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N7KTP > NAVNET 24.06.05 10:04l 65 Lines 3520 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 41403_N7FSP
Read: GUEST
Subj: USS MINNESOTA (BB-22)
Path: DB0FHN<DB0MRW<DB0FSG<IN3TRX<IW3AQL<I4UKI<IK5CKL<IW2OAZ<IZ0AWG<PY1AYH<
7M3TJZ<ON0AR<N7FSP
Sent: 050623/1744z @:N7FSP.#SEA.#WWA.WA.USA.NOAM West Seattle, WA. on 145.010
Minnesota one of 16 battleships in the 'GreatWhite Fleet'
By FRED MILES WATSON - Managing Editor - Northwest Navigator
The second Minnesota (BB 22) was built by the Newport News
Shipbuilding Co., Newport News, Va., and was commissioned March 9,
1907 with Capt. J. Hubbard as its first commanding officer.
Displacing 16,000-tons, Minnesota was 456 feet in length and
carried a draft of 24 feet, 6 inches. Firepower consisted of four, 12-
inch gunmounts, eight, 8-inch, 12, seven-inch and 20,three-inch
gunmounts. She also had 12, three-pounders and four, 21-inch torpedo
tubes. There were 880 men serving in the Connecticut class
battlewagon. In the ship's machinery room two, vertical, triple
expansion engines generated 16,500 shaft horsepower through two shafts
and two screws giving the ship a top speed of 18 knots.
Following her shakedown off the New England coast, Minnesota was
assigned to duty in connection with the Jamestown Exposition at
Jamestown, Va., from April 22 to Sept. 3, 1907. On Dec. 16, she
departed Hampton Roads as one of the 16 battleships sent by President
Theodore Roosevelt on a voyage around the world. The cruise of the
"Great White Fleet" lasted until Feb. 22, 1909 and served as a
deterrent to possible hostilities in the Pacific and raised awareness
in Congress for the need for a strong Navy and a thriving merchant
fleet to keep pace with the United States' expanding international
interests.
Returning from her world cruise, Minnesota resumed operations
with the Atlantic Fleet. During the next 3 years she operated
primarily along the East Coast, with one brief deployment to the
English Channel. In 1912, her deployment schedule began to involve her
more in inter-American affairs. During the first half of that year she
cruised in Cuban waters and was stationed at Guantanamo Bay, for the
majority of the month of June to support actions aimed at establishing
order during the Cuban insurrection. The following spring and summer
she cruised in Mexican waters.
In 1914, she twice returned to Mexican waters as that country
continued in political turmoil. In 1915, she resumed East Coast
operations, with occasional cruises to the Caribbean area, which she
continued until November 1916 when she became flagship; Reserve Force,
Atlantic Fleet.
On April 6, 1917, as the United States entered World War I,
Minnesota rejoined the active fleet at Tangier Sound, Chesapeake Bay,
and was assigned to Division 4, Battleship Force. During World War I
she was assigned as a gunnery and engineering training ship, cruising
off the middle Atlantic seaboard until Sept. 29, 1918. On that date,
20 miles from Fenwick Island Shoal Lightship she struck a mine,
apparently laid by the German submarine U-1l7. Suffering serious.
damage to the starboard side, but with no loss of life, she managed to
reach Philadelphia where she underwent 5 months of repairs.
On 11 March 1919, she put back to sea as a unit of the Cruiser
and Transport Force. Assigned to that force until July 23, she
completed three round trips to Brest, France, to return more than
3,000 veterans to the United States.
Primarily employed thereafter as a training ship, Minnesota
conducted two midshipmen summer cruises (1920 and 1921) before being
decommissioned on Dec. 1, 1921. She was struck from the Naval Register
the same day and later was dismantled at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.
On Jan. 23, 1924 she was sold for scrap.
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