page_title: USS Michigan (BB-27)
section_title: Service history
hierarchical_section_title: USS Michigan (BB-27) / Service history
context_page_description: USS Michigan (BB-27), a South Carolina-class battleship, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the 26th state. She was the second member of her class, the first dreadnought battleships built for the US Navy. She was laid down in December 1906, launched in May 1908; sponsored by Mrs. F. W. Brooks, daughter of Secretary of the Navy Truman Newberry; and commissioned into the fleet 4 January 1910. Michigan and South Carolina were armed with a main battery of eight 12-inch guns in superfiring twin gun turrets; they were the first dreadnoughts to feature this arrangement.
  Michigan spent her career in the Atlantic Fleet. She frequently cruised the east coast of the United States and the Caribbean Sea, and in April 1914 took part in the United States occupation of Veracruz during the Mexican Civil War. After the United States entered World War I in April 1917, Michigan was employed as a convoy escort and training ship for the rapidly expanding wartime navy. In January 1918, her forward cage mast collapsed in heavy seas, killing six men. In 1919, she ferried soldiers back from Europe.
context_section_description: Michigan was laid down on 17 December 1906 at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation. Her completed hull was launched on 26 May 1908. Fitting out work was completed by 4 January 1910, when she was commissioned into the US Navy. After entering service, she was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet. She then began a shakedown cruise down to the Caribbean Sea that lasted until 7 June. Michigan joined training maneuvers off New England beginning on 29 July. A training cruise to Europe followed; she departed Boston, Massachusetts, on 2 November and stops included Portland in the United Kingdom and Cherbourg, France. She arrived in the latter port on 8 December and remained there until the 30th, when she left for the Caribbean. The ship reached Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on 10 January 1911 and continued on to Norfolk, arriving four days later. During this period, future naval aviation pioneer John Henry Towers served aboard the ship as a spotter for the main guns. The long range of the guns, which could shoot further than the horizon, convinced Towers of the need for spotter aircraft.
  The ship then cruised the east coast for most of the next two years. On 15 November 1912, she departed for a longer cruise to the Gulf of Mexico, with stops in  Pensacola, Florida, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Galveston, Texas, on the way. She then continued further south to Veracruz, Mexico, where she arrived on 12 December. Michigan remained there for two days before beginning the voyage home; she reached Hampton Roads on 20 December. Patrols off the east coast resumed for the first half of 1913. On 6 July, she steamed out of Quincy, Massachusetts, for another voyage to Mexican waters; this trip was prompted by the Mexican Civil War, which threatened American interests in the country. She arrived off Tampico on 15 July and thereafter cruised the Mexican coast until 13 January 1914, when she departed for New York City, arriving seven days later. She then transferred back to Norfolk.
  On 14 February, she left the port for a short voyage to Guacanayabo Bay, Cuba, and was back in Hampton Roads by 19 March. Michigan began a third cruise to Mexico on 16 April to support the United States occupation of Veracruz. She reached the city on 22 April and landed a battalion of Marines as part of the occupation force. The ship then patrolled the coast before departing for the United States on 20 June. She reached the Delaware Capes six days later. The normal peacetime routine of cruises off the east coast continued for the next three years. In December 1914, the ship's crew experimented with fire control directors to aid in gunlaying; the experimental directors produced significantly improved results in gunnery tests conducted in early 1915. In September 1916, Michigan conducted gunnery practice with the old monitor Miantonomoh as a target, including night shooting drills on the 18th. On 21 September, during another round of shooting at Miantomomoh, the shell in the left gun in Michigan's forward superfiring turret exploded. The gun was severed where it exited the turret and fragments from the shell damaged the forecastle deck and the superstructure. One man was injured by a piece of debris. Michigan returned to the Philadelphia Navy Yard for repairs, arriving there two days later.
caption: Michigan dressed with flags for a Naval Review off New York in October 1911
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