USS Nevada (BM-8)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Nevada and USS Connecticut.

USS Nevada The crew is out on a Sunday in 1909 in dress whites.
History
Name:	USS Connecticut (M-8) (1899-1901) USS Nevada (M-8) (1901-1909) USS Tonopah (M-8) (1909-1922)
Namesake:	The State of Nevada
Builder:	Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine
Cost:	$1,106,213 (hull and machinery)
Laid down:	17 April 1899, as Connecticut
Launched:	24 November 1900
Commissioned:	5 March 1903
Decommissioned:	1 July 1920
Renamed:	USS Nevada (M-8), January 1901 Tonopah (M-8), 2 March 1909 Tonopah (BM-8), 17 July 1920
Fate:	Sold, 26 January 1922
General characteristics
Type:	Arkansas-class monitor
Displacement:	3,225 long tons (3,277 t)
Length:	255 ft 1 in (77.75 m)
Beam:	50 ft (15 m)
Draft:	13 ft 3 in (4.04 m)
Propulsion:	Steam engine
Complement:	220 officers and men
Armament:	2 × 12 in (300 mm) breech-loading rifles 4 × 4 in (100 mm) guns 2 × 6-pounder guns
Armor:	Belt: 5–11 in (130–280 mm) Barbettes: 9–11 in (230–280 mm) Turrets: 9–10 in (230–250 mm) Conning tower: 7.5 in (190 mm)

The first USS Nevada, a monitor, was laid down as Connecticut, 17 April 1899, by the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine; launched 24 November 1900; sponsored by Miss Grace Boutelle; renamed Nevada, January 1901; and commissioned on 5 March 1903, Commander Thomas Benton Howard in command.

On 2 March 1909, the monitor was renamed Tonopah (for Tonopah, Nevada) to allow Battleship Number 36 to be named Nevada. Assigned to the Atlantic Fleet's submarine force as a tender, Tonopah operated along the east coast from Massachusetts to Key West until January 1918. Then briefly assigned to Bermuda, she was ordered to Ponta Delgada, São Miguel Island, Azores in February. Between then and December she tended the submarines K-1, K-2, K-3, K-5, and E-1 and submarine chasers operating in the strategic area of the Azores. In December, she was towed to Lisbon, and, upon her return to the United States, decommissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 1 July 1920. She was one of several vessels sold on 26 January 1922, to J. G. Hitner of Philadelphia.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.