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The FIRST steel US battleship classified as a battleship was the USS Texas, commissioned in 1895. However, her sister the USS Maine which blew up in Cuba in 1898, which started the Spanish-American War in 1898 was commissioned the same year but was classified as an Armored Cruiser. The USN began building "steel" warships in about 1883. The USN wanted nothing more to do with wooden boats/ships after 1883...which is why the USN burned most of the WWII wooden PT boats when WWII was nearing it's end in 1945.

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15y ago

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