USS South Carolina (BB-26) - Pre-World War I

Pre-World War I

South Carolina departed Philadelphia on 6 March for shakedown, cruised to the Danish West Indies and Cuba, and then visited Charleston, South Carolina from 10–15 April. After conducting trials off the Virginia Capes and off Provincetown, Massachusetts, the battleship visited New York City on 17–18 June on the occasion of a reception for former President Theodore Roosevelt. Voyage repairs at Norfolk, Virginia, naval militia training duty, and Atlantic Fleet maneuvers off Provincetown and the Virginia Capes occupied her time from the end of June-the beginning of November. From 1 November 1910 – 12 January 1911, she voyaged to Europe and back with Battleship Division 2 (BatDiv 2). This visit took her to Cherbourg, France, and the Isle of Portland, England. Upon her return to Norfolk, she entered the navy yard for repairs, and then conducted tactics training and maneuvers off the New England coast.

Following a short visit to New York, she steamed east with the Second Battleship Division for a visit to Copenhagen, Denmark; Stockholm, Sweden; and Kronstadt, Russia. During the return from Kronstadt, she reached Kiel, Germany on 21 June in time to join in the Kiel Week, hosted by Kaiser Wilhelm II. On 13 July, she arrived off Provincetown, Massachusetts, and engaged in battle practice along the coast to the Chesapeake Bay.

Late in 1911, she took part in the naval review at New York and maneuvers with the First Squadron out of Newport, Rhode Island on 3 January 1912, she departed New York for winter operations in the vicinity of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. South Carolina returned to Norfolk on 13 March and, until late June, cruised the East Coast as far north as Newport. In June, she joined in the welcome receptions at Hampton Roads and New York given in honor of the visiting German Squadron, composed of Moltke, Bremen and Stettin. On 30 June, she entered the yard at Norfolk for overhaul.

Just over three months later, she sailed to New York for a visit, which lasted from 11–15 October. Next came a month of exercises off the coast of New England and the Virginia Capes. From mid-November-mid-December, South Carolina steamed with the Special Service Division on visits to Pensacola, Florida, New Orleans, Louisiana, Galveston, Texas, and the Mexican port, Veracruz. She returned to Norfolk on 20 December and remained there until 6 January 1913, when she sailed to Colón, Panama, where her crew saw the newly completed canal. After maneuvers in the area of Guantánamo Bay, she reentered Norfolk on 22 March, then cruised north as far as Newport, stopping at New York from 28 March – 31 May for the dedication of a memorial to Maine.

After a brief period training midshipmen in the Virginia Capes area, South Carolina embarked upon a 16-month period during which she carried the "Big Stick" to the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. From late June until mid-September 1913, she cruised the eastern coast of Mexico protecting American interests at Tampico and Veracruz. She was overhauled at Norfolk from late September 1913-early January 1914, and then headed for maneuvers off Culebra Island off Puerto Rico.

On 28 January, the battleship landed marines at Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to guard the United States legation and to establish a field radio station during that period of political convulsions. She departed Port-au-Prince on 14 April after the restoration of some order under General Oreste Zamor, the new Haitian President. She coaled at Key West, Florida, then steamed to Veracruz where she sent a landing force ashore to join in the occupation of that city until her departure a month later. South Carolina spent the troubled summer of 1914 investigating conditions in Santo Domingo and Haiti.