USS Wyoming (BB-32) - Inter-war Period

Inter-war Period

Later, Wyoming, hoisting the flag of Rear Admiral William Sims, Commander, BatDiv 9 (ComBatDiv 9), sailed on 12 December 1918 from the Isle of Portland, England, bound for France. The following morning, she and other battleships rendezvoused with George Washington off Brest, France. Embarked in the transport was the President Woodrow Wilson, en route to the Paris Peace Conference.

After serving in the honor escort for the President and his party, Wyoming returned Admiral Sims to Plymouth, along with the newly appointed ambassador to Britain. Debarking her distinguished passengers on 14 December, the battleship loaded 381 bags of mail and, within a few hours, sailed for the United States. Reaching New York City on Christmas Day 1918, she remained there through New Year's Day 1919. On 18 January 1919, she became the flagship of BatDiv 7, 3rd Squadron, and broke the flag of Rear Admiral Robert Coontz.

Wyoming departed New York on 1 February and, following winter maneuvers in Cuban waters, returned north, reaching New York on 14 April. However, she stood out to sea soon thereafter, getting underway on 12 May to serve as a link in the chain of ships stretching across the Atlantic to guide the Curtiss NC flying boats on their flight across that ocean. After completing her duty as plane guard and meteorological station, Wyoming returned to Hampton Roads on the last day of May.

Later embarking midshipmen and taking them on their southern cruise in the Chesapeake Bay-Virginia Capes area, Wyoming entered the Norfolk Navy Yard on 1 July to prepare for service in the Pacific. The secondary battery was reduced to 16 5 in (130 mm)/51 cal guns. On that day, she became a unit of the newly designated Pacific Fleet, assigned the duty as flagship for BatDiv 6, Squadron 4 (BatRon 4). On the morning of 19 July, the fleet—led by New Mexico—got underway for the Pacific. Transiting the Panama Canal soon thereafter, the fleet reached San Diego, California on 6 August.

Shifting to San Pedro, California three days later, Wyoming operated out of that port into the autumn. After an overhaul at the Puget Sound Navy Yard from 15 September 1919 to 19 April 1920, Wyoming returned to her base at San Pedro on 4 May. Over the next few months, the battleship exercised off the southern California coast. During that time, she was reclassified from "Battleship No. 32" to BB-32 on 17 July 1920.

Departing San Diego on the last day of August 1920, Wyoming sailed for Hawaiian waters and conducted exercises and maneuvers there through September. Returning to San Diego on 8 October, Wyoming subsequently conducted tactical evolutions off the western seaboard, ranging north to Seattle, Washington. Departing San Francisco, California on 5 January 1921, Wyoming, over the ensuing weeks, conducted further drills, exercises, and maneuvers reaching from Panama Bay to Valparaíso, Chile, and was reviewed by President of Chile Arturo Alessandri Palma on 8 February. Returning north, Wyoming arrived at the Puget Sound Navy Yard on 18 March and remained there into the summer.

Upon completion of repairs, Wyoming headed south, and on 2 August reached Balboa, Canal Zone, where she embarked Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman and members of the commission to Peru for transportation to New York City. Reaching her destination on 19 August, she disembarked her passengers and, that afternoon, broke the flag of Admiral Hilary P. Jones, Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet.

Over the next 41 months, Wyoming operated primarily in the Atlantic, off the eastern seaboard of the United States, participating in Atlantic Fleet exercises, ranging from the coast of New England to the Virginia Capes. She took part in the routine winter maneuvers of the fleet in Caribbean and Cuban waters, serving at various times as flagship for Vice Admiral John McDonald, Commander, Battleship Force; and, later, Commander, Scouting Fleet, and his successors, Vice Admirals Newton McCully and Josiah McKean. During that time, the ship received routine repairs and alterations at the New York Navy Yard and conducted a midshipman training cruise in the summer of 1924, cruising to Torbay, England; Rotterdam, Netherlands; Gibraltar; and the Azores.

Departing New York on 26 January 1926, the battleship conducted battle practice in Cuban waters, out of Guantanamo Bay, and then transited the Panama Canal on 14 February to join the Battle Fleet for exercises along the coast of California. Wyoming next sailed for Hawaiian waters and operated in those climes from late April-early June. After a visit to San Diego from 18–22 June, the battleship returned to the East Coast, via the Panama Canal, and arrived back at New York City on 17 July to resume operations off the coast of New England. Following those training evolutions with a cruise to Cuba and Haiti, Wyoming underwent an overhaul at the New York Navy Yard from 23 November 1925 to 26 January 1926. During her yard period, Commander William F. Halsey, Jr., reported on board as the battleship's executive officer. The future fleet admiral served in Wyoming until 4 January 1927.

Wyoming subsequently took part in the Fleet's annual winter maneuvers in the Caribbean and then returned northward, reaching Annapolis on 29 May to embark midshipmen for their summer training cruise. After touching at Newport, Rhode Island; Marblehead, Massachusetts; Portland, Maine; Charleston, South Carolina; and Guantanamo Bay, Wyoming returned to Annapolis on 27 August, disembarking the officers-to-be upon arrival. The ship then put into the Philadelphia Navy Yard for modernization.

