Warships of the US Navy: Battleships, Wyoming-class: USS Wyoming (BB-32), and USS Arkansas (BB-33)

US Navy Wyoming-class battleships USS Wyoming (BB-32), and USS Arkansas (BB-33)

The Wyoming-class was a pair of dreadnought battleships built for the United States Navy. Wyoming and Arkansas were authorized in early 1909, and were built between 1910 and 1912. These were the fourth dreadnought design of the US Navy, but only an incremental improvement over the preceding Florida class, and the last US battleships to use 12-inch guns. The primary changes were the adoption of a more powerful 12 in (305-mm)/50 caliber Mark 7 gun, addition of a sixth twin-gun turret and improved armour protection, including the first use of a torpedo bulkhead on American battleships. The Navy considered using more powerful 14-inch (356-mm) guns, but this would have caused delays and required larger docks.

The two ships frequently served together, first in the Atlantic Fleet in the 1910s. Both vessels were deployed to British waters after the United States entered the First World War in April 1917 to reinforce the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet. They served in the Pacific Fleet in 1919–21, before both returned to the Atlantic Fleet. Much of their time in the Atlantic Fleet was spent conducting peacetime training exercises, along with taking midshipmen from the US Naval Academy on training cruises. Wyoming and Arkansas were heavily modernized in the mid-1920s, receiving more efficient oil-fired boilers to replace their old coal-fired models, thicker deck armor to protect against plunging fire, anti-torpedo bulges to increase their resistance to underwater damage, and anti-aircraft guns to defend against aerial attacks.

The London Naval Treaty of 1930 mandated that Wyoming be demilitarized; she accordingly was converted into a training ship, with half of her main battery turrets, belt armour, and anti-torpedo bulges removed. However, Arkansas was permitted to continue in service with the fleet. After the United States entered the Second World War, Arkansas was used to escort convoys to North Africa. By 1944, she served as a coastal bombardment vessel; in this role, she supported Allied landings at Normandy (Operation Overlord) and southern France (Operation Dragoon) before being transferred to the Pacific, where she provided fire support to Marines fighting on Iwo Jima and at Okinawa in 1945. Wyoming meanwhile continued as a training ship, being modified further in 1944 to include the various types of anti-aircraft guns that trainees would operate in the fleet. Both ships were decommissioned shortly after the war, with Arkansas being expended as a target ship during the 1946 nuclear tests at Operation Crossroads, and Wyoming being sold for scrap in 1947. (Wikipedia)

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USS Wyoming (AG-17). Underway in the Atlantic Ocean, 30 April 1945.

USS Wyoming (BB-32) was the lead ship ofher class of dreadnought battleships and was the third ship of the UnitedStates Navy named Wyoming, although she was only the second named in honor ofthe 44th state.[a] Wyoming was laid down at the William Cramp & Sons inPhiladelphia in February 1910, was launched in May 1911, and was completed inSeptember 1912. She was armed with a main battery of twelve 12-inch (305 mm)guns and capable of a top speed of 20.5 kn (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph).

During the First World War, she was part of the Battleship Division Nine, whichwas attached to the British Grand Fleet as the 6th Battle Squadron. During thewar, she was primarily tasked with patrolling in the North Sea and escortingconvoys to Norway. She served in both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleetsthroughout the 1920s, and in 1931–1932, she was converted into a training shipaccording to the terms of the London Naval Treaty of 1930.

Wyoming served as a training ship throughout the 1930s, and in November 1941,she became a gunnery ship. She operated primarily in the Chesapeake Bay area,which earned her the nickname "Chesapeake Raider". In this capacity,she trained some 35,000 gunners for the hugely expanded US Navy during WorldWar II. She continued in this duty until 1947, when she was decommissioned on 1August and subsequently sold for scrap; she was broken up in New York startingin December 1947. (Wikipedia)

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USS Wyoming (BB-32) transiting the Panama Canal in 1919.

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USS Wyoming (BB-32) in 1935.

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American battleship USS Wyoming (BB-32) after her conversion into a gunnery training ship AG-17, in 1944.

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USS Wyoming (BB-32) underway in March 1930.

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USS Wyoming (BB 32), 1926.

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U.S. Navy gunnery training ship USS Wyoming (AG-17) underway in the Atlantic on 30 April 1945. Note the target drone catapult on the stern.

USS Arkansas (BB-33) was a dreadnoughtbattleship, the second member of the Wyoming class, built by the United StatesNavy. She was the third ship of the US Navy named in honor of the 25th state,and was built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation. She was laid down inJanuary 1910, launched in January 1911, and commissioned into the Navy inSeptember 1912. Arkansas was armed with a main battery of twelve 12-inch (305mm) guns and capable of a top speed of 20.5 knots (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph).

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USS Arkansas (BB-33) 1918.

Arkansas served in both World Wars. During World War I, she was part ofBattleship Division Nine, which was attached to the British Grand Fleet, butshe saw no action during the war. During the interwar years, Arkansas performeda variety of duties, including training cruises for midshipmen and goodwillvisits overseas.

Following the outbreak of World War II, Arkansas conducted Neutrality Patrolsin the Atlantic prior to America's entry into the war. Thereafter, she escortedconvoys to Europe through 1944; in June, she supported the invasion ofNormandy, and in August she provided gunfire support to the invasion ofsouthern France. In 1945, she transferred to the Pacific, and bombardedJapanese positions during the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. After the endof the war, she ferried troops back to the United States as part of OperationMagic Carpet. Arkansas was expended as a target in Operation Crossroads, a pairof nuclear weapon tests at Bikini Atoll in July 1946. (Wikipedia)

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USS Arkansas underway on 11 April 1944.

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USS Arkansas, 15 October 1912.

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USS Arkansas (BB-33) c1920.

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USS Arkansas underway in 1927.

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USS Arkansas (BB-33), off the New York Navy Yard, New York, 23 September 1942.

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USS Arkansas (BB-33) anchored in San Pedro harbor, California, on 1 January 1945.

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The "Baker" explosion, part of Operation Crossroads, a nuclear weapon test by the United States military at Bikini Atoll, Micronesia, on 25 July 1946. The wider, exterior cloud is actually just a condensation cloud caused by the Wilson chamber effect, and was very brief. There was no classic mushroom cloud rising to the stratosphere, but inside the condensation cloud the top of the water geyser formed a mushroom-like head called the cauliflower, which fell back into the lagoon (compare with this image, a photo taken slightly later, after the condensation cloud had cleared). The water released by the explosion was highly radioactive and contaminated many of the ships that were set up near it. Some were otherwise undamaged and sent to Hunter's Point in San Francisco, California, United States, for decontamination. Those which could not be decontaminated were sunk a number of miles off the coast of San Francisco.