USS Mississippi (BB-23)

USS Mississippi "cleared for action" in 1908, soon after she was completed. Note the figurehead at the bow.
History
United States
Name:	Mississippi
Namesake:	State of Mississippi
Ordered:	3 March 1903
Builder:	William Cramp & Sons
Laid down:	12 May 1904
Launched:	30 September 1905
Sponsored by:	M. C. Money
Commissioned:	1 February 1908
Decommissioned:	21 July 1914
Struck:	21 July 1914
Fate:	Sold to Greece, July 21, 1914 & renamed Kilkis. Sunk by German bombers while moored in Salamis near Athens on April 10, 1941.
Greece
Name:	Kilkis
Commissioned:	1914
Fate:	Sunk by German aircraft in April 1941
General characteristics
Class and type:	Mississippi-class battleship
Displacement:	13,000 tons (13,200 metric tons)
Length:	382 ft (116 m)
Beam:	77 ft (23 m)
Draft:	24.7 ft (8 m)
Speed:	17 kn (20 mph; 31 km/h)
Complement:	34 officers, 710 men
Armament:	4 × 12 in (305 mm)/45 caliber Mark 5 guns (2x2) 8 × 8 in (203 mm)/45 caliber guns (4x2) 8 × 7 in (180 mm)/45 caliber Mark 2 guns 12 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber guns 6 × 3 pounders 2 × 1 pounders 6 × .30 in (7.6 mm) machine guns 2 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor:	Belt: 7–9 in (178–229 mm) Barbettes: 6–10 in (152–254 mm) Turret (mains) 8–12 in (203–305 mm) Turret (secondary): 7 in (178 mm) Conning tower: 9 in (229 mm)

USS Mississippi (Battleship No. 23), the lead ship of her class of battleships, was the second ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the U.S. state of Mississippi. After her career in the USN, she was sold to Greece and renamed Kilkis in 1914. Kilkis was sunk by German bombers in April 1941.

Her keel was laid down on 12 May 1904 by William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia. She was launched on 30 September 1905 sponsored by Miss Mabel Clare Money, daughter of United States Senator Hernando D. Money of Mississippi, and commissioned at Philadelphia Navy Yard on 1 February 1908, Captain J.C. Fremont in command.

Mississippi and her sister Idaho were designed in response to Congressional desire to cap the growth and expense of new battleships, whose size and cost had increased dramatically since the first US battleships, the Indianas of 1893, had been authorized. Displacement was limited to 13,000 tons (13,200 metric tons), a reduction of 3,000 tons (3,000 metric tons) from the prior Connecticut class.

In terms of design, the two ships were essentially a reduced version of the Connecticuts which had preceded them, and by comparison with which they sacrificed 1 kn (1.2 mph; 1.9 km/h) of speed, four 7 in (178 mm) guns, eight 3 in (76 mm) guns, two torpedo tubes and some freeboard. They were indifferent sea boats and were obsolete upon commissioning in consequence of the advent of HMS Dreadnought.