USS Idaho (BB-24) - United States Navy

United States Navy

The second Idaho (Battleship No. 24) was laid down on 12 May 1904, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by William Cramp and Sons Ship and Engine Building Co. and launched on 9 December 1905. She was sponsored by Louise May Gooding, 13-year-old daughter of Idaho Governor Frank R. Gooding, and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, League Island, on 1 April 1908, with Captain Samuel W. B. Diehl in command. Idaho departed Philadelphia in April 1908 for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, via Hampton Roads. Following a shakedown off the coast of Cuba in 1908, she returned to Philadelphia for final fitting out and repairs. In the summer of 1908 she transported a detachment of marines to Colon in the Canal Zone to support a peaceful election process.

Following a period of repairs at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Idaho steamed to Norfolk, where she received a new "cage" mainmast tower, conducted testing of her guns out of Hampton Roads, and then returned to Philadelphia for more repairs and work.

In early 1909 she joined the USS Mississippi and other ships to meet the Great White Fleet upon its return and was reviewed by the President. For the remainder of the year and into 1910 she alternated between the waters off New England and southern waters, including the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, along with a voyage in the Mississippi River and war games out of Guantanamo Bay.

In late 1910 she sailed across the Atlantic with the Third Division of the Atlantic Fleet to Gravesend Bay, England, and then to Brest, France, returning to Guantanamo Bay in early 1911.

After routine service with the Atlantic Fleet and in Cuban waters, Idaho departed Philadelphia on 4 May 1911, bound for the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River. She visited the Louisiana ports of New Orleans and Baton Rouge, steamed past the mouth of the Red River, and visited St. Joseph. She called at Vicksburg and Natchez in late May before visiting a succession of Louisiana ports.

From mid-1911 to early 1913 she again performed routine service and maneuvers with the Atlantic Fleet and in Cuban waters, with periodic visits to Philadelphia for repairs.

In February 1913, unrest in Mexico led to a coup d'état and the death of deposed President Francisco I. Madero. For the protection of American interests, Idaho deployed to Tampico in May and to Veracruz in June. She rejoined the fleet in Newport in late June. She then proceeded to the Philadelphia Navy Yard, where she was placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet on 27 October 1913.

Idaho remained in reserve until recommissioned at Philadelphia in March 1914. At Annapolis, she embarked midshipmen bound for the Mediterranean in company with USS Missouri and USS Illinois.

After visiting Tangier, Gibraltar, and Naples, USS Idaho arrived at the French port of Villefranche on 17 July 1914. The midshipmen were disembarked en masse to the USS Maine, and Idaho was formally transferred to the Greek Navy on 30 July 1914. The US received $12 million for her and USS Mississippi.