How should USS Indiana BB-1 be rated as a first American battleship effort?
Short answerA good first effort despite important flaws, especially when measured against the US Navy's rapid transition from monitors rather than mature foreign designs.
NotesUSS Indiana had serious flaws, including unbalanced 13-inch guns that increased the ship's list when trained to port or starboard. Even so, the US Navy had moved from Civil War-era monitors through Maine and Texas to Indiana in roughly a decade. Indiana rates as a good first effort within that rapid transition. A comparison with navies that already had mature battleship design systems produces a less favorable judgment, because those rivals began with much more experience.