The Tennessee-class armored cruisers were four ships built for the United States Navy between 1903 and 1906. Their main armament of four guns in twin turrets was the heaviest carried by any American armored cruiser. (The USS Maine, which had been designated an armored cruiser when laid down, had also carried four ten-inch guns, but was rerated a "second-class battleship" before her commission.) Their armor was thinner than that of the six Pennsylvanias which immediately preceded them, a controversial but inevitable decision due to newly imposed congressional restraints on tonnage for armored cruisers and the need for them to be able to steam at 22 knots. However, the fact their armor covered a wider area of the ship than in the Pennsylvanias and their increased firepower caused them to be