Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Uss Wyoming, Uss Florida, Uss Arkansas, Uss Nevada, Uss Tonopah, Uss Tallahassee, Uss Cheyenne, Uss Connecticut, Uss Ozark. Excerpt: USS Wyoming (BM-10) was the second ship of the United States Navy to bear that name, but the first to bear it in honor of the 44th state. The first Wyoming was named for Wyoming Valley in eastern Pennsylvania. The keel of Monitor No. 10 was laid down on 11 April 1898 at San Francisco, California, by the Union Iron Works. She was launched on 8 September 1900 sponsored by Miss Hattie Warren, daughter of Senator Francis E. Warren of Wyoming, and commissioned at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California, on 8 December 1902 with Commander Vincendon Lazarus Cottman in command. After fitting out at Mare Island, Wyoming ran her trials and exercises in San Pablo Bay and San Francisco Bay and conducted exercises and target practice off the southern California coast through the summer of 1903 before she headed south in the autumn, reaching Acapulco, Mexico, on 31 October. She subsequently shifted further south, to Colombia, where a civil war threatened American lives and interests. The monitor accordingly arrived in Panamanian waters on 13 November and sailed up the Tuira River in company with the protected cruiser Boston, with a company of Marines under Lieutenant S.A.M. Patterson, USMC, and Lieutenant C.B. Taylor, USMC, embarked, to land at Yariza and observe the movements of Colombian troops. The presence of American armed might there and elsewhere ultimately aided in independence for the Panamanians. During that time, Wyoming anchored at the Bay of San Miguel, Panama, on 15 December. The following day, a boat with 11 Marines embarked for the port of La Palma, Panama, under sail. While Boston departed the sce. More:
| | Arkansas Class Monitors: Uss Wyoming, Uss Florida, Uss Arkansas, Uss Nevada, Uss Tonopah, Uss Tallahassee, Uss Cheyenne, Uss Connecticut |  | 8.96 |  |