Battleships of The United States - Ship List

Ship List

(s) indicates ship was second class battleship (relative to other US battleships of the era)

(n) indicates ship never entered service.

Except for Kearsarge, named by an act of Congress, all American battleships have been named for states, and every state has had at least one battleship named for it except Alaska and Hawaii. They did not become states until 1959, after the end of battleship building, although the "battlecruiser" or Large Cruiser USS Alaska (CB-1) was built during WWII and USS Hawaii (CB-3) was begun but never completed. Two battleships have been authorized to be named for Montana, but both were canceled before commissioning. The pre-dreadnoughts USS Zrinyi (formerly the Austrian SMS Zrinyi), USS Radetzky (formerly the Austrian SMS Radetzky), and USS Ostfriesland (formerly the German SMS Ostfriesland), taken as prizes of war after World War I, were commissioned in the US Navy, but were not assigned hull classification symbols.

No American battleship has ever been lost at sea, though USS Maine (ACR-1) exploded in port, and several battleships were sunk during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Of these, only USS Arizona (BB-39) and USS Oklahoma (BB-37) were permanently destroyed as a result of enemy action. Several other battleships have been sunk as targets.