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First Ladies (I want this linked to an anchor)

Playing with indents:


 * The battleship //USS Wyoming// is decommissioned, and the full silver service is returned to the donor, the State of Wyoming. (Session Laws 1911, ch. 70, House Bill No. 206) The following press release was compiled by the Archives and Historical Department, February 16, 1971:

> "The full silver service of the battleship USS Wyoming has been in the custody of the State of Wyoming since the battleship was decommissioned in 1946. The magnificent service includes more than fifty pieces.

> Perhaps the most impressive is the punch bowl, thirty-six inches deep, engraved with Wyoming scenes. A silver platter, measuring three feet by two feet, bears an intricate engraving of the state capitol building. Other pieces in the service include twenty-three punch cups, three entree dishes, two candelabra, two vegetable dishes, two goblets, two compotiers, a sauce ladle, a drainer fish dish, a plateau and waiter, a teapot, a coffee urn, and a water pitcher. All the larger pieces are engraved with navy insignia and the Great Seal of the State of Wyoming and nearly all have rococco ornamentation. Blue gentian decorates the edges of many of the pieces, as the Indian Paintbrush had not yet been designated as Wyoming's state flower when the silver service was purchased.

> The silver service was presented for use on the battleship when the USS Wyoming was christened on May 25, 1911, by Miss Dorothy Knight, daughter of Jesse Knight, a former Chief Justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court. The people of Wyoming, complimented and proud in having the new battleship named for the state, had the Legislature appropriate $7,500 for the purchase of the silver. The presentation was attended by Governor Joseph M. Carey and U.S. Representative Frank Mondell.

> When the ship was retired after thirty years service, a bill was introduced in Congress by Senator Lester C. Hunt of Wyoming, requesting that the silver set be given to the State of Wyoming. It had long been a custom to present silver services from battleships to the sponsor states when the ships were decommissioned. The bill, passed in June,1946, provided that "The Secretary of the Navy is hereby authorized and directed to deliver to the custody of the Governor of Wyoming for exhibition, educational purposes and use by the University of Wyoming the name plate, the ship's bell and the silver service of the United States Ship Wyoming." When it was returned to the state the service was appraised at more than $46,000. The value is now substantially higher.

> At the time it was built the Wyoming was the largest battleship in the world and the most formidable craft afloat. After participating in the naval review in New York on December 30,1912, it joined the Atlantic fleet and became the flagship of the commander in chief. During World War I she was assigned to the British grand fleet and participated in the internment of the German high seas fleet. She was also the ship that escorted the USS George Washington, with President Woodrow Wilson on board, to Brest, France, in 1918. She made a cruise to the Pacific with the Patrol fleet in 1925. She was modernized in 1927 at a cost of three and a half million dollars. After the London Naval Conference of 1930, the USS Wyoming was demilitarized and converted into a training ship. She was used in Chesapeake Bay for the training of more than 35,000 officers of World War II. Since all the notables who visited or inspected the fleet were entertained in the admiral's cabin during the years the Wyoming was flagship of the Atlantic fleet, many famous persons have used the silver service, including Queen Wilhelmina of Holland." (See //Wyoming State Tribune//, August 16, 1946. The sliver service, which was used for official state functions following its return, is now on permanent display in the State Museum)