USS Wyoming, Battleship BB-32 History

USS Wyoming,

Battleship (BB-32)

Act of 3 March 1909:

"._._. The President is hereby authorized to have constructed, two first-class battle ships to cost, exclusive of armor and armament, not exceeding six million dollars each, similar in all essential characteristics to the battle ship authorized by the act making appropriations for the naval service for the fiscal year ending June thirteenth, nineteen hundred and eight.

. . . . . . .

"._._. Said vessels ._._. in all their parts shall be of domestic manufacture; and the steel material shall be of domestic manufacture, ._._."

The third Wyoming (BB-32) was laid down on 9 February 1910 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by William Cramp and Sons; launched on 25 May 1911; sponsored by Miss Dorthy Eunice Knight, the daughter of former Chief Justice Jesse Knight of the Wyoming Supreme Court; and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 25 September 1912, Capt. Frederick L. Chaplin in command.

Wyoming departed Philadelphia on 6 October and completed the fitting-out process at the New York Navy ard, Brooklyn, New York, , before she joined the fleet in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Reaching the Tidewater area on 20 December 1912, she became the flagship of Rear Admiral Charles J. Badger, Commander, United States Atlantic Fleet, soon thereafter. Sailing on 6 January 1913, the new battleship visited the soon to be completed Panama Canal and then conducted winter fleet maneuvers off Cuba before she returned to Chesapeake Bay on 4 March.

After gunnery practice off the Virginia capes, on the southern drill grounds, Wyoming underwent repairs and alterations at the New York Navy Yard between 18 April and 7 May. She then participated in war games off Block Island between 7 and 24 May -- a period of activity broken by repairs to her machinery, carried out at Newport, Rhode Island, between 9 and 19 May -- before she underwent more repairs at Newport. She then visited New York City form 28 to 31 May for the festivities surrounding the dedication of the monument honoring the battleship Maine, destroyed in Havana harbor on 15 February 1898.

Shifting to Annapolis, Maryland, on 4 June, Wyoming embarked a contingent of Naval Academy midshipmen and took the young officers-to-be on a summer cruise off the coast of New England that lasted into late August. Disembarking the "middies" at Annapolis on 24 and 25 August, Wyoming then conducted torpedo and target practices in the southern drill grounds, out of Hampton Roads, into the late autumn, She was docked at New York for repairs between 16 September and 2 October and then ran a full-power trial as she headed south to Norfolk to resume exercises off the Virginia capes before sailing for Europe on 25 October.

Reaching Valetta, Malta, on 8 November 1913, Wyoming visited Naples, Italy, and Villefranche, France, while on a Mediterranean cruise with battleships Delaware (BB-28) and Utah (BB-31). Wyoming then left French waters astern on 30 November and she reached New York on 15 December.

Wyoming then underwent voyage repairs at the New York Navy Yard, remaining there through the end of 1913. Getting underway on 6 January 1914, the battleship reached Hampton Roads on the morrow and spent the next three days coaling to prepare for the annual fleet exercises in the warmer Caribbean climes.

Wyoming exercised with the fleet, out of Guantanamo Bay and Guacanayabo Bay, Cuba, between 26 January and 15 March, before setting her course northward for Cape Henry, Virginia. She then ranged with the fleet from the southern drill grounds, off the Virginia capes, to Tangier Sound, for gunnery drills and practices. She remained engaged in that routine until 3 April, when she headed for the New York Navy Yard and an overhaul.]After that period of repairs, which lasted from 4 APril to 9 May, Wyoming subsequently embarked a draft of men for transport to the fleet, departed Hampton Roads on 13 May, and headed for Mexican waters. She reached Vera Cruz on 18 May -- less than a month after American sailors and marines and occupied that Mexican port.

Wyoming remained at Vera Cruz over the month that ensued, into the late autumn of 1914, before she returned northward. After conducting exercises off the Virginia capes en route, she put into the New York Navy Yard on 6 October and then underwent repairs and alterations which lasted until 17 January 1915.

