bb18

Seems the "10/11" might refer to October 11. Perhaps this was just before the naval review in New York on 14 October 1912, where a couple of other photos of warships from the Bain collection were taken. Perhaps! (Another commenter on this series mentioned a similar review in October 1911.)

The original caption is 10/27/11. The warships were assembled for the great naval review on Thursday, November 2, 1911, s. The evening world., October 28, 1911, Final Edition, Image 1 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030193/1911-10-28/ed-...

B-59: Thanks for pointing out the complete date. We will fix this next time we update.

Article from Wikipedia is here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Connecticut_(BB-18) although this photo has differences from the other photo of the Connecticut, the bow and tower structures, for example.

What was the purpose of those cage masts? They seem to be tall enough to make a target out of the ship.

No radar so lookouts had to be high to see other ships and where the shots landed for fire control. Less wind hamper and visibility with the cages. My opinion with no research.

Also more strength to hold up the platforms.

From the date, and the proximity to other photos, looks like this was part of the 1912 fleet review: www.geocities.com/scs028a/1912List.html Indeed though the cage masts look rather different than the towers in the other photos. However, this link: www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-c/bb18.htm suggests that she had her masts altered ca 1908/1909 which would have been in time for this picture.

The Mayflower, was the Presidential Yacht, PY-1 (see Wikipedia).

Some of my relatives came over on the Mayflower :)