Indiana Class Battleship - Background

Background

The Indiana class was very controversial at the time of its approval by the United States Congress. A policy board convened by the Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy came up with an ambitious 15-year naval construction program on 16 July 1889, three years after the Maine and the Texas were authorized. The battleships in their plan would include ten first-rate long-range battleships with a 17-knot (31 km/h; 20 mph) top speed and a steaming radius of 5,400 nautical miles (10,000 km; 6200 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 11.5 mph)—6,500 nmi (12,000 km; 7500 mi) maximum. These ocean-going ships were envisioned as a possible fleet in being, a fleet capable of raiding an enemy's home ports and intended to deter powerful warships from ranging too far from home. Twenty-five short-range second-rate battleships would provide home defense in both the Atlantic and Pacific and support the faster and larger long-range vessels. With a range of roughly 2,700 nautical miles (5,000 km; 3,100 mi) at 10 knots and a draft of 23.5 feet (7 m), they would roam from the St. Lawrence River in the north to the Windward Islands and Panama in the south and would be able to enter all of the ports in the southern United States.

It was proposed, probably for cost reasons, that the short-range battleships should have a hierarchy of three subclasses. The first would mount four 13-inch (330 mm) guns each on eight 8,000-long-ton (8,100 t; 9,000-short-ton) ships, the second would mount four 12-inch (305 mm) guns each on ten 7,150-long-ton (7,260 t; 8,010-short-ton) ships, and the third would mount two 12-inch and two 10-inch (254 mm) guns each on five 6,000-long-ton (6,100 t; 6,700-short-ton) ships. The two battleships already under construction, Texas and Maine, were to be grouped under the last class. In addition, 167 smaller ships, including rams, cruisers and torpedo boats, would be built, coming to a total cost of $281.55 million, approximately equal to the sum of the entire US navy budget during the previous 15 years (adjusted for inflation, $6.6 billion in 2009 dollars).

Congress balked at the plan, seeing in it an end to the United States policy of isolationism and the beginning of imperialism. Even some supporters of naval expansion were wary; Senator Eugene Hale feared that because the proposal was so large, the entire bill would be shot down and no money appropriated for any ships. However, in April 1890, the United States House of Representatives approved funding for three 8,000-long-ton (8,100 t; 9,000-short-ton) battleships. Tracy, trying to soothe tensions within Congress, remarked that these ships were so powerful that only twelve would be necessary instead of the 35 called for in the original plan. He also slashed the operating costs of the Navy by giving the remaining Civil War-era monitors—which were utterly obsolete by this time—to navy militias operated by the states. The appropriation was also approved by the Senate, and in total three coast-defense battleships (the Indiana class), a cruiser, and a torpedo boat were given official approval and funding on 30 June 1890.

The first class of short-range ships as envisioned by the policy board were to mount 13-inch/35 caliber and new 5-inch (127 mm) guns, with 17 inches (431 mm) of belt armor, 2.75 inches (70 mm) of deck armor and 4 inches (102 mm) of armor over the casemates. The Indiana class, as actually built, exceeded the design in displacement by 25 percent, but most other aspects were relatively similar to the original plan. An 18-inch (460 mm) belt and a secondary battery of 8- and 6-inch (203 and 152 mm) guns were adopted, the latter because the Bureau of Ordnance did not have the capability to construct rapid-firing 5-inch weaponry. The larger weapons were much slower firing and much heavier, but without the bigger guns, the ships would not be able to penetrate the armor of foreign battleships.