Archival Photo
A2011-001.1558 : USS Wisconsin at Puget Sound Navy Yard : Bremerton, WA
Thursday, December 31, 1908
A2011-001
AP/87117
Date is circa. The USS Wisconsin was an Illinois-class pre-dreadnought battleship, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the 30th state. She was the third and final member of her class to be built. Her keel was laid down in February 1897 at the Union Iron Works in San Francisco, and she was launched in November 1898. The completed ship was commissioned into the fleet in February 1901. The ship was armed with a main battery of four 13-inch (330 mm) guns and she had a top speed of 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph). Wisconsin served as the flagship of the Pacific Fleet from her commissioning to 1903; during this period, she made one long distance cruise to American Samoa in late 1901. In 1903, she was transferred to the Asiatic Fleet, where she served as the Northern Squadron flagship. She returned to the United States in late 1906, where she was overhauled extensively. In July 1908, she joined the Great White Fleet for the second leg of its cruise around the world, which lasted until February 1909. The ship remained in service with the Atlantic Fleet until early 1910, when she was reduced to reserve status. The vessel was employed as a training ship starting in 1912, primarily for cadets from the US Naval Academy. After the United States entered World War I in April 1917, Wisconsin's training duties expanded to engine room personnel. She was also assigned to the Coast Battleship Patrol Squadron. She took part in a naval review in December 1918 after the war ended. She served briefly with the fleet in 1919, though by May 1920, she was decommissioned. The old battleship, thoroughly obsolete by this time, was sold for scrap in January 1922 and broken up.
