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The ''Delaware''-class battleships of the United States Navy were the second class of American dreadnoughts. With this class, the 16,000-ton limit imposed on capital ships by the United States Congress was waived, which allowed designers at the Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair to correct what they considered flaws in the preceding and produce ships not only more powerful but also more effective and rounded overall. Launched in 1909, these ships became the first in U.S. naval history to exceed 20,000 tons. The ''Delaware''s carried a battery of ten 12"/45 caliber Mark 5 guns in five turrets, an increase of two guns over the ''South Carolina''s . With these ships, the U.S. Navy re-adopted a full-fledged medium-caliber weapon for anti-torpedo boat defense. While the gun was smaller than that used by other major navies, this would, with few exceptions, become the standard medium-gun caliber for the U.S. Navy for the better part of the 20th century. As for speed, the ''Delaware''s were capable of , a significant improvement over the earlier class's . This would become the speed for all American standard-type battleships. Propulsion systems were mixed; while was fitted with steam turbines, retained triple-expansion engines. U.S. turbines at this point did not give great advantages in output or speed over triple-expansion systems, as the engineering difficulties faced by turbine manufacturers there were still extremely great, and were much less fuel-efficient, a significant concern for a Navy with Pacific responsibilities but lacking Britain's extensive network of coaling stations. These ships saw varied service during their careers. As part of Battleship Division Nine of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, ''Delaware'' was assigned to the British Grand Fleet after America's entry into World War I, where she escorted convoys and participated in the blockade of the German High Seas Fleet. In contrast, ''North Dakota'' remained on the American coast throughout the war, due in part to worries about her troublesome turbine engines. Post-war, they conducted training cruises with the US Atlantic Fleet. In 1924, ''Delaware'' was broken up for scrap metal in accordance with the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. ''North Dakota'' survived until 1931, when she too was scrapped, under the terms of the 1930 London Naval Treaty. == Design == Prompted by the launch of and misinformation about , the U.S. Navy and Congress faced what they perceived as a vastly better battleship than the two battleships then under construction, which were designed under tonnage constraints that Congress had imposed on capital ships. Actually, the ''South Carolina''s were inferior only in speed to ''Dreadnought''; they carried fewer heavy guns but, unlike ''Dreadnought'', could bring all of them to bear on the broadside. Because of this, they could fire an equal weight of metal. Also, because greater time and care had been taken with their armor and bulkhead arrangement, they were better protected than the British ship. None of this was realized at the time. Nevertheless, the Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair (C&R) had struggled tremendously to design an adequate warship under congressional limits and had taken battleship design as far under those restrictions as it could. Seeing now that those limits had become unrealistic, Congress ended them; any subsequent constraints would be dictated by treaty limitations. The language of the authorizing act of June 26, 1906 was for a battleship "carrying as heavy armor and as an powerful armament as any known vessel of its class, to have the highest practicable speed and the greatest practicable radius of action." The ''Delaware'' class was the second of 11 distinct U.S. capital ship designs begun from 1906 to 1919; some 29 battleships and six battlecruisers were laid down during this period, though seven of the battleships and all six of the battlecruisers were cancelled. Except for the s, these were all relatively slow ships, designed for no more than 23 knots. They ranged in displacement from 16,000 to 42,000 tons. At this time, no U.S. dreadnought class battleship had yet hit the water as all were either at some stage of building or in design. Virtually the entire U.S. Navy battle line was being designed by drawing on experience from pre-dreadnought designs, or from observation of foreign battleship design. The design for these ships was actually ready in 1905 or 1906. Two variants were offered—a 10-gun version on 20,500 tons and a 12-gun alternative on 24,000 tons. The larger ship was rejected as too expensive for the firepower it offered, even after its displacement was reduced to 22,000 tons. Also, because C&R was required to consider private designs, construction on the ''Delaware''s did not commence until 1907. None of the private designs was considered remotely satisfactory by the Navy. However, Fore River later developed its version into the battleship , which was built for the Argentine navy. While the C&R design was considered superior, it still came under criticism, particularly for the poor placement of and lack of protection for the secondary armament. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Delaware-class battleship」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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