USS Connecticut (BB-18)

Connecticut underway sometime before World War I
History
United States
Name	Connecticut
Namesake	State of Connecticut
Ordered	1 July 1902
Builder	New York Navy Yard
Laid down	10 March 1903
Launched	29 September 1904
Commissioned	29 September 1906
Decommissioned	1 March 1923
Stricken	10 November 1923
Fate	Sold for scrap, 1 November 1923
General characteristics
Class and type	Connecticut-class battleship
Displacement	Normal: 16,000 long tons (16,000 t) Full load: 17,666 long tons (17,949 t)
Length	456 ft 4 in (139.09 m)
Beam	76 ft 10 in (23.42 m)
Draft	24 ft 6 in (7.47 m)
Installed power	12 Babcock & Wilcox boilers 16,500 ihp (12,300 kW)
Propulsion	2 × triple-expansion steam engines 2 × screw propellers
Speed	18 kn (21 mph; 33 km/h)
Complement	827 officers and men
Armament	4 × 12 in (305 mm)/45 caliber Mark 5 guns 8 × 8 in (203 mm)/45 caliber guns 12 × 7 in (178 mm)/45 caliber guns 20 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber guns 12 × 3-pounder guns 4 × 1-pounder guns 4 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor	Belt: 6–11 in (152–279 mm) Barbettes: 6–10 in (152–254 mm) Turret Main: 8–12 in (203–305 mm) Turret secondary: 7 in (178 mm) Conning tower: 9 in (229 mm)

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 pre-dreadnought 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 US 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 1923, and sold for scrap on 1 November 1923.