| Tennessee (ACR-10) was laid down in the Cramp Shipbuilding
Co., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 20 June 1903; launched on 3 December
1904; sponsored by Miss Annie K. Frazier, daughter of Governor James B. Frazier
of Tennessee and subsequently the foundress of the Society of Sponsors of
the United States Navy; and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on
17 July 1906, Capt. Albert O. Berry in command. |
| The new armored cruiser departed Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 8
November 1906 as escort for
Louisiana
(BB-19) in which President
Theodore
Roosevelt had embarked for a cruise to Panama to check on the progress
of work construction the Panama Canal. After a brief visit to Puerto Rico
on the return voyage, the warships arrived back at Hampton Roads on 26 November.
Tennessee was present for the
Jamestown
Exposition held from 7 to 11 June 1907 to commemorate the tri-centennial
of the founding of the first English settlement in America. |
| On 14 June, Tennessee sailed for Europe and reached Royan,
France, on the 23rd for duty with the Special Service Squadron. She returned
home in August but departed Hampton Roads on 12 October for the
Pacific. |
| Tennessee then patrolled off the California coast until
24 August 1908 when she sailed for Samoa, arriving at Pago Pago on 23 September
to resume service with the Pacific Fleet.
In February 1910, Tennessee joined
South
Dakota (ACR-9) to form a Special Service Squadron which cruised off
the Atlantic coast of South America and then on 15 May, she arrived at Bahia
Blanca to represent the United States at the centenary celebration of the
independence of Argentina. On 8 November, the armored cruiser departed
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and proceeded to Charleston, South Carolina, to
embark President William Howard Taft for a round trip voyage to Panama to
inspect progress on the trans-isthmus canal which was then being constructed.
She returned to Hampton Roads on 22 November and then engaged in battle practice
off the Virginia coast into February 1911. Following a Mardi Gras visit to
New Orleans and a visit to Now York early in March, the ship steamed to Cuban
waters for two months of operations out of Guantanamo Bay. |
| Placed in reserve at the Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Navy Yard
on 15 June 1911, she remained on the east coast for a year and one-half before
departing Philadelphia on 12 November 1912 for the Mediterranean. Arriving
off Smyrna (now Izmir), Turkey, on 1 December, she remained there protecting
American citizens and property during the First Balkan War until 3 May 1913
when she headed home. After reaching Hampton Roads on the 23rd,
Tennessee operated on the east coast until entering the Atlantic Reserve
Fleet at Philadelphia on 23 October, On 6 August, Tennessee sailed
form New York for duty in Europe through the first half of 1915 supporting
the American Relief Expedition. In August, she transported the 1st Regiment,
Marine Expeditionary Force, and the Marine Artillery Battalion to Haiti.
From 28 January to 24 February 1916, the cruiser served as flagship of a
cruiser squadron off Port-au-Prince, Haiti. In March, she embarked a group
of dignitaries at Hampton Roads for a two-month, round trip cruise to Montevideo,
Uruguay. |
| On 25 May, Tennessee was renamed Memphis, honoring
a city of Tennessee, so that the name Tennessee could be reassigned
to a new warship, Battleship
43. In July, the ship got underway for Central America, arriving
at San Domingo on 23 July for peace - keeping patrol off the rebellion -
torn Dominican Republic. On the afternoon of 29 August, while at anchor in
the harbor of San Domingo, Memphis was driven ashore by an unexpected
tidal wave and totally wrecked. The causalities, including a boatload of
Memphis sailors returning form shore leave, numbered some 40 men dead of
missing and 204 badly injured. |
| Memphis was struck form the Navy list on 17 December 1917
and sold to A. H. Radetsky Iron and Metal Co., Denver, Colorado, on 17 January
1922 for scrapping. |
Displacement, 13,712; Length, 504'5"; Beam 72'10-1/2"; Draft, 25';
Speed, 22.16 knots; Complement, 887; Armament, four 10", sixteen 6", twenty-two
3"; four 3-pdrs., four 21" torpedo tubes |
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