page_title: USS Connecticut (BB-18)
section_title: Pre-World War I
hierarchical_section_title: USS Connecticut (BB-18) / Service history / Pre-World War I
caption_attribution_description: English: USS Connecticut in dry dock, Brooklyn Navy Shipyard Spring 1909. Per email correspondence, this image was taken by the uploader's great-grandfather. Although the photo does not appear in the book, Albertson (2001), p. 66 says that Connecticut was overhauled sometime after 8 March 1909; it was on this date that she "cleared Hampton Roads for the New York Naval Yard". This image was presumably taken during that time in drydock.
context_page_description: USS Connecticut (BB-18), the fourth United States Navy ship to be named after the state of Connecticut, was the lead ship of her class of six battleships. Her keel was laid on 10 March 1903; launched on 29 September 1904, Connecticut was commissioned on 29 September 1906, as the most advanced ship in the US Navy.
  Connecticut served as the flagship for the Jamestown Exposition in mid-1907, which commemorated the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Jamestown colony. She later sailed with the Great White Fleet on a circumnavigation of the Earth to showcase the US Navy's growing fleet of blue-water-capable ships. After completing her service with the Great White Fleet, Connecticut participated in several flag-waving exercises intended to protect American citizens abroad until she was pressed into service as a troop transport at the end of World War I to expedite the return of American Expeditionary Forces from France.
  For the remainder of her career, Connecticut sailed to various places in both the Atlantic and Pacific while training newer recruits to the Navy.
context_section_description: Following her return from the world cruise, Connecticut continued to serve as flagship of the Atlantic Fleet, interrupted only by a March 1909 overhaul at the New York Navy Yard. After rejoining the fleet, she cruised the East Coast from her base at Norfolk, Virginia. For the rest of 1909, the battleship conducted training and participated in ceremonial observances, such as the Hudson–Fulton Celebration. In early January 1910, Connecticut left for Cuban waters and stayed there until late March when she returned to New York for a refit. After several months conducting maneuvers and battle practice off the New England coast, she left for Europe on 2 November to go on a midshipman training cruise. She arrived in Portland, England on 15 November and was present during the 1 December birthday celebration of Queen Alexandra, the queen mother. Connecticut next visited Cherbourg, France, where she welcomed visitors from the town and also hosted commander-in-chief of the French Navy Vice-Amiral Laurent Marin-Darbel, and a delegation of his officers. While there, a boat crew from Connecticut engaged a crew from the French battleship Charles Martel in a rowing race; Connecticut's crew won by twelve lengths. Connecticut departed French waters for Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, on 30 December, and stayed there until 17 March, when she departed for Hampton Roads.
  Connecticut was the leader of the ships that passed in review during the Presidential Fleet Review in New York, on 2 November; she then remained in New York, until 12 January 1912, when she returned to Guantánamo Bay. During a March overhaul at the Philadelphia Naval Yard, the battleship relinquished her role as flagship to the armored cruiser Washington. After the overhaul's completion, Connecticut's activities through the end of 1912 included practicing with torpedoes in Fort Pond Bay, conducting fleet maneuvers, and battle practice off Block Island and the Virginia Capes. Stopping in New York, Connecticut conducted training exercises in Guantánamo Bay from 13 February to 20 March; during this time (on the 28th), she once again became the Atlantic Fleet flagship for a brief and final time when she served in the interim as Rear Admiral Charles J. Badger transferred his flag from Wyoming to Utah. After taking on stores in Philadelphia, Connecticut sailed for Mexico and arrived on 22 April; she was to patrol the waters near Tampico and Vera Cruz, protecting American citizens and interests during disturbances there and in Haiti.
  On 22 June 1912, Connecticut departed Mexican waters for Philadelphia, where she was dry docked for three months of repairs. Upon their completion, Connecticut conducted gunnery practice off the Virginia Capes. On 23 October, Connecticut became the flagship of the Fourth Battleship Division. After the division passed in review before Secretary of the Navy George von Lengerke Meyer on the 25th, Connecticut left for Genoa, Italy, where she remained until 30 November. The battleship departed Italy for Vera Cruz and arrived on 23 December. She took refugees from Mexico to Galveston and carried officers of the Army and representative from the Red Cross back in the opposite direction.
  On 29 May 1914, while still in Mexico, Connecticut relinquished the duty of flagship to Minnesota, but remained in Mexico, until 2 July, when she left for Havana. Arriving there on 8 July, Connecticut embarked Madison R. Smith, the US minister to Haiti, and took him to Port-au-Prince, arriving five days later. Connecticut remained in Haiti for a month, then left for Philadelphia on 8 August and arrived there on 14 August.
  Connecticut then went to Maine and the Virginia Capes, for battle practice, after which she went into the Philadelphia Naval Yard for an overhaul. After more than 15 weeks, Connecticut emerged on 15 January 1915, and steamed south to Cuba, where she conducted training exercises. During maneuvers there in March 1915, a chain wrapped around her starboard propeller, breaking the shaft and forcing her return to Philadelphia, for repairs. She remained there until 31 July, wh
caption: Connecticut in dry dock at the Brooklyn Naval Yard after the world cruise in March 1909
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