USS Indiana (BB-1)

Indiana was commissioned on 20 November 1895 under the command of Captain Robley D. Evans.[21] After further trials, the ship joined the North Atlantic Squadron under the command of Rear Admiral Francis M. Bunce, which conducted training exercises along the East Coast of the United States.[22] In late 1896, both main turrets broke loose from their clamps in heavy seas. Because the turrets were not centrally balanced, they swung from side to side with the motion of the ship, until they were secured with heavy ropes. Heavier clamps were installed, but in February 1896, while conducting fleet maneuvers with the North Atlantic squadron, the Indiana encountered more bad weather and started rolling heavily. Her new captain, Henry Clay Taylor, promptly ordered her back to port for fear the clamps would break again.[23] This convinced the navy that bilge keels—omitted during construction because, with them, the ship could not fit in most American dry docks—were necessary to reduce the rolling,[24] and they were installed on all three ships of the Indiana-class.[25]

Painting of the Indiana during the battle of Santiago

At the outbreak of the Spanish–American War in April 1898, Indiana was at Key West with the rest of the North Atlantic Squadron, at the time commanded by Rear Admiral William T. Sampson.[14][26] His squadron was ordered to the Spanish port of San Juan in an attempt to intercept and destroy Admiral Cervera's Spanish squadron, which was en route to the Caribbean from Spain. The harbor was empty, but Indiana and the rest of the squadron bombarded it for two hours on 12 May 1898 before realizing their mistake.[14] The squadron returned to Key West, where news arrived three weeks later that Commodore Schley's Flying Squadron had found Cervera and was now blockading him in the port of Santiago de Cuba. Sampson reinforced Schley on 1 June[14] and assumed overall command.[27]

In an attempt to break the stalemate, it was decided to attack Santiago from land. A transport convoy was assembled in Key West and Indiana was sent back to lead it.[28] The expeditionary force, under the command of Major General William Rufus Shafter, landed east of the city and attacked it on 1 July.[29] Cervera saw that his situation was desperate and attempted to break through the blockade on 3 July 1898, resulting in the battle of Santiago de Cuba.[14] The cruisers New Orleans and Newark and battleship Massachusetts had left the day before to load coal in Guantanamo Bay.[30] Admiral Sampson's flagship, the cruiser New York, had also sailed east earlier that morning for a meeting with General Shafter,[31] leaving Commodore Schley in command.[30] This left the blockade weakened and unbalanced on the day of the battle, as three modern battleships (Indiana, Oregon and Iowa) and the armed yacht Gloucester guarded the east, while the west was only defended by the second-class battleship Texas, cruiser Brooklyn and armed yacht Vixen.[32]

Occupying the extreme eastern position of the blockade,[14] Indiana fired at the cruisers Infanta María Teresa and Almirante Oquendo as they left the harbor,[33][34] but, due to engine problems, was unable to keep up with the Spanish cruisers as they fled to the west.[35] When the Spanish destroyers Plutón and Furor emerged, Indiana was near the harbor entrance and, together with Iowa, she supported the armed yacht Gloucester in the destruction of the lightly armored enemy ships.[36] She was then ordered to keep up the blockade of the harbor in case more Spanish ships came out and so played no role in the chase and sinking of the two remaining Spanish cruisers, Vizcaya and Cristóbal Colón.[37]

Aerial view of the damaged Indiana following aerial bombing tests

After the war, Indiana returned to training exercises with the North Atlantic Squadron. In May 1900, she and Massachusetts were placed in reserve as the navy had an acute officer shortage and needed to put the new Kearsarge-class and Illinois-class battleship into commission.[38] The battleships were reactivated the following month as an experiment in how quickly this could be achieved,[39] but Indiana was placed in the reserve fleet again that winter.[40] In March 1901, it was decided to use her that summer for a midshipman practice cruise,[41] and this would be her regular summer job for the next few years,[14] while the rest of the time she would serve as a training ship.[42] During her time as a training vessel, her crew beat the 1903 world record with eight-inch guns, four bullseyes with four shots. [43] She was decommissioned on 29 December 1903[14] to be overhauled and modernized.[44] The obsolete battleship received several upgrades: new Babcock & Wilcox boilers, counterweights to balance her main turrets and electric traversing mechanisms for her turrets.[45] She was recommissioned on 9 January 1906 and manned by the former crew of her sister ship Massachusetts, including Captain Edward D. Taussig, commanding. Massachusetts had been decommissioned the day before to receive similar modernization.[46]

The wreck of the Indiana in the shallow waters of Chesapeake Bay. In the background the remains of San Marcos ex-Texas are visible.

During her second commission, Indiana spent most of her time laid up in the reserve fleet,[47] occasionally participating in practice cruises.[14][48] In January 1907 she helped provide relief in the aftermath of the 1907 Kingston earthquake.[49] In 1908, the 6-inch (152 mm)/40 caliber guns and most of the lighter guns were removed to compensate for the counterweights added to the main battery turrets and because the ammunition supply for the guns was considered problematic. A year later, twelve 3-inch (76 mm)/50 caliber single-purpose guns were added midships and in the fighting tops. At the same time a cage mast was added.[45] In early 1910, she was fitted with an experimental Lacoste speed brake, which would be deployed from the side of the hull to act as an emergency brake; the trials were inconclusive.[50] By 1913 it was speculated that the ship might soon be used for target practice,[51] but instead, the ship was decommissioned on 23 May 1914.[14] After the United States entered World War I, Indiana was commissioned for the third time and served as a training ship for gun crews near Tompkinsville, Staten Island and in the York River, and placed under the command of George Landenberger.[52]

