7054 USS VIRGINIA BB-13 1906

USS Virginia (BB-13) was an American battleship (pre-dreadnought), the keel of which was laid in May 1902, launched in April 1904, and was completely completed in 1906. The total length of the ship at the time of launching was 134 m, width 23 m, with a full displacement of about 16,300 tons. The maximum speed, on the other hand, did not exceed 19 knots. The unit was armed with: 4 305 mm guns, 8 203 mm guns and 12 152 mm guns. USS Virginia (BB-13) was the first of five Virginia-class battleships. When building these units, efforts were made to put emphasis on the greatest possible seaworthiness, seaworthiness and strong offensive armament. The result of the latter was the use of a very unusual solution (by the way, the same as on the Kearsarge-class battleships), consisting in the mounting of 305 mm guns, a turret with 203 mm guns, on the turret. However, in practice, this solution turned out to be completely unsuccessful and not very ergonomic. Like all pre-dreadnoughts, the Virginia type proved obsolete when it entered the Royal Navy HMS Dreadnought service in 1906. USS Virginia (BB-13) was built at Newport News Shipbuilding - nomen omen - in Virginia. During its service, the unit operated mainly in the Atlantic, and in the period 1907-1909 it was part of the so-called The Great White Fleet, which circumnavigated the globe, thus demonstrating the growing importance of the USA in world politics. She was also often involved in de facto police activities in Latin America - including Mexico. During the Great War, she was primarily a training ship, although in the period from September to early November 1918, she carried out limited convoy tasks in the Atlantic. From November 1918, she transported American soldiers from Europe to the USA. In 1920, she was withdrawn from service, and three years later (1923) - sunk as a target ship.