Category Archives: US Navy

The Fighting Lady Never Looked Better

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Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum on South Carolina’s Charleston Harbor is gearing up to celebrate both the institution’s 50th anniversary and, along with the rest of the country, America’s 250th or semiquincentennial.

In doing so, they have the museum ship USS Yorktown (CV-10) aglow in red, white, and blue.

“As we illuminate her silhouette, we’re celebrating America’s history and our own legacy of preserving it for future generations,” notes the museum.

This is all very appropriate as Yorktown was formally dedicated as a memorial at Charleston on the 200th anniversary of the Navy, 13 October 1975.

The short-hulled Essex-class fleet carrier earned 11 battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation during World War II and five battle stars for Vietnam service, entering service 15 April 1943 and decommissioning 27 June 1970, a very busy 27-year run.

The old brig and the SS US

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Spent a down weekend unwinding from SHOT Show, taking the old lady to the Pensacola art fair, etc. In this, I was able to score a $30 box loaded with second-hand volumes at Open Books that must have formerly belonged to a NAS Pensacola instructor, judging from the eclectic subject matter (U.S. Navy aviation circa 1920s and 30s) and small Aero Club and USNI Press print runs. Well worth it!

I also visited for the first time the old Pensacola City Jail, which served from 1906 until 1954, when it was converted into an art center (the PMA) under the aegis of the University of West Florida. Of note, the two-story 12,000-square-foot Spanish Revival building just off the docks and near old downtown was the hub for not only city and county cops but also Navy/Marine Shore Patrol during both world wars, so you can almost smell the salt and beer.

They also have a modern triptych to the three Bluejackets (Watson, Haitham, and Walters) lost in the 2019 terrorist attack on Pensacola NAS.

Heading back to Pascagoula, we cruised by the MARS dock and saw the progress on the former SS United States.

The old mega-liner, being prepped for reefing in a few weeks off Destin, has been stripped of her iconic funnels as well as her masts and most other topside snag points for divers. Likewise, her portholes have been torched out, and just about everything that can be removed from her thousands of compartments has been.

Still, you can read her once proud name on the bow, like a ghost from yesteryear.

It won’t be long now.

There feels like an allegory there.

MCM Torch Passed in the Arabian Gulf (Again)

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The four recently decommissioned 224-foot U.S. Navy Avenger-class Mine Countermeasures ships — the former USS Devastator, USS Dextrous, USS Gladiator, and USS Sentry — have departed Bahrain aboard the 65,000-ton Norwegian-flagged merchant heavy-lift vessel Seaway Hawk, marking their final voyage through the Arabian Gulf.

Seaway Hawk was escorted by USS Canberra (LCS 30), one of the three-pack of newly MCM-optimized Independence-class ships– the others being USS Santa Barbara (LCS 32) and Tulsa (LCS 16)-– that are currently forward-deployed to Bahrain, replacing the legacy Avenger-class ships that have served in Task Force 55 for over 30 years.

This isn’t the first time 5th Fleet MCM has passed the torch in the region with generational changes. Several circa-1950s wooden-hulled 120-foot Aggressive-class ocean minesweepers, including the USS Adroit (MSO-509) —subject of an upcoming Warship Wednesday —the USS Impervious (MSO-449), and the Leader (MSO-490), were deployed to the Persian Gulf beginning in 1990, notably supporting Operations Earnest Will, Desert Shield, and Desert Storm.

Before that, the old ‘phib USS Okinawa (LPH-3) had operated Navy RH-53D Sea Stallion minesweeping helicopters in the Gulf during Operation Ernest Will, and six small minesweeping boats (4 x 57-foot MSBs and 2x 36-foot MSLs) of Mine Group Two, Mine Division 125, had arrived in the region on USS St. Louis (LKA-116) and USS Raleigh (LPD-1) in the summer of 1987.

Mine Division 125 personnel watch as a yard crane lifts the minesweeping boat MSB 16 from the Cooper River. The boat will be placed on a skid for loading into the well deck of the amphibious transport dock USS Raleigh (LPD 1). August 1, 1987. MSGT Dave Casey, USAF. 330-CFD-DF-ST-88-03132

These brownwater boats were later augmented by the Aggressive class bluewater boats USS Fearless (MSO-442), Inflict (MSO-456), and Illusive (MSO-448), towed by USS Grapple (ARS-53) to the region. The epic nearly 10,000-mile journey began on 6 September 1987 and lasted roughly eight weeks, arriving in the Gulf of Oman on 2 November 1987. Upon arrival, the Inflict discovered and destroyed the first underwater contact mines in the northern Persian Gulf countered by an American minesweeper since the Korean War.

