USS Kansas (BB-21) - Pre-World War I

Pre-World War I

Kansas was laid down by New York Shipbuilding Corporation of Camden, New Jersey. She was launched on 12 August 1905 sponsored by Miss Anna Hoch, daughter of Kansas Governor Edward W. Hoch; and commissioned in Philadelphia Navy Yard on 18 April 1907, Captain Charles E. Vreeland in command.

The new battleship departed Philadelphia on 17 August 1907, for shakedown training out of Provincetown, Massachusetts, and returned home for alterations on 24 September. She joined the "Great White Fleet" at Hampton Roads on 9 December and passed in review before President Theodore Roosevelt while getting underway on the first leg of the fleet's historic world cruise. The American ships arrived Port of Spain, Trinidad on 23 December and six days later got underway for Rio de Janeiro. From there, they sailed south along the east coast of South America and transited the perilous Straits of Magellan in open order. Turning north, the fleet visited Valparaíso, Chile, and Callao Bay, Peru, en route to Magdalena Bay, Mexico, for a month of target practice.

The "Great White Fleet" reached San Diego, California on 14 April 1908, and moved on to San Francisco, California on 7 May. Exactly two months later, the spotless warships sortied through the Golden Gate and headed for Honolulu. From Hawaii, they set course for Auckland, New Zealand, to be greeted as heroes upon arrival on 9 August. The fleet made Sydney on 20 August, and after enjoying a week of the most warm and cordial hospitality, sailed to Melbourne where they were welcomed with equal graciousness and enthusiasm.

Kansas had her last glimpse of Australia on 19 September on leaving Albany, Western Australia for ports in the Philippine Islands, Japan, and Ceylon before transiting the Suez Canal. She departed Port Said, Egypt on 4 January 1909, for a visit to Villefranche, France, and then staged with the Great White Fleet at Gibraltar and departed for home on 6 February. She again passed in review before President Roosevelt as she entered Hampton Roads on 22 February, ending a widely acclaimed voyage of good will subtly but effectively demonstrating American strength to the world.

A week later, Kansas entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard for overhaul. Repairs completed 17 June, the battleship began a period of maneuvers, tactical training, and battle practice which lasted almost until the close of the following year. With Battleship Division 2 (BatDiv 2), she sailed on 15 November 1910 for Europe visiting Cherbourg, France, and Portland, England, before returning to Hampton Roads. She again departed Hampton Roads on 8 May 1911 for Scandinavia, visiting Copenhagen, Stockholm, Kronstadt, and Kiel before returning to Provincetown, Massachusetts on 13 July. She engaged in fleet tactics south to the Virginia Capes before entering the Norfolk Navy Yard on 3 November for overhaul.

Early in 1912, she began several months of maneuvers out of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and then returned to Hampton Roads to serve as one of the welcoming units for the German Squadron which visited there from 28 May – 8 June and New York City from 8–13 June.

The battleship embarked United States Naval Academy midshipmen at Annapolis, Maryland on 21 June for a summer practice cruise which took her, among other ports of call along the Atlantic seaboard, to Baltimore, Maryland, during the United States Democratic Party National Convention which nominated Woodrow Wilson. After debarking her midshipmen at Annapolis on 30 August, she sailed from Norfolk, Virginia on 15 November for a training cruise in the Gulf of Mexico. She returned to Philadelphia on 21 December to enter the Navy Yard for overhaul.

Back in top shape by 5 May 1913, Kansas operated on the East Coast until she stood out of Hampton Roads on 25 October, bound for Genoa, Italy. From there, she proceeded to Guantanamo Bay en route to the coast of Mexico to operate off Veracruz and Tampico watching out for US interests in that land then troubled by revolutionary unrest as rival factions struggled to attain and hold power. She returned to Norfolk on 14 March 1914 and entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard for overhaul on 11 April.

Kansas departed Norfolk on 1 July with the body of the Venezuelan Minister to the United States, arriving La Guaira on 14 July. Then she returned to the Mexican coast to patrol off Tampico and Vera Cruz supporting the American Expeditionary Force which had landed there. She departed Vera Cruz on 29 October to investigate reports of unstable conditions at Port au Prince, Haiti, where she arrived on 3 November. The battleship stood out of Port au Prince on 1 December and reached Philadelphia a week later. Maneuvers off the East Coast and out of Guantanamo Bay occupied her until she entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard for overhaul on 30 September 1916.