USS Colorado (ACR-7)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other ships with the same name, see USS Colorado and USS Pueblo.

USS Colorado (ACR-7), port side view September 1907.
History
United States
Name
  • USS Colorado (1903–1916)
  • USS Pueblo (1916–1930)
Namesake
Ordered7 June 1900
Awarded10 January 1901
BuilderWilliam Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Cost$3,780,000 (contract price of hull and machinery)
Yard number316
Laid down25 April 1901
Launched25 April 1903
Sponsored byMiss C. M. Peabody
Commissioned19 January 1905
Decommissioned28 September 1927
RenamedPueblo, 9 September 1916
ReclassifiedCA-7, 17 July 1920
Identification
FateSold for scrap, 2 October 1930
General characteristics (as built)
Class and typePennsylvania-class armored cruiser
Displacement
  • 13,680 long tons (13,900 t) (standard)
  • 15,138 long tons (15,381 t) (full load)
Length
  • 504 ft (154 m) oa
  • 502 ft (153 m) pp
Beam69 ft 6 in (21.18 m)
Draft24 ft 1 in (7.34 m) (mean)
Installed power
  • 32 ×
    Niclausse boilers
  • 23,000 
    kW
    )
Propulsion
Speed
  • 22 kn (41 km/h; 25 mph)
  • 22.24 kn (41.19 km/h; 25.59 mph) (Speed on Trials)
Complement80 officers 745 enlisted 64 Marines
Armament
Armor
  • Belt: 6 in (152 mm) (top & waterline)
  • 5 in (127 mm) (bottom)
  • Deck: 1+1⁄2 in (38 mm) - 6 in (amidships)
  • 4 in (102 mm) (forward & aft)
  • Barbettes: 6 in
  • Turrets: 6 - 6+1⁄2 in (165 mm)
  • Conning Tower: 9 in (229 mm)
General characteristics (Pre-1911 Refit)[1]
Installed power16 ×
Babcock & Wilcox boilers
Armament
  • 4 ×
    8 in/45 cal
    Mark 6 BL rifles (2×2)
  • 14 × 6 in/50 cal Mark 6 BL rifles
  • 18 × 3 in/50 cal rapid-fire guns
  • 4 × 3-pounder (47 mm) Driggs-Schroeder saluting guns
  • 2 × 18 in torpedo tubes
General characteristics (Pre-1921 Refit)[2]
Armament
  • 4 × 8 in/45 cal Mark 6 BL rifles (2×2)
  • 14 × 6 in/50 cal Mark 6 BL rifles
  • 10 × 3 in/50 cal rapid-fire guns
  • 2 × 3 in/50 caliber anti-aircraft guns
  • 4 × 3-pounder (47 mm) Driggs-Schroeder saluting guns
  • 2 × 18 in torpedo tubes

USS Colorado (ACR-7), also referred to as "Armored Cruiser No. 7", and renamed USS Pueblo (CA-7) in 1916, was a United States Navy Pennsylvania-class armored cruiser. She was the second US Navy ship named Colorado, and the first to be named after the State of Colorado. The first, Colorado, was named for the Colorado River.[3]

Construction

Colorado was laid down on 25 April 1901,

James H. Peabody; and commissioned on 19 January 1905.[4]

Service history

Pre-World War I

Colorado sailed on her

Solomons Island, Maryland, from 23 to 24 June 1905.[4]

Colorado participated in a fleet problem in the Caribbean, from 10 January–17 April 1906. Captain Kennedy died while the armored cruiser maneuvered at sea. He was buried ashore at

Joseph L. Jayne, assumed command of the ship on 12 April 1906.[4]

President

Asiatic Station, on 7 September 1906. After cruising to Japan and China to represent American interests in the Far East, she returned to San Francisco, on 27 September 1907, for exercises along the Californian and Mexican coasts, in the Hawaiian Islands, and off Central and South America.[4]

The running aground of Colorado on 15 August 1908, lead to the upgrading and improvements of lighthouses in

West Seattle and Seattle, with minor damage.[6] She served again in the Far East, from September 1909 – February 1910.[4]

Ceremonial visits and receptions for dignitaries highlighted the next two years, and from November 1911 – July 1912, Colorado returned to the Far East for duty. Between August and November, she sailed to land and support expeditionary troops at

Puget Sound Navy Yard on 17 May 1913.[4]

Once more in full commission on 9 February 1915, she sailed as the

Pacific Reserve Fleet, patrolling in Mexican waters and observing and keeping in touch with interned merchant ships during the revolution. She returned to reserve status on 26 September 1915.[4]

World War I

She was renamed Pueblo, in order to free up her original name for use with the Colorado-class battleship Colorado, on 9 November 1916, while in overhaul.[4]

After Submarine H-3 ran aground in Humboldt Bay, California, on 14 December 1916. USS Milwaukee (C-21) sailed for Eureka, to assist in salvaging the boat on 5 January 1917. While she attempted to float the submarine on 13 January, the cruiser stranded in the first line of breakers at Samoa Beach, off Eureka. Her crewmen reached shore safely. Pueblo made for the area and stood by Milwaukee on 24 January, but attempts to salvage the stricken cruiser proved unsuccessful. Milwaukee was decommissioned on 6 March 1917, and a storm in November 1918, broke the ship in two.[4]

Pueblo returned to full commission upon the entry of the United States into

South Atlantic, protecting shipping, paying diplomatic calls to South American ports, and preventing the sailing of German and Austrian ships interned at Bahia, Brazil.[4]

Pueblo returned to

American Expeditionary Force.[4]

Post war

Pueblo arrived at Philadelphia, on 8 August 1919, and was placed in reduced commission until decommissioned on 22 September. She was redesignated CA-7 in 1920. In commission for the last time from 2 April 1921 – 28 September 1927, she served as

3rd Naval District. She was scrapped on 2 October 1930.[4]

A plaque commemorating the crew of USS Colorado was shown briefly in season 13, episode 1 of American Pickers.

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b Ships' Data.
  2. ^ US Navy.
  3. ^ Chamberlain 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DANFS.
  5. ^ "Bush Point Lighthouse".
  6. ^ Penn State.

Bibliography

Further reading

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