USS Illinois BB-7 / Prairie State IX-15

Type:
Battleship
Class:
Builder:
Newport News Shipbuilding &
Drydock Company
Newport News, Virginia
Hull Number:
Battleship #7
BB-7 (July 19, 1921)
IX-15 (June 26, 1922)
Ordered:
September 26, 1896
Commissioned:
September 16, 1901
Keel Laid:
February 10, 1897
Decommissioned:
May 15, 1920
Launched:
October 4, 1898
Stricken:
March 26, 1956
Fate:
Sold May 18, 1956 to Bethlehem Steel Co. and scrapped.


Dimensions, machinery and performance

Length:
375' 4"
Engines:
2 vertically inverted triple expansion
Beam:
72' 3"
Boilers:
8 Mosher (coal fired)
Draft:
25' 10"
Shafts:
2
Displacement:
11,552 std / 12,150 full
SHP:
10,000
Speed:
16
Crew:
818
Range:
N/A


Armament (general for class)
Number Carried
Type
Arrangement
Maximum Range
4
13"/35 (330mm)
2 twin turrets
12,000 yards @ 15° (6.8 miles)
1,130 lb. shell
14
6"/40 (152mm) Mk VI
Single mounts
18,000 yards @ 30.2° (10.2 miles)
105 lb. shell

16
2.244" (57mm)
Single mounts
8,700 yards @ 45° (4.9 miles)
AA ceiling 10,000'
6.03 lb. HE or AP shell
6
1.46" (37mm)
Single mounts
3,500 yards @ 11.4°
1.058 lb. HE shell
4 (a)
18" (450mm)
torpedo tubes
single mounts
surface
1,500 yards @ 28.5 knots
132 lb. wet gun-cotton warhead
4 (b)
3"/50 (76mm)
Single mounts
14,600 yards @ 43° (8.2 miles)
AA ceiling 30,400'
13 lb. HE shell

Armament notes:
(a):
1906-1908 three torpedo tubes removed by 1912 all had been removed.
(b):
Added around 1912.


Notes:
Christened by Miss Nancy Leiter.
Oct. 25, 1921:
Transferred to the New York Naval Militia and used as a training ship.
Jan. 23, 1941:
Renamed Prairie State.


Builder's Data
Page published Jan. 22, 2007