USS Vermont (BB-20)

The USS "Vermont" (BB-20), a Sclass|Connecticut|battleship, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named after the 14th state.

Her keel was laid down on 1904-05-21 at Quincy, Massachusetts, by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company. The "Vermont" was launched on 1905-08-31 sponsored by Miss Jennie Bell, the daughter of Governor Charles J. Bell of Vermont, and commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard on 1907-03-04 with Captain William P. Potter in command.

After her shakedown cruise off the eastern seaboard between Boston, Massachusetts, and Hampton Roads, Virginia, "Vermont" participated in maneuvers with the 1st Division of the Atlantic Fleet and, later, with the 1st and Second Squadrons. Making a final trial trip between Hampton Roads and Provincetown, Massachusetts, between August 30 and September 5, "Vermont" arrived at the Boston Navy Yard on September 7 and underwent repairs until late in November 1907.

Departing Boston on November 30, she coaled at Bradford, Rhode Island; received "mine outfits and stores" at Newport, Rhode Island; and picked up ammunition at Tompkinsville, New York; and arrived at Hampton Roads on December 8.

There, she made final preparations for the globe-girdling cruise of the United States Atlantic Fleet. Nicknamed the "Great White Fleet" because of the white and spar color of their paint schemes, the 16 pre-dreadnought battleships sailed from Hampton Roads on December 16, standing out to sea under the gaze of President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt who had dispatched the ships, around the globe as a dramatic gesture toward Japan, a growing power on the world stage.

"Vermont" sailed as a unit of the 1st Division, under the overall command of Rear Admiral Robley D. "Fighting Bob" Evans, who was concurrently the Commander in Chief of the Fleet. Over the ensuing months, the battleship visited ports in Chile, Peru, Mexico, California, Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, Japan, China, and in the Mediterranean Sea, before she returned to Hampton Roads again passing in review before President Roosevelt on Washington's Birthday, 1909-02-22. During the voyage, "Vermont"’s commanding officer, Captain Potter, was advanced to flag rank and took command of the division; his place was taken by Captain (later Admiral) Frank Friday Fletcher.

Following her return to the United States, "Vermont" underwent repairs at the Boston Navy Yard from March 9 to June 23 and then rejoined the fleet off Provincetown. She subsequently spent 1909-07-04 at Boston as part of the 1st Division of the Fleet before spending nearly a month, from July 7 to August 4, in exercises with the Atlantic Fleet. Subsequently coaling at Hampton Roads, the battleship conducted target practice off the Virginia capes in the operating area known as the Southern Drill Grounds.

For the remainder of 1909, "Vermont" continued maneuvers and exercises, broken by visits to Stamford, Connecticut, for Columbus Day festivities and to New York City for the observances of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration from September 22 to October 9. She spent the Christmas holidays at New York City, anchored in the North River.

The battleship then moved south for the winter, reaching Guantánamo Bay on 1910-01-12. For the next two months, she exercised in those Caribbean climes, returning to Hampton Roads and the Virginia capes for elementary target practice that spring. Ultimately reaching Boston on April 29, the battleship underwent repairs at that yard through mid-July, before embarking members of the Naval Militia at Boston for operations between that port and Provincetown from July 22 to July 31.

"Vermont" subsequently visited Newport and then sailed for Hampton Roads on August 22, where she then prepared for target practices between September 25 and September 27, before visiting New York City with other ships of the Atlantic Fleet.

After minor repairs at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, the battleship sailed for European waters on November 1. Reaching the British Isles a little over two weeks later, "Vermont", with other units of the Third Division, Atlantic Fleet, visited Gravesend, England, from November 16 to December 7 and then called at Brest, France, where she remained until heading for the West Indies on December 30.

"Vermont" engaged in winter maneuvers and drills out of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, from 1911-01-13 to March 13, before sailing for Hampton Roads. In the ensuing weeks, the battleship operated in the Southern Drill Grounds and off Tangier Island in Chesapeake Bay, where she conducted target practice. After dropping off target materials at Hampton Roads on April 8, "Vermont" sailed later that day for Philadelphia where she arrived on April 10 and entered drydock.

Later in the spring, "Vermont" resumed her operations with the other pre-dreadnought battleships of the Third Division. She operated off Pensacola, Florida, and ranged into the Gulf of Mexico, calling at Galveston, Texas, from June 7 to June 12 before returning to Pensacola on June 13 for provisions.

Shifting northward to Bar Harbor, Maine, "Vermont" spent 1911-07-04 there before she drilled and exercised with the Fleet in Cape Cod Bay and off Provincetown. The battleship then operated off the New England seaboard through mid-August, breaking her periods at sea with a port visit to Salem, Massachusetts, and alterations at the Boston Navy Yard. She then shifted south to conduct experimental gunnery firings and autumn target practice in the regions from Tangier Sound to the Southern Drill Grounds.

After repairs at the Norfolk Navy Yard from September 12 to October 9, "Vermont" rejoined the Fleet at Hampton Roads before participating in the naval review in the North River, at New York City, between October 24 and November 2. She then maneuvered and exercised with the 1st Squadron of the Fleet before returning to Hampton Roads.

Touching briefly at Tompkinsville on December 7 and December 8, "Vermont" reached the New York Navy Yard on the latter day for year-end leave and upkeep and remained there until 1912-01-02, when she sailed for the Caribbean Sea and the annual winter maneuvers. She operated in Cuban waters, out of Guantánamo Bay and off Cape Cruz, until March 9, when she sailed for the Norfolk Navy Yard and an overhaul that lasted into the autumn.

