USS Arkansas (BB-33) - Construction

Construction

Arkansas was laid down on 25 January 1910 at New York Shipbuilding in Camden, New Jersey. She was launched on 14 January 1911, after which fitting-out work was effected. The ship was completed by September 1912, and was commissioned into the US Navy on 17 September at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, under the command of Captain Roy C. Smith. The ship was 562 feet 6 inches (171.45 m) long overall and had a beam of 93 ft 2 in (28.40 m) and a draft of 28 ft 7 in (8.71 m). She displaced 26,000 long tons (26,000 t) as designed and up to 27,243 long tons (27,680 t) at full combat load. The ship was powered by four-shaft Parsons steam turbines and twelve coal-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers rated at 28,000 shaft horsepower (21,000 kW), generating a top speed of 20.5 knots (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph). The ship had a cruising range of 8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at a speed of 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph).

The ship was armed with a main battery of twelve 12 inch /50 Mark 7 guns in six twin gun turrets on the centerline, two of which were placed in a superfiring pair forward. The other four turrets were placed aft of the superstructure in two superfiring pairs. The secondary battery consisted of twenty-one 5-inch /51 dual-purpose guns mounted in casemates along the side of the hull. The main armored belt was 11 in (279 mm) thick, while the gun turrets had 12 in (305 mm) thick faces. The conning tower had 11.5 in (292 mm) thick sides.