Pre-South Carolinas?

[BB60]

The major dividing line in modern battleship development occurred with the launching of the HMS Dreadnought in 1906. The Dreadnought incorporated all big guns with steam turbines and made all previous battleships (now know as Pre-Dreadnoughts) obsolete.

The USS South Carolina was designed before the Dreadnought, but was not launched and commissioned until well after the Dreadnought and was the first battleship built with all centerline turretes. The former’s construction took place at a leisurely pace, resulting in a 1910 commissioning following a 1906 laying down. The South Carolina had all big guns in a 4-turret, center-line, super-firing layout where the Dreadnought was still outfitted with the two, two-gun wing turrets in addition to three center line twin turrets. The centerline turrets were not super-firing and the X-turret had restricted aft fire capability.

Another large difference was the propulsion plant, with the South Carolina still retaining the triple expansion engines while the Dreadnought boasted steam turbines. The use of the triple expansion machinery was dictated to increase range, as the US Navy at the time desired the extended range offered by the more economic use of the engines over the turbines.

Makes me wonder what the new development of battleships would have been called if the South Carolina had been commissioned first? South Carolina and Pre-South Carolinas? Quite a mouthful.


As it was, the South Carolina was just one more step toward the Super Dreadnoughts (or could they have been Super South Carolinas) that ruled the seas for only 30 more years

[The Sailor]

USS South Carolina

Here is a pic and a bit more about her.

The entry of the United States into the war on the side of the Allies in April 1917 did not presage dramatic events for the Navy. Except for U-boats and an occasional disguised commerce raider, the Royal Navy had already cleared the seas of German naval might at such battles as the Battle of Jutland and the Battle of the Falkland Islands. Therefore, South Carolina continued to operate along the East Coast through 1917 and for the first eight months of 1918.

On 9 September 1918, she joined the escort of a convoy bound for France. A week later, she turned the convoy over to other escorts in mid-ocean and steamed back to the United States.
From mid-February until late July 1919, South Carolina made four round-trip voyages between the United States and Brest, France. By 26 July, when she entered Hampton Roads at the end of the last of these voyages, she had returned over 4,000 World War I veterans to the United States.

South Carolina was decommissioned at Philadelphia on 15 December 1921 in accordance with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty.