USS New Hampshire (BB-25)
 The USS New Hampshire (December 1918)
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The USS New Hampshire was an American warship the Connecticut class . The ship was named after the US state of New Hampshire and was the second ship in the United States Navy to receive this name. The ships of the Connecticut class were the last American battleships that are still assigned to the pre- dreadnought phase , which is why the New Hampshire largely, apart from a very strong medium and semi-heavy artillery, still corresponded to the scheme of the unit ships of the line . The battleship was on May 1, 1905 the shipyard of the New York Shipbuilding Company in Camden (US state of New Jersey down) to Kiel and ran on 30 June 1906 by the stack. The ship was christened by Hazel E. McLane, the daughter of the then governor of New Hampshire, John McLane , who was instrumental in financing the construction of the ship . The commissioning took place on March 19, 1908.
Performance data and technology
Even before the actual commissioning, the New Hampshire was subjected to speed tests in December 1907 off Rockland (US state Maine ), with the ship reaching a top speed of 18.86 kn (approx. 35 km / h). However, the two 30.5 cm twin towers of the main artillery were not yet on board at this time, which is why this speed cannot be assumed to be representative of the subsequent maximum operational speed (when fully equipped, more than 18 knots are rarely reached) . So that was New Hampshire , the twelve coal-fired Babcock & Wilcox -boiler and two 16,500 PSI strong triple-expansion engines and two screws had, nevertheless, a relatively fast battleship.
In terms of artillery, the New Hampshire was based on the standard ships of the time, although the medium artillery was comparatively heavy and a semi-heavy artillery was also inserted between the medium and main artillery (this was the case with almost all warships that acted as a transition between the dreadnought types and the unit ships of the line were built). The main artillery consisted of four 30.5 cm Mark 5 L / 45 cannons in two twin turrets, each weighing 434 tons; One tower each stood in front of and behind the superstructures. There were also eight 20.3 cm Mark 6 L / 45 guns in four twin turrets on board. These towers of the semi-heavy artillery, each weighing 151 tons, were arranged on both sides of the superstructure so that four cannons could be brought to bear on one broad side . In addition, the New Hampshire had twelve 17.8 cm cannons Mark 1 L / 44 in casemates (six each on both sides of the hull). Overall, the artillery armament was relatively strong, but the advantage was limited, since the shooting results were rather moderate due to the similarity of the impact images of the 20.3 cm and 17.8 cm guns and thus the likelihood of confusion. This shortcoming was, however, assigned to almost all warships that were equipped with semi-heavy calibers and that functioned as an intermediate stage between the standard ship of the line and the later dreadnought types.
To defend against torpedo boats, there were also 20 7.6 cm guns in casemates or in open mountings on board. Four 53.3 cm caliber torpedo tubes were also rigidly installed under water (two tubes each facing starboard and port ).
Working time
The New Hampshire never took part in direct acts of war and combat . However, she undertook several transport and representation trips. In June 1908, the ship, under the command of Captain Cameron McRae Winslow, transported a regiment of US naval troops to Colón , Panama (which had been occupied by the United States in 1903) to supervise the construction of the Panama Canal . In the late 1908 visits to Québec , Portsmouth and Bridgeport followed . After a short stay at the New York Naval Shipyard in New York in January 1909 , the New Hampshire went to the Caribbean in the spring of 1909 for almost 18 months of maneuvering .
After laying the 2nd Battleship Squadron ( 2 nd Battleship Division ) followed in 1910 and 1911 extended trips to Europe, inter alia, French, German, Russian and British ports were visited, including Cherbourg . Between 1911 and 1913, the New Hampshire served as a training ship off the New England coast . From April to June 1914 involved in the temporary occupation of Veracruz as a result of the so-called Tampico incident , the ship was overhauled in Norfolk in the summer of 1914 and then used on patrols off the Mexican coast, Central America and the Caribbean until the beginning of 1917 . After the United States entered the First World War in April 1917, the ship was used for security purposes in the Atlantic, so the New Hampshire escorted two convoys to Europe in September 1918 . After the end of the war in 1918, the battleship also transported around 2,000 US soldiers back home on four trips (between December 1918 and June 1919).
After an overhaul in Philadelphia , the ship moved through the Panama Canal in 1920 and embarked on a two-month voyage to Hawaii . In the same year, the United States Navy also introduced hull numbers for their ships for the first time, which is why the New Hampshire only received and carried the ultimately valid identifier BB-25 at this time. After returning from the Pacific, a short trip to Europe followed in February and March 1921, including visits to Kiel and Gravesend .
Following this voyage, the New Hampshire was decommissioned on May 21, 1921 in Philadelphia. Based on the provisions of the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty on Maritime Armaments Limitations, the order was finally issued on November 1, 1923 to scrap the ship. From November 10, 1923, the New Hampshire was then scrapped.
literature
- Norman Friedman: US Battleships: An Illustrated Design History . Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1985.
Web links
- Side of the USS New Hampshire at the Naval History and Heritage Command.
- USS New Hampshire in the Battleship Photo Archive on NavSource Online.