receivingship

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Memphis_(CA-10)

If this is indeed USS Memphis (it is certainly an Omaha-class Light Cruiser), it would be CL-13, and the photo would date no earlier than the mid-1920s, not 1910 (or thereabouts). USS Memphis (CL-13) was launched at the William Cramp & Sons shipyard in Philadelphia in April 1924, and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in February 1925. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Memphis_(CL-13)

I have to respectfully disagree. The USS Memphis (ex-Tennessee) (ACR-10/CA-10) was a very different ship than the one photographed above. USS Memphis (ex-Tennessee) (ACR-10/CA-10) featured a tumblehome/ram bow and casement gun positions along her hull, and, while approximately 50' shorter in length than an Omaha-class cruiser, was almost 20' greater in beam and twice the displacement . Also, an identifying feature of the Omaha-class cruisers (such as USS Memphis (CL-13)) was the relatively unique placement of casement guns in the superstructure (four each fore and aft), as depicted above. Of course, radical changes to a ship's appearance may come about after various refits and upgrades, but that was not the case with USS Memphis (ex-Tennessee) (ACR-10/CA-10). Here's a link to a photo of USS Memphis (CA-10) as she meets her demise in Santo Domingo harbor: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Tennessee_ACR-10_-_photo_N... I would still maintain that the ship photographed above is the later USS Memphis (CL-13), and if not, one of her Omaha-class sister-ships.

Yes, the photos definitely show two different ships. And I confess that I know virtually nothing about Navy ships -- or any ships, really. So the explanation we are left with is that the Bain negative of the Memphis has been filed more than ten years out of order -- something that happens infrequently, but does happen, perforce.

Wystan: The filing is all Bain's doing! The Library obediently follows the photo agency's original order, indicated by the identification number scratched into the glass plate -- in this case 3019-3. Significant date anomalies have appeared before, though. It's speculation still, but we're wondering if the Bain agency sometimes replaced an old view of a subject with a newer view and kept the same number. Their card index already cited the ship "Memphis" as "3019-3," and when a new boat became the "Memphis" they kept the same index number and replaced the old negative with a new photo to avoid publishing a picture of the wrong boat. I'll try to track down the other example and send it along.

see

The hulk of USS Baltimore was recently discovered at about 600 meters (1,970 feet) depth, upright and intact on the flat sandy bottom of the Musicians Seamounts, northwest of Oahu. It was there where she was towed out to sea and scuttled on September 22, 1944, after a long and varied career with the US Navy. Baltimore was even present at Pearl Harbor, serving as a receiving ship, during the surprise attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) on December 7, 1941. Below is a link to high-definition video of her hulk taken by one of NOAAS Okeanos Explorer's (R 337) remotely operated vehicles (ROV), on September 29, 2017. She is in relatively good shape considering her age and the 70-plus years spent on the ocean floor. Note also the footage of her distinctive stern opening (added to the ship when she was fitted for mine-laying), that is also apparent in this series of Bain photos of the NC flying boats' stopover in Nova Scotia. oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1708/dailyu...

fascinating.. thanks.

Between May 8 and May 10, 1919. See www.aviation-history.com/navy/nc4.html

see

Thanks, we can add notes to the Bain records here and elsewhere.