, an
''Illinois''-class Battleship , was the first ship of the
United States Navy to be named for
The 30th State .
The keel of Battleship No. 9 was laid down on
9 February 1897 at
San Francisco, California , by the
Union Iron Works . She was
Launched on
26 November 1898 sponsored by Miss Elizabeth Stephenson, the daughter of Senator
Isaac Stephenson of
Marinette, Wisconsin , and
Commissioned on
4 February 1901 with Captain
George C. Reiter in command.
Departing San Francisco on
12 March 1901 , ''Wisconsin'' conducted general drills and exercises at
Magdalena Bay, Mexico , from
17 March to
11 April before she returned to San Francisco on
15 April to be drydocked for repairs. Upon completion of that work, ''Wisconsin'' headed north along the Western seaboard, departing San Francisco on
28 May and reaching
Port Orchard, Washington , on
1 June . She remained there for nine days before heading back toward San Francisco.
She next made a voyage in company with the battleships
''Oregon'' and
''Iowa'' , the cruiser
''Philadelphia'' , and the torpedo-boat destroyer
''Farragut'' to the Pacific Northwest, reaching
Port Angeles, Washington , on
29 June . She then shifted to
Port Whatcom, Washington , on
2 July , and participated in
4 July observances there before she returned to Port Angeles the following day to resume her scheduled. drills and exercises. Those evolutions kept the ship occupied through mid-July. Following repairs and alterations at the
Puget Sound Navy Yard in
Bremerton, Washington , from
23 July to
14 October , ''Wisconsin'' sailed for the middle and southern reaches of the Pacific, reaching
Honolulu, Hawaii , on
23 October . After coaling there, the battleship then got underway for
Samoa on
26 October and exercised her main and secondary batteries en route to her destination.
Reaching the naval station at
Tutuila on
5 November , ''Wisconsin'' remained in that vicinity, along with the collier
''Abarenda'' and the hospital ship
''Solace'' , for a little over two weeks. Shifting to
Apia , the scene of the disastrous hurricane of 1888, ''Wisconsin'' hosted the Governor of German
Samoa before the man-of-war departed that port on
21 November , bound for the coastal waters of Central and South America via
Hawaii .
''Wisconsin'' reached
Acapulco ,
Mexico , on Christmas Day, 1901, and remained in port for three days. After coaling, the man-of-war twice visited
Callao ,
Peru , and also called at
Valparaíso ,
Chile , before she returned to Acapulco on
26 February 1902 .
''Wisconsin'' exercised in Mexican waters at
Pichilinque Bay and
Magdalena Bay from
6 March to
22 March , carrying out an intensive and varied slate of exercises that included small-arms drills, day and night main battery target practices, and landing force maneuvers. She conducted further drills of various kinds as she proceeded up the west coast, touching at
Coronado, California , San Francisco, and
Port Angeles before she reached the
Puget Sound Navy Yard on
4 June .
The battleship underwent repairs and alterations until
11 August . She then conducted gunnery exercises off
Tacoma, Washington , and
Seattle, Washington , before she returned to the
Puget Sound Navy Yard on
29 August for further work. She remained there until
12 September , when she sailed for San Francisco, en route to
Panama .
''Wisconsin'', as flagship, Pacific Squadron, with Rear Admiral
Silas Casey embarked, arrived at
Panama ,
Colombia , on
30 September 1902 , to protect American interests and to preserve the integrity of transit across the isthmus. Casey offered his services as a mediator in the crisis that had lasted for three years and invited leaders of both factions, conservatives and liberals, to meet on board ''Wisconsin''. Over succeeding weeks, through October, and into November, prolonged negotiations ensued. Ultimately, however, the warring sides came to an agreement, and signed a treaty on
21 November 1902 . The accord came to be honored, in Colombian circles, as "The Peace of ''Wisconsin''." When Rear Admiral Henry Glass, Admiral Casey's successor as Commander in Chief, Pacific Squadron, wrote his report to the
Secretary Of The Navy for fiscal year 1903, he lauded his predecessor's diplomatic services during the Panama crisis. "The final settlement of the revolutionary disturbance," Glass wrote approvingly, "was largely due to his efforts."
