| Act of 3 March 1905: |
"._._. The President
is hereby authorized to have constructed by contract or in navy-yards
._._. |
"Two first-class battle ships, carrying the heaviest armor and most powerful
armament for vessels of their class upon a maximum trial displacement of
not more than sixteen thousand tons; to have the highest practicable speed
and great radius of action, and to cost, exclusive of armor and armament,
not exceeding four million four hundred thousand dollars each. |
"._._. Said
vessels
._._. in all
their parts shall be of domestic manufacture; and the steel material shall
be of domestic manufacture,
._._. Not more
than one of the vessels provided for in this act shall be built by one
contracting party:
._._." |
| South Carolina (BB-26) was laid down on 18 December 1906
at Philadelphia by William Cramp & Sons; launched on 1 July 1908; sponsored
by Miss Frederica Ansel; and commissioned on 1 March 1910, Capt. Augustus
F. Fechteler, in command. |
| South Carolina departed Philadelphia on 6 March for shakedown,
cruised to the Danish West Indies and Cuba, and then visited Charleston,
South Carolina, from 10 to 15 April. After conducting trials off the Virginia
Capes and off Provincetown, Massachusetts, the battleship visited New York
City on 17 and 18 June on the occasion of a reception for former President
Theodore Roosevelt. Voyage repairs at Norfolk, naval militia training duty,
and Atlantic Fleet maneuvers off Provincetown and the Virginia Capes occupied
her time from the end of June until the beginning of November. Between 1
November 1910 and 12 January 1911, she voyaged to Europe and back with the
2d Battleship Division. This visit took her to Cherbourg, France, and Portland,
England. Upon her return to NOrfolk, she entered the navy yard for repairs,
and then conducted tactics training and maneuvers off the New England
coast. |
| Following a short visit to New York, she steamed east with the
2d Battleship Division for a visit to Copenhagen, Denmark; Stockholm, Sweden;
and Kronstadt, Russia, During the return from Kronstadt, she reached Kiel,
Germany, on 21 June in time to join in the Keil Yachting Week, hosted by
Kaiser Wilhelm II. On 13 July 1911, she arrived off Provincetown, Massachusetts,
and engaged in battle practice along the coast to the Chesapeake Bay. |
| Late in 1911, she took part in the navy review at New York and
maneuvers with the 1st Squadron out of Newport, Rhode Island. On 3 January
1912, she departed New York for winter operation in the vicinity of Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba. South Carolina returned to Norfolk on 13 March and, until
late June, cruised the east coast as far north as Newport. In June, she joined
in the welcome receptions at Hampton Roads and New York given in honor of
the visiting German Squadron, comprised of battle cruiser Moltke and
two small cruisers, Bremen and Stettin. On 30 June, she entered
the yard at Norfolk for overhaul. |
| Just over three months later, she sailed to New York for a four
day visit, from 11 to 15 October. Next came a month of exercises off the
coast of New England and the Virginia Capes. From mid-November until
mid-December, South Carolina steamed with the Special Service Division
on Visits to Pensacola, New Orleans, Galveston, and the Mexican port, Vera
Cruz. She returned to Norfolk on 20 December and remained there until 6 January
1913, when she sailed to Colon, Panama, where her crew was the newly-completed
canal. After maneuvers in the area of Guantanamo Bay, she reentered Norfolk
on 22 March; then cruised north as far as Newport, stopping at New York from
28 to 31 May for the dedication of a memorial to the battleship
Maine. |
| After a brief period training midshipmen in the Virginia Capes
area, South Carolina embarked upon a 16-month period during which
she carried the "Big Stick" to the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
From late June until mid-September 1913, she cruised the eastern coast of
Mexico protecting American interests at Tampico and Vera Cruz. She was overhauled
at Norfolk form late September 1913 until early January 1914, and then headed
for maneuvers off Culebra Island. |
| On the 28th, the battleship landed marines at Port-au-Prince,
Haiti, to guard the United States legation and to establish a field radio
station during that period of political convulsions. She departed Port-au-Prince
on 14 April after the restoration of some order under General Orestes Zamar,
the new Haitian President. She coaled at Key West, then steamed to Vera Cruz
where on 15 April she supported the occupation of that city -- in company
with sister battleships
Vermont
(BB- 20),
Arkansas
(BB-33),
New
Hampshire (BB- 25) and
New
Jersey (BB- 16) -- until her departure a month later. South
Carolina spent the troubled summer of 1914 investigating conditions in
Santo Domingo and Haiti. |
| By the time she returned to Norfolk on 24 September, World War
I had already been raging for almost two months. A little less than a month
later, on 14 October, the battleship entered the yard a Philadelphia. She
emerged revitalized on 20 February 1915 and headed south for the usual battle
practice in the vicinity of Cuba. The exercises took on new meaning since
they were held on the heels of the diplomatic crisis triggered by Germany's
declaring the waters around England to be a war zone. However, cooler heads
prevailed and not even the sinking to the Lusitania could provoke
the United States to belligerence. Accordingly, for almost two years, South
Carolina continued her routine of winter and spring exercises out of Guantanamo
Bay, summer operations off Newport, and periodic repairs at
Philadelphia. |
| The entry of the United States into the war on the side of the
Allies in April 1917 did not presage dramatic events for the Navy. Except
for U-boats and an occasional disguised commerce raider, the Royal Navy had
already cleared the seas of German naval might at such battles as Jutland
and the Falkland Islands. Therefore, South Carolina continued to operate
along the east coast through 1917 and for the first eight months of
1918. |
| On 9 September 1918, she joined the escort of a convoy bound for
France. A week later, she turned the convoy over to other escorts in mid-ocean
and steamed back to the United States. After a brief repair period at
Philadelphia, she returned to gunnery training service and was so employed
at the time of the Armistice, 11 November 1918. |
| From mid-February until late July 1919, South Carolina
made four round-trip voyages between the United States and Brest, France.
By 26 July, when she entered Hampton Roads at the end of the last of these
voyages, she had returned over 4,000 World War I veterans to the United States.
Following an overhaul at the Norfolk Navy Yard, she embarked midshipmen
Annapolis for a cruise to the Pacific. She departed Annapolis on 5 June 1920,
transited the Panama Canal, sailed to Hawaii, and then to the west coast.
She visited Seattle, San Francisco, and San Diego as she sailed down the
western seaboard. South Carolina cleared San Diego on 11 August,
retransited the canal, and sailed for Annapolis on 2 September; then she
headed on to Philadelphia, where she remained for seven months. |
| In early April of 1921, she cruised to Culebra Island in the West
Indies for training, and then operated in the Chesapeake Bay. On 29 May,
the battleship embarked another complement of midshipmen at Annapolis. She
called at Christina, Norway, and Lisbon, Portugal, before heading to the
Guantanamo Bay area to round out the midshipmen's summer training cruise.
She debarked the midshipmen at Annapolis on 30 August and steamed to Philadelphia
where she arrived the following day. South Carolina was decommissioned
at Philadelphia on 15 December 1921 and remained there until her name was
struck from the Navy list on 10 November 1923. Her hulk was sold for scrap
on 24 April in accordance with the terms of the Five-Power Naval Treaty of
Washington. |
|
Bibliography
 |
Larry W. Jewell, Who's Who of United States
Battleships, (Internet publication), edition: 30 August, 1993. |
|
James L. Mooney, Dictionary of American Naval
Fighting Ships, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office,
1964), Vol.1 -- A-B, p. 193 |
|
James L. Mooney, Dictionary of American Naval
Fighting Ships, (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office,
1968, Reprint 1976), Vol.6: R-S, p. 559-560 |
|
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