The salvage ship USS Grapple (ARS 53) tows the ocean minesweepers USS Inflict (MSO 456), USS Fearless (MSO 442), and USS Illusive (MSO 448) to the Persian Gulf to support US Navy escort operations. September 1, 1987 PH2 C. Duvall. 330-CFD-DN-ST-88-01143

The ocean minesweeper USS INFLICIT (MSO 456) heads towards the Persian Gulf to support US Navy escort operations, 9/1/1987

USS JFK inches forward to completion

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The future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) has returned to HII-Newport News Shipbuilding following successful builder’s sea trials. A team of shipbuilders and the CVN 79 crew spent a week at sea testing important ship systems and components for the first time.

The good news is that she was able to complete the trials without having to be towed back halfway through, and no apparent fires were observed.

Still, she looks beautiful.

The second Gerald R. Ford-class super carrier has cost some $11.4 billion thus far and, ordered in January 2009, is scheduled to be delivered to the Navy in March 2027, a gestation period of “just” 18 years, somehow twice as long as the class leader, Ford.

The plan is for the third Ford, the future USS Enterprise (CVN-80), to be delivered in 2030, only 14 years after HII was given the first award for her advanced planning.

We gotta do better, guys.

Modern Problems Require a Modern Surface Action Group

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How about these images of a three-pack of American maritime assets steaming into the Bay of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, this week under Operation Southern Spear. They include the 509-foot grey-hulled Flight IIA Burke, USS Stockdale (DDG 106), the 418-foot Berthoff-class National Security Cutter USCGC Stone (WMSL 758), and the old-school all-diesel 210-foot Reliance-class medium endurance cutter USCGC Diligence (WMEC 616).

Talk about a high-low-low mix.

Note that Stockton has an ODIN laser system in place of her forward CIWS

Of course, all the heavy lifting in the little SAG falls on the shoulders of Stockdale, while Stone and Diligence (the latter with a 10.5-foot draught) are more (wait for it) more littoral constabulary assets that can operate closer in-shore while still under the DDG’s protective umbrella.

Still, this can point to the detached SAG of the future.

Pacific Slug Fest Limitations: It all comes down to VLS

The Navy currently has around 8,700 VLS cells across 81 surface ships (7 x CGs, 74 DDGs) and 28 submarines (24 x SSNs, 4 SSGNs), but at least 1,470 of those cells will vanish in the next four years as the final seven Ticos and the only four SSGNs are removed from the fleet after 30-40 years of service.

That’s bad.

New incoming DDGs and SSNs in those four years will make good about half of those lost cells (in the best-case scenario), meaning that, no matter how you slice it, the Navy is facing a drop of something like 600-800 VLS cells by the end of the decade.

The first of 12 building 10,000-ton Block V Virginias, carrying 40 VLS cells up from the standard 12 cells (an idea to counter the loss of the long-in-the-teeth SSGNs), will start to arrive in 2028-29 and hopefully will help address some of the shortfall but even with that the Navy is still going to be light on cells at a time in which it should be growing the number, not struggling to (almost) maintain it.

Plus, there is the problem of reloading a VLS cell with more munitions as soon as possible, preferably without having to return to, say, 1,700nm to Guam or 5,000nm Pearl from an event off Taiwan. After all, once a DDG fires off its 96 cells, it is just a gunboat. A $2.5 billion LCS.

The Navy is aware of that and, in the past couple of years, has been advancing at-sea VLS replenishment, recently testing the Transferable Rearming Mechanism (TRAM) to reload Mk 41 VLS cells from supply vessels (e.g., USNS Washington Chambers (T-AKE 11) and USNS Gopher State (TACS-4)). t but it is far from standard.

This could lead to a new class of VLS-rearming destroyer tenders, a concept that should have been fielded in the 1980s along with the first Burkes and Flight I Ticos.

Sailors from Navy Cargo Handling Battalion One (NCHB-1) onboard USS Chosin (CG-65) work with the ship’s force to complete a demonstration of the Transferrable Rearming Mechanism VLS Reloading At-Sea with the USNS Washington Chambers (T-AKE 11) on Oct. 11, 2024, in the Pacific Ocean. (U.S. Navy Photo.)

