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The three ''Maine''-class battleships—, , and —were built at the turn of the 20th century for the United States Navy. Based on the preceding , they incorporated several significant technological advances over the earlier ships. They were the first American battleships to incorporate Krupp cemented armor, which was stronger than Harvey armor, smokeless powder, which allowed for higher-velocity guns and water-tube boilers, which were more efficient and lighter. The ''Maine''s were armed with four guns and sixteen guns, and they could steam at a speed of , a significant increase over the ''Illinois'' class. The three ''Maine''-class battleships served in a variety of roles throughout their careers. ''Maine'' and ''Missouri'' remained in the Atlantic Fleet for their careers, though ''Ohio'' initially served with the Asiatic Fleet from 1904 to 1907. All three ships took part in the cruise of the Great White Fleet in 1907–1909, though ''Maine''s excessive coal consumption forced her to proceed independently for most of the voyage. ''Missouri'' was used as a training ship for much of the rest of her career, and ''Ohio'' took part in the American intervention in the Mexican Revolution in 1914. All three ships were employed as training ships during World War I. After the war, all three ships were withdrawn from service between 1919 and 1920 before being sold for scrap in 1922 and 1923 and broken up. == Design == By 1897, the US Navy had five battleships under construction, and no plans to request additional units for 1898. With the destruction of the armored cruiser in Havana harbor and the subsequent declaration of war on Spain on 25 April 1898, however, a large naval expansion program was passed through Congress. The program called for three new battleships, the first one which would be named for the destroyed ''Maine''. Design work began immediately, though the broad parameters for the new battleships proved to be contentious. The Board on Construction advocated a design based on , to be armed with 13-, 8-, and 6-inch (330, 203, and 152 mm) guns, though others on the board argued that repeating the , which was armed with and 6 in guns and had a speed of , would save construction time. Additionally, they pointed out that 8 in guns could not be incorporated within the displacement limit. Several important technological advances had become available by this time, however, which necessitated several changes to the design. The advent of smokeless powder permitted smaller guns with greater muzzle velocities; the Navy had accordingly designed a 12-inch (305 mm) 40-caliber high-velocity gun. In addition, Krupp cemented armor had been developed in Germany; the steel was a significant improvement over the older Harvey process. Since the steel was stronger, thinner armor plating could achieve the same level of protection and more importantly, significant savings in weight. Water-tube boilers were also now sufficiently reliable for use in warships. These were lighter and substantially more efficient than older fire-tube boilers. Shortly after the three ships had been authorized, the Navy learned that the Russian battleship , recently ordered from William Cramp & Sons in Philadelphia, would be capable of steaming at , a margin of over the ''Maine'' design. The Navy requested that the shipyards submitting designs for the contract increase the speed of their proposed ships to match the Russian vessel. Cramp & Sons responded by lengthening the hull by to increase its fineness (and thus reduce drag) and incorporate new Niclausse boilers, while the Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company lengthened the hull by and increased the horsepower of the propulsion system by sixty percent, to . Ultimately, the Newport design was chosen for the new ships. 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「Maine-class battleship」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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