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One verse of that ribald old forebitter, "The Armored Cruiser Squadron,” hails "The Washington, the Tennessee, finest ships that sailed the sea,” but a verse or two earlier (or later, depending on the memory of the singer) asks "Why, oh why, did Uncle Sam build these ships not worth a damn?” Others comment derisively on hot scuttlebutts, inept navigators and engineers, and slack watchstanding. What is the truth about these handsome, impressive- looking ships?[*]
Being half a generation too young for them, I don’t know first-hand. I observed a couple of gun practices on board the Seattle (CA-w-\pi-Washingtori}) in 1927 and bunked on board her temporarily when she was receiving ship at New York in 1930 while commissioning the Pensacola (CA-24). Others of my time served in her, as well as in the Pittsburgh (CA-4-\cx-Pennsylvania]) and Pueblo (CA-7-[cx-Colorado']). And of course there are veterans of the days when they and their sisters were "The Armored Cruiser Squadron.”
Any student of naval history, however, must conclude that these ships were mistakes—too little, too late. Perhaps more correctly, too much (because they were big, expensive craft) of the wrong thing at a time when that should have been apparent. They were much better ships than Cervera’s cruisers, but not very much better than our own Olympia (C-6), Brooklyn (CA-3) and York (CA-2), built ten years earlier and, though smaller, of nearly the same speed and armament. Also preceding the af' mored cruisers were the Columbia (C-12) and Minneapolis (C-13), lightly armed and armored but with "20-knot sea speed for ordinary purposes” an "proved entirely successful in the W>r with Spain” according to Jane's. Considering our experience with these earlier cruisers and the trends of the time—^ development of the dreadnought (H*'lS Dreadnought, though a well-kept seem1 until then, was commissioned in 1906)—it seems puzzling, now, ma from 1903 to 1907 we should have pr0 duced these ten ships with their f°ut 8-inch or 10-inch rifles, 5-inch to 6-inc armor belts, and 22-knot top speed.
But this mistake was being made lfl nearly every navy in the early 1900s' Even Britain, Lord Fisher notwith standing, went the armored cruise route, commissioning the Black P1^ (lost at Jutland) and several sisters1” 1904, and building, simultaneously w>c ^ the Dreadnought, eight others (two 0 which were also lost at Jutland). Franc<j and Italy also built similar ships- these units had nearly the same chz*iC teristics as ours.
Germany and Japan were not com pletely enthralled by the armored cruis
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!n8e> however, they too participated to * ^eSree. Von Spee’s Schamhorst and neuenau, though only 11,600 tons, carried eight 8.2-inch guns but their Peed was only 22% knots, and their arjTi°r only 6-inch—fatal weaknesses , en Sturdee’s battle cruisers caught em- Japan, however, from 1905 to
ers 6 ComPare<J t0 our armored cruis- , .'~anc^ built no others save battle- 'Ps- All carried four 12-inch guns and j anP others nearly as large, 7-inch to ln^|1 armor belts, and had 20 knots V I though too late for the war to\ ^USS’a’ ’•hey followed it too closely ave been influenced by its lessons.
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ste *Sers Were about as beautiful as steel, c[ arn Warships could be. Their long, f00 *nes> flush decks, high freeboard, graf ^ab stacks, and two military masts, ^ellC UlIy P^aceA> made them compare liner *n ^00^s with the crack passenger din S cru’s’ng ’he Atlantic. Daz- gle° ,'n white and spar color, with many handsome br; , ’ Sflfled bow ornaments, and much yach C Work, they looked like enormous by below, the style was manifested sp0r)e. gorgeous silver services their p Sor’ng states presented them. (abouj^°^ment during their brief ably t ^ years) commissions was prob- sh0^P’cal °P cruisers of the day—flag
ney evidently were popular as »a cer^S> rnore than half so served, and dignjf rn°n>al ships, often carrying high tionsaTries °r attending special func- ’he p- n tbe late 1920s the Seattle and ’he i^JUr^ hew ’he flags of two of irig a„ ee four-star admirals command- Asiatjc°at’ CinC U. S. Fleet and CinC ’eet. It was on board the Pennsylvania that Ely made his first shipboard landing in 1911; and from the Charlotte {Ch-n-[c\-North Carolina]) that the first plane was launched by catapult. They do not seem to have operated much as a "squadron.” During World War I armored cruisers maintained coastal patrols, served as convoy escorts, and later as troop carriers for the returning American Expeditionary Forces. Although none of the armored cruisers ever engaged in surface combat, the San Diego (CA-6-[ex.-Califomia'}) was sunk by a German submarine-laid mine near Fire Island. The Memphis (CA-io- [ex-Tennessee]) also met a violent end, when, in 1916, she was wrecked by a tidal wave at Santo Domingo.
Except for the Seattle and the Pittsburgh the armored cruisers’ sea service ended shortly after World War I. Had they been tested in battle they probably would have fared no better than their British and German contemporaries. Their short lives are typical of the class world-wide—made suddenly obsolete by the dreadnought, the battle cruiser, the destroyer, the turbine, the express boiler, and oil fuel.
Realization of this should temper our judgment of them. If they were anachronisms, similar ones appeared in all navies at the time. Despite their weaknesses and their luck never to be sent into combat like their foreign sisters, they were fine, brave-looking ships whose appearance under our flag must have been impressive in the many places, and on the many occasions they showed it. In other navies "Why, oh why?” could have been asked, too. Uncle Sam need not be ashamed of them—they did what was asked of them.
[*] All the armored cruisers lost their original names to new battleships. The ten armored cruisers addressed here were known as the "Big Ten” and their names—new (original)—were: Pittsburgh (.Pennsylvania), Huntington (West Virginia), San Diego (California), Pueblo (Colorado), Frederick (Maryland), Huron (South Dakota), Memphis (Tennessee), Seattle (Washington), Charlotte (North Carolina), and Missoula (Montana).