Shifting down the coast upon completion of that yard period, Wyoming left Hampton Roads in her wake on 21 January for the annual exercises in Cuban waters and in the Caribbean., Returning to the Tidewater area on 7 April, the battleship carried out tactical exercises and maneuvers along the eastern seaboard -- primarily off Block Island and the southern drill grounds -- into the late autumn, when she again entered the New York Navy Yard for an overhaul.

After repairs lasting from 20 December 1915 to 6 January 1916, Wyoming got underway on the latter day, bound for war games in the southern drill grounds. She subsequently headed farther south, reaching Culebra, Puerto Rico, on 16 January.l After visiting Port-au-Prince. Haiti, on 27 January, Wyoming put into Guantanamo Bay on the 28th and then operated in Cuban waters -- off Guantanamo and Guacanayabo Bays and the port of Manzanillo -- until 10 April, when she sailed for New York.

Wyoming remained in the New York Navy Yard from 16 April to 26 June, undergoing repairs; she then operated off the New England coast, out of Newport, and off the Virginia capes through the remainder of 1916. Departing New York on 9 January 1917, Wyoming then conducted routine maneuvers in the Guantanamo Bay region through mid-March. She departed the Caribbean on 27 March and was off Yorktown, Virginia, when the United States entered World War I on 6 April 1917.

Over the months that ensued, Wyoming served in the Chesapeake Bay region as an engineering ship until 13 November 1917. On that day, Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman broke his flag in New York (BB-34) as Commander, Battleship Division 9. After preparations for "distant service," Wyoming, New York, Delaware (BB-28), and Florida (BB-30) sailed for the British Isles on 25 November and reached Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands, on 7 December 1917. Although retaining their American designation as Battleship Division 9, those four dreadnoughts became the 6th Battle Squadron of the British Grand Fleet upon arrival in British waters.

Wyoming carried out maneuvers and tactical exercises with the units of the British Grand Fleet until the other ships of the 6th Battle Squadron and eight British destroyers to guard a convoy routed to Stavanger, Norway. En route, Wyoming dodged torpedo wakes off Stavanger, on 8 February but reached Scapa Flow safely two days later. In the following months, Wyoming continued to patrol off the British Isles, guarding the coastwise sea lanes against the danger posed by the still-powerful German High Seas Fleet.

Between 30 June and 2 July 1918, Wyoming operated with the 6th Battle Squadron and a division of British destroyers, guarding Allied minelayers as they planted the North Sea Mine Barrage. Later, Wyoming returned to the Firth of Forth, where she was inspected by the King of England, His Majesty George V, along with other units of the Grand Fleet.

Although American and German capital ships never met in combat on the high seas, they nevertheless made rendezvous. On 21 November 1918 -- 10 days after the armistice ended World War I -- Wyoming, New York, Texas (BB-35), and Arkansas (BB-33) joined the Grand Fleet as it escorted the German High Seas Fleet into the Firth of Forth to be interned following the cessation of hostilities.

Later, Wyoming hoisted the flag of Rear Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, Battleship Division 9, sailed on 12 December 1918 from Portland, England bound for France. The following morning, she and other battleships rendezvoused with George Washington (Id. No. 3018) off Brest, France. Embarked in the transport was the President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, en route to the Paris Peace Conference.

After serving in the honor escort for the President and his party, Wyoming returned Admiral Sims to Plymouth, England, along with the newly appointed ambassador to Great Britain. Debarking her distinguished passengers on 14 December, the battleship loaded 381 bags of mail and, within a few hours, sailed for the United States. Reaching New York City on Christmas Day 1918, she remained there through New Year's Day 1919. On 13 January 1919, she became the flagship of Battleship Division 7, 3d Squadron, and broke the flag of Rear Admiral Robert E. Coontz.

Wyoming departed New York on 1 February and, following winter maneuvers in Cuban waters, returned north, reaching New York on 14 April. However, she stood out to sea soon thereafter, getting underway on 12 May to serve as a link in the chain of ships stretching across the Atlantic to guide the NC-boats on their flight across that ocean. After completing her duty as plane guard and meteorological station, Wyoming returned to Hampton Roads on the last day of May.

