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The U.S. Navy operated ships from 20 battleship classes during World War I or World War II: Indiana, Kearsarge, Illinois, Maine, Virginia, Connecticut, Mississippi, South Carolina, Delaware, Florida, Wyoming, New York, Nevada, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Tennessee, Colorado, North Carolina, South Dakota, and Iowa. This is a class-level list across both conflicts: it does not mean every ship in a class served in both wars, went overseas, or saw combat.
Which battleship classes qualify?
The list includes a class if at least one of its ships was in U.S. Navy service during either world war. The Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) gives the broader context: the Navy completed 59 battleships across 23 basic designs or classes over its battleship construction era. That full-era total is not the number of classes in this wartime list. NHHC’s U.S. battleships overview covers the larger construction history.
| Design era | Classes with at least one ship in service during WWI or WWII |
|---|---|
| Older battleships and early designs | Indiana, Kearsarge, Illinois, Maine, Virginia, Connecticut, Mississippi |
| Dreadnought and standard-type designs | South Carolina, Delaware, Florida, Wyoming, New York, Nevada, Pennsylvania, New Mexico |
| Later classes represented in WWII | Tennessee, Colorado, North Carolina, South Dakota, Iowa |
The groupings describe broad design eras, not identical service records. Ship commissioning dates, assignments, and fates varied even among ships of the same class.
What did U.S. battleships do in World War I?
Some operated with the force sent to European waters
NHHC’s account of U.S. battleship service in World War I describes the Sixth Battle Squadron in European waters. New York, Florida, Wyoming, and Delaware served in the squadron, with Texas and Arkansas rotating in. This is evidence about those ships’ assignments, not a claim that every ship in those classes deployed overseas. NHHC’s account of the U.S. Navy in World War I also describes Division 6, which included Utah, Nevada, and Oklahoma.
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Other ships served closer to home
Not all U.S. battleships went to Europe. NHHC notes that other battleships performed coastal patrol and training duties. A class’s presence in the wartime Navy therefore does not, by itself, establish that its ships joined the overseas squadron or fought in a particular engagement.
Which ships bridged the two wars?
Some individual battleships served in both conflicts, but that does not make their entire class a two-war class. USS Nevada is a clear example: NHHC records that she served in World War I, was present at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and continued to operate during World War II. NHHC’s USS Nevada history documents her service.
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Many of the older classes in the roster represent ships that had entered service before or during World War I; the class list does not imply those older ships remained battleships through World War II. For a date-specific sense of the later fleet, NHHC’s ship-force table records 17 active battleships on December 7, 1941, and 23 on August 14, 1945. Those are fleet totals on the dates shown, not class counts. NHHC’s U.S. Navy ship force-level table provides the figures.
Why the familiar BB numbers need a date caveat
The modern BB hull-number system was formally assigned in July 1920, after the United States entered World War I. Before then, the Navy referred to battleships by “Battleship Number.” BB designations are useful modern identifiers, but they should not be presented as the official numbering convention used throughout the war. NHHC explains the change in its battleship overview.
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Which famous planned designs are not on the list?
A design belongs here only if the Navy operated a ship from it during one of the conflicts. The planned Montana battleships were cancelled before their keels were laid, so there was no operational Montana-class battleship. NHHC’s Montana-class history describes the cancellation.
The Lexington battlecruisers are also excluded. They were a battlecruiser design, not an operated battleship class, and were cancelled under the Washington Naval Treaty. NHHC’s Lexington-class history covers the design and cancellation.
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Likewise, the 59 completed battleships in NHHC’s full-era tally include designs outside this article’s wartime-service scope. The figure describes construction history, not the number of classes or ships that served in World War I and World War II.
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