USS History

The first USS Wyoming of the Navy was a wooden-hulled screw sloop that fought on the Union side during the . Sent to the Pacific Ocean to search for the CSS Alabama, Wyoming eventually came upon the shores of and engaged Japanese land and sea forces. On 16 July 1863, Wyoming won the first-ever United States naval victory over Japan in the Naval battle of Shimonoseki.

Contents

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1 Service history o 1.1 West Coast, 1859–1862 o 1.2 Far East, 1862–1863 o 1.3 The Battle of the Straits of Shimonoseki, 1863 o 1.4 Hunting the raiders, 1863–1864 o 1.5 Station, 1865–1868 o 1.6 North Atlantic Station, 1872–1878 o 1.7 European Station, 1878–1881 o 1.8 Naval Academy, 1882–1892 2 References

[edit] Service history

The ship was laid down at the Navy Yard in July 1858, launched on 19 January 1859, sponsored by Mary Florida Grice, and commissioned in October 1859, Commander John K. Mitchell in command.

[edit] West Coast, 1859–1862

Wyoming soon sailed via Cape Horn for the Pacific and arrived off the coast of in April 1860. There, she relieved Levant and operated along the Pacific coast of the United States and Central America into the spring of 1861. During that time, she participated in the search for Levant when that warship disappeared in the late autumn of 1860.

The outbreak of the Civil War found Wyoming at San Francisco, California, preparing for another cruise. She was instructed to remain in the vicinity of the Golden Gate to protect mail steamers operating off the California coast, but CDR Mitchell — a naval officer of Southern origin and persuasion — defied his orders and took his ship to instead. Mitchell's flagrant disobedience cost him his command and also resulted in his dismissal from the service. As a result, Wyoming came under the temporary command of her executive officer, Lt. Francis K. Murray, on 4 July 1861. While returning to Monterey, California, Wyoming was plagued by mishaps. First, her bottom struck a coral head off La Paz, Baja California Sur, and was pulled free only after three days aground during which she lost her false keel. She then ran short of and arrived at Monterey with empty bunkers.

Wyoming subsequently shifted to San Francisco where, on 9 August, she received a new commanding officer, Commander David McDougal. The warship then proceeded to the coast of Lower California to protect American whaling interests against possible incursions by Confederate cruisers. After that service, she operated in South American waters into 1862.

[edit] Far East, 1862–1863

Following repairs at Mare Island, Wyoming received orders — dated 16 June 1862 — to proceed immediately to the Far East in search of "armed piratical cruisers fitted out by the rebels" and soon headed west, bound for the Orient.

Word of the Union ship's subsequent appearance in Far Eastern waters spread fast and far. In the Sunda Strait, off , Captain , the commanding officer of Confederate cruiser Alabama, learned from an English brig of Wyoming's arrival in the East Indies; and a Dutch trader later confirmed this report. On 26 October, Semmes wrote confidently in his journal that "Wyoming is a good match for this ship," and "I have resolved to give her battle. She is reported to be cruising under sail — probably with banked fires — and anchors, no doubt, under Krakatoa every night, and I hope to surprise her, the moon being near its full."

Although in their search for each other, Wyoming and Alabama unknowingly came close to each other, they never met; and it would be up to another Union warship, the sloop Kearsarge, to destroy the elusive Confederate raider. Yet, despite being unsuccessful in tracking down Confederate cruisers, Wyoming did render important service to uphold the honor of the American flag in the Far East the following year, 1863.

Ordered to Philadelphia that spring — after what had been a largely fruitless cruise — Wyoming was in the midst of preparations to leave the East Indies Station when an event occurred that changed her plans.

[edit] The Battle of the Straits of Shimonoseki, 1863 Main article: Naval battle of Shimonoseki

In May 1863, Wyoming had "showed the flag" to , standing by to protect American lives and property during an outbreak of anti-foreign agitation in Japan. Nevertheless, that agitation continued into the early summer months, as the Japanese began to resent all foreigners in their country. Urged by his advisors, the Japanese Mikado had set 25 June 1863 as the date for the expulsion of all aliens. Although he was largely powerless to force compliance with his directive, some officials took it literally and tried to implement it. One attempt of this kind was made by the powerful local ruler of the clan of Choshu, the Prince of Nagato.

