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NavSource Online: Battleship Photo Archive

BB-41 USS MISSISSIPPI
1915 - 1919

Radio Call Sign: November - Echo - Kilo - Tango

To Additional Pages

1920 - 1930
1931 - 1941
1942 - 1943
1944 - 1945
Post War - Decommissioning


New Mexico Class Battleship: Displacement 32,000 Tons, Dimensions, 624' (oa) x 97' 5" x 31' 1" (Max). Armament 12 x 14"/50 22 x 5"/51, 8 x 3"/50 2 x 21" tt. Armor, 13 1/2" Belt, 18" Turrets, 3 1/2" +2" Decks, 16" Conning Tower. Machinery, 32,000 SHP; Geared Turbines, 4 screws. Speed, 21 Knots, Crew 1084.

Operational and Building Data: Laid down by Newport News, Shipbuilding, Newport News, VA., April 5, 1915. Launched January 25 1917. Commissioned December 18 1917. Reclassified Gunnery Training Ship, AG-128, February 15, 1946. Decommissioned September 17, 1956. Stricken July 30, 1956.
Fate: Sold November 28, 1956 and broken up for scrap.
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BB-41 Mississippi 44k Double insert photo showing the launching of the superdreadnought Mississippi (BB-41) at Newport News, Shipbuilding, Newport News, VA., 25 January 1917 &
Miss Camelle McBeath of Meridian, Miss. who named the new warship and Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels on the Launching Platform beside the Mississippi.
Photos by Paul Thompson & IFS; text from the N.Y. Times, 4 February 1917, Page 5, courtesy of memory.loc.gov.
BB-41 Mississippi 129k Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels poses with Miss Camelle McBeath of Meridian, Miss. on the launching platform in preparation of naming the new battleship Mississippi (BB-41) on 25 January 1917 at Newport News, Shipbuilding, Newport News, VA. Photo # 06351v from the Library of Congress via Bill Gonyo. Photo added 05/17/09.
BB-41 Mississippi 134k As completed in her original form. She is shown here on 7 August 1917 being assisted by tugs away from the dock at Newport News presumably for acceptance trials. She was commissioned on 18 December 1917. Of thenthree New Mexico class ships, only the Mississippi (BB-41) was fitted with all twenty two of the designed 5" guns. USN photo.
BB-41 Mississippi 117k Captain William Adger Moffett was the commanding officer of the battleship Mississippi (BB-41) (1918–1921). He supported the creation of a scout plane unit on the ship. Although not himself a flyer, Moffett became known as the "Air Admiral" for his leadership of the Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics from its creation in 1921. In this role, he oversaw the development of tactics for naval aircraft, the introduction of the aircraft carrier, and relations with the civilian aircraft industry. Photo from the Library of Congress via Bill Gonyo.
BB-41 Mississippi 92k Mississippi (BB-41) anchored off New York City for the Victory Fleet Review, 25 Dec. 1918. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, USNHC # NH 46047, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.
BB-41 Mississippi 195k In April 1918 Mississippi (BB-41) returned to Hampton Roads and cruised between Boston and New York until departing for winter maneuvers in the Caribbean 31 January 1919. She is pictured here anchored in New York City's waterways sometime between those two dates, probably for the Victory Fleet Review, 25 Dec. 1918. USN photo courtesy of Robert M. Cieri. Partial text courtesy of DANFS.
New York Harbor46k"American dreadnoughts & superdreadnoughts steaming into New York harbor 14 April 1919."
The Texas (BB-35) leads the procession with a airplane on her turret catapult. Note the escorting biplane.
The "escorting" aircraft is either a Curtiss HS-1 or HS-2 (note the single engine) can't tell which from the photo. The aircraft on a fly-off platform atop the No. 2 turret of the Texas is 1 of 6 Sopwith Camels purchased from Britain at the end of the war.
The platforms were a British concept designed to provide the fleet with an aircraft capable of reaching the high flying Zeppelins which the German Navy occasionally used as scouts. The Texas was the only US Battleship to be fitted with turret fly-off platforms while in Europe and was the test bed for this program in the US Navy. Not visible in this view is a stripped down (No fabric and no wings) Sopwith 1-1/2 Strutter lashed atop the No. 3 Turret. The platforms were eventually mounted on all 14" gun BB's through the New Mexico class (with mixed reviews from their commanders) and carried either a Hanriot HD-1 or a Neiuport 28. Though equipped inflatable floats for water landings, this tended to do a lot of damage not the least of which was dowsing a hot engine in cold salt water. By 1920 a successful compressed air catapult was developed and were being mounted on the aft deck of all 4 turreted battleships and fly-off platforms were removed. The Texas and New York (BB-34), because of their 5 Turrets, lacked the deck space for the catapult and had to make do with a float plane (Vought VE-7) sitting on the aft deck which would be launched by lowering it over the side for a surface take-off.
If you look carefully at the 15th photo from the bottom on the New York 1916 - 1926 page, you see the VE-7 on the deck and the A-frame hoist used for handling it.
Photo by Paul Thompson, text courtesy of N.Y. Times, 31 December 1919, courtesy of memory.loc.gov. Text i.d. courtesy of Chris Hoehn .
BB-41 Mississippi 89k 1919 photo of the ship on the Hudson River showing that the hull mounted guns have been removed and their ports plated over. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 60653.
BB-41 Mississippi 421k 1919 photo of the Mississippi (BB-41) transiting the Panama Canal. On 19 July 1919 she left the Atlantic seaboard and sailed for the west coast. USN photo courtesy of Robert M. Cieri. Partial text courtesy of DANFS.
BB-41 Mississippi 212k Mississippi (BB-41) transiting the Miraflores Locks in the Panama Canal. On 19 July 1919 she left the Atlantic seaboard and sailed for the west coast. USN photo courtesy of Robert M. Cieri. Partial text courtesy of DANFS.
BB-41 Mississippi 243k Mississippi (BB-41) wearing what looks like a camouflage pattern of triangular flages painted across the length of the ship. USN photo courtesy of Robert M. Cieri.
BB-41 Mississippi 74k 1919 photo of the Mississippi (BB-41) underway with elements of the Atlantic fleet. USN photo.

USS MISSISSIPPI BB-41 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
USS Mississippi BB-41

Contact Name: Mr. Stanley Airington
Address: 1030 E Louisiana St Norman, OK, 73071-4421
Phone: 405-329-8387
E-mail: None
Crew Contact And Reunion Information
USS Mississippi ARG-128

Contact Name: Mr. Jack Hefferman
Address: 163 Shawn's Hideaway, Millsboro, DE, 19966
Phone: 302-947-1896
E-mail: None


Note About Contacts.

The contact listed, Was the contact at the time for this ship when located. If another person now is the contact, E-mail me and I will update this entry. These contacts are compiled from various sources over a long period of time and may or may not be correct. Every effort has been made to list the newest contact if more than one contact was found.


Additional Resources
Hazegray & Underway Battleship Pages By Andrew Toppan.

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