Converted from a coal burner to an oil burner, Wyoming also received new turbines, blisters for added underwater protection against torpedoes, and other alterations. Completing the overhaul on 2 November and heading south for Norfolk, Wyoming then underwent a post-modernization shakedown cruise to Cuba and the Virgin Islands before returning to Philadelphia on 7 December. Two days later, she hoisted the flag of Commander, Scouting Fleet, Vice Admiral Ashley Robertson.

Over the next few years, Wyoming operated out of Norfolk, New York, and Boston, Massachusetts, making training cruises for the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) units hailing from Yale, Harvard, Georgia Tech, and Northwestern. That duty took her from the Gulf of Mexico to Nova Scotia and into the Caribbean Sea, as well as to the Azores. During the course of that duty, she departed Hampton Roads on 12 November 1928, and on the night of 13–14 November, picked up eight survivors of Vestris, landing them at Norfolk on 16 November.

Relieved as flagship of the Scouting Force on 19 September 1930, Wyoming then became the flagship of Rear Admiral Wat T. Cluverius, ComBatDiv 2, and performed that duty until 4 November. After then hoisting the flag of Rear Admiral Harley H. Christy, Commander, Training Squadron, Scouting Fleet, the battleship conducted a training cruise into the Gulf of Mexico, during which she visited New Orleans, Louisiana.

Returning north after that cruise, Wyoming was placed in reduced commission at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 1 January 1931 to prepare for demilitarization and conversion to a training ship in accordance with the 1930 London Naval Treaty for the limitation and reduction of naval armaments. During that process, Wyoming lost her blisters, side armor, and the removal of guns and turret machinery from three of her six main battery turrets. On 21 May 1931, Wyoming was relieved of her duties as flagship for the Scouting Force by Augusta and by Arkansas as flagship of the Training Squadron.

Wyoming subsequently visited Annapolis upon the completion of her demilitarization and, between 29 May and 5 June 1931, embarked United States Naval Academy midshipmen for a cruise to European waters. Sailing on 5 June, the ship was in the mid-Atlantic 10 days later, when she went to the aid of O-12, commanded by the famed British Arctic explorer, Sir Hubert Wilkins. Wyoming took the disabled submersible in tow and took her to Queenstown, Northern Ireland. Later in the course of the cruise, the former battleship visited Copenhagen, Denmark; Greenock, Scotland; Cadiz, Spain; and Gibraltar, before she returned to Hampton Roads on 13 August. During her cruise, her designation changed from BB-32 to AG-17 on 1 July 1931.

Over the next four years, Wyoming continued summer practice cruises for Naval Academy midshipmen and training cruises for NROTC midshipmen with units from various universities. Her service took her throughout the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, as well as to northern European ports and into the Mediterranean.

However, there were new jobs for the old campaigner. On 18 January 1935, she embarked men of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, at Norfolk, for the winter-spring landing assault practices at Puerto Rico and the Panama Canal Zone. In almost every succeeding year, Wyoming took part in amphibious assault exercises, as the elements of the Fleet Marine Force and Navy developed tactics for use in possible conflicts of the future.

Departing Norfolk on 5 January 1937, Wyoming transited the Panama Canal; headed for San Diego soon thereafter; and spent the following weeks engaged in assault landing exercises and gunnery drills at San Clemente Island, off the coast of California. On 18 February, during the culminating phase of a multi-faceted (land, sea, and air) exercise, a shrapnel shell exploded prematurely as it was being rammed into one of the ship's 5 in (130 mm) broadside guns. Six Marines were killed, and 11 were wounded. Immediately after the explosion, Wyoming sped to San Pedro, where she transferred the wounded Marines to Relief.

Completing her slate of exercises and war games off the California coast on 3 March, Wyoming stood out of Los Angeles harbor on that day and headed back to the East Coast. Returning to Norfolk on 23 March, the ship served as temporary flagship for Rear Admiral Wilson Brown, Commander, Training Squadron from 15 April to 3 June, during the preparations for the upcoming Naval Academy practice cruise. Putting to sea on 4 June from Hampton Roads, Wyoming reached Kiel, Germany on 21 June 1937, where she was visited by officers from Admiral Graf Spee. Her embarked midshipmen subsequently toured Berlin before Wyoming sailed for home on 29 June, touching at Torbay, England, and Funchal, Madeira before returning to Norfolk on 3 August.

After local exercises, Wyoming disembarked her midshipmen at Annapolis on 26 August. For the next few months, Wyoming continued in her role as training ship first for Naval Reserve units and then for Merchant Marine Reserve units, ranging from Boston to the Virgin Islands and from New York to Cuba, respectively, before she underwent an overhaul at the Norfolk Navy Yard from 16 October 1937 to 14 January 1938.

For the next three years, Wyoming continued her operations out of Norfolk, Boston, and New York, visiting Cuban waters, as well as Puerto Rico and New Orleans. In addition, she conducted a Naval Academy midshipman's practice cruise to European waters in 1938, visiting Le Havre, France; Copenhagen; and Portsmouth, England. On 2 January 1941, Wyoming became the flagship for Rear Admiral Randall Jacobs, Commander, Training, Patrol Force, and continued in her training ship duties into the autumn months.

In November 1941, Wyoming embarked on yet another phase of her career-that of a gunnery training ship. She departed Norfolk on 25 November 1941 for gunnery training runs out of Newport, Rhode Island, and was off Platt's Bank when the Japanese launched the Attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.