USS South Dakota (ACR-9)

For other ships of the same name, see USS South Dakota and USS Huron.

Career
Name:	USS South Dakota (1908-1920) USS Huron (1920-1929)
Launched:	21 July 1904
Commissioned:	27 January 1908
Decommissioned:	17 June 1927
Struck:	15 November 1929
Fate:	Sold for scrap 11 February 1930. Hull sunk at Powell River, Canada
General characteristics
Class and type:	Pennsylvania-class cruiser
Displacement:	13,680 tons
Length:	504 ft (154 m)
Beam:	69 ft 6 in (21.18 m)
Draft:	26 ft 1 in (7.95 m)
Propulsion:	2 × vertical, inverted, triple expansion engines 23,000 ihp (17,000 kW) 2 × screws
Speed:	22 kn (25 mph; 41 km/h)
Complement:	830 officers and men
Armament:	4 × 8 in (200 mm)/40 cal guns, 14 × 6 in (150 mm)/50 cal guns, 18 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 cal guns, 12 × 3-pounders (47 mm (1.9 in)), 2 × 1-pounders (37 mm (1.5 in)), 2 × 18 in (460 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor:	Belt: 6 in (150 mm) Deck: 4 in (100 mm) on slopes Bulkheads: 4 in (100 mm)

The second USS South Dakota (ACR-9), also referred to "Armored Cruiser No. 9", and later renamed Huron (CA-9), was a United States Navy Pennsylvania-class armored cruiser.

She was launched on 21 July 1904 by the Union Iron Works, San Francisco, California, sponsored by Grace Herreid (daughter of Charles N. Herreid, Governor of South Dakota), and commissioned on 27 January 1908, Captain James T. Smith in command.

Pre-World War I

Assigned to the Armored Cruiser Squadron, Pacific Fleet, South Dakota cruised off the west coast of the United States through August 1908. On 24 August, she departed San Francisco for a cruise to Samoa and headed eastward in September to operate in Central and South American waters. In the autumn of 1909, she deployed westward with the Armored Cruiser Squadron. The force called at ports in the Admiralty Islands, the Philippines, Japan, and China, before returning to Honolulu on 31 January 1910.

In February, South Dakota joined Tennessee to form a Special Service Squadron which cruised off the Atlantic coast of South America and then returned to the Pacific late in the year.

Following operations along the Pacific coast during much of 1911, South Dakota began a cruise in December with the Armored Cruiser Squadron which took her from California to the Hawaiian Islands, the Marianas, the Philippines, and Japan. After returning to the west coast in August 1912, she participated in periodic squadron exercises until she was placed in reserve on 30 December 1913 at the Puget Sound Navy Yard.

Detached from the Reserve Force, Pacific Fleet on 17 April 1914, South Dakota made a cruise southward into Mexican waters in June and another westward to the Hawaiian Islands in August. She returned to Bremerton on 14 September and reverted to reserve status on 28 September. She was the flagship of the Reserve Force, Pacific Fleet, from 21 January 1915 until relieved by Milwaukee on 5 February 1916. She remained in reduced commission through 1916; and on 5 April 1917, she was again placed in full commission.

World War I

Transferred to the Atlantic after the United States entered World War I, South Dakota departed Bremerton on 12 April. She joined Pittsburgh, Pueblo, and Frederick at Colon, Panama, on 29 May; thence proceeded to the South Atlantic for patrol duty operating from Brazilian ports. On 2 November 1918, she escorted troop convoys from the east coast to the mid-Atlantic rendezvous point where British cruisers joined the convoy. Following the Armistice, South Dakota made two voyages from Brest, France, to New York, returning troops to the United States.

Inter-war period

In the summer of 1919, South Dakota was ordered back to the Pacific to serve as flagship of the Asiatic Fleet, arriving at Manila on 27 October. South Dakota was renamed Huron on 7 June 1920 and was designated CA-9 on 17 July 1920. She served in the Asiatic Fleet for the next seven years, operating in Philippine waters during the winter and out of Shanghai and Chefoo during the summer.

Ordered home, Huron departed Manila on 31 December 1926 and arrived at the Puget Sound Navy Yard on 3 March 1927. She was decommissioned on 17 June and remained in reserve until she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 15 November 1929. She was sold on 11 February 1930 for scrapping in accordance with the London Naval Treaty.

Huron was stripped down to the waterline and then sold to the Powell River Company, Ltd. In August 1931, the ship was towed to Powell River, British Columbia, Canada, to serve as a floating breakwater for a large logging mill. She was preceded the previous year by the former cruiser Charleston. Huron was anchored into position and rainwater was periodically pumped out to ensure she remained afloat. On 18 February 1961, a storm flooded the hulk of the old cruiser, and she sank in 80 ft (24 m) of water, where she remains to this day. Coincidentally, some of the iron for her hull came from Texada Island, merely 5 mi (8.0 km) from her Powell River resting place. [1]

References

This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

• Alden, John D. American Steel Navy: A Photographic History of the U.S. Navy from the Introduction of the Steel Hull in 1883 to the Cruise of the Great White Fleet. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989. ISBN 0870212486
• Friedman, Norman. U.S. Cruisers: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1984. ISBN 0870217186
• Musicant, Ivan. U.S. Armored Cruisers: A Design and Operational History. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985. ISBN 0870217143
• Taylor, Michael J.H. (1990). Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I. Studio. ISBN 1-85170-378-0. 

External links

• history.navy.mil: USS South Dakota
• navsource.org: USS South Dakota
• hazegray.org: USS South Dakota