Among the current exhibits at the Wyoming State Museum is a silver tea service from the World War I-era battleship USS Wyoming. The silver service was commissioned by the Wyoming Legislature.
U.S. Sen. Francis E. Warren was responsible for the legislation that led to the commissioning of the battleship itself in 1909.
As the Grand Encampment Herald reported April 2, 1909, the Navy was finishing plans for the USS Wyoming with bids to be called for in June and the contract to be let that August. Estimated to cost $10 million, the battleship was expected to go into commission in 1912, though it would be christened earlier.
The dreadnaught battleship would be one of the largest battleships in the US Navy fleet at the time with a complement of more than 1,000 officers and men.
USS Wyoming was 554 feet long, which exceeded the famous Dreadnaught, the largest war ship of the British Navy, by about 40 feet as it was only 510 feet long.
The Herald article noted that the USS Wyoming, which could cost $10 million, was expected to carry 12-inch guns, mounted in six turrets on the center line of the vessel. The vessel would have a secondary battery, but at the time of the Herald report, it wasn’t known what those guns would be, nor how many of them were expected.
“The policy of the navy department, now being followed in building new ships, is to cut out many of the jimcracks and conveniences for officers and men formerly used on war vessels, the idea being to make the war vessel of the future a distinctive fighting machine, severe in its simplicity, and without the elegances and comforts of a hotel,” according to the Herald.
The First Battleship Wyoming
That battleship was not the first in the U.S. Navy to be christened Wyoming, nor would she be the last.
In 1858, construction of the wooden-hulled screw sloop-of-war that was the first battleship Wyoming was undertaken at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.
She was launched in 1859 and commissioned in October 1859 with Commander John K. Mitchell. Once in service, Wyoming sailed around Cape Horn and entered the waters of the Pacific Ocean, operating along the Pacific Coast from Central America to California.
When the Civil War broke out the vessel, which was named for the Wyoming valley in eastern Pennsylvania, was in San Francisco. The commander, in defiance of orders, sailed to Panama and was relieved of his duties.
Wyoming had a few mishaps during the war years. For a time, she protected American whaling interests from Confederate ships before sailing to Asia to protect American interests in China seas.
While there, the ship came close to the Confederate cruiser Alabama, but they had no direct encounter. Instead, the Union warship Kearsarge destroyed that elusive Confederate raider.
However, the Wyoming in 1863 protected American lives and property after an outbreak in Japan against foreigners in their country. Tensions rose between May and July 15 when a face-off occurred.
When Wyoming was fired upon from guns ashore in Japan, the ship answered the Japanese cannons. In the ensuing battle, several men on the Wyoming were killed and others were wounded.
The situation became even more dire as the ship was in hostile waters and became grounded. As a Japanese steamer headed for the stranded Wyoming, the Americans managed to get their vessel free of the mud.
They then turned their guns on the approaching enemy ship. Two particularly well-placed shots caused the boilers of the Japanese ship to sink, forcing the crew to abandon it.
Wyoming had severe damage and several men died in the fighting, but Wyoming had been the first foreign warship to take the offensive to uphold treaty rights in Japan. That American warship continued patrolling Asian waters until the end of the Civil War.
After the Civil War, Wyoming continued in service in the East Indies, North Atlantic and along the coast of France. The ship was decommissioned at the end of October 1882 and was then used by the Naval Academy as a practice ship for training midshipmen.
This One Named For The State
The USS Wyoming built 1912, and that once had the silver service aboard, was part of Battleship Division Nine during World War I, primarily patrolling the North Sea.
Through the 1920s she served in both the Pacific and Atlantic fleets. This was the ship promoted by Sen. F.E. Warren, and therefore she was named for the state.
By 1932, she had been converted into a training ship, serving in that capacity until November 1942 when she became a gunnery ship.
Operating in the Chesapeake Bay, she trained about 35,000 gunners and earned a nickname “Chesapeake Raider.” Throughout World War II, the vessel continued as a training ship.
With the war over, USS Wyoming was decommissioned in 1947 and sold for scrap.
There are other ships in the Navy fleet through the decades that also took the name Wyoming, including one that was later renamed USS Cheyenne, and another that is an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine.
The next time you are in the State Museum and see that impressive silver service, you might just salute in honor of the Navy and the men trained on the ship USS Wyoming.
Candy Moulton can be reached at Candy.L.Moulton@gmail.com.
