targetship

The aerial bombing trials of 1923 conducted by General Billy Mitchell (USAAS), which saw the destruction of USS Virginia (BB-13) as a target ship in September 1923. Virginia, commissioned in 1906, was long obsolete and slated for sale and scrapping under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty. Instead of being sold for scrap, she was eliminated from the fleet during the aforementioned bombing trials. Here is footage of Virginia being bombed and ultimately sunk (see beginning at the 10min 58sec mark): YouTube - US National Archives: Aerial Bombing of Ships (1921-1923) - (National Archives Identifier: 24624 - Local Identifier: 111-H-1119)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Virginia_(BB-13)

Thanks for all the information! We'll add information to the description.

There's a typo in the LOC caption, this is SMS Ostfriesland, a Helgoland-class battleship of the Imperial German Navy.

Ostfriesland would survive the war, only to be turned over to the United States as part of war reparations in April 1920. It is while in the United States that the Ostfriesland would gain its historical notoriety as a target ship, and be forever linked with air power proponent General Billy Mitchell.

See Aerofiles:
aerofiles.com/ostfriesland.html

There is a typo, her name is Ostfriesland (SMS) An early German Dreadnought, she survived the war like most German battlewagons. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Ostfriesland

Thanks for catching the typo and for the further information. We'll adjust the description when we update.

The destroyer G-102 was sunk on July 13, 1921. The German submarine was the U-117.