That clan, the most warlike in Japan and the one which could be said to have been the forerunner of the Imperial Japanese Army, threw down the gauntlet to western nations on 26 June. At one o'clock that morning, two armed vessels — illegally flying the flag of the Japanese central government, or shogunate, attacked the American merchantman Pembroke, bound for and , as she lay anchored in the Strait of Shimonoseki. Fortunately, Pembroke suffered no casualties; got underway; and moved out of danger, escaping via Bungo Strait and continuing her voyage for Shanghai, post-haste, without making her scheduled stop at Nagasaki.

Word of the incident did not reach Yokohama from Japanese sources until 10 July. That evening, mail from Shanghai brought "authentic information" confirming the Japanese report. The United States Minister in Japan, Robert H. Pruyn, sent for the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Japanese government and informed him — in the presence of Comdr. McDougal — of the gravity of the situation, stressing that an insult to the American flag was a serious matter. After being told by Pruyn that the United States government would demand satisfaction and expect a statement from the Japanese concerning the offense, the Japanese diplomat begged that the Americans do nothing until his government at Yedo (later named Tokyo) would take action.

After the Japanese left, McDougal told Pruyn that he had decided to proceed instantly to the Shimonoseki Strait to seize and, if necessary, to destroy, the offending vessels. The two men agreed that failure to punish the outrage properly would encourage further anti-foreign incidents.

The Wyoming battling in the Shimonoseki Straits.

Accordingly, Wyoming prepared for sea. At 4:45 a.m. on 13 July, CDR McDougal called all hands; and the sloop got underway 15 minutes later, bound for the strait. After a two-day voyage, Wyoming arrived off the island of Hime Shima on the evening of 15 July and anchored off the south side of that island.

At five o'clock the following morning, Wyoming weighed anchor and steamed toward the Strait of Shimonoseki. She went to general quarters at nine, loaded her pivot guns with shell, and cleared for action. The warship entered the strait at 10:45 and beat to quarters. Soon, three signal guns boomed from the landward, alerting the batteries and ships of the daimyo Choshiu of Wyoming's arrival.

At about 11:15, after being fired upon from the shore batteries, Wyoming hoisted her colors and replied with her 11- pivot guns. Momentarily ignoring the batteries, McDougal ordered Wyoming to continue steaming toward a bark, a steamer, and a brig at anchor off the town of Shimonoseki. Meanwhile, four shore batteries took the warship under fire. Wyoming answered the Japanese cannon "as fast as the guns could be brought to bear" while shells from the shore guns passed through her rigging.

Wyoming then passed between the brig and the bark on the starboard hand and the steamer on the port, steaming within a pistol shot's range. One shot from either the bark or brig struck near Wyoming's forward broadside gun, killing two men and wounding four. Elsewhere on the ship, a Marine was struck dead by a piece of shrapnel.

Wyoming, in hostile territory, then grounded in uncharted waters shortly after she had made one run past the forts. The Japanese steamer, in the meantime, had slipped her cable and headed directly for Wyoming — possibly to attempt a boarding. The American man-of-war, however, managed to work free of the mud and then unleashed her 11-inch Dahlgren guns on the enemy ship, hulling and damaging her severely. Two well-directed shots exploded her and, as she began to sink, her crew abandoned the ship.

Wyoming then passed the bark and the brig, firing into them steadily and methodically. Some shells were "overs" and landed in the town ashore. As Comdr. McDougal wrote in his report to on 23 July, "the punishment inflicted (upon the daimyo) and in store for him will, I trust, teach him a lesson that will not soon be forgotten."

After having been under fire for a little over an hour, Wyoming returned to Yokohama. She had been hulled 11 times, with considerable damage to her smokestack and rigging. Her casualties had been comparatively light: four men killed and seven wounded — one of whom later died. Significantly, Wyoming had been the first foreign warship to take the offensive to uphold treaty rights in Japan.

[edit] Hunting the raiders, 1863–1864

However, the ship's projected return to Philadelphia did not materialize due to the supposed continued presence of Alabama in Far Eastern waters. She repaired her damages, resumed the search and sailed to the Dutch East Indies. She subsequently voyaged to , examining it to determine whether or not it was used as a supply base for "the use of rebel cruisers." Finding the island uninhabited and the report of its use as a supply base unfounded, Wyoming returned to Anjer, Java, where McDougal found out, to his surprise, that Alabama had passed the Sunda Strait on 10 November — only a day after Wyoming had sailed for Christmas Island. At noon that day, Alabama and Wyoming had been only 25 apart.