Later embarking midshipmen and taking them on their southern cruise in the Chesapeake Bay - Virginia capes area, Wyoming entered the Norfolk Navy Yard on 1 July to prepare for service in the Pacific. On that day, she became a unit of the newly designated Pacific Fleet, assigned the duty as flagship for Battleship Division 6, Squadron 4. On the morning of 19 July, the fleet, led by flagship New Mexico (BB-40), got underway for the Pacific. Transiting the Panama Canal soon thereafter, the fleet reached San Diego, California, on 6 August.

Shifting to San Pedro, California, three days later, Wyoming operated out of that port into the autumn. After an overhaul at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, form 15 September 1919 to 19 April 1920, Wyoming returned to her base at San Pedro on 4 May. Over the next few months, the battleship exercised off the southern California coast. During that time, she was reclassified BB-32 on 17 July 1920.

Departing San Diego on the last day of August 1920, Wyoming sailed for Hawaiian waters and conducted exercises and maneuvers there through September. Returning to San Diego on 3 October, Wyoming subsequently conducted tactical evolutions off the western seaboard, ranging north to Seattle. Departing San Francisco, California, on 5 January 1921, Wyoming, over the ensuing weeks, conducted further drills, exercises, and maneuvers reaching from Panama Bay to Valparaiso, Chile, and was reviewed by the President of Chile on 3 February. Returning north via Panama Bay and San Pedro, Wyoming arrived at the Puget Sound Navy Yard on 18 March and remained there into the summer.

Upon completion of repairs, Wyoming headed south and, on 2 August, reached Balboa, Canal Zone, where she embarked Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman and members of the commission to Peru for transportation to New York City. Reaching her destination on 19 August, she disembarked her passengers and, that afternoon, broke the flag of Admiral Hilary P. Jones, the Commander in Chief, United States Atlantic Fleet.

Over the next 41 months, Wyoming operated primarily in the Atlantic, off the eastern seaboard of the United States, participating in Atlantic Fleet exercises, ranging form the coast of New England to the Virginia capes. She took part in the routine winter maneuvers of the fleet in Caribbean and Cuban waters, serving at various times as flagship for Vice Admiral John D. McDonald, Commander, Battleship Force; and, later, Commander, Scouting Fleet, and his successors, Vice Admiral Newton A. McCully and Vice Admiral Josiah S. McKean. During that time, the ship received routine repairs and alterations at the New York Navy Yard and conducted a midshipman's training cruise in the summer of 1924, cruising to Torbay, England; Rotterdam, Holland; Gibraltar; and the Azores.

Departing New York on 26 January 1925, the battleship conducted battle practice in Cuban waters, out of Guantanamo Bay, and then transited the Panama Canal on 14 February to join th Battle Fleet for exercises along the coast of California. Wyoming next sailed for Hawaiian waters and operated in those climes from late April to early June. After a visit to San Diego from 18 to 22 June, the battleship returned to the east cast, via the Panama Canal, and arrived back at New York City on 17 July to resume operations off the coast of New England. Following those training evolutions with a cruise to Cuba and Haiti, Wyoming underwent an overhaul at the New York Navy Yard from 23 November 1925 to 26 January 1926. During her yard period, Comdr. William "Bill" F. Halsey, Jr. reported on board and the battleship's executive officer. The future fleet admiral served on Wyoming until 4 January 1927.

Wyoming subsequently took part in the Fleet's annual winter maneuvers in the Caribbean and then returned northward, reaching Annapolis on 29 May to embark midshipmen for their summer training cruise. After touching at newport, Rhode Island; Marblehead, Massachusetts; Portland, Maine; Charleston, South Carolina; and Guantanamo Bay, Wyoming returned to Annapolis on 27 August, disembarking the officers-to-be upon arrival. The ship then put into the Philadelphia Navy Yard for modernization.

Converted from a coal burner to an oil burner,k Wyoming also received new turbines, blisters for added underwater protection against torpedoes, and other alterations. Completing the overhaul on 2 November 1927 hand heading south for Norfolk, Wyoming then underwent a post-modernization shakedown cruise to Cuba and the Virgin Islands before returning to PHiladelphia on 7 December. Two days later, she hoisted the flag of Commander, Scouting Fleet, Vice Admiral Ashley H. Robertson.

