USS New York (BB-34)

USS New York, the lead ship of the class, shortly after entering service in 1915.
History
United States
Name:	New York
Namesake:	State of New York
Awarded:	1 May 1911
Builder:	Brooklyn Navy Yard
Laid down:	11 September 1911
Launched:	30 October 1912
Sponsored by:	Elsie Calder
Commissioned:	15 May 1914
Decommissioned:	29 August 1946
Struck:	13 July 1948
Identification:	Hull symbol:BB-34 Code letters:NADT
Nickname(s):	"The Old Lady of the Sea"
Honors and awards:	3 × battle star (WW II)
Fate:	Used as a target ship, 1945
Status:	Sunk as a target, 8 July 1948
General characteristics
Class and type:	New York-class battleship
Displacement:	27,000 long tons (27,433 t) (standard) 28,367 long tons (28,822 t) (full load)
Length:	573 ft (175 m) (overall) 565 ft (172 m) (waterline)
Beam:	95 ft 2.5 in (29.020 m)
Draft:	28 ft 6 in (8.69 m) (mean) 29 ft 7 in (9.02 m) (max)
Installed power:	14 × Babcock & Wilcox coal-fired boilers with oil spray (8 with superheating) 28,100 shp (20,954 kW) (design) 29,687 shp (22,138 kW) (trials)
Propulsion:	2 × vertical triple-expansion steam engines 2 × screws
Speed:	21 kn (39 km/h) (design) 21.47 kn (39.76 km/h) (trials)
Range:	7,060 nmi (13,075 km; 8,125 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h)
Complement:	1,042 officers and men
Armament:	10 × 14 in (356 mm)/45 caliber guns 21 × 5 in (127 mm)/51 caliber guns 4 × 3-pounder 47 mm (1.85 in)/40 caliber saluting guns 2 × 1-pounder 37 mm (1.46 in) guns 4 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (submerged)
Armor:	Belt: 10–12 in (254–305 mm) Lower casemate: 9–11 in (229–279 mm) Upper casemate: 6.5 in (165 mm) Barbettes: 10–12 in Turret face: 14 in (356 mm) Turret top: 4 in (102 mm) Turret side: 2 in (51 mm) Turret rear: 8 in (203 mm) Decks: 2 in Conning tower: 12 in, 4 in (top)
General characteristics (1925-26 refit)
Displacement:	27,000 long tons (27,433 t) (standard) (torpedo bulges added) 32,000 long tons (32,514 t) (full load) (torpedo bulges added)
Draft:	31 ft 6 in (9.60 m) (max)
Installed power:	6 × Bureau Express oil-fired boilers
Armament:	10 × 14 in/45 caliber guns 16 × 5 in/51 caliber guns 8 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber anti-aircraft (AA) guns torpedo tubes removed 2 × quad 1.1 in (28 mm)/75 caliber AA guns (added 1937)
Aircraft carried:	3 × floatplanes
Aviation facilities:	1 × catapult (fitted on Turret 3)
General characteristics (1942 refit)
Armament:	10 × 14 in/45 caliber guns 6 × 5 in/51 caliber guns 10 × 3 in/50 caliber AA guns 6 × quad 40 mm (2 in) Bofors AA guns (later increased to 40 guns (10 × 4)) 42 × 20 mm (1 in) Oerlikon cannon

USS New York (BB-34) was a United States Navy battleship, the lead ship of her class. Named for New York State, she was designed as the first ship to carry the 14-inch (356 mm)/45-caliber gun.

Entering service in 1914, she was part of the U.S. Navy force which was sent to reinforce the British Grand Fleet in the North Sea near the end of World War I. During that time, she was involved in at least two incidents with German U-boats, and is believed to have been the only US ship to have sunk one in the war, during an accidental collision in October 1918. Following the war, she was sent on a litany of training exercises and cruises in both the Atlantic and the Pacific, and saw several overhauls to increase her armament, aircraft handling and armor.

She entered the Neutrality Patrol at the beginning of World War II, and served as a convoy escort for ships to Iceland and Great Britain in the early phase of the war. She saw her first combat against coastal artillery during Operation Torch around Casablanca in North Africa, and later became a training ship. Late in the war, she moved to the Pacific, and provided naval gunfire support for the invasion of Iwo Jima and later the invasion of Okinawa. Returning to Pearl Harbor for repairs until the end of the war, she was classified obsolete and was chosen to take part in the Operation Crossroads nuclear weapon tests at Bikini Atoll in 1946. She survived both explosions and the effects of radiation on the ship were studied for several years. She was eventually sunk as a target in 1948. She received three battle stars for her service.