work in 1911
Florida was
laid down at the
New York Navy Yard on 9 March 1909. She was
launched on 12 May 1910, and
commissioned into the
US Navy on 15 September 1911. She spent the next several months on training cruises in the
Caribbean and off Maine, after which she moved to
Hampton Roads to join the
Atlantic Fleet. She arrived on 29 March 1912, and was made the
flagship of the
1st Battleship Division (
BatDiv). For the next two years, she participated in the normal routine of peacetime exercises with her division and squadron and with the entire Atlantic Fleet. She also conducted extensive gunnery training and took midshipmen from the US
Naval Academy on midshipman training cruises. In early 1914 during the
Mexican Revolution, the United States intervened in the fighting and
occupied Veracruz.
Florida and her sister were the first capital ships to arrive in
Veracruz, on 16 February. These two ships and landed a total contingent of over a thousand
marines and
bluejackets to begin the occupation of the city on 21 April. Over the next three days, the marines battled Mexican defenders in the city and suffered ninety-four casualties (19 dead), while killing hundreds of Mexicans in return. Twenty-five men from
Floridas crew received the
Medal of Honor for their actions during the battle. In July,
Florida departed Mexican waters to return to normal fleet operations, and in October, she was reassigned to the
2nd Battleship Division.
World War I On 6 April 1917, the United States declared war on Germany over its
unrestricted submarine warfare campaign.
Florida participated in wartime readiness exercises in 1917, before steaming across the Atlantic with Battleship Division 9. The division, which consisted of
Florida, , , and , left the United States on 25 November. The division was sent to European waters to reinforce the British
Grand Fleet in the North Sea. After arriving in
Scapa Flow, Battleship Division 9 became the 6th Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet. Starting in late 1917, the Germans had begun to use surface raiders to attack the British convoys to Scandinavia; this forced the British to send squadrons from the Grand Fleet to escort the convoys. On 6 February 1918, the 6th Battle Squadron and eight British
destroyers escorted a convoy of
merchant ships to Norway. While on the operation,
Floridas lookouts reported spotting a
U-boat, though the commander of
Wyoming later argued that this and others issued by the rest of the squadron were false reports. The squadron was back in Scapa Flow on 10 February;
Delaware escorted two more such convoys in March and April. During the March convoy,
Florida,
Wyoming, , and four destroyers became separated from the convoy in heavy fog, and only relocated it the following morning when the fog had lifted. The squadron returned to Scapa Flow on 13 March. On 22–24 April, the German High Seas Fleet sortied to intercept one of the convoys in the hope of cutting off and destroying the escorting battleship squadron.
Florida and the rest of the Grand Fleet left Scapa Flow on 24 April in an attempt to intercept the Germans, but the High Seas Fleet had already broken off the operation and was on its way back to port. On 30 June, the 6th Squadron was cruising in the North Sea in support of a mine-laying operation; while on patrol,
Florida and several other ships fired on what they incorrectly believed to be U-boat wakes. By early November, the
Spanish Flu pandemic had spread to the Grand Fleet;
Florida was the only ship of the American contingent not to be quarantined for the virus. On 20 November,
Florida and the rest of the Grand Fleet rendezvoused with the High Seas Fleet, which was then interned in Scapa Flow, following the
Armistice with Germany that ended the war. Shortly thereafter,
Florida was replaced with the newly commissioned .
Florida then joined the passenger ship on 12 December, which was carrying President
Woodrow Wilson on his way to France to participate in the peace negotiations. The ships arrived in
Brest, France on 13 December, after which
Florida returned to the United States. She was present during the
Victory Naval Review in the
North River in New York City at the end of December.
Inter-War Period Florida returned to normal peacetime duties in January 1919, when she arrived in Norfolk on the 4th. She steamed to the
Azores to take weather observations for Navy
seaplanes that were to make the first aerial crossing the Atlantic. In August 1920,
Florida was present during the 300th anniversary of the
Pilgrims' landing at
Provincetown, Massachusetts. In December 1920, she made a good-will cruise to South America with
US Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby aboard and over the next three years conducted amphibious operation training with the Marine Corps in the Caribbean.
Florida also participated in the normal routine of exercises and midshipman cruises. During this period, she was made the flagship of the Commander, Control Force, US Fleet. In early 1924,
Florida took part in the
Fleet Problem III maneuvers, where she and her sister
Utah acted as stand-ins for the new s. In June 1924,
Florida was taken out of service for a modernization at the
Boston Navy Yard, which lasted from 1 April 1925 to 1 November 1926. During the reconstruction, her deck armor was strengthened and
anti-torpedo blisters were installed to increase her resistance to underwater damage. Her secondary battery was rearranged to improve its efficiency, and four of her 5-inch guns, which were mounted in
sponsons, were removed. She was also reboilered with four
White-Forster oil-fired models that had been removed from the battleships and
battlecruisers scrapped as a result of the
Washington Naval Treaty. Her Parsons turbines were replaced with new Curtis
geared turbines and her two funnels were trunked into one stack. The rear
lattice mast was replaced with a pole mast, which was moved further aft. Her two submerged torpedo tubes were also removed.
Florida remained in service for a few years in her modernized form, and participated in joint Army-Navy coast defense exercises in June 1928. Under the terms of the
London Naval Treaty of 1930, however, which reduced the battle fleets of the signatory countries, she was to be disposed of. She was decommissioned accordingly on 16 February 1931 at the
Philadelphia Naval Yard, struck from the
naval register on 6 April, and was broken up in Philadelphia later that year. Demolition work was completed by 30 September 1932. The one-ton
ship's bell was saved and transported to the
University of Florida in
Gainesville, where it was first installed in a clock atop a classroom building. The clock was removed in the early 1950s and the bell was put in storage. In 1960, it was installed atop the stands in the north end zone at
Florida Field, where it was traditionally rung by either cheerleaders or fans at the conclusion of a victory by the
Florida Gator football team. As the stadium underwent successive expansions and renovations, the bell was moved to a location under the north end zone concourse and then was removed from the stadium in 1992. It has been restored and is now housed in the lobby of the
Museum of Florida History. ==Notes==