On 31 January 1919 she was decommissioned for the final time, and two months later she was renamed Coast Battleship Number 1 so that the name Indiana could be assigned to the newly authorized—but never completed—battleship Indiana (BB-50).[14] The old battleship was brought to shallow waters in the Chesapeake Bay near the wreck of the target ship San Marcos (ex-Battleship Texas).[14] Here she was subjected to aerial bombing tests conducted by the navy. She was hit with dummy bombs from aircraft, and explosive charges were set off at the positions where the bombs hit. The tests were a response to claims from Billy Mitchell—at the time assistant to Chief of Air Service Charles T. Menoher—who stated to Congress that the Air Service could sink any battleship. The conclusions drawn by the navy from the experiments conducted on Indiana were very different, as Captain William D. Leahy stated in his report: "The entire experiment pointed to the improbability of a modern battleship being either destroyed or completely put out of action by aerial bombs." The subject remained a matter of dispute between Mitchell and the Navy, and several more bombing tests were conducted with other decommissioned battleships, culminating in the sinking of SMS Ostfriesland.[53] Indiana sank during the test and settled in the shallow water, where she remained until her wreck was sold for scrap on 19 March 1924.[14] When the US Navy adopted hull numbers in 1920, Indiana was retroactively assigned the number "BB-1".[54]

• "Indiana". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
• "Williamson". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History & Heritage Command. Retrieved 13 January 2017.

• "The new American navy; Secretary Tracy reports in favor of progress" (PDF). The New York Times. 1 December 1890. Retrieved 24 June 2010.
• "Cramps claim of $1,367,244; House spends entire day on bill to refer it to the Court of Claims" (PDF). The New York Times. 19 January 1901. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
• "Cramps lose $135,000 claim; asserted delay in building the Indiana cost them that" (PDF). The New York Times. 14 May 1907. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
• "The war steamer Indiana; to be launched from the Cramp yards today" (PDF). The New York Times. 27 February 1893. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
• "Launch of the Indiana; The big war ship glides into the water safely" (PDF). The New York Times. 28 February 1893. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
• "Battle ship Indiana on trial; Builders preliminary test of her speed and machinery" (PDF). The New York Times. 7 March 1894. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
• "Indiana makes a fast run; six-tenths of a knot better than required speed. Her preliminary trial most successful" (PDF). The New York Times. 9 March 1894. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
• "The Indiana a wonder; Highly successful speed test of the new battleship" (PDF). The New York Times. 19 October 1895. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
• "Cramps wants money due on cruisers" (PDF). The New York Times. 20 September 1894. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
• "The Indiana is Accepted; Capt. Evans Placed in Command – The Boston Goes to China" (PDF). The New York Times. 19 November 1895. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
• "The North Atlantic Squadron; Programme of the Evolutions It Will Make This Summer" (PDF). The New York Times. 18 June 1896. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
• "Defects in the Indiana; Her Turrets Got Loose Again on the Trip with Admiral Bunce's Squadron" (PDF). The New York Times. 5 February 1897. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
• "Where Our Warships Are; The Positions of the Vessels of the Navy According to the Latest Reports" (PDF). The New York Times. 1 April 1898. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
• "The Santiago Off; Gen. Shafter's Command Leaves Key West for Cuba, Convoyed by a Powerful Fleet" (PDF). The New York Times. 12 June 1898. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
• "The Indiana at Santiago; Admiral Sampson Assures Capt. Taylor that He Meant No Criticism in His Report" (PDF). The New York Times. 26 August 1898. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
• "Sampson's Story of the Battle; Official Report of the Destruction of Cervera's Squadron" (PDF). The New York Times. 26 July 1898. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
• "Navy Short of Officers; There Are Not Enough to Keep Warships in Commission" (PDF). The New York Times. 14 April 1900. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
• "Hurry Order to the Navy; Department Wants to Find Out What Can Be Done in an Emergency" (PDF). The New York Times. 6 June 1900. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
• "Warships to Be Laid Up" (PDF). The New York Times. 20 August 1900. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
• "Battleship Assigned to Cadets" (PDF). The New York Times. 26 March 1901. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
• "More Men for the Navy; Plan to Increase the Force of Seamen to 50,000" (PDF). The New York Times. 8 April 1902. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
• "Battleship Indiana's Overhauling" (PDF). The New York Times. 19 November 1903. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
• "Reconstructed Indiana ready" (PDF). The New York Times. 8 January 1906. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
• "Plans Completed for Naval Review; Maritime Pageant Will Surpass Anything of the Kind Seen in American Waters" (PDF). The New York Times. 10 November 1907. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
• "Battleship for the Middies; Three Assigned to Them for Next Summer's Cruise" (PDF). The New York Times. 27 November 1909. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
• "Old Battleships to Become Targets; Indiana Expected to be the Next to be Riddled by the Atlantic Fleet" (PDF). The New York Times. 31 March 1913. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
• "G. B. Landenberger, Navy Captain, Dies: Retired Officer Served for 35 – Held Many Important Posts During Career". The New York Times. 16 January 1936. p. 21.

• Bryan, B. C. (1901). "The Steaming Radius of United States Naval Vessels". Journal of the American Society for Naval Engineers. 13 (1): 50–69. doi:10.1111/j.1559-3584.1901.tb03372.x. (subscription required)
• Correll, John T (June 2008). "Billy Mitchell and the Battleships". Air Force Magazine. Arlington, Virginia: Air Force Association. 91 (6).