Over the next few years, Wyoming operated out of Norfolk, New York, and Boston, making training cruises for the Naval Reserve Officers; Training Corps (NROTC) units hailing from Yale, Harvard, GEorgia Tech, and Northwestern. That duty took her from the Gulf of Mexico to Nova Scotia and into the Caribbean, as well as to the Azores. During the course of that duty, she departed Hampton Roads on 12 November 1928; and, on the night of 13 and 14 November, picked up eight survivors of the sunken British merchant steamship Vestris; and landed them at Norfolk the following day, 15 November.

Relieved as flagship of the Scouting Force on 19 September 1930, Wyoming then became the flagship of Rear Admiral Wat T. Cluverius, Commander, Battleship Division 2, and performed that duty until 4 November. After then hoisting the flag of Rear Admiral H. H. Christy, Commander, Training Squadron, Scouting Fleet, the battleship conducted a training cruise into the Gulf of Mexico, during which she visited New Orleans.

Returning north after that cruise, Wyoming was placed in reduced commission at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 1 January 1931 to prepare for demilitarization and conversion to a training ship in accordance with the 1930 London Treaty for the limitation and reduction of naval armaments. During that process, Wyoming lost her blisters, side armor, and the removal of guns and turret machinery from three of her six main battery turrets. ON 21 May 1931, Wyoming was relieved of her duties as flagship of the Scouting Forces by Augusta (CA-31) and by Arkansas (BB-33) as flagship of the Training Squadron.

Wyoming subsequently visited Annapolis upon the completion of her demilitarization and, between 29 May and 5 June 1931, embarked Naval Academy midshipmen for a cruise to European waters. Sailing on 5 June, the ship was in the mid-Atlantic 10 days later, when she went to the aid of the foundering ice-cutting submarine Nautilus, commanded by the famed British Arctic explorer, Sir Hubert Wilkins. Wyoming took the disabled submersible in tow and took her to Queenstown, Northern Ireland. Later in the course of the cruise, the former battleship visited Copenhagen, Denmark; Greenock, Scotland; Cadiz, Spain; and Gibraltar, before she returned to Hampton Roads on 13 August. During her cruise, she had been redesignated form a battleship, to a miscellaneous auxiliary, AG-17, on 1 July 1931.

Over the next four years, Wyoming continued summer practice cruises for Naval Academy midshipmen and training cruises for NROTC midshipmen with units from various universities. Her service took her throughout the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, as well as to northern European ports and into the Mediterranean.

However, there were new jobs for the old campaigner. On 18 january 1835, she embarked men for the 2d Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, at Norfolk, for the winter - spring landing assault practices at Puerto Rico and the Panama Canal Zone. In almost every succeeding year, Wyoming took part in amphibious assault exercises, as the elements of the Fleet Marine Force and Navy developed tactics for use in possible conflicts of the future.

Departing Norfolk on 5 January 1937, Wyoming transited the Panama Canal; headed for San Diego soon thereafter; and spent the following weeks engaged in assault landing exercises and gunnery drills at San Clemente Island, off the coat of California. On 18 February 1937, during the culminating phase of a multi-faceted (land, sea, and air) exercise, a shrapnel shell exploded prematurely as it was being rammed into one of the ships 5-inch broadside guns. Six marines were killed, and 11 w3ere wounded. Immediately after the explosion, Wyoming sped to San Pedro, where she transferred the wounded marines to the hospital ship Relief (AH-1).

Completing her slate of exercises and war games off the California coast on 3 March, Wyoming stood out of Los Angeles harbor on that day and headed back to the east coast. Returning to Norfolk on the 23d of the same month, the ship served as temporary flagship for Rear Admiral Wilson Brown, Commander, Training Squadron, form 15 April to 3 June, during the preparations for the upcoming Naval Academy practice cruise. Putting to sea on 4 June from Hampton Roads, Wyoming reached3d Kiel, Germany, on 21 June 1937, where she was visited by officers from the ill-fated German "pocket battleship" Admiral Graf Spee. Her embarked midshipmen subsequently toured Berlin before Wyoming sailed for home on 29 June, touching at Torbay, England, and Funchal, Madeira, before returning to Norfolk on 3 August.