Writing from Batavia on 22 November, McDougal later reported that Wyoming had scoured the waters of the East Indies, visiting "every place in this neighborhood where she (Alabama) would likely lay in case she intended to remain in this region." Although acknowledging that the condition of Wyoming's boilers prevented a heavy pressure of steam from being carried, McDougal promised to make every effort in his power to find and capture Alabama.

Wyoming then cruised to in search of the Confederate raider, but found nothing, and continued on to the Dutch settlement of Rhio, near Sunda Strait. She subsequently sailed north, putting into Cavite, Luzon, in the Philippine Islands, on Christmas Eve. There, through the courtesy of the Spanish Navy, Wyoming underwent much-needed repairs and coaled. She then sailed for and Whampoa, China.

Wyoming continued her search for the elusive Alabama into February 1864. She sailed to Foochow, China, to protect American interests and proceeded thence, via Hong Kong, to the East Indies. When the sloop-of-war reached Batavia, however, CDR McDougal found that there was now no alternative but to return to the United States for repairs, because the ship's boilers were in such poor condition. Accordingly, Wyoming began her long-delayed return voyage to the United States, via Anjer, the Cape of Good Hope, St. Helena, and St. Thomas. After a voyage of almost three months, she arrived at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 13 July 1864; having completed a circumnavigation of the globe begun when she left that port following her commissioning.

The presence of CSS Florida off the East Coast, however, meant another change in plans for the weary Wyoming. Commodore Cornelius Stribling, Commandant of the Philadelphia Navy Yard, ordered the newly arrived screw sloop to sea to search for Florida. "It is with regret that I send you on this service," Stribling wrote McDougal, "After so long a cruise, and one in which you have rendered such important service, yourself, officers and crew, were entitled to a respite from active service; but the great importance of capturing the rebel privateer will, I hope, be an incentive to all under your command cheerfully to perform this service."

Although Wyoming required extensive repairs, she nevertheless sailed. As events proved, however, Wyoming's machinery — so long from repairs in an American Navy Yard — proved unequal to the strain. For five days, the ship attempted to carry out the orders given her — contending with fresh northeast winds and a head sea — but returned to Philadelphia on 19 July, due to a leaky boiler. She was decommissioned on 23 July for a complete overhaul.

[edit] East Indies Station, 1865–1868

Recommissioned on 11 April 1865, Comdr. John P. Bankhead in command, Wyoming proceeded to the East Indies Station, via Cape Horn, and reached Singapore on 25 September 1865, in time to participate in the search for CSS Shenandoah, a Confederate raider which remained at sea for one month after the end of the Civil War. Following service on the East Indies Station into 1866, the screw sloop-of-war was made part of the with that unit's establishment in 1867.

Sailing from Yokohama on 28 April 1867, Wyoming headed for the island of Formosa (). On 13 June, she participated in a punitive expedition against Formosan natives who had murdered the crew of the American merchant bark Rover that had been wrecked off the coast of Formosa a short time before. During that action, she sent a landing party ashore in company with one from the sloop Hartford.

Subsequently returning to the United States having performed her last service in the Far East, Wyoming was decommissioned on 10 February 1868 and placed "in ordinary" at , Massachusetts. After extensive repairs at Portsmouth Navy Yard, during 1870 and into 1871, Wyoming was recommissioned on 14 November 1871, Comdr. John L. Davis in command.

[edit] North Atlantic Station, 1872–1878

From 1872 to 1874, Wyoming operated on the North Atlantic Station. Her ports of call included , Cuba; Key West, Florida.; Aspinwall, Panama; Santiago, Cuba; Kingston, Jamaica; San Juan, ; Key West; , Va.; and New Bedford, Mass. After that tour of duty, cruising and "showing the flag" in the West Indies and , Wyoming was decommissioned at the Washington Navy Yard on 30 April 1874 and remained laid up there for the next two years.

The veteran screw sloop-of-war became the receiving ship at Washington in 1877 and apparently served in that capacity into early the following year. Recommissioned on 20 November 1877, Wyoming left Washington, loaded articles for the Paris Exposition, and departed the East Coast of the United States on 6 April 1878, bound for . After discharging the cargo at , France, the ship visited Rouen, France, and Southampton, England, before she departed the latter port on 25 June and headed for the United States. She reached Norfolk on 22 August, shifted to Washington in mid-September, and to New York in early November, before she sailed on 26 November for the European Station.

