South Carolina (1910) South Carolina (1910)Striking power and staying power were seen as more important than speed by the USN. This two-strong class mounted a formidable eight-gun 305mm (12in) broadside, and their superfiring turrets were to become the standard arrangement for capital ships.
Though Michigan was commissioned two months earlier, South Carolina had already been allocated the pennant number BB25, and its sister ship was BB26. Ordered as first-class battleships, their standard displacement was restricted to 14,515 tonnes (16,000 tons) by Congressional mandate, though fully loaded they were closer to 16,329 tonnes (18,000 tons).
The gun layout did away with the need for wing turrets, making better use of magazine space and improving magazine protection, and still enabling an eight-gun broadside to be fired.
The weight limitation brought out the maximum ingenuity of the American designers as they worked out how to attain maximum firepower with a broadside of eight big guns. Their details had been fixed before Dreadnought’s, but they were not completed until well after the British ship. South Carolina was laid down at Cramp’s yard, Philadelphia, on 18 December 1906, launched on 11 July 1908 and commissioned into the Navy on 1 March 1910. With them, what became the classic gun arrangement of the battleship and battlecruiser was established, with two turrets fore and aft, the inner one raised to fire over the top of the outer one.
BB25 and 26 were the first US ships to carry the so-called lattice masts, often referred to as basket masts and unfavourably compared to electricity pylons, which were to typify US battleships until the 1930s. In fact they were multitubular steel towers in which the topmost and bottom retaining rings were turned in opposite directions, resulting in a rotary hyperboloid form. It was felt that the nature of the structure would protect fire control positions from the shocks and vibrations that were transmitted through the traditional form of mast.
Tested in gunnery practice, the structure proved stable against shell hits, though Michigan’s forward mast was brought down in a gale in 1918. The top platform was exposed and unsuitable as a control post or gun-platform, and the design could not support an armoured fire-control position, so the basket masts were eventually replaced as ships of the period were modernised.
Tests had been made using the armoured turret of an old monitor to establish that blast effects from the superfiring turret would not be detrimental to the lower one. With all the big guns on the centreline, the balancing of the ship was simplified and the magazines could be located in areas of maximum safety. From the viewpoint of gunnery control – by now a vital aspect of battle management – all the main armament could be given instructions at once when firing salvoes on the beam.
South Carolina and Michigan set the pattern of pre-1914 US battleship silhouettes with their gun arrangement, basket masts and tall, capped funnels.
The arc of fire was around 270 degrees. The 305mm (12in) guns had 13.72m (45ft) barrels weighing 47.85 tonnes (52.75 tons) and fired 390kg (870lb) shells with an extreme range of 18,000m (20,000yd) at their maximum elevation of 15 degrees. The rate of fire was three rounds a minute at peak performance. The secondary armament of 22 76mm (3in) guns was intended for defence against torpedo boats but was altered in 1917, with 14 76mm (3in) guns, two 76mm (3in) AA guns and four 1-pounder guns. The AA guns were mounted on top of the derrick posts instead of torpedo searchlights, reflecting the fact that the airplane was the new threat to large warships.
Another consequence of the weight limitation was a shortening of the stern section from the preferred design, and the sacrificing of a deck level compared with the previous Connecticut class. American officers were normally accommodated at the stern (as in the Royal Navy) but in these ships their quarters were moved to the midships superstructure. Despite the weight restriction, South Carolina was well-armoured. The belt armour was thickest at 305mm (12in) where it protected the magazines of the main guns, and 279mm (11in) alongside the boiler and engine rooms, tapering to 203mm (8in) and closed off at each end by transverse 203mm (8in) bulkheads. Below the waterline the armouring was 254mm (10in). There was no longitudinal bulkhead dividing the ship, unlike French and British practice.
The deck plan clearly shows the simplicity and balance of the superfiring arrangement. The arc of fire for all guns was around 270 degrees.
Turbine propulsion had been considered but price considerations prevailed and South Carolina had reciprocating engines that drove it at 34.26km/h (18.5 knots), 4.6km/h (2.5 knots) slower than HMS Dreadnought. But the US Navy command considered speed to be less vital than firepower and armour protection, at least until long-range German U-boats began to reach American coastal waters. The low freeboard of 3m (10ft), especially at the quarterdeck, made them wet ships and they had a notable tendency to roll in rough seas, though not to such a dangerous extent as the contemporary German Nassau class, and bilge keels were not applied.
South Carolina was deployed to the Atlantic Fleet, based at Key West and Guantanamo. After a refit at Philadelphia, completed in January 1917, it returned to Guantanamo. From the outbreak of war in April 1917 it was used as a gunnery training ship in Chesapeake Bay. In September 1918 it had to return from convoy escort duty for mechanical repairs. After the Armistice, from February to July 1919 it made four Atlantic crossings to repatriate American troops from France. With Michigan it made a training cruise to Honolulu in 1920 and went on further training and goodwill cruises until paid off at Philadelphia on 15 December 1921. It was stricken from the list on 13
Specification
Dimensions |
Length 137.9m (452ft 8in), Beam 24.5m (80ft 5in), Draught 7.49m (24ft 7in), Displacement 14,515 tonnes (16,000 tons); 16,238 tonnes (17,900 tons) full load |
Propulsion |
12 Babcock & Wilcox boilers, 2 vertical 4-cylinder triple-acting engines developing 12,304kW (16,500hp), 2 screws |
Armament |
8 305mm (12in) guns, 22 88mm (3in) QF guns, 2 underwater 533mm (21in) torpedo tubes |
Armour |
Belt 305–228mm (12–9in), Casemates and barbettes 254–203mm (10–8in), Turrets 304mm (12in), Deck 38mm (1.5in), Conning tower 305mm (12in) |
Range |
9260km (5000nm) at 10 knots |
Speed |
18.5 knots |
Complement |
869 |
