The Fighting Bulldog of the Navy Departs
Amid steam whistles and cheering crowds, the battleship USS Iowa successfully navigated the Port Orchard dry dock, proving the facility’s superiority over its East Coast rivals.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Amid loud blowing of steam whistles and cheers, the battleship Iowa last night left her berth in the Port Orchard naval dry dock and was towed out into the deep waters of the Sound. Not a hitch occurred in the proceedings; barely half an hour elapsed from the time she left the dock until she was securely anchored. This event serves as another illustration of the remarkable facilities of the Port Orchard dock and its supremacy over many of the Eastern navy yards. In almost every state, the smaller vessels of the navy have invariably had trouble in leaving the docks; in many cases, the vessels refused to leave their berths altogether, and several times, the yard had to spend considerable time before the task was completed. The Iowa remained in the Port Orchard dock without a hitch of any sort, demonstrating that it is one of the best of its kind in the United States. Captain Terry, standing on the bridge, directed operations. Two steam launches got fast onto the port and starboard bows, and at a given signal, they started ahead. As the huge battleship passed by the steamers Skagit Chief, Alice Gertrude, and City of Washington, which had brought over large crowds of excursionists, the whistles of the three steamers began to blow a discordant blast which continued for several minutes.
“The Iowa remained in the Port Orchard dock without a hitch of any sort, demonstrating that it is one of the best of its kind in the United States.”
The Port Orchard dry dock, now part of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, remains a critical hub for the U.S. Navy. The story echoes modern civic pride in local infrastructure projects and the long-standing tradition of large-scale maritime events on the Sound that bring out massive crowds.
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