[edit] European Station, 1878–1881

Wyoming reached Villefranche, France, near the port of Nice, on Christmas Eve 1878 and remained there into 1879 before getting underway for Smyrna on 24 January 1879. Wyoming remained in the Mediterranean into November 1880, touching at many of the more famous ports in that historic body of water — and in the Black Sea — before heading home late in 1880.

Wyoming returned to the United States in early 1881, arriving at Hampton Roads on 21 May. She sailed for Beaufort, S.C., on 15 June and thence proceeded to Annapolis, Md.

[edit] Naval Academy, 1882–1892

Decommissioned on 30 October 1882 and turned over to the Superintendent of the Naval Academy, Wyoming spent the next decade employed as a practice ship for midshipmen. Later taken to Norfolk, Va., she was sold at the port on 9 May 1892 to E. J. Butler, of Arlington, Massachusetts.

USS Wyoming (BM-10)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

USS Wyoming

Career

Name: USS Wyoming (1902-1908) USS Cheyenne (1908-1937)

Builder: Union Iron Works, San Francisco, California

Laid down: 11 April 1898

Launched: 8 September 1900

Commissioned: 8 December 1902

Decommissioned: 1 June 1926

Renamed: USS Cheyenne, 8 October 1908

Reclassified: Miscellaneous Auxiliary (IX-4), 17 July 1920

Struck: 25 January 1937

Fate: Sold for scrap, 20 April 1939

General characteristics : 3,225 long tons (3,277 t)

Length: 255 ft 1 in (77.75 m)

Beam: 50 ft (15 m)

Draft: 12 ft 6 in (3.81 m)

Propulsion: Screw

Armament: • 2 × 12 in (300 mm) breech- loading rifles • 4 × 4 in (100 mm) guns • 2 × 6-pounders

Service record

United States Pacific Fleet (1913- 1917) Part of: Atlantic Fleet (1917-1918) Reserve (1925)

Panamanian Independence Operations: (1903) (1917-1919)

For other ships of the same name, see USS Wyoming and USS Cheyenne.

USS Wyoming (BM-10) was the second ship of the United States Navy to bear that name, but the first to bear it in honor of the 44th state. The first Wyoming was named for Wyoming Valley in eastern .

The keel of No. 10 was laid down on 11 April 1898 at San Francisco, California, by the Union Iron Works. She was launched on 8 September 1900 sponsored by Miss Hattie Warren, daughter of Senator Francis E. Warren of Wyoming, and commissioned at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California, on 8 December 1902 with Commander Vincendon Lazarus Cottman in command.

Contents

[hide] 1 Wyoming o 1.1 Panamanian Independence o 1.2 West Coast Service 2 Cheyenne o 2.1 o 2.2 World War I o 2.3 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Wyoming

[edit] Panamanian Independence

After fitting out at Mare Island, Wyoming ran her trials and exercises in San Pablo Bay and San Francisco Bay and conducted exercises and target practice off the southern California coast through the summer of 1903 before she headed south in the autumn, reaching Acapulco, Mexico, on 31 October. She subsequently shifted further south, to Colombia, where a civil war threatened American lives and interests. The monitor accordingly arrived in Panamanian waters on 13 November and sailed up the Tuira River in company with the protected cruiser Boston, with a company of Marines under Lieutenant S.A.M. Patterson, USMC, and Lieutenant C.B. Taylor, USMC, embarked, to land at Yariza and observe the movements of Colombian troops.

The presence of American armed might there and elsewhere ultimately aided in independence for the Panamanians. During that time, Wyoming anchored at the Bay of San Miguel, Panama, on 15 December. The following day, a boat with 11 Marines embarked for the port of La Palma, Panama, under sail. While Boston departed the scene on 17 December, Wyoming shifted to La Palma on the following day. There, Lieutenant Patterson, USMC, with a detachment of 25 marines, commandeered the steamer Tuira and took her upriver. While the Marines were gone, a party of evacuated American nationals came out to the monitor in her gig.

Meanwhile, Patterson's Marines had joined the ship's landing force at the village of Real to keep an eye on American interests there. Back at La Palma, Wyoming continued to take on board American nationals fleeing from the troubled land and kept up a steady stream of supplies to her landing party of bluejackets and Marines at Real. Ultimately, when the need for them had passed, the landing party returned to the ship on Christmas Eve.

