The class comprised six ships: Connecticut, Louisiana, Vermont, Kansas, Minnesota, and New Hampshire, which were built between 1903 and 1908.

This arrangement was rendered obsolete by the advent of all-big-gun battleships like the British HMS Dreadnought, which was completed before most of the Connecticuts entered service.

From 1909 onward, they served as the workhorses of the US Atlantic Fleet, conducting training exercises and showing the flag in Europe and Central America.

During the American participation in World War I, the Connecticut-class ships were used to train sailors for an expanding wartime fleet.

In late 1918, they began to escort convoys to Europe, and in September that year, Minnesota was badly damaged by a mine laid by the German U-boat SM U-117.

The United States' victory in the Spanish–American War in 1898 had a dramatic impact on battleship design, as the question of the role of the fleet—namely, whether it should be focused on coastal defense or high seas operations—had been solved.

BuOrd determined that a longer and finer hull shape, coupled with a small increase in engine power, would maintain the standard speed of 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph).

The Bureau of Construction and Repair (C&R) proposed a ship more closely based on the Virginias, with the same two-story turrets and mixed 6- and 8-inch secondary battery, on a displacement of 15,860 long tons (16,110 t).

This design featured only eight 3-inch guns, which was deemed wholly insufficient to defend the ship from small craft.

The designers reasoned that since the barbettes were behind the belt and a transverse bulkhead, weight could be saved by reducing the level of direct protection.

[6] The six Connecticut-class ships were the most powerful pre-dreadnought type battleship built by the US Navy, and they compared well with contemporary foreign designs.

They were nevertheless rendered obsolescent almost immediately by the advent of the "all-big-gun" battleship epitomized by the British HMS Dreadnought.

[7] Two follow-on ships, the Mississippi class, were built at the same time to a design based on the Connecticuts but significantly reduced in size.

As was standard for capital ships of the period, the Connecticut class carried four 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes, submerged in their hulls on the broadside.

[9] For the last four ships, the savings in weight gained by reducing the thickness of the belt were used to increase the lower casement armor to 7 in.

They transited the Suez Canal and toured the Mediterranean before crossing the Atlantic, arriving bank in Hampton Roads on 22 February 1909.

[21] New Hampshire, which had not been completed in time to take part in the journey, met the fleet there during a naval review with President Theodore Roosevelt.

As political unrest began to erupt in several Central American countries in the 1910s, the ships became increasingly active in the region.

Tensions with Germany came to a head in early 1917 following the German unrestricted submarine warfare campaign, which sank several American merchant ships in European waters.

The Connecticut-class ships initially were used for training gunners and engine room personnel that would be necessary for the rapidly expanding wartime fleet.

[c] In June 1918, New Hampshire and Louisiana were involved in a serious gunnery accident, where gunners aboard the former accidentally hit the latter, killing one and injuring several other men.

In late September, Minnesota struck a naval mine laid by the German U-boat U-117, causing serious damage that kept her out of service for five months.

[30] Convoy duty was cut short by the German surrender in November; thereafter, the Connecticuts were used to ferry American soldiers back from the battlefields of France.