:patrioticpinoy:

trace the footsteps of this ship against the dates on the postcards below (written by a filipino sailor). this ships was considered very big at the time , that it had it's own post office. note the postmarks on the cards. Uso na pala mag "US navy" a hundred years ago.


>From the “Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships,”
(1976) Vol. 6, pp.560-561.

USS SOUTH DAKOTA
Armored Cruiser No. 9
Displacement: 13,680 t.
Length: 503’11”
Beam: 69’7”
Draft: 26’1”
Speed: 22 k.
Complement: 829
Armament: 4 8”; 14 6”; 18 3”; 12 3-pdrs.; 2 18” torpedo
tubes
Class: PENNSYLVANIA

The first SOUTH DAKOTA (Armored Cruiser No. 9) was
launched on 21 July 1904 by the Union Iron Works, San
Francisco, Calif.; sponsored by Miss Grace Harreid; and
commissioned on 27 January 1908, Capt. James T. Smith in
command.
Assigned to the Armored Cruiser Squadron, Pacific
Fleet, SOUTH DAKOTA cruised off the west coast of the United
States through August 1908. On 24 August, she departed San
Francisco for a cruise to Samoa and headed eastward in
September to operate in Central and South American waters.
In the autumn of 1909, she deployed westward with the
Armored Cruiser Squadron. The force called at ports in the
Admiralty Islands, the Philippines, Japan, and China, before
returning to Honolulu on 31 January 1910.
In February, SOUTH DAKOTA joined TENNESSEE (Armored
Cruiser No. 10) to form a Special Service Squadron which
cruised off the Atlantic coast of South America and then
returned to the Pacific late in the year.
Following operations along the Pacific coast during
much of 1911, SOUTH DAKOTA began a cruise in December with
the Armored Cruiser Squadron which took her from California
to the Hawaiian Islands, the Marianas, the Philippines, and
Japan. After returning to the west coast in August 1912,
she participated in periodic squadron exercises until she
was placed in reserve on 30 December 1913 at the Puget Sound
Navy Yard.
Detached from the Reserve Force, Pacific Fleet, on 17
April 1914, SOUTH DAKOTA made a cruise southward into
Mexican waters in June and another westward to the Hawaiian
Islands in August. She returned to Bremerton on 14
September and reverted to reserve status on 28 September.
She was the flagship of the Reserve Force, Pacific Fleet,
from 21 January 1915 until relieved by MILWAUKEE (Cruiser
No. 21) on 5 February 1916. She remained in reduced
commission through 1916; and on 5 April 1917, she was again
placed in full commission.
Transferred to the Atlantic after the United States
entered World War I, SOUTH DAKOTA departed Bremerton on 12
April. She joined PITTSBURG (ACR-4), PUEBLO (ACR-7), and
FREDERICK (ACR-8) at Colon, Panama, on 29 May 1917; thence
proceeded to the South Atlantic for patrol duty operating
from Brazilian ports. On 2 November 1918, she escorted
troop convoys from the east coast to the mid-Atlantic
rendezvous point where British cruisers joined the convoy.
Following the Armistice, SOUTH DAKOTA made two voyages from
Brest, France, to New York, returning troops to the United
States.
In the summer of 1919, SOUTH DAKOTA was ordered back to
the Pacific to serve as flagship of the Asiatic Fleet,
arriving at Manila on 27 October 1919. SOUTH DAKOTA was
renamed HURON on 7 June 1920 and was designated CA-9 on 17
July 1920. She served in the Asiatic Fleet for the next
seven years, operating in Philippine waters during the
winter and out of Shanghai and Chefoo during the summer.
Ordered home, HURON departed Manila on the last day of
1926 and arrived at the Puget Sound Navy Yard on 3 March
1927. She was decommissioned on 17 June 1927 and remained
in reserve until she was struck from the Navy list on 15
November 1929. She was sold on 11 February 1930 for
scrapping in accordance with the provisions of the London
Treaty for the limitation and reduction of naval armament.