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| Country:
USA |
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Type: Battleship |
| Service:
1911 - 1931 |
| Laid down: 8 March 1909 |
| Launched: 12 May 1910 |
| Commissioned: 15 September 1911 |
| Decommissioned: 16 February 1931 |
| Struck: 6 April 1932 |
| Fate: Scrapped 30 September 1932 |
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The two Florida class battleships of the United States Navy were the first class of battleships be equipped exclusively with steam turbine propulsion. These ships were approximately 2,000 tons larger than the previous class, but they had the same main armament of ten 12-inch (305 mm) guns in five twin turrets.
The USS Florida (BB-30) was a Florida class battleship, the lead ship of her class. She was launched 12 May 1910 at the New York Navy Yard and commissioned 15 September 1911.
Following the American entry into World War I, Florida joined with the British Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow on 7 December 1917. She participated in Grand Fleet maneuvers and and performed convoy duty through the remainder of the war. She rendezvoused with the Grand Fleet on 20 November 1918 when it met to escort the German High Seas Fleet into the Firth of Forth.
The Florida was laid up June 1924. She was modernized at the Boston Navy Yard from 1 April 1925 to 1 November 1926. The reconstruction included heavier deck armor and anti-torpedo blisters along her sides and a rearranged secondary gun battery. The four boilers were converted from coal fired to White-Forster oil fired. Her two smokestacks were trunked into one. The aft caged mast was replaced with a lower stick mast and relocated aft between Turrets 3 & 4. Four of the sixteen 5 inch (127 mm) 51 caliber secondary battery mounted in sponsons in the hull were removed. The two 21 inch (533 mm) underwater mounted torpedo tubes were also removed.
USS Florida served with the US Navy a few years after this modernization until she was removed from the National Armament under the 1930 London Naval Treaty. She was decommissioned 16 February 1931 at the Philadelphia Naval Yard, stricken from the list 6 April 1932 and scrapped at the Philadelphia Naval Yard under the terms of the London Naval Treaty of 1930. Scrapping was completed on 30 September 1932.
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