.gif)
USS Mississippi (BB-23)
Encyclopedia
USS Mississippi (Battleship No. 23), the lead ship
Lead ship
The lead ship or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable military ships and larger civilian craft.-Overview:...
of her class
Mississippi class battleship
The Mississippi class of battleships comprised two ships which were authorized in the 1903 naval budget: and . They were the last pre-dreadnought battleships to be designed for the United States Navy; however, they were not the last to be built as one more ship of a prior design was completed...
of battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
s, was the second ship of the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
named in honor of the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
. After her career in the USN, she was sold to Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and renamed Kilkis
Greek Battleship Kilkis
Kilkis was a 13,000 ton Mississippi-class battleship originally built by the US Navy in 1904–1908. The Greek Navy purchased the ship in 1914, along with her sister , renamed Limnos. Kilkis was named for the Battle of Kilkis-Lahanas, a crucial engagement of the Second Balkan War...
in 1914. Kilkis was sunk by German bombers in April 1941.
Her keel was laid down on 12 May 1904 by William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
. She was launched
Ship naming and launching
The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...
on 30 September 1905 sponsored by Miss Mabel Clare Money, daughter of United States Senator Hernando D. Money of Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, and commissioned
Ship commissioning
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...
at Philadelphia Navy Yard on 1 February 1908, Captain
Captain (naval)
Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....
J.C. Fremont in command.
Design
Mississippi and her sister were designed in response to Congressional desire to cap the growth and expense of new battleships, whose size and cost had increased dramatically since the first US battleships, the IndianasIndiana class battleship
The three Indiana-class battleships were the first battleships to be built by the United States Navy comparable to contemporary European ships, such as the British . Authorized in 1890 and commissioned between November 1895 and April 1896, they were relatively small battleships with heavy armor and...
of 1893, had been authorized. Displacement was limited to 13,000 tons (13,200 metric tons), a reduction of 3,000 tons (3,000 metric tons) from the prior Connecticut-class
Connecticut class battleship
- External links :...
.
In terms of design, the two ships were essentially a reduced version of the Connecticuts which had preceded them, and by comparison with which they sacrificed 1 kn (1.2 mph; 2 km/h) of speed, four 7 in (177.8 mm) guns, eight 3 in (76.2 mm) guns, two torpedo tube
Torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units installed aboard surface vessels...
s and some freeboard
Freeboard (nautical)
In sailing and boating, freeboardmeans the distance from the waterline to the upper deck level, measured at the lowest point of sheer where water can enter the boat or ship...
. They were indifferent sea boats and were obsolete upon commissioning in consequence of the advent of .
Though intended to recapitulate in steel and steam the concept of the 74-gun
Seventy-four (ship)
The "seventy-four" was a type of two-decked sailing ship of the line nominally carrying 74 guns. Originally developed by the French Navy in the mid-18th century, the design proved to be a good balance between firepower and sailing qualities, and was adopted by the British Royal Navy , as well as...
third-rate
Third-rate
In the British Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks . Years of experience proved that the third rate ships embodied the best compromise between sailing ability , firepower, and cost...
, which had formed the backbone of the sailing battle fleets of the previous century, the tactical and technical calculus of early 20th Century naval warfare had made the third-rate
Third-rate
In the British Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks . Years of experience proved that the third rate ships embodied the best compromise between sailing ability , firepower, and cost...
concept obsolete; to be viable, a battle line needed to consist entirely of what could be considered first-rate
First-rate
First rate was the designation used by the Royal Navy for its largest ships of the line. While the size and establishment of guns and men changed over the 250 years that the rating system held sway, from the early years of the eighteenth century the first rates comprised those ships mounting 100...
units.
This combination of Congressional displacement restrictions and a flawed tactical premise produced a class that was never satisfactory in US service. They were close to being second-class units at a time and in a navy which could neither afford to tie up tonnage and money in second-tier designs nor place such vessels in its battle line.
U.S. Navy service
William Cramp and Sons
thumb | upright | 1899 advertisement for William Cramp & Sons William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company of Philadelphia was founded in 1825 by William Cramp, and was the preeminent U.S. iron shipbuilder in the 19th century. The American Ship & Commerce Corporation bought the yard in 1919 but closed...
Ship and Engine Building Co. She was launched on September 30, 1905, and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, League Island, on February 1, 1908, with Capt. John C. Fremont in command. The ship was sponsored by Miss Mabel Clare Money, daughter of Senator Hernando DeSoto Money of Mississippi.
Mississippi departed Philadelphia in February 1908 for Hampton Roads, and then sailed for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Following her shakedown off the coast of Cuba in 1908, she returned to Philadelphia for final fitting out. In early 1909 she attended the inauguration of the President of Cuba, met the Great White Fleet
Great White Fleet
The Great White Fleet was the popular nickname for the United States Navy battle fleet that completed a circumnavigation of the globe from 16 December 1907 to 22 February 1909 by order of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. It consisted of 16 battleships divided into two squadrons, along with...
upon its return, and was reviewed by the President. For the remainder of the year and into 1910 she traveled the waters off New England, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico, took a voyage up the Mississippi River, and participated in war games out of Guantanamo Bay.
In late 1910 she sailed to Gravesend Bay, England and to Brest, France
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
, as part of Atlantic Fleet maneuvers, returning to Guantanamo Bay in early 1911. She then spent about 14 months off the Atlantic coast, based alternately out of Philadelphia and Norfolk, serving as a training ship and conducting operational exercises. In June 1912 she landed a Marine detachment at El Cuero, Cuba, to protect American interests and remained on station in Guantanamo Bay until July, when she sailed for home. Following exercises with Battleship Division 4 (BatDiv 4) off New England, she returned to Philadelphia Navy Yard, where she was put in the First Reserve in August 1912.
Mississippi remained in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Philadelphia until detached in December 1913 for duty as an aeronautic station ship at Pensacola, Florida. At Pensacola, she stood by while her crew, along with the early naval aviators, rebuilt the old naval base, laying the foundation for the Pensacola Naval Air Station.
With the outbreak of fighting in Mexico in April 1914, Mississippi sailed to Veracruz, arriving with the first detachment of naval aviators to go into combat. Serving as a floating base for the fledgling seaplanes and their pilots, the warship launched nine reconnaissance flights over the area during a period of 18 days. One month later, the battleship departed Veracruz for Pensacola. In June 1914 she returned to Hampton Roads where in July she was decommissioned and transferred to the Greek Navy.
Royal Hellenic Navy
Mississippi decommissioned at Newport News on 21 July 1914, and was turned over to the Royal Hellenic Navy the same day.Fleet designation
Although the Mississippi-class ships were decommissioned before the fleet designation reworkings in 1920, and thus never carried the "BB" hull classification symbolHull classification symbol
The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration use hull classification symbols to identify their ship types and each individual ship within each type...
in service, many lists of American battleships (including the one in this encyclopedia) list them as "BB-23" and "BB-24" for completeness.