John Paul Jones Class

## Design

### Backround

As early as 1903, questions arose in the Naval War College (NWC) about the overall effectiveness of large armored cruisers such as the *Pennsylvania*- and *Tennessee*-class vessels just then coming into service. The NWC's 1903 annual summer conference report, which included a staff memorandum on all-big-gun capital ships, also suggested a new type of cruiser that would be armed and armored much like a battleship. The following year, the summer conference considered tactics for a ship armed with four 12-inch (305 mm), twenty-two 3-inch (76 mm) guns, four submerged torpedo tubes and battleship-type protection. Ships such as these were essentially *Tennessee*-class ships in which the 6-inch (150 mm) intermediate battery had been traded for heavier main guns and protection. These ships figured in the college's studies for several years, and its 1906 summer conference report on a US building program strongly advocated the ships' construction for use in scouting and as fast wings in a fleet action, and for their resistance to 12-inch gunfire (much greater than the *Tennessee* class). Although the General Board and the Secretary of the Navy refused to adopt the proposed new armored cruiser, perhaps because the Navy already had 10 new armored cruisers on hand, the college continued to test the design against a variety of foreign vessels, including the British *Invincible*-class battlecruiser.

By 1908, the summer conference had come to favor battlecruisers over armored cruisers. The increasing range of torpedoes and the distances at which future gun battles were expected to be fought seemed to favor speed over armor. Gunnery officers "laid great stress upon the value of getting the range first and then smothering, or beating down, the enemy's fire before he gets the range." The conference concluded that battlecruisers would be worth building, with the caveat that they be considered in the same category as armored cruisers, in support of the battle fleet but not to fight in the line with fully armored battleships. A majority report recommended a top speed of at least 20 percent above that of battleships. As U.S. battleships then being built were expected to steam at 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph), this meant a minimum speed for battlecruisers of 25.4 knots (47.0 km/h; 29.2 mph). The Bureau of Construction and Repair (C&R) sketched out such ships the following year, at the request of the Secretary of the Navy, as fast equivalents of the *Wyoming*-class ships being considered. By adopting a 670-foot (204 m) hull on a displacement of 26,000 long tons (26,417 t), it could produce a vessel that could travel at 25.5 knots (47.2 km/h; 29.3 mph) and carry eight 50-caliber 12-inch guns in four twin turrets and equivalent armor; the savings in weight from eliminating two of the *Wyoming*s' six turrets more than balanced the added length and height of the armor belt. An enlarged belt was required by a deeper hull, as all American battlecruiser studies required deep hulls to retain their girder strength because those hulls had to be abnormally long to attain their speed. If the armor belt were reduced by an average of three inches, a fifth turret could be added. Four intermediate proposals included one with intermediate armor and eight 12-inch guns and one with *Wyoming* armor and six 14-inch guns. Most of these designs did not include superfiring turrets with the execption of **Design H**. The General Board retained these sketches with Design H eventually turning into the **John Paul Jones Class.**

### Armor

Fitted with 6-10 Inches Belt armor. 10 inch armor on barbettes and turrets.