Pre Dreadnought Battleship: Illinois Class

[Brian James]

Close up of Illinois Class Pre-Dreadnought Battleship USS Alabama pictured undergoing her major 3 year overhaul refit at Brooklyn Navy yard, images taken on November 21st 1911.

[Brian James]

Illinois Class Pre-Dreadnought Battleship USS Wisconsin pictured, the first ship to enter the newly completed Dry Dock No 4 at Norfolk Navy Yard on May 5th 1919.... Dry Dock 4 was at one time the largest concrete structure in the world. With a usable length of 1,110ft-10 inches and a floor thickness of 20 feet it can be summarized in one word – "massive." As a structure it was begun on January 8th, 1917, and was declared completed on April 1st, 1919. It along with so many other Norfolk Navy Yard facilities upgrades and expansions of the time was a direct result of World War I. Dry Dock No 4 has been in continual service to the fleet from that time to present, servicing all types of naval vessels for now a full ten decades.

[Brian James]

Illinois Class Pre-Dreadnought Battleship USS Alabama pictured c1904.

[Brian James]

Launch day pictured for Lead Ship, Pre-Dreadnought Battleship USS Illinois at Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company Shipyards on October 4th 1898.

[Brian James]

Illinois Class Pre-Dreadnought Battleship USS Wisconsin pictured at Portsmouth Navy Yard on June 21st 1909.

[designeraccd]

A view of the olde WISCONSIN as built: no cage masts! She was the second West Coast built pre-dreadnought battleship. DFO

[Brian James]

Illinois Class Pre-Dreadnought Battleship USS Alabama pictured off New York City in 1901.

[Brian James]

Illinois Class Pre-Dreadnought Battleship USS Alabama pictured in 1905.