Wyoming remained in Panamanian waters into the spring of 1904 keeping a figurative eye on local conditions before she departed Panama Bay on 19 April, bound for Acapulco, Mexico. After remaining at that port from 27 April to 29 April, Wyoming visited Pichilinque, Mexico from 3 May to 9 May. She subsequently reached San Diego, California, on 14 May for a nine- day stay. [edit] West Coast Service

For the remainder of 1904, Wyoming operated off the West Coast, ranging from Brighton Beach, California, and Ventura, California, to Bellingham, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. She attended a regatta at Astoria, Oregon, from 22 August to 27 August and later took part in ceremonies at the "unveiling of monuments" at Griffin Bay, San Juan Islands and Roche Harbor before she entered the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, on 22 October.

Wyoming was overhauled there into the following year. She departed the Pacific Northwest on 26 January 1905 and steamed via San Francisco to Magdalena Bay, Mexico, for target practice. Later cruising to Acapulco and Panamanian waters, Wyoming also operated off San Salvador and Port Harford, California, before she returned to Mare Island on 30 July to be decommissioned on 29 August 1905. [edit] Cheyenne

Recommissioned on 8 October 1908 with Commander John J. Knapp in command, Wyoming spent over two months at Mare Island refitting. Converted to fuel oil - the first ship to do so in the United States Navy - she underwent tests for her oil-burning installation at San Francisco, California, Santa Barbara, California, and San Diego, California, into March 1909.

During those tests, Wyoming was renamed Cheyenne on 1 January 1909, in order to clear the name Wyoming for the projected No. 32. The ship consequently underwent more tests on her oil-burning equipment at Santa Barbara, San Pedro, and San Diego before she was placed in reserve at Mare Island on 8 June. She was decommissioned on 13 November of the same year.

[edit] Submarine Tender

USS Cheyenne with submarines USS H-1 and H-2 alongside

Recommissioned, in reserve, on 11 July 1910, Lieutenant Commander Charles Trusedale Owens in command, Cheyenne was assigned to the Washington (state) Naval Militia in 1911 and operated in an "in commission, in reserve" status into 1913. Shifting to the Puget Sound Navy Yard early in February 1913, Cheyenne was fitted out as a submarine tender over the ensuing months. Finally, on 20 August 1913, Cheyenne was placed in "full commission" with Lieutenant Kenneth Heron in command.

The newly converted submarine tender operated in the Puget Sound region until 11 December, when she sailed for San Francisco. In the ensuing months, Cheyenne tended the submarines of the Second Submarine Division, Pacific Flotilla, at Mare Island, San Francisco, and San Pedro, into April 1914. Later that spring, when troubled conditions in Mexico threatened American lives and property, Cheyenne interrupted her submarine tending duties twice, once in late April and once in mid-May, to embark refugees at Ensenada, Mexico, and San Quentin, Mexico, transporting them both times to San Diego.

[edit] World War I

Cheyenne then resumed her submarine tending operations on the West Coast, continuing them into 1917. On 10 April of that year, four days after the United States entered World War I, she proceeded to Port Angeles, Washington, the designated point of mobilization for the Pacific Fleet, in company with the submarines H-1 and H-2, arriving there on 16 April. Subsequently shifting to the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Cheyenne remained at that port for most of a month taking on stores and provisions loading ammunition and receiving men on board to fill the vacancies in her complement. On 28 April Cheyenne guarded USS N-1 as she ran trials off Port Townsend, Washington. On 4 May, the warship returned to Puget Sound for drydock and yard work. Completing that refit late in May, Cheyenne shifted southward to San Pedro, California, where she established a submarine base and training camp for personnel for submarine duty.

Cheyenne subsequently joined the Atlantic Fleet, serving as flagship and tender for Division 3, Flotilla 1, Submarine Force, Atlantic Fleet. On 17 December 1918, the ship was transferred to Division 1, American Patrol Detachment. While with that force, Cheyenne lay at Tampico, Mexico, protecting American lives and property from 16 January to 9 October 1919. Proceeding north soon thereafter, the warship arrived at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 23 October 1919, where she was decommissioned on 3 January 1920.

