laststandonzombieisland

A period photograph of USS Cincinnati (Cruiser Number 7), which served between 1894 and 1921. The image, showing the graceful 3,200-ton cruiser in gleaming white with her original ornate bow crest, would likely have been taken before 1911 when she picked up a more 20th-century haze gray.

Courtesy of Mr. H.L. Chapelle, Smithsonian Institution. NHHC Photograph Collection. NR&L (OLD) 20432-A

If you note, the photo is signed by Admiral Raymond Ames Spruance (USNA 1906), who served on board between 1911 and 1913 as a lieutenant J.G, holding down an engineering officer post while deployed on the Asiatic Station.

Cincinnati, who fought in the Spanish American War and served as flagship of the American Patrol Detachment, Atlantic Fleet from 1 February 1918 to 28 March 1919 on convoy duty around the Caribbean, carried single 6-inch gun, 10 5″/, eight 6-pounders, 2 1-pounders, and four 18-inch torpedo tubes as built.

USS Cincinnati (C-7) unofficial plans, published in the Transactions of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, 1893. NH 70107

Following her 25-year career, she was decommissioned at New Orleans on 20 April 1919 and sold on 4 August 1921 for scrap so that her tonnage wouldn’t count against the U.S. in naval treaty allowances.