page_title: USS Vermont (BB-20)
section_title: Peacetime service, 1909–1913
hierarchical_section_title: USS Vermont (BB-20) / Service history / Peacetime service, 1909–1913
context_page_description: USS Vermont (BB-20), a Connecticut-class battleship, was the second ship of the United States Navy named after the 14th state. She was the third member of the class, which included five other ships. The Connecticut-class ships were armed with a main battery of four 12-inch guns and had a top speed of 19 knots. Vermont was laid down in May 1904 at the Fore River shipyard and launched in August 1905. The ship entered service with the Atlantic Fleet in March 1907.
  Shortly after she entered service, Vermont joined the Great White Fleet for its circumnavigation of the globe in 1908–1909. She took part in the international Hudson–Fulton Celebration in New York in 1909 and made trips to Europe in 1910 and 1913. Thereafter, the ship became involved in interventions in several Central American countries, including the United States occupation of Veracruz during the Mexican Revolution, where two of her crew earned the Medal of Honor. During the United States' participation in World War I from April 1917 to November 1918, Vermont served as a training ship for engine room personnel.
context_section_description: Vermont returned to the Boston Navy Yard for repairs after the ceremonies at Hampton Roads concluded; the work lasted from 9 March to 23 June. She then rejoined the fleet off Provincetown; the 1st Division made a trip to Boston for the 4th of July celebration there. Starting on 7 July, the Atlantic Fleet conducted extensive maneuvers until 4 August. Vermont then took part in gunnery training off the Virginia Capes. Additional training exercises followed through the end of the year, interrupted only by visits to New York City and to Stamford, Connecticut, for the Hudson–Fulton Celebration and Columbus Day, respectively. In late December, she was back in New York City. Vermont then steamed south to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which she reached on 12 January 1910. Two months of exercises there followed before gunnery training off the Virginia Capes. The ship was back in Boston on 29 April for repairs that lasted until mid-July. After returning to service, she took on a contingent of Naval Militia at Boston for a cruise to Provincetown from 22 to 31 July.
  Vermont then steamed to Newport before proceeding to Hampton Roads no 22 August where more target practice followed from 25 to 27 September. She and several other ships from the Atlantic Fleet then visited New York before some minor repairs were effected at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. By this time, the ship had been transferred to the 3rd Division. On 1 November, Vermont and several other ships of the Atlantic Fleet crossed the Atlantic for a visit of several western European ports, including Gravesend from 16 November to 7 December and Brest. The ships left Brest on 30 December to recross the Atlantic, bound for Cuban waters. From 13 January 1911 to 13 March, Vermont and the rest of the ships conducted maneuvers off Cuba. Further exercises followed off the Virginia Capes and in the Chesapeake Bay. A brief stop at Hampton Roads, where she carried target materials, followed on 8 April, though she left later that day for another period in the Philadelphia Navy Yard for repairs.
  In mid-1911, Vermont cruised south the Gulf of Mexico, stopping first in Pensacola, Florida. She then continued to Galveston, Texas, stopping there from 7 to 12 June, before returning to Pensacola the following day. The ship returned to the Atlantic and steamed north to Bar Harbor, Maine; she was present there for the 4th of July celebrations, after which the typical routine of training with the Atlantic Fleet off Provincetown and in Cape Cod Bay followed. She remained off New England through mid-August. During this period, she visited Salem, Massachusetts, and underwent repairs at the Boston Navy Yard. Later in the year, she moved south to Tangier Sound and the Virginia Capes for gunnery experiments and target practice. From 12 September to 9 October, Vermont was in the Norfolk Navy Yard for repairs, after which she steamed to Hampton Roads before proceeding with the fleet to New York City for a Naval Review that lasted from 24 October to 2 November. After the conclusion of the review, she joined the 1st Squadron for maneuvers and then returned to Hampton Roads.
  Vermont stopped in Tompkinsville on 7–8 December before continuing to the New York Navy Yard later on the 8th for periodic maintenance. On 2 January 1912, she steamed south to the Caribbean for the annual maneuvers off Cuba. She remained in Cuban waters until 9 March, when she returned to the Norfolk Navy Yard. She underwent a major overhaul there that lasted until October. On the 8th, she steamed to New York City, arriving two days later. A Naval Review followed there from 10 to 15 October, followed by maneuvers and gunnery training off the Virginia Capes through December. On 2 November, she joined the search effort for the stranded steamer Noruega, and on 13–15 December she assisted the submarine B-2. Vermont was back in the Norfolk Navy Yard on 25 December, after which she departed for the normal winter training period in Cuban waters. While on the way, she stopped in Colón, Panama, at the entrance to the Panama Canal, which was nearing completio
caption: Vermont following her modernization in 1909
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