USS South Carolina ( BB - 26 ) USS " South Carolina " ( BB - 26 ) , the lead ship of her class of dreadnought battleship s , was the fourth ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the eighth state , and was the first American dreadnought ( ie . a battleship armed with eight or more major caliber ( 12 - inch or greater ) guns ) . Her keel was laid down on 18 December 1906 at Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , by William Cramp and Sons . She was launched on 1 July 1908 , sponsored by Miss Frederica Ansel , daughter of the Governor of South Carolina Martin F . Ansel ; and commissioned on 1 March 1910 , Captain Augustus F . Fechteler in command . She was armed with eight 12 " guns with four turrets of 2 guns each . Design and construction . The idea of an all - big - gun battleship had been discussed in the U . S . Navy beginning in 1901 . When the eight - inch intermediate gun then in use was seen to be inadequate in penetrating foreign armor at greater battle ranges , it appeared only natural to replace them with more large guns . In an article published in the March 1902 " Proceedings " of the U . S . Naval Institute , Lieutenant Matt H . Signor proposed a ship armed with six 12 - inch guns in two triple turrets and two 10 - inch triple turrets amidships . This article was taken seriously enough for the " Procedings " to publish rebuttals by Professor P . R . Alger , then the Navy ' s chief gunnery expert , and David W . Taylor , a future chief constructor whose work on ship propulsion was becoming well known in Navy circles . While Alger did not agree with the suggestion of triple turrets , he did recommend a main battery of eight 12 - inch guns for future battleships . Taylor proposed steam turbines for future capital ships ; their low fuel economy , he added , could be overcome by using variable - pitch propellers . All - big - gun proponents in the Navy argued , as did their Royal Navy counterparts in Great Britain , that the increasing range of naval actions demanded more heavy guns . They also cited the need for guns that could outrange torpedo es fired by hostile battleships . They eventually won the argument by increasing effective gun range . The longer the range , the more of an advantage heavy guns showed over intermediate ones . Also , at long range , gunners had to " spot " the fall of shot to correct their aim . This reduced the effective rate of fire that had been the intermediate gun ' s main advantage since a round could not be fired until the gunner had seen where the previous one had fallen . The longer the range , the lower the theoretical rate of fire . By 1904 , gunnery had improved to the point that decisive hits in a naval battle would be made at the longest ranges possible . " South Carolina " was the first American dreadnought ; her design actually predated the British HMS " Dreadnought " , although she was completed later . She was the first vessel of any nation to incorporate all of its main guns ( 8 x 12in guns ) in a superfire arrangement , where the second row of guns are higher and can fire over the top of the forward weapons . It was considered essential to conserve length and volume , especially with the 16 , 000 - ton limit for capital ships imposed by Congress at that time . The result was a 3 , 000 - ton savings in displacement over " Dreadnought " and a better protected broadside . She was the last US ship to be limited to 16 , 000 tons displacement by congressional mandate . The " South Carolina " was also the first ship to feature cage style masts , that would become standard on American dreadnoughts . The " South Carolina " ' s speed , 18 knots , was designed to conform to the earlier American battleships and this would prove to be a significant weakness later on as she could not operate with the newer , faster battleship designs . Pre - World War I . " South Carolina " departed Philadelphia on 6 March for shakedown , cruised to the Danish West Indies and Cuba , and then visited Charleston , South Carolina from 10 to 15 April . After conducting trials off the Virginia Capes and off Provincetown , Massachusetts , the battleship visited New York City on 17 to 18 June on the occasion of a reception for former President Theodore Roosevelt . Voyage repairs at Norfolk , Virginia , naval militia training duty , and Atlantic Fleet maneuvers off Provincetown and the Virginia Capes occupied her time from the end of June - the beginning of November . From 1 November 1910 to 12 January 1911 , she voyaged to Europe and back with Battleship Division 2 ( BatDiv 2 ) . This visit took her to Cherbourg , France , and the Isle of Portland , England . Upon her return to Norfolk , she entered the navy yard for repairs , and then conducted tactics training and maneuvers off the New England coast . Following a short visit to New York , she steamed east with the Second Battleship Division for a visit to Copenhagen , Denmark ; Stockholm , Sweden ; and Kronstadt , Russia . During the return from Kronstadt , she reached Kiel , Germany on 21 June in time to join in the Kiel Week , hosted by Kaiser Wilhelm II . On 13 July , she arrived off Provincetown , Massachusetts , and engaged in battle practice along the coast to the Chesapeake Bay . Late in 1911 , she took part in the naval review at New York and maneuvers with the First Squadron out of Newport , Rhode Island on 3 January 1912 , she departed New York for winter operations in the vicinity of Guantánamo Bay , Cuba . " South Carolina " returned to Norfolk on 13 March and , until late June , cruised