Another option is MODEP, which is proposed by Leidos to repurpose surplus oil rigs into mobile missile defense and resupply bases that can be moved forward. Concepts have them carrying as many as 512 VLS loads.

MODEP:

The bad news on this is that swapping out empty VLS canisters for full ones can be time-consuming, meaning it could take as long as four days to refill an empty DDG. And that is if the weather and seas permit.

New frigates to the rescue

Another bite at closing the VLS gap, while putting more hulls in more places, is to add a 30-40 foot plug to Flight II of the Navy’s new fast frigate, which is based on the Coast Guard’s 418-foot NSC, as exemplified by the USCGC Stone above. The plug would only transform the length-to-beam ratio from its currently tubby 8:1 closer to a more svelte 9:1, but would add enough room to wedge a 64-cell strike-length VLS into the cutter/frigate and its ancillary wiring/support/venting space.

Plus, Ingalls has been spitballing such concepts for years, so you can bet they have guys already doing the math on this.

Ingalls Shipbuilding VLS-equipped Sea Control Patrol Frigate based on National Security Cutter. This was a concept as far back as 2017. It has the same length as the current NSC, but just add a 30-foot plug (maybe not even that long), and you could make a 64-cell VLS a thing

Yes, the ship doesn’t carry the sensors to wring the capability out of SM-2/3 anti-air missiles, but, pairing one of these Flight II NSC/FFs with a DDG could be the ticket, running cooperative engagement to bring many more missiles to the fight– akin to how 24 of the 31 Spruance-class destroyers were converted to feature a 61-cell Mark 41 in place of their original forward Mk 16 ASROC launchers during the 1980s and 90s. That upgrade allowed the VLS Sprucans to fire (lots) of Tomahawks and carry vertical-launch ASROCs instead of their old Matchbox launchers, which were limited to just eight ready rounds plus eight reloads.

The Sprucan USS Deyo, after her ASROC Matchbox launcher was removed and replaced with the 61-cell VLS. Also note the Phalanx CIWS mounts port and starboard.

A run of 20 of these theoretical Flight II NSC/FFs, built in 4-5 ship batches, awarded all-up to 2-3 yards, could backfill 1,280 VLS cells to the fleet. Fast.

Further, as these new frigates, just good for 27-28 knots (and only in bursts) likely won’t travel with the carrier battle groups all the time, by taking two Flight II NSC/FFs with their combined 128 VLS cells, and adding them to a DDG, then you have a task group capable of independent operation as a SAG that can count 228 VLS slots as well as four MH-60 airframes, assorted UAVs, 1 5-inch Mark 45, two 57mm guns, two (or three) 21-cell RAM launchers, 32 NSM anti-ship missiles, and assorted 25mm/.50 cal mounts.

In short, they could control a lot of sea and air space while only tying down three “little boys” and about 600 bluejackets. Plus, they could call at a lot more ports than a CVBG or ARG.

Nine such SAGs, operating on the periphery of the nine active carrier battle groups and nine active amphibious ready groups, could really add a wild card to naval tactics, especially in any sort of 2030s peer clash in the Western Pacific.

Flattop Broncos

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The Cold War carrier aircraft that wasn’t a carrier aircraft, the Rockwell OV-10 Bronco, served in Navy (Black Pony) and Marine use, and often popped up on flight decks during its career. Although, to be sure, it seems that when they did ship aboard CVs and LHs, it was loaded as deck cargo and then flown off to shore, not operationally carried.

“28 August 1968: Family Portrait: The Bronco (OV-10A), the newest addition to the Marine air arm, poses with 12 Leathernecks directly connected with its flight over South Vietnam. In addition to the pilot and aerial observer, standing next to the cockpit, the Bronco is supported and serviced by crash crewmen, factory technical representative, hydraulics men, mechanics, flight equipment personnel, metalsmiths, ordnancemen, avionics technicians, and air controllers. Based at the Marble Mountain Air Facility, near Da Nang, the new aircraft’s primary mission is observation (official USMC photo by Private First Class W. C. Schobel).”

Capable of carrying 1,200 pounds of ordnance (including Sidewinders) as well as four forward-firing M60 machine guns, the Bronco was a capable little gem of an aircraft.

