USS Illinois
General Statistics
Displacement: 11,565 tons
Length: 368 feet
Beam: 72.3 feet
Draft: 23.5 feet
Speed: 17 knots
Complement: 660 officers and men
Armament: 4 x 13 inch guns
14 x 6 inch guns
16 x 6 pounder guns
Profile plan
Inboard profile plan of the USS Illinois (BB-7) as completed.
The USS Illinois (BB-7), was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the twenty first state, and the lead ship of her class.
Her keel was laid down the10th of February 1897 by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company of Newport News, Virginia. She was launched on the 4th of October 1898 sponsored by Miss Nancy Leiter, and commissioned on the16th of September 1901 with Captain G.A. Converse in command.
A picture at launching day, Newport News, Virginia, October 4 1898.
A picture of the fitting out at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company shipyard, Newport News, Virginia, circa 1901, soon after she ran her trials. The number "17.31" painted on her after turret proclaims the speed achieved on the trial run.
Note the numbers on her hull side, and the broom lashed to her foremast peak.
A picture of the cabin of Capt. Thomas C. Edrington II, circa 1907 on board the USS Illinois.
After shakedown and training in Chesapeake Bay, the new battleship sailed on the 20th of November 1901 for Algiers, Louisiana, for her first assignment where she was used to test a new floating dry dock.
Here is a picture in the new floating drydock at New Orleans Naval Station, Louisiana, 6 January 1902. The original caption reads: " Illinois (BB-7) was placed in the new New Orleans floating dry dock to test her capabilities (the dry dock's). At two o'clock the huge ship stood high and dry on the keel blocks."
A colourised picture in the new floating drydock at the New Orleans Naval Station, Louisiana, circa January 1902.
She returned to Newport News in January 1902 and from 15 February to 28 February served as flagship for Rear Admiral R.D. Evans during the reception for Prince Henry of Prussia.
A buff white Illinois (BB-7) anchored with other ships of the Atlantic fleet, possibly from 15 to 28 February 1902 when she served as flagship for Rear Admiral R. D. Evans during the reception for Prince Henry of Prussia
Bearing the flag of Rear Admiral A.S. Crowninshield, the battleship departed New York City on the 30th of April 1902 and arrived at Naples on the 18th of May, where the Admiral took command of the European Squadron. Illinois carried out training and ceremonial duties until the14th of July 1902, when she grounded in the harbour of Christiana, Norway, and had to return to England for repairs. She remained at Chatham until the 1st of September 1902, then proceeded to the Mediterranean Sea and South Atlantic for fleet maneuvers.
Illinois was detached from the European Squadron on the 10th of January 1903 and assigned to the North Atlantic. She engaged in fleet maneuvers, gunnery and seamanship training, and ceremonial operations until December 1907, when she joined the Great White Fleet for the cruise around the world.
Here is a great picture of the Maine (BB-10) versus Illinois (BB-7) boat race, circa 1907. Illinois in the lead.
The USS Illinois (BB-7) in dry-dock, circa 1907.
The USS Illinois was placed in reserve commission on the15th of April 1912 and recommissioned the 2nd of November 1912, in time to take part in winter fleet exercises and battle maneuvers with the Atlantic Fleet.
During the summers of 1913 and 1914 Illinois made training cruises to Europe with Midshipmen.
A picture of a sailor painting one of the battleship's boat cranes, as she is being repainted into wartime grey, circa April 1917.
In 1919 the ship was again laid up at Philadelphia Navy Yard until she was loaned to the State of New York on the 23rd of October 1921 for use by the Naval Militia.
Excluded from further use as a warship by the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty, Illinois was fitted out as a floating armory at New York Navy Yard in 1924 and was assigned to the New York Naval Reserve.
Seen here converted into a floating barracks ship at the New York Navy Yard, in 1924. (ex-Illinois (BB-7) was then assigned to the New York Naval Reserve.
Another picture of the floating naval barracks
She remained there for more than 30 years, though reclassified IX-15 on the 8th of January 1941 and renamed Prairie State to allow her name to be assigned to a projected new battleship. During World War II she served as a Naval Reserve Midshipmen Training School at New York. Following the war, she was retained on loan to the State as quarters for a Naval Reserve unit until the 31st of December 1956.
Prairie State, after over 50 years of useful service to the Navy and the Nation, was towed to Baltimore, Maryland, and sold for scrap to Bethlehem Steel Company on the18th of May 1956.
Regards
Sean
