 USS Nebraska ( BB @-@ 14 ) was a Virginia @-@ class pre @-@ dreadnought battleship of the United States Navy , the second of five members of the class , and the first ship to carry her name . She was built by the Moran Brothers shipyard in Seattle , Washington , with her keel laying in July 1902 and her launching in November 1903 . She was commissioned in December 1906 , only a few months before the outbreak of World War I .
Nebraska was the first battleship in the United States Navy to be sunk by an enemy torpedo , when she was struck by