In a pinch, it could even carry cargo or a couple of passengers, including parachutists.

USS Nassau (LHA-4) flight deck crewmen use an MD-3A tow tractor to position a North American Rockwell OV-10A Bronco (BuNo 155447) of U.S. Marine Corps Observation Squadron (VMO-1) on the port elevator of the ship in 1983. After its retirement, this aircraft was leased by the U.S. Department of State to the Colombian national police. Defense Imagery photo # DN-SN-88-007789, a US Navy photo by PHAN Dougherty, now in the collections of Defenseimagery.mil

A North American Rockwell OV-10A Bronco of U.S. Marine Corps Observation Squadron (VMO-1) parked on the flight deck of USS Nassau (LHA-4) in 1983. US National Archives and Records Administration Identifier (NAID 6430453) NAID: 6430453, Local ID: 330-CFD-DN-SN-88-00787.jpeg by PHAN Dougherty

A U.S. Marine Corps North American Rockwell OV-10D+ Bronco observation aircraft as it taxis clear of the landing area onboard aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-60) during testing flight qualifications off the coast of North Carolina (USA) on 10 September 1985. It was flown by CAPT George Webb, USN, a Navy test pilot flying from the Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, MD. He did landing and take-off tests with the OV-10D+ aboard both USS Saratoga and USS Nassau (LHA-4). USS Saratoga Photo Lab – U.S. Defense Imagery photo VIRIN: DN-ST-00-03628

A North American Rockwell OV-10A Bronco of U.S. Marine Corps Observation Squadron (VMO-1) prepares to take off from the flight deck of USS Nassau (LHA-4) in 1983. US Navy photo # DN-SN-88-00788 by PHAN Dougherty

A flight deck crewman stands by as a North American Rockwell OV-10A Bronco of U.S. Marine Corps Observation Squadron (VMO-1) prepares to take off from the flight deck of USS Nassau (LHA-4) in 1983. US Navy photo # DN-SN-88-00791 by PHAN Dougherty

The launch of a North American Rockwell OV-10A Bronco of U.S. Marine Corps Observation Squadron VMO-1 from the flight deck of USS Nassau (LHA-4) in 1983. DN-SN-88-00790

Four US Marine Corps OV-10 Bronco aircraft are parked on the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Saipan (LHA 2), January 1987. 330-CFD-DN-ST-87-07341

Marine Broncos from both VMO-1 and VMO-2 served in Desert Shield/Storm. These were carried to the theater by the phib USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2) as well as the carriers USS America and USS Theodore Roosevelt.

The large harbor tugs Wapakoneta (YTB-766), left, and Wathena (YTB-825) push on the bow of the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2) as the ship departs for the Persian Gulf region to support Operation Desert Shield. Two Marine Corps OV-10 Bronco aircraft are on the IWO JIMA’s flight deck, August 1990. 330-CFD-DN-ST-91-03867

A Marine Observation Squadron 1 (VMO-1) OV-10 Bronco aircraft takes off from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS America (CV 66) as the ship passes Rota, Spain, while en route to the Persian Gulf region for Operation Desert Shield. The six VMO-1 aircraft that were carried across the Atlantic Ocean aboard the America will stop in Rota before continuing to Saudi Arabia. January 1991. 330-CFD-DN-SC-92-02746

Some even self-deployed from CONUS!

In August 1990, VMO-2 made aviation news by launching six OV-10s on an unprecedented 10,000-mile journey to Saudi Arabia in support of Operation Desert Shield.

Beginning in January 1991, the squadron flew a total of 286 combat missions totaling 900 flight hours during Operation Desert Storm. Missions were flown around the clock for the duration of the conflict, focusing primarily on controlling U.S. and Allied artillery, numerous attack aircraft, and naval gunfire, including spotting for the USS Wisconsin’s first combat firing since the Korean War.

The squadron performed these demanding and crucial missions despite being targeted by Iraqi surface-to-air missile gunners over 94 times and while trying to avoid large concentrations of anti-aircraft artillery.

In December 1990, VMO-1 embarked its OV-10s aboard USS America and USS Theodore Roosevelt to deploy to Kuwait in support of Operation Desert Shield/Storm. The squadron flew over 1,000 combat sorties, losing one crew to enemy action (1 KIA, 1 POW).