[edit] Training Ship

While inactive at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the ship was classified as a miscellaneous auxiliary, IX-4, in the fleetwide designation of alphanumeric hull classification symbols of 17 July 1920. Subsequently recommissioned at Philadelphia on 22 September of the same year, Cheyenne was towed to , Maryland, by the tug Lykens.

Based there, Cheyenne was assigned to training duty with Naval Reserve Force (USNRF) personnel of subdistrict "A" of the Fifth Naval District, and trained USNRF reservists through 1925. Based at Baltimore, she occasionally visited Hampton Roads during her cruises. On 21 January 1926, the Owl took Cheyenne in tow and took her to Norfolk, Virginia, and thence to Philadelphia, where she arrived on 27 January for inactivation.

Decommissioned on 1 June 1926, Cheyenne was struck from the on 25 January 1937, and her stripped-down hulk was sold for scrap on 20 April 1939.

USS Wyoming (BB-32)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For other ships of the same name, see USS Wyoming.

Wyoming, c. 1912-13

Career (United States)

Ordered: 3 March 1909

Builder: William Cramp and Sons Laid down: 9 February 1910 Launched: 25 May 1911 Commissioned: 25 September 1912 Decommissioned: 1 August 1947 Fate: sold for scrap General characteristics Class and type: Wyoming-class battleship Displacement: 27,243 tons (24,714 ) Length: 562 ft (171 m) Beam: 93.2 ft (28.4 m) Draft: 28.5 ft (8.7 m) Speed: 21.22 kn (24.42 mph; 39.30 km/h) Complement: 58 officers and 1,005 men Armament: 12 × 12 in (300 mm) guns, 21 × 5 in (130 mm)/51 cal guns,[1] 2 × 3 in (76 mm) guns, 2 × 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes USS Wyoming (BB-32), the lead ship of her class of battleship, was the third ship of the United States Navy named Wyoming, although it was only the second named in honor of the 44th state.

Wyoming was part of the battleship squadron attached to the British during World War I, Battleship Division Nine. In the 1930s, she was converted to a gunnery training ship. During World War II, she trained some 35,000 men on seven different types of guns. She was scrapped in 1947; the role of fleet training ship was passed to Mississippi.

Contents

[hide]

1 Construction and commissioning 2 Pre-World War I 3 World War I 4 Inter-war period 5 World War II 6 Post-war 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Construction and commissioning

Wyoming was laid down on 9 February 1910 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by William Cramp and Sons. She was launched on 25 May 1911 sponsored by Miss Dorothy Eunice Knight, the daughter of Chief Justice Jesse Knight of the Wyoming Supreme Court,and god-daughter of Wyoming Governor Joseph M. Carey; and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 25 September 1912, Captain Frederick L. Chapin in command.

Wyoming about to sail under the Brooklyn Bridge, 1912

Topside view of Wyoming as she leaves New York circa 1915 [edit] Pre-World War I

Wyoming departed from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 6 October and completed the fitting-out process at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York, before she joined the fleet in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Reaching the Tidewater area on 30 December 1912, she became the flagship of Rear Charles J. Badger, Commander, Atlantic Fleet, soon thereafter. Sailing on 6 January 1913, the new battleship visited the soon-to-be-completed and then conducted winter fleet maneuvers off Cuba before she returned to 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 from 18 April to 7 May. She then participated in war games off Block Island from 7–24 May, a period of activity broken by repairs to her machinery, carried out at Newport, Rhode Island from 9–19 May. She underwent more repairs at Newport, then visited New York City from 28–31 May for the festivities surrounding the dedication of the monument honoring the armored cruiser Maine, destroyed in Havana harbor on 15 February 1898.

Shifting to Annapolis, Maryland on 4 June, Wyoming embarked a contingent of United States 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 24–25 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 from 16 September to 2 October and then ran a full-power trial as she headed south to Norfolk, Virginia, to resume exercises off the Virginia Capes before sailing for Europe on 26 October.

Reaching , Malta on 8 November, the battleship visited Naples, Italy, and Villefranche, France, during the course of her Mediterranean cruise. The battleship then left French waters astern on the last day of November and 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 Naval Base from 26 January to 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 from Hampton Roads on 13 May, and headed for Mexican waters. She reached on 18 May, less than a month after American sailors and Marines had occupied that Mexican port.

