Please Report Any Broken Links Or Trouble You Might Come Across To The Webmaster
Please Take A Moment To Let Us Know So That We Can Correct Any Problems And Make Your Visit As Enjoyable And As Informative As Possible.

NavSource Online: Battleship Photo Archive

BB-23 USS MISSISSIPPI

Mississippi Class Battleship: Displacement 13,000 Tons, Dimensions, 382'4" (oa) x 77' x 27' (Max)Armament 4 x 12"/45 8 x 8"/45, 8 x 7"/45 12 x 3"/50, 2 21" tt. Armor, 9" Belt, 12" Turrets, 3" Decks, 9" Conning Tower. Machinery, 10,000 HP; 2 vertical, triple expansion engines, 2 screws. Speed, 17 Knots, Crew 744.

Operational and Building Data: Laid down by Cramp, Shipbuilding, Philadelphia, PA., May 12, 1904. Launched September 30, 1905. Commissioned February 1, 1908. Decommissioned July 21, 1914. Stricken July 21, 1914.
Fate: Sold to Greece, July 21, 1914 & renamed Kilkis. Sunk by German bombers while moored in Salamis near Athens on April 10, 1941.
Click On Image
For Full Size Image		 Size Image Description Contributed
By And/Or Copyright
BB-23 Mississippi 46k The Mississippi (BB-23) slides down the launching ramps at the Cramp Shipyard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 30 September 1905. Photo courtesy of greatwhitefleet.info, by William Stewart.
BB-23 Mississippi 112k Mississippi (BB-23) fitting out at the Cramp shipyard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1907. Note: Ship's name on stern; hull primed for painting; after 12"/45 gun turret with roof not yet installed. USNHC # 19-N-8-18-14.
BB-Mississippi & Idaho 82k Idaho (BB-24) and Mississippi (BB-23) fitting out at the Cramp shipyard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, circa late 1907 or early 1908. Mississippi, commissioned in February 1908, is presumably the more complete ship, in the center of the photograph. USNHC # NH 86366, courtesy of Ted Stone, 1977.
BB-23 Mississippi 107k View on the afterdeck, looking forward, 1908. Note: 12"/45 gun turret; after bridges with stump mainmast, searchlights and 3-pounder guns; winches, hatches and hose reel on the main deck. Photographed by Enrique Muller Photograph # 19-N-60-10-12, from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.
BB-23 Mississippi 51k Mississippi (BB-23) as completed, line drawing by A.D. Baker III. Photo and text courtesy of U.S. Battleships: An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman.
BB-23 Mississippi 72k 1908 photo, as completed with military masts. USN photo.
BB-23 Mississippi 137k Mississippi (BB-23) dressed with flags, off Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during Founders' Week, 1908. Note motor launch off the starboard quarter, with Mississippi's name painted on its stern, and the ship's name in large letters atop the after superstructure. USNHC # NH 46041.
BB-23 Mississippi 117k View on the foredeck, looking aft, with the forward 12"/45 gun turret trained to starboard, 1908. Note: anchor chain and capstans; hatches; bridge structure with ship's bell attached below its forward end. USNHC # 19-N-60-10-14 photographed by Enrique Muller.
BB-23 Mississippi 111k View looking forward from the ship's port bridge wing, 1908. Note the 12"/45 gun turret with grating hatches open; also winch and capstans, with decorated tops on the latter. An old fortification is in the left distance. USNHC # NH 46043 photographed by Enrique Muller.
BB-23 Mississippi 78k Mississippi (BB-23) underway, circa 1909, soon after she received a "cage" mainmast. Note that she is still fitted with a bow decoration. USNHC # NH 61241.
BB-23 Mississippi 41k Mississippi (BB-23) probably while anchored in the Hudson River, off 145th Street, New York City, during the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, 25 Sept - 9 Oct. 1909. Photo # 4a16081r courtesy of the Library of Congress.
BB-23 Mississippi 61k Mississippi (BB-23) at anchor with another ship in port, possibly after 10 February, sailing that day to join the "Great White Fleet" as it returned from its famous world cruise. Photographed by Brown & Shaffer, 1909. USNHC # NH 101498, collection of Chief Quartermaster John Harold. Partial text courtesy of DANFS.
BB-23 Mississippi 218k Capt. William Freeland Fullam was the commanding officer of the battleship Mississippi (BB-23) from 1909 to 1910. Photo courtesy of the United States Naval Academy & submitted by Bill Gonyo.
BB-23 Mississippi 78k At Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1910, shortly after she was fitted with a a "cage" foremast. USNHC # NH 77099 photographed by J.W. Dawson.