The Marine Broncos remained in the region until May 1991, when they were loaded onto USS Juneau (LPD 10), bound for San Diego, where they arrived in June.

Several Marine Corps OV-10 Bronco aircraft sit on the flight deck of the amphibious transport dock USS Juneau (LPD-10) as it arrives for a visit to the naval station. The Juneau is stopping at Pearl Harbor while en route to its home port of Naval Station, San Diego, Calif., after serving in the Persian Gulf region during Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. 330-CFD-DN-SC-92-03563

The type was retired in 1995, with both VMO-1 and 2 disestablished, and hasn’t been replaced.

Why not today?

Still, it begs the question of, if the Bronc was capable of carrier ops, why not utilize its modern equivalents, the converted crop duster L3Harris OA-1K Skyraider II, or the MQ-9B STOL UAV family, in the same roles in certain circumstances?

Even when it comes to just adding a ramp to an old container ship or tanker taken up from the surplus ship market to make an instant carrier akin to the old MAC ships of WWII?

Looks like China is already working that problem out.

Groups launch The Devastator Project to rescue and preserve a TBD-1

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TBD-1 Devastator of VT-5 pictured in flight over Southern California 5-T-& Bu 0031 Yorktown Nov 1939. The TBD-1 Devastator ranks among the most significant aircraft in U.S. naval aviation history. It was the Navy’s first all-metal, low-wing, semi-monocoque plane and played a critical role during the opening months of the Pacific campaign.. Photo/description from the Naval Aviation Museum

Most military and naval history buffs remember the much-maligned Douglas TBD-1 Devastator “torpecker” for its Ride of the Valkyries style use against the Japanese carriers at Midway, in which  41 Devastators launched, carrying their unreliable Bliss-Leavitt Mark 13 aerial torpedoes, and only six returned to their carriers, without making a single effective torpedo hit.

Torpedo Squadron 2 (VT-2) in the “old days” before WWII, back when they flew Douglas TBD Devastators, and were the first squadron in the Navy to start doing so, in Oct. 1937

Insignia: Torpedo Squadron Five (VT-5) Emblem adopted during the later 1930s, when VT-5 served on board USS Yorktown (CV-5). This reproduction features a stylized representation of a TBD Devastator torpedo plane and an explanation of the insignia’s design. Courtesy of John S. Howland, 1975. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.color Catalog #: NH 82628-KN

Those 41 were almost fully a third of the type that existed, with just 129 production airframes delivered to the Navy between 1937 and 1939.

Forgotten is their more effective performance in raids on the Marshall and Gilbert Islands, Wake and Marcus Islands, just after Pearl Harbor, and in sinking the Japanese Zuiho-class light carrier Shoho during the Battle of the Coral Sea.

A lone Devastator over Wake Island in late Feb 1942

Torpecker success! Japanese aircraft carrier Shoho under attack by U.S. Navy carrier aircraft in the late morning of 7 May 1942. Photographed from a USS Yorktown (CV 5) torpedo plane. Official U.S. Navy photograph 80-G-17027.

Withdrawn from the Pacific after Midway and replaced with the TBM Avenger, the surviving Devastators in VT-4 and VT-7 remained in service briefly in the Atlantic and in training squadrons until 1944, when they were all scrapped by the end of the year.

That left those scattered around the bottom of the Pacific as the sole remaining TBDs in existence.

And that brings us to The Devastator Project.

The project brings together the Air/Sea Heritage Foundation, Texas A&M University’s Center for Maritime Archaeology and Conservation, the Republic of the Marshall Islands Cultural and Historic Preservation Office, Jaluit Atoll local government officials and traditional leaders, and the Naval History and Heritage Command. The team aims to recover Bureau Number 1515, a TBD-1 Devastator (5-T-7 of VT-5) that has remained submerged off Jaluit Atoll for more than 80 years.

BuNo 1515 launched from USS Yorktown (CV-5) and ditched in the Jaluit lagoon on Feb. 1, 1942, during the U.S. Navy’s first offensive operation in the Pacific. All three naval aviators ( Ens Herbert R Hein, Jr, AOM 3c Joseph D. Strahl, and S1c Marshall E. “Windy” Windham) survived the emergency landing and later endured captivity as Japanese prisoners of war until their liberation in 1945.

Bureau Number 1515, a Douglas TBD-1 Devastator submerged off Jaluit Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The aircraft went down Feb. 1, 1942. Air and Sea Heritage Foundation photo

The project seeks to recover the Jaluit Devastator and preserve it as-is.

