SOUTH DAKOTA CLASS

Name                        Builder                      Laid Down           Launched       Completed 

South Dakota              New York                05/07/39             07/06/41         20/03/42

Indiana                        Newport News         20/11/39             21/11/41         30/04/42  

Massachusetts             Bethlehem Quincy     20/07/39             23/09/41         12/05/42

Alabama                      Norfolk NY              01/02/40            16/02/42          16/08/42

Specification     USS  South Dakota (BB.57)

 Displacement: 38, 000 tons standard, 44, 374 tons full load

Dimensions: length 207.3 m (680 ft) overall; beam 33.0 m ( 108 ft 3 in); draught 1 l. 1 m (36 ft 3 in) maximum

 Machinery: 4-shaft geared steam turbines delivering 130, 000 shp (96940 kW)

Speed: 28 kts

Armour: belt 311 m ( 12. 25 in); decks 38-127 mm ( 1. 5-5 in); turrets 457 mm ( 18 in)

Armament:

nine 406-mm ( 16-in), 16 127 mm (5-in) DP, 40 40-mm AA and 40 20-mm AA guns

Aircraft: three Vought Kingfisher floatplanes

Complement: 2, 354

Notes 

The South Dakota class built to counter  suspected Japanese infringement of the Washington

treaty and up gunned to 16 inch guns instead of the original treaty limit of 14 inch ( The Japanese

had already broken this by laying down of the Yamoto class with 18.1 inch guns.) was to cause

problems for the designers , how do you achieve this goal and still fit it into the 35,000 ton  treaty

limit then in force.The ship needed to be protected against the expected 16 inch guns of the Japanese

as was the current USN practice ,basically if it carried 16 inch guns it would be armored to match

To achieve this , the vessel needed to be a series of compromises , from the ideal design (as most ships are). first the water line length had to be reduced in order to save weight but in to carry the 

required weight of Armour  meant that the beam had to be increased. However the stubby hull

form caused more drag and meant that to maintain 28 kts more power had to be installed. But

where to put it in a notably shorter hull. The USN designers achieved this by redesigning the 

currently available machinery and so solving the problem.

The short hull gave one main benefit it gave the ship maneuverability and the Armour protection

against bombs and torpedoes was equivalent to the contemporaries of the time ( KGV class).

         The lead ship USS South Dakota (BB57)  after commissioning  in March 1942 went 

Straight to the Pacific for a shake down cruise, but unfortunately ran aground.

Repairs were completed in order for here to join in the battle of Santa cruise.

by October 26th 1942 she claimed to have shot down 26 Japanese planes  with her new 

proximity fused   5 inch  shells taking a lot of the credit.

In the battle of Guadalcanal she was not quite as successful, while approaching the Japanese battle

line in company with the USS Washington she blew the  main ring main causing the loss of all main

Electrical power.

With out fire control or radar she groped her way to within 5000 yards (4570m) of the enemy

This maneuver only succeeded in her getting hit by a number of shells 1x 14 inch / 6x 6 inch 

18 x 8 inch / 1 x 5 inch .

In 1943 she joined the British Home fleet with her sister Alabama but returned later in the year 

to the US Pacific fleet.

As with her 3 sisters she took part in every major amphibious campaigns that resulted in the surrender  of Japan in August 1945.

Sadly in 1947 USS South Dakota was decommissioned and then Stricken from the Navy list in

1962.