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| Country:
USA |
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Type: Battleship |
| Service:
1921 - 1947 |
| Ordered: 29 August 1916 |
| Launched: 22 March 1921 |
| Decommissioned: 7 January 1947 |
| Struck: 1 March 1959 |
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The three completed Colorado class battleships were up-gunned versions of the preceding Tennessee class, sharing their general design and appearance, but replacing the twelve 14-inch (356 mm) guns with eight 16-inch (406 mm) guns to counter the Japanese Nagato class battleships, which also had eight 16-inch guns.
Authorized during World War I but delayed by higher priorities the Colorado class were the last new battleships to enter United States Navy service for nearly two decades, and the last American battleships ever built to use the twin turrets.
During World War II, the Colorado class ships saw the usual wartime employment of older battleships, serving as a fleet in being in 1942 and 1943 and thereafter providing big-gun bombardment in support of amphibious operations.
USS Colorado (BB-45), the third ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the 38th state, was the lead ship of her class of battleships. Her keel was laid down on 29 May 1919 by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation of Camden, New Jersey. She was launched on 22 March 1921 and commissioned on 30 August 1923. The battleship was being overhauled when the attack on Pearl Harbor took place. She served in the Pacific throughout the Second World War and was decommissioned in 1947.
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