Wyoming remained at Veracruz over the months 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 Sea. 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. After visiting Port-au-Prince, Haiti on 27 January, Wyoming put into Guantanamo Bay on 28 January and then operated in Cuban waters off Guantanamo and Guacanayabo Bays and the port of Manzanillo, Cuba 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. [edit] World War I

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 as Commander, Battleship Division 9 (BatDiv 9). After preparations for "distant service," Wyoming, New York, Delaware, and Florida sailed for the British Isles on 25 November and reached , Orkney Islands on 7 December 1917. Although retaining their American designation as BatDiv 9, those four 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 6 February 1918. On that day, she got underway with the other ships of the 6th Battle Squadron and eight British to guard a convoy routed to , 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 .

From 30 June to 2 July 1918, Wyoming operated with the 6th Battle Squadron and a division of British destroyers, guarding Allied minelayers as they planted the Mine Barrage. Later, Wyoming returned to the Firth of Forth, where she was inspected by His Majesty George V of the United Kingdom, 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 the war, Wyoming, New York, Texas, and Arkansas 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. [edit] Inter-war period

Later, Wyoming, hoisting the flag of Rear Admiral , Commander, BatDiv 9 (ComBatDiv 9), sailed on 12 December 1918 from the Isle of Portland, England, bound for France. The following morning, she and other rendezvoused with George Washington off Brest, France. Embarked in the transport was the President , 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, along with the newly appointed ambassador to 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 18 January 1919, she became the flagship of BatDiv 7, 3rd Squadron, and broke the flag of Rear Admiral .

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 Curtiss NC flying 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. The secondary battery was reduced to 16 5 in (130 mm)/51 cal guns.[1] On that day, she became a unit of the newly designated Pacific Fleet, assigned the duty as flagship for BatDiv 6, Squadron 4 (BatRon 4). On the morning of 19 July, the fleet - led by New Mexico - 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 from 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 from "Battleship No. 32" to 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 8 October, Wyoming subsequently conducted tactical evolutions off the western seaboard, ranging north to Seattle, Washington. Departing San Francisco, California on 5 January 1921, Wyoming, over the ensuing weeks, conducted further drills, exercises, and maneuvers reaching from Panama Bay to Valparaíso, Chile, and was reviewed by President of Chile Arturo Alessandri Palma on 8 February. Returning north, 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, Commander-in- Chief, 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 from 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 McDonald, Commander, Battleship Force; and, later, Commander, Scouting Fleet, and his successors, Vice Newton McCully and Josiah McKean. During that time, the ship received routine repairs and alterations at the New York Navy Yard and conducted a midshipman training cruise in the summer of 1924, cruising to Torbay, England; , ; ; and the .

Departing New York on 26 January 1926, the battleship conducted battle practice in Cuban waters, out of Guantanamo Bay, and then transited the Panama Canal on 14 February to join the Battle Fleet for exercises along the coast of California. Wyoming next sailed for Hawaiian waters and operated in those climes from late April-early June. After a visit to San Diego from 18–22 June, the battleship returned to the East Coast, 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, Commander William F. Halsey, Jr., reported on board as the battleship's executive officer. The future fleet admiral served in 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, Wyoming also received new turbines, blisters for added underwater protection against torpedoes, and other alterations. Completing the overhaul on 2 November and 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 Robertson.

Over the next few years, Wyoming operated out of Norfolk, New York, and Boston, Massachusetts, making training cruises for the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) units hailing from Yale, Harvard, , and Northwestern. That duty took her from the Gulf of Mexico to Nova Scotia and into the Caribbean Sea, 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– 14 November, picked up eight survivors of Vestris, landing them at Norfolk on 16 November.

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

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 Naval 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 turrets. On 21 May 1931, Wyoming was relieved of her duties as flagship for the Scouting Force by Augusta and by Arkansas 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 United States 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 O-12, 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 , Denmark; Greenock, Scotland; Cadiz, Spain; and Gibraltar, before she returned to Hampton Roads on 13 August. During her cruise, her designation changed from BB-32 to 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 1935, she embarked men of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, at Norfolk, for the winter-spring landing assault practices at Puerto Rico and the . 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 coast of California. On 18 February, 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 ship's 5 in (130 mm) broadside guns. Six Marines were killed, and 11 were wounded. Immediately after the explosion, Wyoming sped to San Pedro, where she transferred the wounded Marines to Relief.

