USS New Hampshire Troop Transport ( home )

USS New Hampshire (BB-25)

The USS New Hampshire off New York City

Career (US)       

Laid down:          1 May 1905

Launched:           30 June 1906

Commissioned:                 19 March 1908

Decommissioned:            21 May 1921

Fate:      sold for scrap

General characteristics [1]

Displacement:   16,000 tons (14,500 tonnes)

Length:                 456.3 ft (139.1 m)

Beam:   76.9 ft (23.4 m)

Draft:    24.5 ft (7.5 m)

Speed: 18 kn (21 mph; 33 km/h)

Complement:    850 officers and men

Armament:        

    4 × 12 in (300 mm)/45 cal Mark 5 guns

    8 × 8 in (200 mm)/45 cal guns

    12 × 7 in (180 mm)/45 cal guns

    20 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 cal guns

    2 × 1 pounders (37 mm, 1.47 in)

    4 × 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes

Armor:

    Belt: 6–11 in (152–279 mm)

    Barbettes: 6–10 in (152–254 mm)

    Turret Main: 8–12 in (203–305 mm)

    Turret secondary: 7 in (178 mm)

    Conning tower: 9 in (229 mm)

Firing a broadside circa 1918

The second United States Navy New Hampshire (BB-25) was a Connecticut-class battleship. New Hampshire was the last American pre-dreadnought battleship, though she was commissioned two years after HMS Dreadnought.

She was laid down on 1 May 1905 by New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey; launched on 30 June 1906; sponsored by Mrs. John A.(Hazel E. McLane) Clark, daughter of Governor John McLane of New Hampshire; and commissioned on 19 March 1908, Captain Cameron M. Winslow in command.

Contents

Pre-World War I

After fitting out at New York, New Hampshire carried a Marine Expeditionary Regiment to Colón, Panama on 20–26 June 1908, then made ceremonial visits to Quebec, Portsmouth, New York, and Bridgeport. Overhaul at New York and Caribbean exercises were followed by participation in the Naval Review by President Theodore Roosevelt in Hampton Roads on 22 February 1909, welcoming home the "Great White Fleet".

Through the next 18 months, she exercised along the east coast and in the Caribbean, then departed Hampton Roads on 1 November 1910 with Battleship Division 2 (BatDiv 2) for Cherbourg, France and Weymouth, England. Leaving England on 30 December, she returned to the Caribbean until arriving in Norfolk, Virginia on 10 March 1911 to prepare for a second European cruise which took her to Scandinavian, Russian, and German ports. The squadron returned to New England waters on 13 July.

New Hampshire trained United States Naval Academy midshipmen off New England in the next two summers, and patrolled off strife-torn Hispaniola in December 1912. From 14 June-29 December 1913, she similarly protected United States' interests along the Mexican coast, to which she returned on 15 April 1914 to support the occupation of Veracruz. New Hampshire sailed north on 21 June, was overhauled at Norfolk, and exercised along the east coast and in the Caribbean until returning to Veracruz in August 1915.

World War I

Arriving Norfolk on 30 September 1915, New Hampshire operated in northern waters until 2 December 1916, when she sailed for Santo Domingo, where her commanding officer took part in the government of the revolt-torn country. She returned to Norfolk in February 1917 for overhaul, where she lay when the United States entered World War I. For the next 18 months, she trained gunners and engineers in northern coastal waters, and on 15 September began the first of two convoy escort missions, guarding transports from New York to a rendezvous point off the French coast. On 24 December 1918, she sailed on the first of four voyages bringing veterans home from France to east coast ports. This duty completed on 22 June 1919, she was overhauled at Philadelphia, then on 5 June 1920 sailed with Academy midshipmen embarked for a cruise through the Panama Canal to Hawaii and west coast ports. She returned to Philadelphia on 11 September.

Inter-war period

RMS Carmania Troop transport New York- Liverpool, England

RMS Carmania  New York- Liverpool, England

Name: RMS Carmania

Owner:                 Cunard Line

Port of registry:                United Kingdom

Builder:                John Brown & Company, Clydebank

Yard number:    366 [1]

Launched:           21 February 1905

Fate:      Scrapped in 1932 at Blyth, Northumberland

General characteristics

Tonnage:             19,524 gross tons

Length:                 650.4 ft (198.2 m)

Beam:   72.2 ft (22.0 m)

Installed power:               Steam turbines

Propulsion:         three propellers

Speed: 18 knots

Capacity:              2,650, reduced to 1,440 in 1923

RMS Carmania was a British ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett and built by John Brown & Company for the Cunard Line. In World War I the Carmania was converted to an armed merchant cruiser.[2]

History

When launched, the Carmania and her sister ship, the Caronia, were the largest ships in the Cunard fleet and two of the fastest in the world,[3] since they had been designed to compete with the Germans for the Blue Riband. The Carmania had steam turbines, and the Caronia had quadruple-expansion engines.[4] Another feature that differentiated the two liners was that Carmania had two tall forward deck ventilator cowls while they were absent on Caronia. The Carmania traveled the New York-Liverpool route from 1905 to 1910. In the spring of 1906 it carried H.G. Wells to America for the first time; he noted in a book about his travels that "This Carmania isn't the largest ship nor the finest, nor is to be the last. Greater ships are to follow and greater."[5] The Carmania suffered one major fire in June 1910. In October 1913, while eastward bound, she responded to a distress call from the Volturno to pick up survivors in a storm, resulting in many awards for gallantry being presented to various members of her crew and Captain James Clayton Barr.[6]

Following the outbreak of World War I, the Carmania was converted into an armed merchant cruiser, equipped with eight 4.7 inch guns, and put under the command of Captain Noel Grant. She sailed from Liverpool to Shell Bay in Bermuda. She subsequently engaged and sank the German merchant cruiser SMS Cap Trafalgar during the Battle of Trindade.[7] The ship suffered extensive damage herself and several casualties to her crew. Ironically, the two ships had been disguised as each other. After repairs in Gibraltar she patrolled the coast of Portugal and the Atlantic islands for the next two years. In 1916 she was summoned to assist in the Gallipoli campaign. From May 1916 she was used as a troop ship. After the War she transported Canadian troops back from Europe.

In early 1920, she returned to passenger liner service, being refitted in 1923. In 1932, she was sold to Hughes Bolckow & Co., and scrapped at Blyth.[8]