page_title: Colorado-class battleship
section_title: Class history
hierarchical_section_title: Colorado-class battleship / Class history
caption_attribution_description: Illustration of the Colorado class design in 1917
context_page_description: The Colorado-class battleships were a group of four United States Navy super-dreadnoughts, the last of its pre-Treaty battleships. Designed during World War I, their construction overlapped the end of that conflict and continued in its immediate aftermath. Though all four keels were laid, only three ships were launched: Colorado, Maryland, and West Virginia. Washington was over 75% completed when she was canceled under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty in 1922. As such, the 16" Colorado-class ships were the last and most powerful battleships built by the US Navy until the North Carolina class entered service on the eve of World War II.
  The Colorados were the final group of the U.S.' Standard-type battleships, designed to have similar speed and handling to simplify maneuvers with the line of battle. Apart from an upgrade in striking power to eight 16-inch guns, the ships were essentially repeats of the earlier Tennessee class. The Colorados were also the last American capital ships built with four turrets and twin-mounted guns. The change to larger guns was prompted by the Japanese Nagato-class battleships, which also mounted eight 16-inch guns.
context_section_description: With fiscal year 1917 appropriations, bids on the four Colorados were opened on 18 October 1916; though Maryland's keel was laid on 24 April 1917, the other three battleships were not until 1919–1920. With the cancellation of the first South Dakota class, the Colorados were the last U.S. battleships to enter service for nearly two decades. They were also the final U.S. battleships to use twin gun turrets—the North Carolinas and second South Dakota classes had nine 16-inch/45 caliber guns and the Iowas used nine 16 in/50 caliber in three triple turrets.
caption: Illustration of the Colorado-class design, created in 1917
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