Showcasing the strength and power of the formidable battleships known as Dreadnoughts, Anton Otto Fischer portrays USS WYOMING dramatically crashing through heavy swells while underway in stormy seas. Passing to port on a reciprocal course to windward, a large three-masted schooner works, hull down, in the confused sea state. Fischer beautifully illustrates the drama of heavy weather and its nearly minimal effect on one of America's most revered capital ships.
USS WYOMING (BB32) was the first of two battleships that would make up the Wyoming class of warship. At a length of 562' with a 93' beam and a draft of 28'6", the 27,000 ton WYOMING and her sister USS ARKANSAS were the fourth Dreadnought design built for the United States Navy. WYOMING was laid down in February 1910 at the Cramp and Sons yard in Philadelphia, was launched in May 1911, and finally completed in September 1912. She was armed with a main battery of twelve 12-inch (305 mm) guns and capable of a top speed of 20.5 knots (23.6 mph).
WYOMING served proudly as part of US Battleship Division 9 during WWI, which became the Sixth Battle Squadron of the British Grand Fleet while active in British waters. After the war, she became one of the first units of the newly designated Pacific Fleet and was home ported in both San Diego and San Pedro, conducting exercises off the California coast. During this period, future Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey served as the battleship's executive officer.
During WWII, WYOMING served with distinction as a gunnery ship attached to the United States Naval Academy, training some 35,000 midshipmen as gunnery officers. Wyoming was decommissioned in 1947 and her name struck from the Navy list. Her hulk was sold for scrap and she was broken up at New York in December 1947.