She departed Norfolk on October 8 and reached New York City on October 10. She participated in the naval review at that port from October 10 to October 15 before embarking Commander, Second Division, Atlantic Fleet, at Hampton Roads between October 16 and October 18.

"Vermont" subsequently worked out of Hampton Roads, in the Virginia capes Southern Drill Grounds area, into December. During that time, she conducted target practices and twice participated in humanitarian deeds, searching for the stranded steamship SS "Noruega" on November 2 and assisting the submarine B-2 between December 13 and December 15.

The battleship spent Christmas 1912 at the Norfolk Navy Yard before steaming for Cuba and winter maneuvers. En route, she visited Colon, Panama, a terminus of the nearly completed Panama Canal, and reached Guantánamo Bay on 1913-01-19. She subsequently operated out of Guantánamo and Guayancanabo Bay until sailing for Mexican waters on February 12.

"Vermont" arrived at Veracruz on February 17 and remained at that port into the spring, protecting American interests until April 29, when she sailed north to rejoin the fleet in Hampton Roads. The battleship conducted one midshipman's training cruise that summer, embarking the midshipmen at Annapolis, Maryland, on June 6. After rejoining the fleet, "Vermont" cruised in Block Island Sound and visited Newport.

The battleship then received her regular overhaul at Norfolk from July into October before she conducted target practice off the Southern Drill Grounds. "Vermont" then made her second European cruise, departing Hampton Roads for French waters on October 25, reaching Marseille on November 8. Ultimately departing that Mediterranean port on December 1 "Vermont" reached the Norfolk Navy Yard five days before Christmas, making port on the end of a towline because of storm damage to a propeller.

Soon after she had completed her post-repair trials and had begun preparations for the spring target practice with the Fleet in the Southern Drill Grounds, tension in Mexico beckoned the battleship. Departing Hampton Roads on April 15, "Vermont" reached Veracruz very early in the morning of April 22 in company with USS|Arkansas|BB-33|2, USS|New Hampshire|BB-25|2, USS|South Carolina|BB-26|2, and USS|New Jersey|BB-16|2.

Her landing force, a "battalion" of 12 officers and 308 men, went ashore after daybreak that same day as United States forces occupied the port to block an arms shipment to the dictator Victoriano Huerta. In the fighting that ensued, two officers from the staff were awarded
Medals of Honor: Lt. Julius C. Townsend, the battalion commander, and Surgeon Cary DeV. Langhornes, the regimental surgeon of the Second Seaman Regiment. During the fighting, "Vermont"’s force suffered one fatality, a private from her Marine detachment, killed on April 23. But for a visit to Tampico, Mexico, from September 21 to October 10, "Vermont" remained in that Mexican port into later October.

Over the next two and one-half years, "Vermont" maintained her schedule of operations off the eastern seaboard of the United States, ranging from Newport to Guantánamo Bay, before she lay in reserve at Philadelphia from October 1 to 1916-11-21. "Vermont" subsequently supported the Marine Corps Expeditionary Force in Haiti from 1916-11-29 to 1917-02-06 and then conducted battle practices out of Guantánamo Bay. She ultimately returned to Norfolk on 1917-03-29.

On 1917-04-04, "Vermont" entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard for repairs. Two days later, the United States declared war on Germany. The battleship emerged from the yard on 1917-08-26 and sailed for Hampton Roads for duty as an engineering training ship in the Chesapeake Bay region. She performed that vital function for almost the entire duration of hostilities, completing the assignment on 1918-11-04, a week before the armistice stilled the guns of World War I.

Her service as a training ship during the conflict had been broken once in the spring of 1918 when she received the body of the late Chilean ambassador to the United States on 1918-05-28; embarked the American Ambassador to Chile, the Honorable J. H. Shea, on June 3 and got underway from Norfolk later that day. The battleship transited the Panama Canal on June 10; touched at Port Tongoy, Chile, on June 24; and arrived at Valparaíso on the morning of June 27.

There, the late ambassador's remains were accompanied ashore by Admiral William B. Caperton and Ambassador Shea. Departing that port on July 2, "Vermont" visited Callao, Peru, on July 7, before retransiting the Panama Canal and returning to her base in the York River.

"Vermont" entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard on November 5 and was there converted to a troop transport. She subsequently sailed from Norfolk on 1919-01-09 on the first of four round-trip voyages, returning "doughboys" from "over there." During her time as a transport, the battleship carried some 5,000 troops back to the United States, completing her last voyage on 1919-06-20.

Prepared at the Philadelphia Navy Yard for inactivation, "Vermont" departed the east coast on July 18, sailing from Hampton Roads on that day, bound for the west coast. After transiting the Panama Canal, the battleship visited San Diego, California, San Pedro, California, Monterey, California, and Long Beach, California, Astoria, Oregon, and San Francisco, California, before reaching the Mare Island Navy Yard at Vallejo, California, on September 18. There, the battleship was decommissioned on 1920-06-30. She was reclassified as BB-20 on July 17 of that same year. (She was previously known simply as "Battleship #20.")

"Vermont" remained inactive at Mare Island until her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Registry on 1923-11-10. She was then sold for scrapping on 1923-11-30 in accordance with the Washington Naval Treaty limiting naval armaments.

References

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

External links

* [http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/us_navy_pages/uss_vermont_bb20.htm Maritimequest USS Vermont BB-20 Photo Gallery]