Her task completed, the battleship departed Panama's waters on
22 November and arrived at San Francisco on
6 December to prepare for gunnery exercises. Four days later, Rear Admiral Casey shifted his flag to the armored cruiser
''New York'' , thus releasing ''Wisconsin'' from flagship duty for the Pacific Squadron. The battleship consequently carried out her firings until
17 December , when she sailed for Bremerton. reaching the Puget Sound Navy Yard five days before Christmas of 1902, ''Wisconsin'' then underwent repairs and alterations until
19 May 1903 , when she sailed for the Asiatic Station.
Proceeding via Honolulu, ''Wisconsin'' arrived at
Yokohama ,
Japan , on
12 June , with Rear Admiral
Yates Stirling embarked; three days later, Rear Admiral Stirling exchanged flagships with Rear Admiral
P. H. Cooper who broke his two-starred flag at ''Wisconsin'''s main as Commander of the
Asiatic Fleet 's Northern Squadron while Admiral Stirling hoisted his in the tender
''Rainbow'' .
''Wisconsin'' operated in the Far East, with the Asiatic Fleet, over the next three years before she returned to the United States in the autumn of 1906. She followed a normal routine of operations in the northern latitudes of the station --
China and
Japan -- in the summer months, because of the oppressive heat of the
Philippine Islands that time of year, but in the
Philippine Archipelago in the winter. She touched at ports in Japan and China including
Kobe ,
Yokohama ,
Nagasaki , and
Yokosuka ;
Amoy ,
Shanghai ,
Chefoo ,
Nanking , and
Taku . In addition, she cruised the
Yangtze River as far as Nanking, the Inland Sea, and
Nimrod Sound . The battleship conducted assigned fleet maneuvers and exercises off the Chinese and Philippine coasts intervening those evolutions with regular periods of in-port upkeep and repairs. During that time, she served as Asiatic Fleet flagship, wearing the flag of Rear Admiral Cooper.
The battleship departed Yokohama on
20 September and, after calling at Honolulu en route between
3 October and
8 October , arrived at San Francisco on
18 October . After seven days stay at that port, she headed up the west coast and reached the Puget Sound Navy Yard on
28 October . She was decommissioned there on
16 November 1906 .
Recommissioned on
1 April 1908 , Captain
Henry Morrell in command, ''Wisconsin'' was fitted out at the Puget Sound Navy Yard until the end of April. After shifting to Port Angeles from
30 April to
2 May , the battleship proceeded down the western seaboard and reached San Francisco on
6 May to participate in a fleet review at that port. She subsequently returned to Puget Sound to complete the installation of her fire control equipment between
21 May and
22 June .
Soon thereafter, ''Wisconsin'' retraced her southward course, returning to San Francisco in early July. There, she joined the battleships of the Atlantic Fleet in setting out on the transpacific leg of the momentous circumnavigation of the globe. The cruise of the "
Great White Fleet " served as a pointed reminder to Japan of the power of the United States-a dramatic gesture made by President
Theodore Roosevelt as signal evidence of his "big stick" policy. ''Wisconsin'', during the course of her part of the voyage, called at ports in
New Zealand ,
Australia , the
Philippines ,
Japan ,
China ,
Ceylon , and
Egypt ; transited the
Suez Canal ; visited
Malta ,
Algiers , and
Gibraltar before arriving in
Hampton Roads on
Washington's Birthday , 1909, and passing in review there before President Roosevelt. The epic voyage had confounded the doom-sayers and critics, having been accomplished without any serious incidents or mishaps.
''Wisconsin'' departed from the Tidewater area on
6 March and arrived at the
Portsmouth Navy Yard in
New Hampshire three days later. The pre-dreadnought battleship there underwent repairs and alterations until
23 June , doffing her bright "white and spar color" and donning a more businesslike gray. The man-of-war joined the Atlantic Fleet in Hampton Roads at the end of June, but she remained in those waters only a short time before she sailed north to
Portland, Maine , arriving there on
2 July in time to take part in the
Fourth Of July festivities in that port.
The battleship next headed down the eastern seaboard, cruising off
Rockport, Massachusetts , and
Provincetown, Massachusetts , before she returned, with the fleet, to Hampton Roads on
6 August . Over the ensuing weeks, ''Wisconsin'' fired target practices in the southern drill grounds, off the Virginia capes, breaking those underway periods with upkeep in Hampton Roads.
''Wisconsin'' steamed with the fleet to
New York City where she anchored in the North River to take part the Hudson-Fulton celebrations between
22 September and
5 October before she underwent repairs at the Portsmouth Navy Yard from
7 October to
28 November . She then dropped down to
Newport, Rhode Island , upon the conclusion of that yard period, picking up drafts of men for transportation to the Atlantic Fleet at Hampton Roads.