BB-23 Mississippi 27k Mississippi (BB-23) circa 1910, shortly after she was fitted with a "cage" foremast. Courtesy of Joe Radigan.
BB-23 Mississippi 43k Mississippi (BB-23) class after modification with cage masts. Photo and text courtesy of globalsecurity.org.
Guantanamo Bay 127k Guantanamo Bay, Cuba Second Regiment of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet at Deer Point Camp, Guantanamo Bay, 13 February 1910. These men are from the battleships Minnesota (BB-22), New Hampshire (BB-25), Mississippi (BB-23) and Idaho (BB-24). The latter's battalion is in the center of the photograph.
Ships in the harbor are mainly battleships, with some auxiliaries and cruisers also present. Newark (C-1), Station Ship at Guantanamo Bay, is in the center background, with a white hull. 		USNHC # NH 105511. Donation of Truman C. Lane, 1990. Panoramic photograph by American Photo Company, Havana, Cuba.
BB-23 Mississippi 115k Mississippi (BB-23) between 1910 & 1914. Photo from U.S. Warships of World War One, by P.H. Silverstone & submitted by Robert Hurst.
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba62kPanoramic image (made from two individual views), showing U.S. Atlantic Fleet battleships and auxiliaries in Guantanamo Bay, circa the early or middle 1910s.
Ships present include (in left half of image): four Virginia class (BB-13 / 17) battleships, one South Carolina class (BB-26 / 27) battleship, one Delaware class (BB-28 / 29) battleship, two unidentified auxiliaries and a collier; (in right half of image): all six Connecticut class (BB-18 / 22 & 25) battleships, both Mississippi class (BB-23 / 24) battleships, two unidentified auxiliaries, hospital ship Solace (AH-2) and a gunboat. 		USNHC # NH 104537. Photo from the 1909-1924 album of Vice Admiral Olaf M. Hustvedt, USN (Retired). Courtesy of Rick Hauck, 2006.
BB-23 Mississippi 44k Photographed on 3 October 1911, probably off New York City. Photograph # 19-N-13607, from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.
BB-23 Mississippi 65k Capt. William John Maxwell was the commanding officer of the battleship Mississippi (BB-23) in 1911. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress via Bill Gonyo. Photo added 10/31/09.
U.S. Atlantic Fleet battleships71k U.S. Atlantic Fleet battleships steaming toward Mexican waters in 1914. Photograph copyrighted in 1914 by E. Muller, Jr., and Pach.
The following battleships that were dispatched to Mexican waters included the:
Ohio (BB-12), Virginia (BB-13), Nebraska (BB-14), Georgia (BB-15), New Jersey (BB-16), Rhode Island (BB-17), Connecticut (BB-18), Louisiana (BB-19), Vermont (BB-20), Kansas (BB-21), Minnesota (BB-22), Mississippi (BB-23), Idaho (BB-24), New Hampshire (BB-25), South Carolina (BB-26), Michigan (BB-27), Delaware (BB-28), North Dakota (BB-29), Florida (BB-30), Utah (BB-31), Wyoming (BB-32), Arkansas (BB-33), New York (BB-34) & Texas (BB-35).
In insets are (left to right):
Rear Admiral Henry T. Mayo,
Rear Admiral Frank F. Fletcher,
Rear Admiral Charles J. Badger. 		USNHC # NH 60322.
BB-23 Mississippi 112k View on the ship's afterdeck, while she was carrying the Navy's first combat air group to Vera Cruz, Mexico, in April 1914. Planes visible include a Curtiss "AB" type flying boat (on deck at left), and a Curtiss "AH" type floatplane (atop the after 12"/45 gun turret). Note boom rigged to the battleship's superstructure, at left, for hoisting the planes on and off the ship. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, # 80-G-461428, now in the collections of the National Archives.
BB-23 Mississippi 68k A Curtiss AB-3 lowered into water from Mississippi (BB-23), April 1914. Photo from the University of San Diego History Department & submitted by Bill Gonyo.
BB-23 Mississippi 86k On 25 April, Lieutenant (junior grade) Patrick N.L. Bellinger climbed aboard the AB-3 flying boat and made a reconnaissance over the waters around Veracruz in search of mines that had been reported, thus having the distinction of making the first flight of an American military aircraft under combat conditions. Operating from rustic encampments ashore, the naval aircraft instituted a regular schedule of flights from both Tampico and Veracruz, though the most action came at the latter location.
