HISTORY

Into Service

The funds for the building of the new ship

were provided for by the approval by Congress of the budget for fiscal year 1914.

Construction was entrusted to Brooklyn

Navy Yard in New York, and the contract

was signed on September 15, 1913. One of

the reasons why the building of the ship

was given to a state shipyard was the

fact that if privately owned builders were

allowed to bid, there would have to be an

official tender submitted, and this would

delay the beginning of construction by

a minimum of two or three months. The

first of the building materials for the new

ship were ordered on the 3 of the month.

The keel was laid officially on March 16,

1914. Launching was conducted on June 19,

1915, and this was followed by her being

armored, armed, and having her superstructures installed. After completing

acceptance trials, the USS Arizona was

placed on the duty roster of the US Navy

on October 17, 1916. The final cost of the

ship was $12,993,579.23US.

The first commanding officer of the Arizona was Cpt. John D. McDonald, who held

the post until February 1918, and commended her maiden voyage on November 10,

1916. After six days of testing, she headed

to Guantanamo Bay on the island of Cuba,

via Newport. There was an accident there on December 7, that led to damage to

one of her turbines. The ship was recalled

to New York to undergo repairs, where

almost four months were spent on completion of necessary work, maintenance and above all, repairs to said turbine.

Launch of USS Arizona (BB-39) on 13 June

1915 (photo: Walter J. Brady via Naval Historical Collection, U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command).

Tangier Sound / USS San Marcos, Formally USS Texas

(Jiří Fiala)

In the southern part of Chesapeake Bay,

on the border between Virginia and Maryland, west of Smith Island and north

of Tangier Island, is the Tangier Sound

sandbar, chosen by the US Navy to be its

medium and heavy caliber ship artillery

shooting range in the early 20th century. For this purpose, several old vessels

were sunk here as training targets, including the decommissioned armored ship

USS San Marcos. This ship was one of the

first armored ships of the United States

Navy. Launched in 1892 at the Norfolk Shipyards, it was commissioned as the USS

Texas with the nomenclature AC-1. The

ship‘s length was 308 feet and 10 inches

(94.1 m), with a displacement of 6,316 tons

(full combat displacement of 6,417 tons)

and was propelled by two three-expansion steam engines with a total output

of 8,610 horsepower (6,420 kW) giving

a maximum speed of 17.8 knots (33 km/h).

The main armament consisted of two twelve-inch (305 mm) guns in two single-gun

towers. This main armament puts the USS The USS Texas during the Spanish-American war. The ship was renamed USS San Marcos in 1911

(photo: Naval History and Heritage Command).

March 2022

INFO Eduard

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