page_title: USS New Hampshire (BB-25)
section_title: Service history
hierarchical_section_title: USS New Hampshire (BB-25) / Service history
caption_attribution_description: English: USS New Hampshire (Battleship # 25) Anchored in the Hudson River, off New York City, 1911. Original caption: “Photo # NH 60574 &#160; USS New Hampshire off New York City, 1911” — removed caption
context_page_description: New Hampshire (BB-25) was the sixth and final Connecticut-class pre-dreadnought battleship, the last vessel of that type built for the United States Navy. Like most contemporary battleships, she was armed with an offensive armament that consisted of four large-caliber 12-inch guns and several medium-caliber 7 and 8-inch guns. The ship was laid down in May 1905, launched in June 1906, and commissioned in March 1908, a little over a year after the revolutionary all-big-gun HMS Dreadnought rendered ships like New Hampshire obsolescent.
  Despite being rapidly surpassed by new American dreadnoughts, New Hampshire had an active career. She made two trips to Europe in 1910 and 1911, and she sank the old battleship USS Texas, which had been converted into a target ship. New Hampshire was particularly active in the Caribbean during this period, as several countries, including Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico devolved into internal political conflicts. These actions included the United States occupation of Veracruz, during which the ship's commander was awarded the Medal of Honor.
context_section_description: New Hampshire was laid down on 1 May 1905 at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden, New Jersey. She was launched on 30 June 1906. The ship was commissioned into the US Navy on 19 March 1908; her first commander was Captain Cameron Winslow. After completing final fitting-out work, New Hampshire transported a Marine Expeditionary Regiment to Colón, Panama on 20 June, arriving six days later. She then made a series of visits to ports on the eastern coast of North America, including Portsmouth, New York, and Bridgeport, along with a stop in the Canadian province of Quebec. The ship was then overhauled in New York, followed by training exercises in the Caribbean Sea. On 22 February 1909, she participated in a Naval Review for President Theodore Roosevelt to greet the return of the Great White Fleet in Hampton Roads, Virginia. During this period, Ernest King, later the Chief of Naval Operations during World War II, served aboard the ship in the engine room.
  New Hampshire conducted training exercises in the Atlantic and Caribbean through late 1910. On 1 November that year, she steamed out of Hampton Roads with the Second Battleship Division for a visit to Europe. There, the ships stopped in Cherbourg, France and Weymouth, the United Kingdom. The Division departed Weymouth on 30 December and returned to the Caribbean for training, before proceeding to Norfolk on 10 March 1911. On 21–22 March, New Hampshire conducted gunnery training with the target ship San Marcos—the old battleship Texas—in Tangier Sound in Chesapeake Bay. Over the course of the two days of firing, New Hampshire inflicted severe damage to the old ship, sinking her in shallow water. A cursory inspection of the wreck noted that the interior of the ship above the waterline was destroyed and that she had been holed multiple times below the waterline.
  She then prepared for another trip to Europe. This time the ships cruised into the Baltic Sea, stopping in several ports in Germany, Russia, and Scandinavia, before returning to New England on 13 July. New Hampshire spent the next three years training midshipmen on summer cruises and patrolling the Caribbean. In December 1912, she steamed off the island of Hispaniola during unrest in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic. From 14 June to 29 December 1913, she patrolled the Caribbean coast of Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. The following year, she took part in the occupation of Veracruz in Mexico, starting on 15 April. During the operations, the ship's commander, Edwin Anderson, Jr., led a landing party that came under fire from the Heroica Escuela Naval Militar academy (Heroic Naval Military School), though gunfire from cruisers in the harbor silenced the Mexican snipers. Anderson and several others were awarded the Medal of Honor for the action. New Hampshire departed the area on 21 April for an overhaul in Norfolk. Exercises off the east coast of the United States followed before the ship returned to Veracruz in August 1915.
caption: New Hampshire in New York c. 1911
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