page_title: USS Colorado (BB-45)
section_title: Artifacts on display
hierarchical_section_title: USS Colorado (BB-45) / Artifacts on display
caption_attribution_description: English: Interior of the Legends Room at the Washington Athletic Club in Seattle, United States, showing a wall constructed from the teak decking of the former US Colorado (BB-45), along with a framed photo of the ship.
context_page_description: USS Colorado (BB-45) was a battleship of the United States Navy that was in service from 1923 to 1947. She had the toughest armor plating for her time. She was the lead ship of the Colorado class of battleships. Her keel was laid down on 29 May 1919, by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation. She was launched on 22 March 1921, and commissioned on 30 August 1923. She was armed with eight 16-inch guns and fourteen 5-inch deck guns; two 5-inch guns were removed in an overhaul.
  Colorado took her maiden voyage in 1923, to Europe. She later operated with the Battle Fleet and sailed through the Pacific during the interwar years. She also underwent a further refit, during which her four 3-inch anti-aircraft guns were replaced with an equal number of 5 in /25 cal guns.
  During the early part of World War II, Colorado undertook a defensive patrol near the Golden Gate Bridge in May 1942, to stop a possible Japanese invasion. She then sailed to Fiji, to stop any further Japanese advance into the Pacific. Next, she supported the landings on Tarawa, the Marshall Islands, Saipan, Guam, and Tinian.
context_section_description: The ship's bell is currently on display in the University Memorial Center (UMC) at the University of Colorado. A 5 in (130 mm)/51 cal deck gun from Colorado was donated to the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society in 1959, and is displayed at the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle. It was one of eight such guns on Colorado.
  Six of Colorado's 5/51 cal guns were put aboard the protected cruiser USS Olympia, after she became a museum in Philadelphia in 1957. Boards from her teak-wood deck were re-purposed to form a wall in the main lounge of Haggett Hall at the University of Washington. A plaque commemorates the source. Deck boards are also used in a wall in the Legends Room of the Washington Athletic Club, having originally been preserved within the club at the behest of two former officers of the ship who were club members.
  On 7 February 2014, Boeing donated some decking from Colorado to the USO Northwest SeaTac Center to serve as the new center's entry flooring. Her helm is in the collection of the Colorado Springs Museum. It was donated to the museum in 1961 by Rear Admiral G. R. Luker and other naval officers. Admiral Luker served on Colorado. The donation also included a bronze plaque and other historical materials.
caption: Boards from the deck of USS Colorado form a wall in the Legends Room of the Washington Athletic Club
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