After local exercises, Wyoming disembarked her midshipmen at Annapolis on 26 August. For the next few months, Wyoming continued in her role as training ship -- first for Naval Reserve units and then for Merchant Marine Reserve units, ranging form Boston to the Virgin Islands and from New York to Cuba, respectively, before she underwent an overhaul at the Norfolk Navy Yard between 16 October 1937 and 14 January 1938.

For the next three years, Wyoming continued her operations out of Norfolk, Boston, and New York, visiting "Cuban waters, as well as Puerto Rico and New Orleans. In addition, she conducted a Naval Academy midshipman's practice cruise to European waters in 1938, visiting Le Havre, France; Copenhagen; and Portsmouth, England. Ultimately, on 2 January 1941, Wyoming became the flagship for Rear Admiral Randall Jacobs, Commander, Training, Patrol Force, and continued in her training ship duties into the autumn months.

In November 1941, Wyoming embarked on yet another phase of her career -- that of a gunnery training ship. She departed Norfolk on 25 November 1941 for gunnery training runs out of Newport, Rhode Island, and was off Platt's Bank when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, on 7 December 1941.

Putting into Norfolk on 28 January 1942, Wyoming sailed out into the lower reaches of Chesapeake Bay on 5 February to begin a countless chain of gunnery training drills in that area that would carry her thorough World War II. So familiar was her appearance in that area that Wyoming earned the nickname of the "Chesapeake Raider." Assigned to the Operational Training Command, United States Atlantic Fleet, the former dreadnought battleship provided the platform on which thousands of gunners trained in guns, ranging from 5-inch to .50-caliber.

Refitted at Norfolk between 12 January and 3 April 1944, Wyoming took on a different silhouette upon emerging from that yard period; the rest of her 12-inch turrets were removed, and replaced with twin-mount 5-inch guns; in addition, newer models of fire control radars were installed. She resumed her gunnery training activities on 10 April 1944, operating in the Chesapeake Bay region. The extent of her operations can be seen from a random sampling of figures; in a single month, November 1944, she trained 133 officers and 1,329 men in antiaircraft gunnery. During that month, she fired 3,033 50-inch shells, 849 3-inch; 10,076 40-millimeter; 32,231 20-millimeter; 66,270 .30-caliber; and 360 1.1-inch ammunition. She claimed the distinction of firing off more ammunition that any other ship in the fleet, training an estimated 35,000 gunners on some seven different types of guns.

On 30 June 1945, Wyoming completed her career as "Chesapeake Raider" when she departed Norfolk for the New York Navy Yard and alterations. Leaving the yard on 13 July 1945, she entered Casco Bay soon thereafter, reporting for duty to Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee, Commander, Composite Task Force 69. She fired her first experimental gunnery practice at towed sleeves, drone aircraft, and radio-controlled targets, as the largest operating unit of the force established to study methods and tactics for dealing with the Japanese Kamikazes. Subsequently, Composite Task Force 69 became the Operational Development Force, United States Fleet, on 31 August 1945.Upon the death of Admiral Lee, the reins of command passed to Rear Admiral R. P. Briscoe.

Even after the broadening of the scope of the work of the force to cover all the operational testing of new devices of fire control, Wyoming remained the backbone of the unit through 1946. On 11 July 1947, Wyoming entered the Norfolk Naval Shipyard and was decommissioned on 1 August 1947. Her men and material were then transferred to Mississippi (AG-128), another ex-battleship (BB-41).

Wyoming's name was struck form the Navy list on 16 September1947, and her hulk was sold for scrapping on 30 October 1947. She was then delivered to her purchaser, Lipsett, Inc., of New York City, on 5 December 1947.

USS Wyoming, Battleship (BB-32) Specifications

1912