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 23 March, the ship served as temporary flagship for Rear Admiral , Commander, Training Squadron from 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 reached , Germany on 21 June 1937, where she was visited by officers from 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 from Boston to the Virgin Islands and from New York to Cuba, respectively, before she underwent an overhaul at the Norfolk Navy Yard from 16 October 1937 to 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. 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 launched the on 7 December 1941. [edit] World War II

Wyoming, 30 April 1945

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 through 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 battleship provided the platform on which thousands of gunners trained in guns, ranging from 5 in (130 mm) to .50 in (12.7 mm).

Refitted at Norfolk from 12 January to 3 April 1944, Wyoming took on a different silhouette upon emerging from that yard period; the rest of her 12 in (300 mm) turrets were removed, and replaced with two single and four twin-mount 5 in (130 mm)/38 cal guns;[1] in addition, newer models of fire control radars were installed. She resumed her gunnery training activities on 10 April, operating in the Chesapeake Bay region. The extent of her operations can be seen from a random sampling of figures; in November, Wyoming trained 133 officers and 1,329 men in antiaircraft gunnery. During that month, she fired 3,033 5 in (130 mm) shells, 849 3 in (76 mm); 10,076 40 mm; 32,231 20 mm; 66,270 .30 in (7.62 mm); and 360 1.1 in (27 mm) 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 from Norfolk for the New York Navy Yard and alterations. Leaving the yard on 13 July, she entered Casco Bay soon thereafter, reporting for duty to Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee, Commander, Composite Task Force 69 (CTF 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 aircraft. Subsequently, CTF 69 became the Operational Development Force, United States Fleet on 31 August. Upon the death of Admiral Lee, the reins of command passed to Rear Admiral R.P. Briscoe. [edit] Post-war 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 and was decommissioned on 1 August. Her final crew included future United States President, on his first Naval posting; his billets included Deck Division Officer, Radar Officer, CIC Officer.[2] Her men and material were then transferred to Mississippi.

Wyoming's name was struck from the Naval Vessel Registry on 16 September, and her hulk was sold for scrapping on 30 October. She was then delivered to her purchaser, Lipsett, Incorporated, of New York City, on 5 December 1947. USS Wyoming (SSBN-742)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For other ships of the same name, see USS Wyoming.

USS Wyoming (SSBN-742) approaches Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Ga.; 9 January 2009.

Career (US)

Name: USS Wyoming Namesake: The U.S. state of Wyoming Ordered: 18 October 1989 Builder: General Dynamics Electric Boat, Groton, Connecticut Laid down: 8 August 1991 Launched: 15 July 1995 Sponsored by: Mrs. Monika B. Owens Commissioned: 13 July 1996 Homeport: Kings Bay, Georgia Motto: Cedant Arma Toga ("Force must yield to law") Status: in active service, as of 2011 Badge:

General characteristics Class and type: Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine Displacement: 16,764 metric tons (16,499 long tons) surfaced[1][2] 18,750 metric tons (18,450 long tons) submerged[1] Length: 170.69 meters (560 feet) Beam: 42 ft (13 m)[1] Draft: 11.5 meters (38 ft) Propulsion: 1xS8G PWR nuclear reactor[1] 2x geared turbines[1] 1x325 hp (242 kW) auxiliary motor 1 shaft @ 60,000 shp (45 MW)[1] Speed: 25+ knots (46+ km/h)[3] Test depth: 243.8+ meters (800+ ft)[4] Complement: 15 officers[1][2] 140 enlisted[1][2] Armament: MK-48 torpedoes

24 × Trident II D-5 ballistic missiles

USS Wyoming (SSBN-742) is a United States Navy Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine which has been in commission since 1996. She is the fourth U.S. Navy ship to be named USS Wyoming, although it was only the third named for the state of Wyoming.

Contents

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1 Construction and commissioning 2 Service history 3 Notes 4 References [edit] Construction and commissioning

The contract to build Wyoming was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of the General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut, on 18 October 1989 and her keel was laid down there on 8 August 1991. She was launched on 15 July 1995, sponsored by Mrs. Monika B. Owens, and commissioned on 13 July 1996, with Captain Randall D. Preston in command of the Blue Crew and Commander Seth F. Paradise in command of the Gold Crew. [edit] Service history

USS Wyoming (SSBN 742) transits the Intracoastal Waterway; 11 February 2009

On 26 July 1996, Wyoming arrived at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base, Georgia, becoming the ninth submarine to be home-ported there.

This section requires expansion with: History needed for 1996 through the present..