‘I think if they Float they can Fight’

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Ward Carroll sat down for 40 minutes with Retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Ted LeClair, whose last active duty billet was Director of Task Force LCS, and talks abut the 27 active “Little Crappy Ships” the entire time.

There is much insight and straight talk about these ships, which have absorbed $30 billion in Navy treasure since they were first spitballed. Sure, there is a bit of reputation and legacy defense, but there is also a good bit of clear-eyed assessment from a guy who knows where the bodies are buried on LCS.

If you are curious about these ships, this is required listening.

Living up to her potential

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Some 75 years ago this week.

The “long-hull” Essex-class fleet carrier USS Leyte (CV-32) is seen loading aircraft at Yokosuka, Japan, for transportation to the U.S. at the end of her Korean War combat tour. The photograph is dated 24 January 1951. Several decommissioned Tacoma-class frigates (PF), late of the Soviet Red Banner fleet, are moored in groups across the harbor background while a snow-capped Mount Fuji is just visible in the distance.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command. NH 97295

Commissioned 11 April 1946, Leyte (laid down as USS Crown Point) came too late for WWII but got her licks in off Korea from 9 October 1950 through 19 January 1951, where the ship and her airwing of Air Group Three spent 92 days at sea and flew 3,933 sorties against North Korean and Chinese forces.

Her pilots accumulated nearly 11,000 hours in the air while inflicting massive damage upon enemy positions, supplies, transportation, and communications.

She earned two battle stars for the cruise.

Among the squadrons based on Leyte were the “Swordsmen” of VF-32 flying the F4U-4 Corsair, a squadron that included Ensign Jesse Brown and LT Thomas J. Hudner Jr.

Other outfits included another Corsair squadron, VF-33, a F9F-2 Panther unit (VF-31), an AD-3/4 Skyraider squadron (VA-35), and smaller dets from VC-4 (F4U-5N night fighters), VC-62 (F4U-5P photo birds), VC-12 (AD-4W), VC-33 (AD-3N), and a couple of well-used whirly birds from HU-2 who were famed for their C-SAR use.

USS Leyte (CV-32). Moored off Naval Operating Base, Yokosuka, Japan, during a break from Korean War operations, 1 December 1950. 80-G-424599

Mascot “Beno” sits in a Grumman F9F-2 Panther of Fighter Squadron Three One (VF-31) “Tomcatters” aboard USS Leyte (CV-32) as she pulled into San Diego, California, at the end of her Korean deployment. 3 February 1951.

Never modernized from her 1946 arrangement, Leyte was reclassified as CVA-32 in October 1952 and as an anti-submarine carrier, CVS-32, the following August, operating in the Med and Caribbean for the rest of the decade.

Reclassified as a training carrier, AVT-10, in May 1959, she decommissioned the same day and was sold for scrap in 1970 after her parts were raided to keep her sisters in service; her usefulness to the Navy was at an end.

Sea Legs

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The mighty 21,000-ton dreadnought, USS Florida (Battleship No. 30), gives Naval Academy Midshipmen a taste of salt water on their annual cruise during the early 1920s. She is followed by USS Delaware (BB-28) and USS North Dakota (BB-29).

NARA photo 19-N-12607. National Archives Identifier 496081005

According to DANFS, Florida was familiar to the Mids, having often carried them as part of the Practice Squadron to sea during her career. This included a tour of European ports of call, including Copenhagen, Denmark; Greenock, Scotland; Lisbon, Portugal; and Gibraltar in 1923; as well as regular summer cruises in both 1912 and 1913 then 1927 through 1930, ranging from Nova Scotia to the Panama Canal. She also conducted coastal cruises for Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) students from Harvard, Yale, and Georgia Tech.

Her summer trip to Europe, her decks teeming with Mids, would be her last.

USS Florida (BB-30) at Kiel, Germany, 7 July 1930, during a Midshipman’s training cruise. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-1025114

Decommissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 16 February 1931, Florida was authorized on 1 April to be placed on the list of Navy vessels to be disposed of by salvage in accordance with the London Naval Treaty of 1930. Consequently, Florida was stricken from the Navy Register on 6 April 1931, and her final scrapping, including all shipments of materials sold or reserved, was completed on 30 September 1932.

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