<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The United States Navy began the construction of battleships with USS Texas in 1892, but the first battleship under that designation would be USS Indiana . Texas and USS Maine, commissioned three years later, were part of the New Navy program of the late 19th century, a proposal by then Secretary of the Navy William H. Hunt to match Europe's navies that ignited a years - long debate that was suddenly settled in Hunt's favor when the Brazilian Empire commissioned the battleship Riachuelo . In 1890, Alfred Thayer Mahan's book The Influence of Sea Power upon History was published and significantly influenced future naval policy - as an indirect of its influence on Secretary Benjamin F. Tracy, the Navy Act of June 30, 1890 authorized the construction of "three sea - going, coast - line battle ships" which became the Indiana - class . The Navy Act of July 19, 1892 authorized construction of a fourth "sea - going, coast - line battle ship", which became USS Iowa . Despite much later claims that these were to be purely defensive and were authorized as "coastal defense ships", they were almost immediately used for offensive operations in the Spanish American War . By the start of the 20th century, the United States Navy had in service or under construction the three Illinois - class and two Kearsarge - class battleships, making the United States the world's 5th strongest power at sea from a nation that had been 12th in 1870 . </P> <P> Except for Kearsarge, named by an act of Congress, all U.S. Navy battleships have been named for states, and each of the 48 contiguous states has had at least one battleship named for it except Montana; two battleships were authorized to be named Montana but both were cancelled before construction started . Alaska and Hawaii did not become states until 1959, after the end of battleship building, but the battlecruiser, or "Large Cruiser," USS Alaska was built during World War II and her sister, USS Hawaii, was begun but never completed . The pre-dreadnoughts USS Zrinyi (formerly the Austrian SMS Zrínyi), USS Radetzky (formerly the Austrian SMS Radetzky), and USS Ostfriesland (formerly the German SMS Ostfriesland), taken as prizes of war after World War I, were commissioned in the US Navy, but were not assigned hull classification symbols . </P>

What was the name of the first battleship commissioned by the united states government