Launched in 1914, Nevada was a leap forward in dreadnought technology; four of her new features would be included on almost every subsequent US battleship: triple gun turrets,[c] oil in place of coal for fuel, geared steam turbines for greater range, and the "all or nothing" armor principle.

During the last few months of World War I, Nevada was based in Bantry Bay, Ireland, to protect supply convoys that were sailing to and from Great Britain.

[12] Nevada was subsequently salvaged and modernized at Puget Sound Navy Yard, allowing her to serve as a convoy escort in the Atlantic and as a fire-support ship in five amphibious assaults (the invasions of Attu, Normandy, Southern France, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa).

At the end of World War II, the Navy decided that, due to age, Nevada would not be retained as part of the active fleet and she was instead assigned as a target ship for the atomic experiments at Bikini Atoll in July 1946 (Operation Crossroads).

One of the main purposes of the Great White Fleet, which sailed around the world in 1907–1908, was to prove to Japan that the US Navy could "carry any naval conflict into Japanese home waters".

The contract went to Fore River Shipbuilding Company on 22 January 1912, for a total of $5,895,000 (not including the armor and armament), and the time of construction was originally to be 36 months.

A secondary contract was signed on 31 July 1912, for $50,000 to cover the additional cost of a geared cruising unit on each propeller shaft; this also extended the planned construction time by five months.

These began on 4 November 1915, when the ship conducted a twelve-hour endurance run "up and down the New England coast", reaching a top speed of 21.4 kn (24.6 mph; 39.6 km/h).

[30] Though her "acceptance trials" were interrupted on 5 November, because of a gale and rough seas, they were continued on the 6th with a test of her fuel economy; this consisted of a 24-hour run where Nevada steamed at 10 kn (12 mph; 19 km/h).

[32] After completing all of these tests and running trials off Rockland, Maine,[18] Nevada sailed to the Boston and New York Navy Yards for equipment, torpedo tubes, and ammunition hoists.

[33] When all of the preliminaries were completed, Nevada was commissioned on 11 March 1916, at the Charlestown Navy Yard, and William S. Sims was the first captain of the new ship,[34] followed by Joseph Strauss on 30 December 1916.

[41] It was not until 13 August 1918, that Nevada, then under command of Andrew T. Long (14 February 1918 – 14 October 1918),[35] left the US for Britain,[1] becoming the last American ship to join the Fleet overseas.

[1] Though she had originally been equipped with 21 five-inch (127 mm)/51 cal guns to defend against enemy destroyers,[19] this number was reduced to 12 in 1918,[49] due to the overly wet bow and stern positions of the other nine.

[19] Nevada, then under command of Luke McNamee (4 May 1920 – 19 September 1921),[35] and with the battleship Arizona, represented the United States at the Peruvian Centennial Exposition in July 1921.

[1][51][52] The New York Times later credited the crew of Nevada for bringing baseball and that sport's unique terminology to Brazil, allowing the country to "make the Yankee game an institution of their own".

[55][page needed] After the cruise, Nevada, with Clarence S. Kempff (11 June 1926 – 20 September 1927)[35] commanding, put into Norfolk Navy Yard to be modernized between August 1927 and January 1930.

[59] When the sun rose over Nevada on the 7th, the ship's band was playing "Morning Colors"; but planes then appeared on the horizon and the attack on Pearl Harbor began.

As Nevada's gunners opened fire and her engineers started to raise steam, a single 18 in (460 mm) Type 91 Mod 2[10] torpedo exploded against Frame 41 about 14 ft (4.3 m) above the keel at 0810.

The torpedo bulkhead held, but leaking through joints caused flooding of port side compartments below the first platform deck between frames 30 and 43 and a list of 4–5°.

[63] This was poor target selection on the part of the pilots; she could not be sunk by 14–18 dive bombers attacking with 250 kg bombs[64] and the channel's width of 1200 feet made bottling up the harbor impossible.

[66] As bomb damage became evident, Nevada was ordered to proceed to the west side of Ford Island to prevent her from sinking in deeper water.

Then under command of Captain Howard F. Kingman (25 August 1942 – 25 January 1943),[35] the overhaul was completed in October 1942, and it changed the old battleship's appearance so she slightly resembled a South Dakota from a distance.

[73] Old battleships such as Nevada were attached to many convoys across the Atlantic to guard against the chance that a German capital ship might head out to sea on a raiding mission.

After completing more convoy runs, Nevada set sail for the United Kingdom to prepare for the Normandy Invasion, arriving in April 1944, with Captain Powell M. Rhea (21 July 1943 – 4 October 1944)[35] in command.

"[76] Shells from her guns ranged as far as 17 nmi (20 mi; 31 km) inland in attempts to break up German concentrations and counterattacks, even though she was straddled by counterbattery fire 27 times (though never hit).

To support this, many ships were sent from the beaches of Normandy to the Mediterranean, including five battleships (the United States' Nevada, Texas, Arkansas, the British Ramillies, and the Free French Lorraine), three US heavy cruisers (Augusta, Tuscaloosa and Quincy), and many destroyers and landing craft were transferred south.

[79] Nevada supported this operation from 15 August – 25 September 1944, "dueling"[1] with "Big Willie": a heavily reinforced fortress with four 340 mm (13.4 in) guns in two twin turrets.

Until 30 June, she was stationed off Okinawa; she then departed to join the 3rd Fleet from 10 July to 7 August, which allowed Nevada to come within range of the Japanese home islands during the closing days of the war, though she did not bombard them.

[j][1] Nevada, then with her final commanding officer, Captain Cecil C. Adell (28 October 1945 – 1 July 1946),[35] returned to Pearl Harbor after a brief stint of occupation duty in Tokyo Bay.

[89][4] On 11 May 2020, it was announced that a joint expedition by Ocean Infinity, with its ship the Pacific Constructor, and the operations center of SEARCH Inc., headed by Dr. James Delgado had discovered Nevada's wreck.