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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
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Photo # NH 50093:  USS Tennessee at anchor, circa 1907.

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Tennessee (Armored Cruiser # 10), 1906-1916. Renamed Memphis in May 1916

USS Tennessee, first of a class of four 14,500 ton armored cruisers, was built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was commissioned in July 1906 and in November of that year escorted President Theodore Roosevelt (embarked in the battleship Louisiana) when he voyaged to Panama to visit the great canal then under construction there. In June 1907 Tennessee was present during the Jamestown Exposition naval review, then made a brief cruise to Europe. She went to the Pacific later in 1907, remaining for two and a half years as a unit of the powerful armored cruiser squadron then serving in that region. In May 1910, en route back to the eastern U.S., she visited Argentina during that nation's independence celebration.

On her next assignment, Tennessee carried President William Howard Taft on an inspection of Panama Canal progress. She operated in the western Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico areas during the rest of 1910 and the first months of 1911. Decommissioned in June, she was refitted with a new "cage" foremast while undergoing overhaul at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine. After taking part in a Naval review at New York City in October 1912, the big cruiser steamed to the eastern Mediterranean, where she protected American interests and transported refugees during the Middle Eastern turmoil that accompanied the First Balkan War. Upon returning home in May 1913, Tennessee served with the Atlantic Fleet for several months, then was laid up in reserve for several more, followed by a short tour as receiving ship at the New York Navy Yard.

In August 1914 Tennessee returned to the Mediterranean, where she conducted humanitarian missions and otherwise "showed the flag" as the First World War spread through Europe and into the Turkish empire. Back in the U.S. by August 1915, she carried Marines to Haiti, and from then until February 1916 was actively involved the effort to establish order in that strife-torn nation. Tennessee transported Secretary of the Treasury William G. McAdoo and other dignitaries on a South American cruise in March-May 1916. Late in the latter month she was renamed Memphis, allowing reassignment of her original name to a planned new battleship. During the early summer the cruiser took Marine reinforcements to the Dominican Republic, also suffering from revolutionary violence. On 29 August 1916, while at anchor off Santo Domingo, USS Memphis was driven ashore by a tsunami. She lost more than three-dozen crewmen in the tragedy and was battered beyond reasonable prospect of repair. Left where she lay, the wreck of USS Memphis was sold in 1922, but was not actually broken up until 1938.

This page features, and provides links to, all the views we have concerning USS Tennessee (Armored Cruiser # 10, which was renamed Memphis in 1916).

For more pictures related to this ship, see:

  • USS Tennessee, later USS Memphis, (Armored Cruiser # 10) -- Views with "Cage" Foremast, circa 1912-1916;
  • USS Tennessee (Armored Cruiser # 10) -- On Board and Close-up Views, taken circa 1906-1911;
  • USS Tennessee, later USS Memphis, (Armored Cruiser # 10) -- On Board and Close-up Views, taken circa 1912-1916;
  • USS Tennessee (Armored Cruiser # 10) -- Construction, 1903-1906;
  • USS Tennessee, later USS Memphis, (Armored Cruiser # 10) -- Miscellaneous Views;
    and
  • Wreck of USS Memphis, 29 August 1916.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 50093

    USS Tennessee
    (Armored Cruiser # 10)

    At anchor, circa 1907.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 87KB; 740 x 600 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 46212

    USS Tennessee
    (Armored Cruiser # 10)

    At anchor in Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 2 May 1907.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 84KB; 740 x 540 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 99942

    USS Tennessee
    (Armored Cruiser # 10)

    Photographed by O.W. Waterman & Son, 1907.
    Note steam launch alongside, disembarking men.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 59KB; 900 x 275 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 99949

    USS Tennessee
    (Armored Cruiser # 10)

    At anchor, 1908.
    Photographed by C.E. Waterman.

    Courtesy of the Naqval Historical Foundation.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 71KB; 740 x 455 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 94025

    USS Tennessee
    (Armored Cruiser # 10)

    In drydock at the the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, circa 1907-1908, with men cleaning her underwater hull.
    Note the ship's bow decoration.

    Collection of Harry Gilfillan.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 111KB; 530 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 86813

    USS Tennessee
    (Armored Cruiser # 10)

    At anchor in 1909, soon after the adoption of all-grey paint for U.S. Navy ships.
    Note that fancy scrollwork still decorates her bow.

    Donation of USS Parsons (DD-949), 1967.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 48KB; 740 x 420 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 94000

    USS Tennessee
    (Armored Cruiser # 10)

    At the the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, circa 1909-1910.

    Collection of Harry Gilfillan.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 84KB; 740 x 530 pixels

     


    A ship that may be USS Tennessee (Armored Cruiser # 10) is seen in the right center of the following photograph:

    Photo #: NH 46553

    Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine


    Ships tied up at the Navy Yard's waterfront, circa 1911-1912.
    At left is USS Wisconsin (Battleship # 9), with her "cage" mainmast apparently being installed.
    Ship in the right center, with a five masted schooner alongside, is either USS Tennessee (Armored Cruiser # 10) or USS Washington (Armored Cruiser # 11).

    Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of Raymond Stone.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 95KB; 740 x 615 pixels

     

    Related (if only through misadventure) Image: Photo # NH 101234-KN is a view of a color-tinted postal card labeled as USS Tennessee. However, the ship shown is actually of another class of armored cruiser.

    For more pictures related to this ship, see:

  • USS Tennessee, later USS Memphis, (Armored Cruiser # 10) -- Views with "Cage" Foremast, circa 1912-1916;
  • USS Tennessee (Armored Cruiser # 10) -- On Board and Close-up Views, taken circa 1906-1911;
  • USS Tennessee, later USS Memphis, (Armored Cruiser # 10) -- On Board and Close-up Views, taken circa 1912-1916;
  • USS Tennessee (Armored Cruiser # 10) -- Construction, 1903-1906;
  • USS Tennessee, later USS Memphis, (Armored Cruiser # 10) -- Miscellaneous Views;
    and
  • Wreck of USS Memphis, 29 August 1916.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 27 January 2005