GENERAL

Class....................................Florida

Designation..........................BB-30

Type....................................Battleship

Builder.................................Brooklyn Navy Yard

Cost.....................................$4, 187, 000

Laid Down............................08 March 1909

Launched..............................12 May 1910

Sponsor.................................Miss E. D. Fleming, daughter of a former Florida Governor

Commissioned.......................15 September 1911

First Commanding Officer......Captain H. S. Knapp

Displacement.........................21, 825 tons (normal),  23, 400 tons (load)

Length..................................521 feet, 06 inches

Beam....................................88 feet, 03 inches

Draft.....................................28 feet, 04 inches

Speed....................................21 knots

Endurance.............................6720 nautical miles at 10 knots

Crew Complement.................1, 000 Officers and enlisted

ENGINEERING

Engines.................................4 shaft Parsons turbines

Boilers..................................12 Babcock

Horsepower..........................28, 000

Fuel......................................Coal, Bunkers for 2, 500 tons

ARMOR

Belts.....................................11 inches

Turrets..................................12 inches

Conning Tower......................12 inches

ARMAMENT

Main Battery..........................Ten 12 inch - 45 cal

Secondary Battery..................Sixteen  5 inch - 51 cal

Additional Weaponry..............Two 3 inch anti-aircraft , added in 1918

Torpedo Tubes.......................Two 21 inch  (submerged, beam)

SOURCES:

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
Volume II, Pages 418-419
Superintendent of Documents
Washington, DC, 1968

Ship's History, USS Florida (BB-30)
Naval Historical Center, Bldg. #57
Washington Navy Yard
Washington, DC

Jerry W. Jones
US Battleship Operations in World War I
Naval Institute Press
Annapolis, MD, 1998

Richard Hough
A History of the Modern Battleship Dreadnought
Bonanza Books
New York, NY

Last Updated 05 November 1999

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