Ebook Fighting the Hun on the U. S. S. Huntington

The U. S. S. Huntington is a first-class armored cruiser, built and placed in commission at Newport News, Va., at a complete cost of$6,- 839,000. Her keel was laid down in April, 1903. She is 502 feet long and has a beam of 69 1-2 feet, with a displacement of 13,680 tons, horsepower 26,135, and a speed of 22.15 knots. Her complement is 878 officers and crew, and as a flagship she carries 921. Her original equipment consisted of four 8-inch rifles in two turrets, one forward and one aft; fourteen 6-inch rapid fire guns, eighteen 3 inch rapid fire guns, and two 18-inch submerged torpedo tubes.

When launched she was christened the U. S. S. West Virginia, and was placed in full commission on the twenty-fifth day of February 1905. For a period of one year she man-oeuvered with the Atlantic Fleet and cruised in the Gulf of Mexico and West Indian waters. Theodore Roosevelt made a short trip on her at that time, and the coal shovel he used while on a visit to the firerooms still hangs in an engine room hatch as a souvenir of the occasion.