The LOUISIANA in "Aught Nine"

gouache, 12 ½ x 19”

$5,500

The painting depicts the pre-Dreadnought, U.S. Navy Connecticut-class battleship USS LOUISIANA (BB-19) in 1909. She is steaming in company with the USS MISSISSIPPI(BB-23), which is off the starboard bow, and the armored cruiser USS COLORADO(ACR-7), whose bow is just visible astern and to starboard of the LOUISIANA. All the ships are in the a scheme of white hulls and buff upperworks.

The LOUISIANA was commissioned in June, 1906 and primarily operated along the U.S. East Coast and in the Caribbean Sea. The ship then took part in the world cruise of the Great White Fleet during 1908-1909. Upon return from this epic U.S. Navy endeavor, she then made two voyages to European waters in 1910 and 1911. In 1913 she was assigned duty to protect U.S. interests in Mexico during the Mexican Revolu on. This involvement came to a head with the U.S. occupation on of the city of Veracruz in April, 1914.

By the start of World War I the LOUISIANA and all the Connecticut-class battleships were considered obsolete because of the British-built & deployed Dreadnought class battleships, which were more modern and powerful. During the War the LOUISIANA was used as a training ship and then served as a convoy escort in 1918. When the War ended, she ferried American soldiers back to the States from France. With this duty completed the ship was decommissioned in October, 1920, and was then sent to the breaker’s yard and her parts sold for scrap at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1923.