Name: USS Tennessee
Ordered: 28 December 1915
Laid down: 14 May 1917
Launched: 30 April 1919
Commissioned: 3 June 1920
Decommissioned: 14 February 1947
Struck: 1 March 1959
Honors and
awards: Navy Unit Commendation, ten battle stars
Fate: Sold for scrap, 10 July 1959
General characteristics
Class and type: Tennessee-class battleship
Displacement: 33,190 tons
Length: 624 ft (190 m)
Beam: 97.3 ft (29.7 m)
Draft: 31 ft (9.4 m)
Speed: 21 knots (39 km/h)
Complement: 57 officers, 1026 men
Armament: 12 × 14 in (356 mm) guns,
14 × 5 in (127 mm) guns,
4 × 3 in (76 mm) AA guns,
2 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
USS Tennessee (BB-43), the lead ship of her class of battleship, was the third ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the 16th state.[1]
Her keel was laid down on 14 May 1917 at the New York Navy Yard. She was launched on 30 April 1919 sponsored by Miss Helen Lenore Roberts, daughter of Albert H. Roberts, the governor of Tennessee and commissioned on 3 June 1920 with Captain Richard H. Leigh in command.