The cruiser was
laid down by the
Fore River Shipbuilding Company at
Quincy, Massachusetts, on 14 August 1905, and
launched on 29 May 1907; sponsored by Miss Mary Campbell.
Birmingham was
commissioned on 11 April 1908,
Commander Burns Tracy Walling in command.
Birmingham served with the
Atlantic Fleet until 27 June 1911, and went into reserve at
Boston three days later. One of her sailors, Chief Electrician
William E. Snyder, received the
Medal of Honor for rescuing a shipmate from drowning on 4 January 1910. From
Birminghams deck, civilian pilot
Eugene Ely made the
first airplane take-off from a warship on 14 November 1910 in a
Curtiss Model D biplane designed by
Glenn Curtiss. Recommissioned on 15 December 1911, she made a short cruise to the
West Indies and then reverted to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at
Philadelphia on 20 April 1912. From 19 May – 11 July, she was in commission for service on
Ice Patrol and then returned to the Philadelphia Reserve Group. Recommissioned on 1 October 1913,
Birmingham carried the Commissioners of the
Panama–Pacific International Exposition on a South American tour from 3 October – 26 December, and was then outfitted at
Philadelphia Navy Yard as a tender to the Torpedo Flotilla. She left the yard on 2 February 1914, and resumed operations with the Atlantic Fleet as
flagship of the Torpedo Flotilla. On April 20, she received orders to carry a detachment of aircraft to
Tampico as part of the
US occupation of Veracruz, becoming part of the first operational use of naval aircraft. On May 24, after spending a month near Tampico, she rendezvoused with the fleet at
Veracruz before returning to the United States.
World War I and fate Following American entrance into World War I,
Birmingham patrolled along the northeast U.S. coast until 14 June 1917, when she sailed from
New York as part of the escort for the first US troop convoy to France. After returning to New York she was fitted for service in Europe and in August reported to
Gibraltar as flagship for
Rear Admiral A. P. Niblack, Commander, US Forces Gibraltar. She escorted convoys between Gibraltar, the
British Isles, and France until the Armistice. After a short cruise in the eastern
Mediterranean, she returned to the United States in January 1919. From July 1919 to May 1922, she was based at
San Diego, California, as flagship of Destroyer Squadrons,
Pacific Fleet, and then moved to
Balboa, Canal Zone as flagship of the Special Service Squadron. After cruising along the Central American and northern South American coast, she returned to Philadelphia and was decommissioned there on 1 December 1923, being sold for scrap on 13 May 1930. ==Commanders==