull. She also carried a variety of smaller guns, including twelve 3-pounder automatic guns and four 1-pounders. Like other contemporary armored cruisers, she was also armed with four 21 inches (533 mm) torpedo tubes located below the waterline in her hull. North Carolina was protected by a combination of Krupp cemented steel and older Harvey steel. The ship's armored belt was 5 in (127 mm) thick and the maximum thickness of the armor deck was 3 in thick. The main battery turret faces were 9 in (229 mm) thick, as were the sides of the conning tower.[2][3]

Service history

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.[4]

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.[4]

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.[4]

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.[4]

When the U.S. entered the war, North Carolina sailed north to escort troop transports plying between Norfolk and New York.[4]

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.[4]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Musicant, pp. 149–150.
  2. ^ a b Friedman, p. 467.
  3. ^ a b Gardiner, p. 149.
  4. ^ a b c d e f DANFS.

References

  • Friedman, Norman (1984). US Cruisers: An Illustrated History. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-715-1.
  • Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
  • Musicant, Ivan (1985). U.S. Armored Cruisers: A Design and Operational History. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-714-3.
  • "North Carolina II (Armored Cruiser No. 12)". Naval History and Heritage Command. 13 August 2015. Retrieved 12 November 2015.

Further reading

  • 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
  • Taylor, Michael J.H. (1990). Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I. Studio. ISBN 1-85170-378-0.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS North Carolina (ACR-12).
  • Photo gallery of USS 'North Carolina' (ACR-12) at NavSource Naval History
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