USS South Carolina (BB-26) - Inter-War Period

Inter-War Period

From mid-February-late July 1919, South Carolina made four round-trip voyages between the United States and Brest, France. By 26 July, when she entered Hampton Roads at the end of the last of these voyages, she had returned over 4,000 World War I veterans to the United States. Following an overhaul at the Norfolk Navy Yard, she embarked midshipmen at Annapolis, Maryland for a cruise to the Pacific. She departed Annapolis on 5 June 1920, transited the Panama Canal, sailed to Hawaii, and then to the West Coast. She visited Seattle, Washington, San Francisco, California, and San Diego, California, as she sailed down the western seaboard. South Carolina cleared San Diego on 11 August, retransited the canal, and sailed for Annapolis on 2 September; then she headed on to Philadelphia, where she remained for seven months.

In early April 1921, she cruised to Culebra Island, Puerto Rico in the West Indies for training, and then operated in the Chesapeake Bay. On 29 May, the battleship embarked another complement of midshipmen at Annapolis. She called at Kristiania, Norway, and Lisbon, Portugal, before heading to the Guantánamo Bay area to round out the midshipmen's summer training cruise. She debarked the midshipmen at Annapolis on 30 August and steamed to Philadelphia where she arrived the following day. South Carolina was decommissioned at Philadelphia on 15 December and remained there until her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Registry on 10 November 1923. Her hulk was sold for scrap on 24 April 1924 in accordance with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty.

Her silver service is presently on display in the South Carolina Governor's Mansion.