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USS ''Connecticut'' (BB-18), the fourth United States Navy ship to be named after the state of Connecticut, was the lead ship of her class of six battleships. Her keel was laid on 10 March 1903; launched on 29 September 1904, ''Connecticut'' was commissioned on 29 September 1906 as the most advanced ship in the U.S. Navy. ''Connecticut'' served as the flagship for the Jamestown Exposition in mid-1907, which commemorated the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Jamestown colony. She later sailed with the Great White Fleet on a circumnavigation of the Earth to showcase the US Navy's growing fleet of blue-water-capable ships. After completing her service with the Great White Fleet, ''Connecticut'' participated in several flag-waving exercises intended to protect American citizens abroad until she was pressed into service as a troop transport at the end of World War I to expedite the return of American Expeditionary Forces from France. For the remainder of her career, ''Connecticut'' sailed to various places in both the Atlantic and Pacific while training newer recruits to the Navy. However, the provisions of the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty stipulated that many of the older battleships, ''Connecticut'' among them, would have to be disposed of, so she was decommissioned on 1 March 1922 and sold for scrap on 1 November 1923. == Design == The design that evolved into the was conceived on 6 March 1901 when Secretary of the Navy John Davis Long asked the Board on Construction for a study of future battleship designs. When this was completed, different bureaus supported different designs.〔Friedman (1985), p. 43〕 The Board on Construction favored a ship on which and guns would be replaced by 24 newly designed guns, which were the most powerful guns with shells that could be handled by one person.〔The shell for the 7-inch guns weighed , whereas a shell for the 6-inch gun weighed about , and the shell for the 8-inch gun weighed about . These shells could only be moved by "power or several men", making the 7-inch gun "the largest () capable of really rapid fire in the context of existing technology".〕 In addition, the ships would mount twenty-four 3-inch (76 mm) anti-torpedo boat guns.〔 The main armor would be thinner overall because it would be distributed over the entire length. The Board's favored design would result in a ship weighing displacement.〔 The Bureau of Construction and Repair, however, proposed a modified with sixteen 8-inch guns, twelve in turrets and four in casemates; the casemate guns were later eliminated, leaving twelve 8-inch, twelve 6-inch, and eight 3-inch guns on a ship of . This design was later rejected because the reduction in anti-torpedo boat guns was too drastic.〔 Although one of the two designs had been rejected, the debate did not end. In November, the Board decided on a different plan, with eight 8-inch guns mounted in four waist turrets and 12 7-inch guns. This arrangement was chosen because the 8-inch gun could penetrate medium armor on battleships, and the 7-inch gun was capable of rapid fire.〔 The new design also had heavier armor and a thicker belt than the first design. Two ships of this plan, ''Connecticut'' and , were authorized on 1 July 1902, and three more were added on 2 March 1903: , , and . was authorized on 27 April 1904.〔〔The long gap was the result of the two s that were built between ''Minnesota'' and ''New Hampshire''; the ''Mississippi'' were a congressional attempt to "prune back the growth of battleship size and cost" by severely limiting their displacements. As they had to cut down the ''Connecticut'' design by about 20%, the designs were not very successful, and the ships were sold about six years after being commissioned. See: Friedman (1985), pp. 45 and 47.〕 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「USS Connecticut (BB-18)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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