Construction and the Great White Fleet The
keel for
Kansas was
laid down at the
New York Shipbuilding Corporation of
Camden, New Jersey. She was
launched on 12 August 1905. After completing
fitting-out work, the ship was
commissioned into the fleet on 18 April 1907 in Philadelphia.
Captain Charles E. Vreeland was the ship's first commanding officer. She began a
shakedown cruise on 17 August off
Provincetown, Massachusetts, that revealed the need for modifications, which began at Philadelphia on 24 September. On 9 December, she joined the ships that would be assigned to the
Great White Fleet in
Hampton Roads. On 16 December,
Kansas steamed out of Hampton Roads with the Great White Fleet for a circumnavigation of the globe. The cruise of the Great White Fleet was conceived as a way to demonstrate American military power, particularly to Japan. Tensions had begun to rise between the United States and Japan after the latter's victory in the
Russo-Japanese War in 1905, particularly over racist opposition to Japanese immigration to the United States. The press in both countries began to call for war, and Roosevelt hoped to use the demonstration of naval might to deter Japanese aggression. The cruise was also intended to assert the United States' status as a global naval power and to convince
Congress of the need to support increased naval expenditures. The fleet cruised south to the
Caribbean and then to South America, making stops in
Port of Spain,
Rio de Janeiro,
Punta Arenas, and
Valparaíso, among other cities. After arriving in Mexico in March 1908, the fleet spent three weeks conducting gunnery practice The fleet then resumed its voyage up the Pacific coast of the Americas, stopping in
San Francisco and
Seattle before crossing the Pacific to Australia, stopping in Hawaii on the way. Stops in the South Pacific included
Melbourne,
Sydney, and
Auckland. The fleet then turned north for the Philippines, stopping in
Manila, before continuing on to Japan where a welcoming ceremony was held in
Yokohama. Three weeks of exercises followed in
Subic Bay in the Philippines in November. The ships passed
Singapore on 6 December and entered the Indian Ocean; they coaled in
Colombo before proceeding to the
Suez Canal and coaling again at
Port Said, Egypt. The fleet called in several Mediterranean ports before stopping in
Gibraltar, where an international fleet of British, Russian, French, and Dutch warships greeted the Americans. The ships then crossed the Atlantic to return to Hampton Roads on 22 February 1909, having traveled . There, they conducted a
naval review for President
Theodore Roosevelt.
Peacetime activities A week after returning from the voyage,
Kansas steamed to the
Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for an overhaul after the lengthy period at sea. The work was completed on 17 June, and
Kansas thereafter began a peacetime routine of maneuvers and various training exercises that continued throughout the following year. On 15 November 1910, she joined the 2nd Battleship Division for a cruise to Europe, stopping in
Cherbourg, France, and
Portland, England. The ships then recrossed the Atlantic, stopping in
Santo Domingo and Cuba before continuing on to Hampton Roads. A second trip to Europe took place in mid-1911; this time, the division steamed into the
Baltic Sea, visiting several ports in the region, including
Copenhagen, Denmark,
Stockholm, Sweden,
Kronstadt, Russia, and
Kiel, Germany. The ships arrived back in Provincetown on 13 July and thereafter joined fleet training exercises off the
Virginia Capes.
Kansas steamed to the
Norfolk Navy Yard on 3 November for another overhaul.
Kansas began a series of extensive maneuvers in early 1912, based out of
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. She returned to Hampton Roads to greet a squadron of German warships—the
battlecruiser and the
light cruisers and —that visited the port from 28 May to 8 June.
Kansas then embarked on a training cruise along the east coast of the United States for
midshipmen from the
US Naval Academy on 21 June. She returned the midshipmen to Annapolis on 30 August. On 15 November, she began a training cruise to the
Gulf of Mexico, arriving back in Philadelphia for an overhaul on 21 December. She returned to duty on 5 May 1913 and cruised the east coast for the next several months. On 25 October, she crossed the Atlantic and cruised the
Mediterranean Sea, which included a stop in
Genoa, Italy. After returning to Guantánamo Bay, she was sent to the coast of Mexico to protect US interests during the
Mexican Revolution. The ship was back in Norfolk on 14 March 1914, and another overhaul at Philadelphia followed on 11 April. On 1 July,
Kansas steamed out of Norfolk to carry the remains of the recently deceased Venezuelan ambassador to the United States back to his home country. She arrived in
La Guaira on 14 July before returning to the Mexican coast to support the forces
occupying Veracruz. She left the area on 29 October to respond to unrest in
Port au Prince, Haiti, arriving on 3 November. She remained there for a month before departing on 1 December for Philadelphia. The ship then resumed the normal peacetime routine of training exercises off the east coast and off Cuba until 30 September 1916, when she underwent another overhaul in Philadelphia.
World War I , in 1919; (left) and (right) are visible in the distance She was still in dry dock when the United States declared war on Germany on 6 April 1917. On 10 July, she was assigned to the 4th Battleship Division (4th
BatDiv) and was tasked primarily with training naval personnel in the
Chesapeake Bay. In September 1918, she was assigned to
convoy escort duty, with the first such mission on 6 September. The ship departed with her
sister ship and the
dreadnought to protect a fast HX troopship convoy. On 16 September, the three battleships left the convoy in the Atlantic and steamed back to the United States, while other escorts brought the convoy into port. On the 17th,
South Carolina slipped her
starboard propeller, which forced her to reduce speed to using only the port shaft.
Kansas and
New Hampshire remained with
South Carolina to escort her back to port. Convoy duty did not last long, as the Germans signed the
Armistice that ended the war on 11 November. Following the end of the war in November 1918, she joined the effort to return American soldiers from France, making five trips to
Brest, France. The first of these took place in December;
Kansas and the battleship departed on 10 December and arrived in Brest on the 22nd. The two ships embarked a total of 2,732 soldiers between them over the course of four days before departing for the return trip. A major overhaul at Philadelphia followed from 29 June 1919 to 17 May 1920. She then proceeded to Annapolis, arriving on the 20th and embarking midshipmen for another training cruise, this time to the Pacific Ocean. She passed through the
Panama Canal and visited a number of ports on the west coast, including
Honolulu, Seattle, San Francisco, and
San Pedro. She left San Pedro on 11 August bound for the Panama Canal and crossed into the Caribbean for a stop at Guantánamo Bay.
Kansas arrived back in Annapolis on 2 September, where she disembarked the midshipmen. Rear Admiral
Charles Frederick Hughes raised his flag aboard
Kansas in Philadelphia as the
flagship of the 4th BatDiv. The ship departed on 27 September for a cruise to the Caribbean. While in
Grassey Bay, Bermuda on 2 October,
Edward,
Prince of Wales, visited the ship. On the 4th, she passed through the Panama Canal and steamed to
American Samoa, stopping in
Pago Pago, Samoa on 11 November.
Kansas then visited Hawaii before crossing back through the Panama Canal and eventually returning to Philadelphia on 7 March 1921. Another midshipmen training cruise followed on 4 June; three other battleships joined her for a visit to European waters. Stops included
Oslo, Norway,
Lisbon, Portugal, and Gibraltar. They passed through Guantánamo Bay before returning to Annapolis on 28 August. A visit to New York followed from 3 to 19 September. She arrived back at Philadelphia the following day, where she was decommissioned on 16 December.
Kansas was stricken from the
Naval Vessel Register on 24 August 1923 in accordance with the terms of the
Washington Naval Treaty and was subsequently
broken up for scrap. ==Footnotes==