''Wisconsin'' operated with the fleet off the Virginia capes through mid-December, before she headed for New York for the Christmas holidays in port. Subsequently cruising to Cuban waters in early January 1910, the battleship operated out of
Guantanamo Bay for a little over two months, from
12 January to
19 March .
The pre-dreadnought battleship then visited
Tompkinsville, New York , and
New Orleans, Louisiana , before she discharged ammunition at New York City on
22 April . Later that spring, 1910, she moved to the Portsmouth Navy Yard, where she was placed in reserve. She was moved to
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , in April 1912 and, that autumn, took part in a
Naval Review off
Yonkers, New York , before resuming her reserve status until Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Placed "in ordinary" on October 1913, ''Wisconsin'' remained in that status until she joined the
United States Naval Academy Practice Squadron the spring of 1915 assuming training duties along with the battleships
''Missouri'' and
''Ohio'' . With that group, she become the third battleship to transit the
Panama Canal , making that trip in mid-July 1915 en route to the west coast of the United States with her embarked officers-to-be.
''Wisconsin'' discharged her duties as a midshipman's training ship into 1917 and was moored at the
Philadelphia Navy Yard on
6 April of that year when she received word that the United States had
Declared War On Germany . Two days later, members of the Naval Militia began reporting on board the battleship for quarters and subsistence.
On
23 April , ''Wisconsin'', ''Missouri'', and ''Ohio'' were placed in full commission and assigned to the Coast Battleship Patrol Squadron. Within two weeks, on
2 May , Commander (later Admiral)
David F. Sellers reported on board and took command. Four days later, the battleship got underway for the Virginia capes; and she arrived at
Yorktown, Virginia , on
7 May .
From early May through early August, ''Wisconsin'' operated as an engineering school ship on training cruises in the
Chesapeake Bay -
York River area. She trained recruits as oilers, watertenders, and firemen, who, when qualified, were assigned to the formerly interned merchantmen of the enemy taken over by the United States upon the declaration of war, as well as to submarine chasers and the merchant vessels then building in American yards.
''Wisconsin'' then maneuvered and exercised in company with the battleships
''Kearsarge'' ,
''Alabama'' ,
''Illinois'' ,
''Kentucky'' ,
''Ohio'' ,
''Missouri'' , and
''Maine'' , between
13 August and
19 August , en route to
Port Jefferson, New York . Over the ensuing weeks, ''Wisconsin'' continued training and tactical maneuvers based on Port Jefferson, making various training cruises into
Long Island Sound .
She subsequently returned to the York River region early in October and resumed her training activities in that locale, operating primarily in the Chesapeake Bay area. ''Wisconsin'' continued that duty into the spring of 1918, interrupting her training evolutions between
30 October and
18 December 1917 for repairs at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.
After another stint of repairs at Philadelphia from
13 May to
3 June 1918 , ''Wisconsin'' got underway for a cruise to
Annapolis, Maryland , but, after passing the
Brandywine Shoal Light , received orders to stick close to shore. Those orders were later modified to send ''Wisconsin'' up the
Delaware River as far as
Bombay Hook , since an enemy submarine was active off
Cape Henlopen . Postwar examination of German records would show that
U-151 , the first of six enemy submarines to come to the eastern seaboard in 1918, sank three
Schooner s on
23 May and other ships over ensuing days.
Getting underway again on
6 June , ''Wisconsin'' arrived at Annapolis on the following day. On the next day, the battleship embarked 176 third-class midshipmen and got underway for the York River. The ship conducted training evolutions in the Chesapeake Bay region until
29 August , when she returned to Annapolis and disembarked midshipmen. Underway for Yorktown on
30 August , ''Wisconsin'' there embarked 217 men for training as firemen, water tenders, engineers, steersmen and signalmen, resumed her training duties, and continued the task through the signing of the armistice on
11 November .
She completed her training activities on
20 December , sailed north, and reached New York City three days before Christmas. ''Wisconsin'' was among the ships reviewed by
Secretary Of The Navy Josephus Daniels from the deck of the
Yacht ''Mayflower'' and by Assistant Secretary of the Navy
Franklin D. Roosevelt from
''Aztec'' on the day after Christmas,
26 December .
''Wisconsin'' cruised with the fleet in Cuban waters that winter and, in the summer of 1919, made a midshipman training cruise to the Caribbean.
Placed out of commission on
15 May 1920 , ''Wisconsin'' was reclassified BB-9 on
17 July 1920 , while awaiting disposition. She was sold for scrap on
26 January 1922 as a result of the
Washington Naval Treaty .
Alden, John D. ''American Steel Navy: A Photographic History of the U.S. Navy from the Introduction of the Steel Hull in 1883 to the Cruise of the Great White Fleet.'' Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989. ISBN 0870212486
Friedman, Norman. ''U.S. Battleships: An Illustrated Design History.'' Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985. ISBN 0870217151
Reilly, John C. and Robert L. Scheina. ''American Battleships 1996-1923: Predreadnought Design and Construction.'' Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1980. ISBN 0870215248
