SoDak back after 72 years and 2 days

South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889, simultaneously with North Dakota, and the first U.S. Navy warship named in honor of the state was Armored Cruiser No. 9, a Pennsylvania-class ACR of some 15,000-tons that commissioned in 1908.

That vessel was renamed USS Huron (CA-9) in 1920 so that “South Dakota” could be recycled to a new BB-49-class of six 47,000-ton 23-knot battlewagons, each armed with 16″/50 caliber Mark 2 guns.

Preliminary Design for the 1919 Program Battleships. May 3, 1918, A preliminary design plan for battleships to be built with the Fiscal Year 1919 funding. This plan represented the final development of the South Dakota (Battleship # 49) class preliminary design. Photo #: S-584-132

Well, the Washington Naval Treaty of 1921 caused their cancellation before any of these behemoths were launched, and they were all broken up in place, their guns passed on…