USS Illinois (BB-7) - Inter-war Period and Beyond

Inter-war Period and Beyond

Excluded from further use as a warship by the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty, Illinois was fitted out as a floating armory at New York Navy Yard in 1924 and was assigned to the New York Naval Militia. She remained there for more than 30 years, though reclassified IX-15 on 8 January 1941 and renamed Prairie State to allow her name to be assigned to a projected new battleship, USS Illinois (BB-65). During World War II, she served as a Naval Reserve Midshipmen Training School at New York. Following the war, she was retained on loan to the State as quarters for a Naval Reserve unit until 31 December 1956.

Prairie State, after over 50 years of useful service to the Navy and the Nation, was towed to Baltimore, Maryland, and sold for scrap to Bethlehem Steel Company on 18 May 1956.