USS Arkansas 1911
The Tacoma Times Newspaper Wednesday January 18, 1911
World's biggest sea fighting machine - - U.S.S. Arkansas launched Saturday
The Battleship Arkansas, as it looked before it started down the ways at Camden shipyards
Camden, N.J., Jan. 18. - Flying the white-starred ensign of the United States navy at her stem, the world's biggest battleship, the latest and newest pride of the American navy, the dreadnaught Arkansas, slid down the ways into her future home, the waters Saturday.
The waves which she kicked up in the Delaware River, as she was launched, washed the stern of her sister ship, the Wyoming, which will within a few weeks be launched also.
The 26,000-ton fighting seadog, built to carry the thunder of a dozen 12-imnch guns, to be manned by 85 officers and 1030 Jackstars, glided down the ways to the strain of the "Star Spangled Banner," while the crowd cheered and the river craft tooted their noisy welcome.
This largest, most powerful battleship afloat in the waters of the world was christened by Miss Ethel Macon, daughter of Congressman Robert B. Macon of Arkansas.
The Arkansas has a displacement of 26,000 tons, 30,000 horsepower and a deck line 554 feet long, costing nearly $5,000,000, which is nearly $1,000,000 less than the Florida cost, although the latter is much the smaller vessel. The Florida was built by Uncle Sam at his Brooklyn navy yard; the Arkansas by a private company ship building company*.
(*New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden, New Jersey)