the East Coast as far north as Newport . In June , she joined in the welcome receptions at Hampton Roads and New York given in honor of the visiting German Squadron , composed of , and . On 30 June , she entered the yard at Norfolk for overhaul . Just over three months later , she sailed to New York for a visit , which lasted from 11 – 15 October . Next came a month of exercises off the coast of New England and the Virginia Capes . From mid - November - mid - December , " South Carolina " steamed with the Special Service Division on visits to Pensacola , Florida , New Orleans , Louisiana , Galveston , Texas , and the Mexican port , Veracruz . She returned to Norfolk on 20 December and remained there until 6 January 1913 , when she sailed to Colón , Panama , where her crew saw the newly completed canal . After maneuvers in the area of Guantánamo Bay , she reentered Norfolk on 22 March , then cruised north as far as Newport , stopping at New York from 28 March – 31 May for the dedication of a memorial to . After a brief period training midshipmen in the Virginia Capes area , " South Carolina " embarked upon a 16 - month period during which she carried the " Big Stick " to the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean . From late June until mid - September 1913 , she cruised the eastern coast of Mexico protecting American interests at Tampico and Veracruz . She was overhauled at Norfolk from late September 1913 - early January 1914 , and then headed for maneuvers off Culebra Island off Puerto Rico . On 28 January , the battleship landed marines at Port - au - Prince , Haiti , to guard the United States legation and to establish a field radio station during that period of political convulsions . She departed Port - au - Prince on 14 April after the restoration of some order under General Oreste Zamor , the new Haitian President . She coaled at Key West , Florida , then steamed to Veracruz where she sent a landing force ashore to join in the occupation of that city until her departure a month later . " South Carolina " spent the troubled summer of 1914 investigating conditions in Santo Domingo and Haiti . World War I . By the time " South Carolina " returned to Norfolk on 24 September , World War I had already been raging for almost two months . On 14 October , the battleship entered the yard at Philadelphia . She emerged revitalized on 20 February 1915 and headed south for the usual battle practice in the vicinity of Cuba . The exercises took on new meaning since they were hard on the heels of the diplomatic crisis triggered by Germany ' s declaring the waters around England to be a war zone . The sinking of did not cause the United States to enter the war . For almost two years , " South Carolina " continued her routine of winter and spring exercises out of Guantánamo Bay , summer operations off Newport , and periodic repairs at Philadelphia . The entry of the United States into the war on the side of the Allies in April 1917 did not presage dramatic events for the Navy . Except for U - boat s and an occasional disguised commerce raider , the Royal Navy had already cleared the seas of German naval might at such battles as the Battle of Jutland and the Battle of the Falkland Islands . Therefore , " South Carolina " continued to operate along the East Coast through 1917 and for the first eight months of 1918 . On 9 September 1918 , she joined the escort of a convoy bound for France . A week later , she turned the convoy over to other escorts in mid - ocean and steamed back to the United States . After a brief repair period at Philadelphia , she returned to gunnery training service and was so employed at the time of the Armistice on 11 November . During the war , William Gilmer commanded her , for which he received the Navy Cross . Inter - War period . From mid - February - late July 1919 , " South Carolina " made four round - trip voyages between the United States and Brest , France . By 26 July , when she entered Hampton Roads at the end of the last of these voyages , she had returned over 4 , 000 World War I veterans to the United States . Following an overhaul at the Norfolk Navy Yard , she embarked midshipmen at Annapolis , Maryland for a cruise to the Pacific . She departed Annapolis on 5 June 1920 , transited the Panama Canal , sailed to Hawaii , and then to the West Coast . She visited Seattle , Washington , San Francisco , California , and San Diego , California , as she sailed down the western seaboard . " South Carolina " cleared San Diego on 11 August , retransited the canal , and sailed for Annapolis on 2 September ; then she headed on to Philadelphia , where she remained for seven months . In early April 1921 , she cruised to Culebra Island , Puerto Rico in the West Indies for training , and then operated in the Chesapeake Bay . On 29 May , the battleship embarked another complement of midshipmen at Annapolis . She called at Kristiania , Norway , and Lisbon , Portugal , before heading to the Guantánamo Bay area to round out the midshipmen ' s summer training cruise . She debarked the midshipmen at Annapolis on 30 August and steamed to Philadelphia where she arrived the following day . " South Carolina " was decommissioned at Philadelphia on 15 December and remained there until her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Registry on 10 November 1923 . Her hulk was sold for scrap on 24 April 1924 in accordance with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty . Her silver service is presently on display in the South Carolina Governor ' s Mansion .