The USS Connecticut (BB-18) was a Connecticut Class battleship laid down at Newport News Shipyard on August 27, 1904, and commissioned June 2, 1906.  There were five other ships of the class, Connecticut, Vermont, Kansas, Minnesota and New Hampshire, all built between 1903 and 1908.  USS New Hampshire was the only one that did not participate in the cruise of the Great White Fleet.  After commissioning she   immediately set off on shakedown cruise of the coast of New England before being order south to Cuba with the Secretary of War, William Taft and the Assistant Secretary of State, Robert Bacon to talk with the Cuban President to suppress the insurrection.   Afterwards she returned to Hampton Roads and  in November carried President Roosevelt from Piney Point, Maryland to Panama to visit the construction of the Panama Canal.  On June 10, 1907 she participated in a Presidential Fleet Review of the Fleet at the Jamestown Exposition.  The next moths were spent in training up until the departure on the cruise around the world.  In the first part of the cruise she was part of First Division commanded by Captain Wainwright.  During the second part of the cruise she was moved to Third Division as Flagship for Rear-Admiral Emory and commanded by Captain Niles.

This patriotic postcard is part of a series of cards created by Waldon Fawcett of the American Naval Fleet.  Currently my collection of these cards has almost 20 and can viewed at the follow link:  Waldon Fawcett Series

After the cruise Louisiana made two trips to the Mediterranean in  1910 and 11911.  When the Mexican Revolution began she was sent to protect American interests in 1913.  This continued through the occupation of Veracruz in April 1914.  During WWI she was a training ship initially then became an escort ship in 1918 and, at the end of the war, bringing American forces home.  In 1920 she was decommissioned and broken up as scrap in1923 at Philadelphia Navy Yard.

The Jamestown Exhibition drew more than a million visitors including the famous, Booker T. Washington and Mark Twain.  President Roosevelt opened the Exhibition and later in June steamed down the Potomac in his yacht Mayflower to review the gathered international fleet, which included the ships that would depart on the trip around the world.

At right is an official Jamestown Exposition postcard depicting the USS Louisiana.  The card was sent from Pine Beach, Virginia in October 1907 to Illinois.  "We went on this warship this morning in Portsmouth.  Took in the exposition yesterday.  Yours, M. J."