South Dakota-class battleship (1939)
_in_Casco_Bay_c1942.jpg)
Alabama in Casco Bay, Maine circa December 1942
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | South Dakota class |
| Builders: | |
| Operators: |
 United States Navy |
| Preceded by: | North Carolina class |
| Succeeded by: | Iowa class |
| Built: | 1939–1942 |
| In commission: | 1942–1962 |
| Completed: | 4 |
| Retired: | 4 |
| Preserved: | 2 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Battleship |
| Displacement: | 35,000 tons (standard) 44,519 tons (full load) |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 108.2 ft (33.0 m) |
| Propulsion: | 130,000 hp (97 MW) steam turbines |
| Speed: | 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph) |
| Range: | 15,000 nmi (28,000 km; 17,000 mi) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Armament: |
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| Armor: |
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| Aircraft carried: | 2 × OS2U Kingfisher |
The South Dakota class was a group of four fast battleships built by the United States Navy. They were the second class of battleships to be named after the 40th state; the first were designed in the 1920s and canceled under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty.
The class comprised four ships: South Dakota, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Alabama. They were more compact and better protected than the preceding North Carolina class, but had the same main battery, nine 16"/45 caliber Mark 6 guns in three-gun turrets. The ships can be visually distinguished from the earlier vessels by their single funnel, compared to twin funnels in the North Carolinas. According to authors William Garzke and Robert Dulin, the South Dakota design was the best "treaty battleship" ever built.
Construction began shortly before World War II, with Fiscal Year (FY) 1939 appropriations. Commissioning through the summer of 1942, the four ships served in both the Atlantic, ready to intercept possible German capital ship sorties, and the Pacific, in carrier groups and shore bombardments. All four ships were retired post-war; South Dakota and Indiana were scrapped, Massachusetts and Alabama retained as museum ships.
The preceding two North Carolina-class battleships had been assigned to the FY1937 building program, and in 1936, the General Board met to discuss the two battleships to be allocated to FY1938. The General Board argued for two more North Carolinas, but Admiral William H. Standley, the Chief of Naval Operations, wanted the ships to be of a new design. That meant construction could not begin by 1938, so the ships were assigned to FY1939. Design work started in March 1937 and the draft for two battleships was formally approved by the Secretary of the Navy on 23 June. More specific characteristics for the two ships were ironed out, and those were approved on 4 January 1938. The ships were formally ordered on 4 April 1938.
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