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Photo # NH 99945:  USS Tennessee ready for launching, 3 December 1904.

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Tennessee (Armored Cruiser # 10), 1906-1916 --
Construction, 1903-1906

The armored cruiser Tennessee was authorized by The Congress in July 1902, with her construction subsequently contracted to the William Cramp and Sons shipyard of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her keel was laid on 20 June 1903 and she was launched on 3 December 1904, sponsored by Annie Keith Frazier, daughter of the Governor of Tennessee. A few years later Miss Frazier was a principal organizer of the Society of Sponsors of the United States Navy, a group which remains active to this day. After more than a year and a half of outfitting and trials, USS Tennessee was placed in commission at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 17 July 1906.

This page features all the views we have concerning the construction of USS Tennessee (Armored Cruiser # 10).

For more views concerning this ship, see:

  • USS Tennessee (Armored Cruiser # 10), 1906-1916. Renamed Memphis in 1916.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 99945

    USS Tennessee
    (Armored Cruiser # 10)

    Fine screen halftone reproduction of a photograph of the ship ready for launching, at the Cramp Shipyard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 3 December 1904. A portrait of her Sponsor, Miss Annie Keith Frazier, is vignetted into the view.
    The original print was provided by Mrs. (Annie) Keith Frazier Somerville, founder of The Society of Sponsors of the United States Navy, for printing as the frontispiece of a calendar produced by the USS Memphis (originally named Tennessee) "Survivors" organization in 1962 for the benefit of needy members.

    Collection of The Society of Sponsors of the United States Navy.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 81KB; 740 x 550 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 99990-KN (color)

    Miss Annie Keith Frazier,
    Daughter of the Governor of Tennessee and Sponsor of USS Tennessee (Armored Cruiser # 10)

    Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken when she graduated from high school. It was published in the Philadelphia "Evening Bulletin" on 3 December 1904, the day of USS Tennessee's launching ceremonies.
    The original newspaper clipping has been annotated with a typewritten note by the subject.

    Collection of the Society of Sponsors of the U.S. Navy.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 76KB; 360 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 99991-KN (color)

    Miss Annie Keith Frazier,
    Daughter of the Governor of Tennessee and Sponsor of USS Tennessee (Armored Cruiser # 10)

    Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken at USS Tennessee's launching ceremonies, at the Cramp shipyard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 3 December 1904. It was published in the Philadelphia "Press" on or about that date.
    The original newspaper clipping has been annotated with a typewritten note by the subject.

    Collection of the Society of Sponsors of the U.S. Navy.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 159KB; 455 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 46213

    USS Tennessee
    (Armored Cruiser # 10)

    In port, probably while fitting out circa early 1906.
    Note that her six-inch broadside guns are not installed, though the ship appears to be otherwise complete.
    Photograph may have been taken at the yard of Tennessee's builder, William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

    Donation of Rear Admiral Ammen Farenholt, USN (Medical Corps).

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 76KB; 740 x 540 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 99948

    USS Tennessee
    (Armored Cruiser # 10)

    Running trials at 22.16 knots, circa February 1906.
    Fine screen halftone reproduction of a photograph taken by N.L. Stebbins, of Boston, Massachusetts.
    Copied from "The New Navy of the United States", by N.L. Stebbins, (New York, 1912).

    Donation of David Shadell, 1987.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 80KB; 740 x 490 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 99944

    USS Tennessee
    (Armored Cruiser # 10)

    Cramp Shipyard party on board the ship, during her builder's trials, 14 February 1906.
    Photographed by the Dawson-Rich Company, 1031 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
    These men are identified (in pencil on the original print) as, left to right, lower row: Doble, Jay, Read, Ed Cramp, and H.S. Grove;
    left to right, upper row: Robinson, Field, Miller, Dodson, Berry and Mull.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 85KB; 740 x 585 pixels

     


    For more views concerning this ship, see:

  • USS Tennessee (Armored Cruiser # 10), 1906-1916. Renamed Memphis in 1916.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 28 January 2005