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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 60568:  USS Florida anchored in harbor, circa 1921

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

USS Florida (Battleship # 30, later BB-30), 1911-1931

USS Florida, lead ship of a class of two 21,825-ton battleships, was built at the New York Navy Yard. She was commissioned in September 1911 and operated in the western Atlantic and Caribbean areas for the next six years. In addition to regular fleet maneuvers, gunnery practice and training exercises, Florida took part in the U.S. intervention at Vera Cruz, Mexico in April-July 1914. In December 1917, she steamed across the Atlantic to join the British Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow and served in the North Sea for the rest of World War I. In December 1918, she escorted President Woodrow Wilson as he arrived off France, en route to participate in the post-war peace conference. Later in that month, Florida was present in New York Harbor for the Victory Fleet Review.

During the last year of the 'Teens and through the 'Twenties, Florida generally operated from the U.S. east coast down to Central America. She was given the hull number BB-30 in July 1920. Early in the decade, the battleship carried the Secretary of State on a diplomatic cruise to South America and the Caribbean. Later in the decade, she was flagship of the Control Force, U.S. Fleet. Training missions, including Naval Academy Midshipman's cruises, were also among her duties.

Florida was modernized in 1925-27, receiving heavier deck armor and anti-torpedo blisters along her sides, as well as oil-burning boilers and a rearranged secondary gun battery. Her two smokestacks were trunked into one and her "basket" mainmast was removed. The ship served but a few years in this new guise, as she had to be removed from the National armament under the terms of the 1930 London naval limitations treaty. Accordingly, USS Florida was decommissioned in February 1931 and scrapped at the Philadelphia Navy Yard later in that year.

This page features selected views concerning USS Florida (Battleship # 30, later BB-30).


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 61261

USS Florida (BB-30)


Dressed with flags during the Naval Review off New York City, 3 October 1911.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 88KB; 740 x 515 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 54174

USS Florida (BB-30)


Photographed circa 1918, possibly while serving with the Grand Fleet in the North Sea.
Note canvas bulwark erected at her bow.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 101KB; 740 x 575 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 61257

USS Florida (BB-30)


Photographed from the air, 23 April 1919.
USS Wyoming (BB-32) is in the background.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 105KB; 740 x 525 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 60568

USS Florida (BB-30)


Anchored in harbor, circa 1921.

Courtesy of Gustave Maurer, ex-Chief Photographer, 1921.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 80KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 93421

USS Florida (BB-30)


Steaming in line abreast with two other ships of Battleship Division FIVE, Atlantic Fleet, during an exercise in about 1921. The other ships are USS Delaware (BB-28) and USS North Dakota (BB-29).
Photographed by A.E. Wells.

Collection of Delmar Ketch.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 88KB; 740 x 475 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 54181

USS Florida (BB-30)


Gives Naval Academy Midshipmen a "taste of salt water" on their annual cruise, during the early 1920s.
She is followed by USS Delaware (BB-28) and USS North Dakota (BB-29).

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 96KB; 740 x 580 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 54180

USS Florida
(BB-30)

Entering Halifax harbor, Nova Scotia, 1923.
She is followed by two other U.S. Navy battleships.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 99KB; 740 x 495 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 64515

USS Florida (BB-30)


In Hampton Roads, Virginia, 25 October 1929.

Donation of Franklin Moran, 1967.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 107KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: 80-G-1025114

USS Florida (BB-30)


At Kiel, Germany, 7 July 1930, during a Midshipman's training cruise.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 113KB; 740 x 595 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: NH 63286

USS Florida (BB-30)


Signalmen of the ship's Landing Force, before going ashore at Vera Cruz, Mexico, in April 1914.
These men are identified as: Windrell, Repp, C.M.M., Green and Bishop (only five listed). Note their military pistol belts with suspenders, canteens and other field gear. Several men are wearing their "flat hats" beret-style, without grommets.

Photograph and caption were provided by Chaplain C.H. Dickins, USN, 1926.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 96KB; 740 x 575 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 78047

USS Florida (BB-30)


Loading drill on one of the ship's 5"/51 secondary battery guns, 1915.
Note projectile, bagged powder charge, rammer, opened gun breech mechanism, sighting telescope on left side of gun, and telephone "talker" standing near the gun. Also note that one of the guncrewmen has bare feet.

Collection of Admiral Montgomery M. Taylor, USN, 1962.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 93KB; 740 x 485 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 78103

USS Florida
(Battleship # 30)

Ship's crew manning the rail as USS George Washington (in background) enters Brest harbor, France, with President Woodrow Wilson on board, 13 December 1918.
Note Marines in the center foreground, and training markings painted on her 12-inch gun turret side.

Collection of Admiral Montgomery M. Taylor, USN, 1962.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 62KB; 740 x 475 pixels

 


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


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Page made 6 January 2001
New image added 4 February 2008