Aviation Naval Warfare Land Systems Small Arms By Flag By Year By Tag

USS Wyoming / Cheyenne (BM-10)

1902 WORLD WAR 1

History of the USS Wyoming/Cheyenne (BM-10)

There was a time in naval history when "monitors" were popular among the various maritime powers of the world. The Navy introduced these surface warships around the mid-18th century and served in the American Civil War (1861-1865).

Her designs generally used a relatively compact low profile, but were equipped with large-caliber guns and proved slow in water. Nonetheless, monitors were still in use to some extent during the interwar period (1914-1918; 1939-1945), and the concept made a comeback during the US involvement in the Vietnam War (1955-1975).

At the turn of the century, the US Navy continued to focus on such ships because of the firepower they provided as well as their inherent "blue water" capabilities. Therefore, a class of four-person monitors was proposed in the "Arkansas" configuration, becoming the Arkansas class, one of which was the USS Wyoming (M-10). The aircraft carrier USS Wyoming was ordered by the U.S.

Navy on May 4, 1898, and laid on April 11, 1898 by the Union Steel Works in San Francisco, California. The warship was launched on September 8, 1900, and commissioned on December 8, 1902. Served in the U.S. Navy until the 1920s.

There were 222 crew members on board, including 13 officers. The Wyoming has a barrel length of 255 feet, a beam of 50 feet, and a draft of 12.5 feet. The displacement reached 3,225 tons. Her machinery consists of 4 Babcock & Wilcox boiler units powering 2 vertical triple expansion engines developing up to 2,400 hp on 2 shafts under the stern.

The boat can travel at 12 knots. The armament is concentrated on 2 x 12" (305 mm)/40 caliber main guns mounted in a single turret above the front turret. These main guns consist of 4 x 4" (102 mm)/40 caliber and 3 x 6 lb 57 mm (2.2") Tier 3 gun.

Armor protection reaches 11" at the belt, 11" covering the turret and 1.5" protecting the deck. The conning tower is protected by 8" steel.

During the Colombian Civil War (the "Thousand Days War" of 1899), the aircraft carrier USS Wyoming conducted necessary tests off the west coast of the United States before being transferred to South American waters to support American interests (and evacuate its nationals) - 1902 . The presence of the U.S. Navy in the region also helped secure Panama's independence from Colombia, which was completed on November 3, 1903. After her return to the West Coast of the United States, Wyoming was finally overtaken in January 1905.

Retired in August of the same year.

The ship lay idle from 1905 to 1908, when she was brought back to test a brand new oil-powered propulsion system. Switching from coal-fired boilers to oil was a necessity for naval power at the time, as oil proved to be a more efficient fuel.

She returned to service on October 8, 1908, continuing her career as a testbed, and officially changed her name to Cheyenne (M-10) on January 1, 1909 to restart her sailing career. The Wyoming name was then passed on to a new U.S. Navy battleship, USS Wyoming (BB-32).

Cheyenne, on the other hand, entered reserve status on June 8 and retired again on November 13.

The following year, July 11, 1910, USS Cheyenne was recommissioned and assigned to the Washington Navy Militia in Washington State. She was then converted into a submarine supplier, and from there was assigned to the 2nd Submarine Division Pacific Torpedo Fleet. When she rescued citizens from a collapsed situation in Mexico, other American refugees took action.

Cheyenne continued to serve on the West Coast of the United States when World War I began in the summer of 1914, but was called to Port Angeles, Washington, when the United States entered the war in April 1917.

After some time there, she was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet and became the flagship of the 3rd Division of the Submarine Force, 1st Fleet, Atlantic Fleet. She then joined the 1st Division of the U.S. Patrol Detachment and served U.S. prospects in and around Mexico until October 1919.

The war in Europe ended with an armistice in November 1918.

During the postwar period, Cheyenne entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard in October 1919 and was decommissioned on January 3, 1920. After this, the ship was renamed "IX-4" and recommissioned on September 22, 1920.

She was then hired as a training ship for the Navy Reserve, a position she held until 1925. The warship was commissioned on January 27, decommissioned in 1926, decommissioned on June 1 of that year, struck off the Naval Register on January 25, 1937, and sold for scrap on April 20, 1939.

With the demise of the battleship Cheyenne, the US Navy bid farewell to its last reconnaissance ship.