On 2 May 1914, Bellinger and Ensign W.D. Lamont flew the AH-3 hydroaeroplane in direct support of ground troops when they were called upon to perform aerial reconnaissance near Tejar, Mexico, in search of enemy forces firing at encamped U.S. Marines. Four days later, Bellinger and Lieutenant (junior grade) Richard C. Saufley returned from a mission with bullet holes in the fabric wing of their aircraft, having been taken under fire by Mexican riflemen during a scouting flight. As Bellinger later recounted in an article for National Geographic, the U.S. aircraft carried no weapons and on one of his last flights in Mexico, he decided to exact some measure of revenge on the Mexican forces and grabbed the nearest thing he could find in camp. Thus, he made a bar of soap the first air to ground ordnance dropped from a Navy aircraft. 		Photo & text from April 2009 edition of navalaviationmuseum.org.
BB-23 Mississippi 83k A litho-printed photograph of the Mississippi (BB-23) with cage masts is from my collection of Atlas Editions series of warship cards. Photograph WACKERBY-Books-and-Pics
Kilkis
BB-23 Mississippi 42k Now as the Kilkis, the ex-Mississippi (BB-23) appears here in 1922. Photo courtesy of Robert Hurst.
BB-23 Mississippi 52k The Kilkis, the ex-Mississippi (BB-23) appears here at Malta, date unknown. Photo courtesy of Robert Hurst & Lee Wetherhorn.
BB-23 Mississippi 57k Greek battleship, either Kilkis or Lemnos. Photographed in a U.S. port. Kilkis was the former Mississippi (BB-23). Lemnos was originally Idaho (BB-24). USNHC # NH 77442.
BB-23 Mississippi 89k Under attack by German JU 87 dive bombers, at the Greek naval base at Salamis, 23 April 1941. In the lower left, in the floating drydock, is the destroyer Vasilefs Georgios. Kilkis, the former Mississippi (BB-23), was sunk in this attack. The floating dock and destroyer were also sunk (reportedly on 20 April ?), but Vasilefs Georgios was subsequently raised and placed in service by the German Navy as Hermes (ZG-3). USNHC # NH 54431 photograph and some caption information were provided by Franz Selinger.
BB-23 Mississippi 74k Greek battleships Kilkis and Lemnos. Sunk in the basin of the Greek naval base at Salamis after they were hit by German air attacks on 23 April 1941. Seen from the harbor pier following the arrival of the German army. Kilkis, the former Mississippi (BB-23), is in the foreground. Lemnos, ex-Idaho (BB-24), is in the distance, with her guns removed. USNHC # NH 77470 / German Army.
BB-23 Mississippi 93k Greek battleship Kilkis sunk at Salamis, Greece, 1941. USNHC # NH 54430 / German Army.
BB-23 Mississippi 58k Color photo of the Greek battleship Kilkis, looking from the bow on at her sunk at her mooring at Salamis, Greece, 1941. Photo courtesy of Robert Hurst from Purnells History of the Second World War.
(NISMF)376kA guest studies a painting depicting the history of battleships. The artwork was painted by George Skybeck and presented to the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association during their annual banquet at Honolulu, Hawaii, on 8 Dec 1991. USN photo # DN-SC-92-05391, by PHC Carolyn Harris, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil.
BB-23 Mississippi 201k Figurehead of the Battleship Mississippi (BB-23), presented to the State of Mississippi By the U.S. Navy Department December 1909. The marker is located in Jackson, Mississippi. Photo & text by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina & submitted by Bill Gonyo.
BB-23 Mississippi 170k The bell of the Mississippi (BB-23) was used on three ships named for the state, it was donated to Rosalie Mansion and its owners, the Daughters of the American Revolution. It is proudly displayed in the gardens at Rosalie Mansion, on the site of Fort Rosalie overlooking the Mississippi River. Visitors are allowed to ring the bell with the attached pull rope. Photo & text by Mike Stroud of Bluffton, South Carolina & submitted by Bill Gonyo.
Additional Mississippi Images
2 General Views Of Mississippi From The Library Of Congress Server.
USS MISSISSIPPI BB-23 History
View This Vessels DANFS History Entry
(Located On The Hazegray & Underway Web Site, This Is The Main Archive For The DANFS Online Project.)
Crew Contact And Reunion Information
Not Applicable To This Ship
Additional Resources
Hazegray & Underway Battleship Pages By Andrew Toppan.
Back To The Main Photo Index Back To The Battleship Photo Index Page


This Page Is Created And Maintained By Michael Mohl
All Pages Copyright © 1996-2010 Paul R. Yarnall © 1996-2010 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.