USS North Carolina (ACR-12)

USS North Carolina (ACR-12), starboard bow view while underway, date and location unknown.
History
United States
Name	North Carolina
Namesake	State of North Carolina
Builder	Newport News Drydock & Shipbuilding Co., Newport News, Virginia
Laid down	21 March 1905
Launched	6 October 1906
Commissioned	7 May 1908
Decommissioned	18 February 1921
Renamed	Charlotte, 7 June 1920
Stricken	15 July 1930
Fate	Sold for scrap, 29 September 1930
General characteristics
Class and type	Tennessee-class armored cruiser
Displacement	14,500 long tons (14,733 t) (standard) 15,981 long tons (16,237 t) (full load)
Length	504 ft 5 in (153.75 m) oa
Beam	72 ft 10 in (22.20 m)
Draft	25 ft (7.6 m)
Installed power	16 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers 23,000 ihp (17,000 kW)
Propulsion	2 × Triple expansion steam engines
Speed	22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph)
Complement	914
Armament	4 × 10 in (254 mm)/ 40 caliber Mark 3 guns 16 × 6 in (152 mm)/50 caliber Mark 8 guns 22 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber guns 12 × 3-pounder guns 4 × 1-pounder guns 4 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor	Belt: 5 in (127 mm) Deck: 3 in (76 mm) Turrets: 9 in (229 mm) Conning tower: 9 in

USS North Carolina (ACR-12/CA-12) was a Tennessee-class armored cruiser of the United States Navy. The ship was built by Newport News Shipbuilding; she was laid down in March 1905, launched in October 1906, and was commissioned in May 1908. The final class of armored cruisers to be built for the US Navy, North Carolina and her sisters were armed with a main battery of four 10-inch (254 mm) guns, and were capable of a top speed of 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph).

North Carolina spent much of her career in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea conducting training and visiting foreign countries. She went on short deployments to the Mediterranean Sea twice, the first in 1909 to protect American citizens in the Ottoman Empire, and the second during World War I, again to protect still neutral American citizens in the region. After the United States entered the war in April 1917, North Carolina was used to escort troop ships off the eastern coast of the United States. Following the war in late 1918 and early 1919, she was used to carry soldiers from the American Expeditionary Force back from France. In 1920, the ship was renamed Charlotte so her original name could be used for a new battleship, and she was decommissioned the following year. She was sold for scrap in September 1930 and broken up thereafter.