USS Florida (BM-9)

For other ships of the same name, see USS Florida and USS Tallahassee.

For USS Floridian, see USS Floridian (ID-3875).

USS Tallahassee tending to the K-5 and K-6 in Hampton Roads, 1919 USS Tallahassee tending to the K-5 and K-6 in Hampton Roads, 1919
Career
Name:	USS Florida
Builder:	Crescent Shipyard, Elizabeth, New Jersey
Launched:	30 November 1901, as Florida
Commissioned:	18 June 1903
Decommissioned:	24 March 1922
Renamed:	Tallahassee, 1 July 1908
Reclassified:	IX-16 (Miscellaneous Auxiliary), 20 July 1921
Fate:	Sold, 25 July 1922
General characteristics
Type:	Monitor
Displacement:	3,225 long tons (3,277 t)
Length:	252 ft (77 m)
Beam:	50 ft (15 m)
Draft:	12 ft 6 in (3.81 m)
Propulsion:	Steam engine
Speed:	12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement:	220 officers and men
Armament:	• 2 × 12 in (300 mm) • 3 × 4 in (100 mm) • 1 × 3 in (76 mm)
Armor:	Belt: 5–11 in (130–280 mm) Barbettes: 9–11 in (230–280 mm) Turrets: 9–10 in (230–250 mm) Conning tower: 7.5 in (190 mm)

The USS Florida (BM-9) was an Arkansas-class monitor in the United States Navy.

Florida was launched November 30, 1901 by Lewis Nixon, and Arthur Leopold Busch, a marine engineer who worked at the Crescent Shipyard, Elizabethport, New Jersey; sponsored by Miss S. Wood; and commissioned June 18, 1903, with Commander John Charles Fremont in command.

Service history

Serving with the Coast Squadron, Florida trained midshipmen on summer cruises, and operated along the east coast and in the Caribbean waters. She participated in the Presidential Naval Review in Oyster Bay, Long Island, held by Theodore Roosevelt on September 3, 1906, and four days later reported to the Naval Academy for regular service as a practice ship. She was placed in reserve September 11, 1906, but returned to full commission between June 7 and August 30, 1907, for a midshipman cruise, and between May 21 and June 19, 1908 for participation in ordnance experiments. These included testing the then-new superfire concept where turrets were mounted in line with one turret elevated to fire over the other.

On July 1, 1908, Florida was renamed USS Tallahassee to free the state name for assignment to a battleship. On August 1, 1910, she was placed in commission in reserve and began a regular schedule of ordnance experimentation and occasional duty in the Panama Canal Zone and Norfolk area as a submarine tender. During World War I she served as submarine tender in the Canal Zone, the Virgin Islands, and Bermuda areas and on September 30, 1919, entered Charleston Navy Yard where she was decommissioned on December 3, 1919. Tallahassee was assigned to the 6th Naval District as a reserve training ship from February 19, 1920, serving in commissioned status from September 3, 1920 to March 24, 1922.

Tallahassee was redesignated as IX-16 on July 20, 1921, and decommissioned for the final time on March 24, 1922. She was sold on July 25, 1922, to Ammunition Products Corporation, of Washington, DC.

References

• This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links

• Crescent Shipyard, Elizabeth, New Jersey.