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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 75529:  USS Michigan entering Honolulu Harbor, 1920

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIP TYPES -- BATTLESHIPS --

South Carolina Class (Battleships # 26 & 27, later BB-26 and BB-27),
1906 Building Programs

The South Carolina class marked the Navy's change from "mixed caliber" battleship designs to main guns of the same large size. Prompted by the development of accurate shooting at what was at that time regarded as "long-range", the adoption of "all-big-gun" battleships was a World-wide phenomenon, represented most dramatically by the 1906 debut of the British battleship Dreadnought, whose large size, turbine machinery, 21-knot maximum speed and main battery of ten 12-inch guns electrified contemporary naval opinion. Though the South Carolinas were actually designed before Dreadnought, their more modest size and speed, and much more leisurely construction, ensured that the British ship would establish the pattern for future battleships, and give their type her name: "dreadnoughts"

Limited in displacement by Congressional mandate, USS South Carolina and her sister, USS Michigan, were essentially the same size as the preceding Connecticut class of what came to be called "pre-dreadnoughts". They also featured the same reciprocating steam engines and 18-knot speed. However, with a main battery of eight 12-inch guns instead of four 12-inch, eight 8-inch and a dozen 7-inch, their firepower was far more effective at any but "point-blank" range. The arrangement of their gun turrets, with one firing over another at each end of a compact superstructure, was far more efficient than that of any of the "pre-dreadnoughts", and, for that matter, of HMS Dreadnought herself. In less than a decade, the superfiring turret became the standard for all nations' battleships.

The South Carolinas' secondary gun battery, twenty-two 3-inch guns, was intended only for self-defense against torpedo attack by light craft. However, with the rapid contemporary growth of the destroyer, these guns were soon seen to be inadequate, and the anti-torpedo batteries of subsequent U.S. battleships were of five-inch caliber. The class also introduced the "cage" mast to new construction, though some earlier ships had these masts fitted before South Carolina and Michigan entered service. These masts, intended to be highly-resistant to enemy gunfire, would be a distinctive feature of U.S. battleships for the next two decades.

The careers of the South Carolina class ships were unremarkable, but typical of most of their American contemporaries. Though both occasionally visited European ports, and briefly went to the Pacific late in their service, they mainly operated along the U.S. east coast and in the tropical waters of the Caribbean area. Soon outmoded by the rapid pace of battleship development, they spent their final years primarily on training duties and were disposed of in the early 1920s, at an age of just thirteen years.

The South Carolina class numbered two ships, both built on the Delaware River:

  • South Carolina (Battleship # 26, later BB-26), built by William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Keel laid in December 1906; launched in July 1908; commissioned in March 1910.
  • Michigan (Battleship # 27, later BB-27), built by the New York Shipbuilding Company, Camden, New Jersey. Keel laid in December 1906; launched in May 1908; commissioned in January 1910.

    South Carolina class "as-built" design characteristics:

  • Displacement: 16,000 tons
  • Dimensions: 452' 9" (length overall); 80' 3" (extreme beam)
  • Powerplant: 16,500 horsepower, triple-expansion reciprocating engines, two propellers, 18.5 knot maximum speed
  • Armament (Main Battery): eight 12"/45 guns in four twin turrets
  • Armament (Secondary Battery): Twenty-two 3"/50 guns in single mountings.

    This page features a modest selection of photographs of South Carolina class battleships, plus images related to these ships' basic design features, and provides links to more extensive pictorial coverage of the individual ships.

    For coverage of other classes of U.S. Navy battleships, see: Battleships -- Overview and Special Image Selection.

    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: 19-N-61-6-25

    USS Michigan (BB 27)


    Fully dressed with flags and with her crew manning the rails, during the naval review off New York City, 3 October 1911.

    Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

    Online Image: 84KB; 740 x 610 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: NH 61225

    USS South Carolina (BB-26)


    Underway, circa 1910-14.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 90KB; 740 x 575 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 44250

    USS South Carolina (BB-26)


    In New York Harbor, 3 October 1911.
    Photographed by the New York Navy Yard.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 67KB; 740 x 600 pixels

     
    Photo #: 19-N-13573

    USS Michigan (BB-27)


    In New York Harbor, during the Naval Review, October 1912.

    Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

    Online Image: 103KB; 740 x 605 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: NH 75529

    USS Michigan (BB-27)


    Entering Honolulu Harbor, Hawaii, "with the U.S. Fleet Second Observation Group, 7 March 1920".

    Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Washington, D.C.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 143KB; 740 x 610 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 66299

    USS Michigan (BB-27)


    Firing a broadside with her 12"/45 main battery guns, 1912.
    Photographed by Enrique Muller.
    This image has been retouched to emphasize guns and masts.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 94KB; 740 x 535 pixels

     

    For more views of South Carolina class battleships, see:

  • USS South Carolina (Battleship # 26, later BB-26);
  • USS Michigan (Battleship # 27, later BB-27).

    For coverage of other classes of U.S. Navy battleships, see: Battleships -- Overview and Special Image Selection.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 26 February 2001
    Coding updated 26 March 2001