Everything about Uss Mississippi Bb-23 totally explained
USS Mississippi (Battleship No. 23), the
lead ship of
her class of
battleships, was the second ship of the
United States Navy named in honor of the
U.S. state of
Mississippi. After her career in the USN, she was sold to
Greece and renamed
Kilkis in 1914.
Kilkis was sunk by German bombers in April, 1941.
History
As the Mississippi
Her keel was laid down on
12 May 1904 by
William Cramp & Sons of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was
launched 30 September 1905 sponsored by Miss M.C. Money, daughter of Senator
Hernando D. Money of
Mississippi, and
commissioned at
Philadelphia Navy Yard on
1 February 1908, Captain J.C. Fremont in command.
Designed as cheaper, "second-class" battleships the
Mississippi's rolled badly and exhibited poor sea-keeping.
Following shakedown off the coast of
Cuba,
15 February to
15 March 1908, the new battleship returned to Philadelphia for final fitting out. Standing out
1 July, she operated along the
New England coast, until returning to Philadelphia
10 September. The warship next put to sea
16 January 1909 to represent the
United States at the inauguration of the President of Cuba at
Havana,
25 January to
28 January.
Mississippi remained in the
Caribbean Sea until
10 February, sailing that day to join the "
Great White Fleet" as it returned from its famous world cruise. With the fleet on
Washington's Birthday, the battlewagon was reviewed by
President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt. On
1 March she returned to the Caribbean.
The ship departed Cuban waters on
1 May for a cruise up the river with which she shared her name, the mighty
Mississippi River. Calling at the major ports of this great inland waterway, she arrived at
Natchez, Mississippi on
20 May, and then proceeded five days later to
Horn Island where she received a silver service from the state of Mississippi. Returning to Philadelphia
7 June, the battleship operated off the New England coast until sailing
6 January 1910 for winter exercises and war games out of
Guantanamo Bay. Her
figurehead was presented to the state of Mississippi by the United States Navy in December 1909. She departed
24 March, 1910 for
Norfolk, Virginia, and operated off the east coast until fall, calling at a number of large ports, serving as a training ship for Naval Militia, and engaging in maneuvers and exercises designed to keep the ship and crew in the best possible fighting trim.
She departed Philadelphia
1 November for a fleet rendezvous at
Gravesend Bay, England, on
16 November, and then sailed
7 December for
Brest, France, arriving on
9 November. On
30 December,
Mississippi set course for Guantanamo Bay for winter maneuvers until
13 March 1911.
Returning to the United States, the battleship operated off the Atlantic coast, basing alternately out of Philadelphia and Norfolk for the next year and two months, serving as a training ship and conducting operational exercises. She cleared
Tompkinsville, New York, on
26 May 1912 with a detachment from the Second Marine Regiment on board to protect American interests in Cuba. Landing her Marine detachment at
El Cuero on
19 June, she remained on station in Guantanamo Bay until
5 July, when she sailed for home.
Following exercises with the Fourth Battleship Division off New England, she returned to Philadelphia Navy Yard where she was put in the First Reserve on
1 August 1912.
Mississippi remained in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Philadelphia until detached
30 December 1913 for duty as aeronautic station ship at
Pensacola, Florida. Departing
6 January 1914, the battleship arrived
21 January, transporting equipment for the establishment of a naval air station. At Pensacola, she stood by while her crew, along with the early naval aviators, rebuilt the old naval base, laying the foundation for the largest and most famous American naval air station.
With the outbreak of fighting in
Mexico,
Mississippi sailed
21 April to
Vera Cruz, arriving on
24 April with the first detachment of naval aviators to go into combat. Serving as a floating base for the fledgling seaplanes and their pilots, the warship launched nine reconnaissance flights over the area during a period of 18 days, making the last flight
12 May. One month later, the battleship departed Vera Cruz for Pensacola. Serving as station ship there from
15 June to
28 June, she then sailed north to Hampton Roads where she transferred her aviation gear to armored cruiser on
3 July.
Transfer to Greece
»
Mississippi decommissioned at Newport News on
21 July 1914, and was turned over to the
Royal Hellenic Navy the same day.
Fleet designation
Although the
Mississippi-class ships were decommissioned before the fleet designation reworkings in 1920, and thus never carried the "BB"
hull classification symbol in service, many lists of American battleships (including the one in this encyclopedia) list them as "BB-23" and "BB-24" for completeness.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Uss Mississippi Bb-23'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://uss_mississippi__bb-23.totallyexplained.com">USS Mississippi (BB-23) Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
