The six ships of the Connecticut class were the definitive U.S. Navy mixed-battery battleships, a type shoved from the pinnacle of naval esteem by the "all-big-gun" HMS Dreadnought even before the last four went into commission. However, since it took several years to build a significant fleet of "dreadnoughts", these ships and their immediate predecessors formed the backbone of the U.S. Navy's battle line into the early 'Teens. Five of them took part in the 1907-09 World cruise of the "Great White Fleet", a striking demonstration of the strategic mobility of their type.

The Connecticuts were big ships for their day, with fully a thousand tons more displacement than the largest earlier U.S. battleships. Their main battery of four 12-inch guns in two turrets followed the pattern established before, though these guns fired their shells at a higher velocity. In its secondary battery, eight 8-inch guns in twin turrets at the superstructure corners and twelve 7-inch guns in casemates in the hull sides, the Connecticut class design marked the end of a notable internal debate within the U.S. Navy. There were also twenty single-mounted three-inch guns to drive away hostile torpedo craft.

At the end of their great World tour in early 1909, Connecticut, Louisiana, Vermont, Kansas and Minnesota, still resplendent in "white and buff" paint, were welcomed home by their final sister, New Hampshire, wearing the grey recently adopted by the Navy. They were soon modernized, trading in their solid "military" masts and elaborate upperworks for "cage" masts and reduced superstructures, losing a few three-inch guns and gaining submerged tubes for 21-inch torpedos. They also got grey paint, bringing to an end two decades of the Navy's most attractive, if militarily useless, warship color schemes. New Hampshire received a similar overhaul in 1910.

For the next eight years, the Connecticuts were kept busy with fleet maneuvers off the U.S. east coast and in the Caribbean, and in a nubmer of armed interventions in troubled nations "south of the border". Before World War I erupted in Europe there were also occasional trans-Atlantic voyages and spectacular Naval reviews in New York harbor. During the United States' participation in the "Great War", the ships were employed in training and convoy escort. They gave up their seven-inch guns and most of their three-inchers for use afloat on other ships and ashore as heavy field artillery, but received more weather-resistant upperworks. A half-year's duty as transports marked their immediate post-war service, followed by a variety of training, diplomatic and other duties. All but Connecticut were decommissioned in 1920-21. She left the active fleet in 1923, the year that all were disposed of under the terms of the Washington naval limitations treaty.

The Connecticut class numbered six ships, all built on the east coast:


Connecticut (Battleship # 18). Built by the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y. Keel laid in March 1903; launched in September 1904; commissioned in September 1906.

Louisiana (Battleship # 19). Built by the Newport News Ship Building and Drydock Company, Newport News, Virginia. Keel laid in February 1903; launched in August 1904; commissioned in June 1906.

Vermont (Battleship # 20). Built by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, Quincy, Massachusetts. Keel laid in May 1904; launched in August 1905; commissioned in March 1907.

Kansas (Battleship # 21). Built by the New York Shipbuilding Company, Camden, New Jersey. Keel laid in February 1904; launched in August 1905; commissioned in April 1907.

Minnesota (Battleship # 22). Built by the Newport News Ship Building and Drydock Company, Newport News, Virginia. Keel laid in October 1903; launched in April 1905; commissioned in March 1907.

New Hampshire (Battleship # 25). Built by the New York Shipbuilding Company, Camden, New Jersey. Keel laid in May 1905; launched in June 1906; commissioned in March 1908.


Connecticut class "as-built" design characteristics:


Displacement: 16,000 tons

Dimensions: 456' (length overall); 78' 10" (extreme beam)

Powerplant: 16,500 horsepower, triple-expansion reciprocating engines, two propellers, 18 knot maximum speed

Armament (Main Battery): four 12"/45 guns in two twin turrets; eight 8"/45 guns in four twin turrets (four guns per side); twelve 7"/45 guns in single casemate mountings (six guns per side)

Armament (Secondary Battery): Twenty 3"/50 guns in single mountings.