The Snapshots in Time Collection

USS Columbia in Dry Dock at New Orleans, Broadside Detail

USS Columbia in Dry Dock at New Orleans, Broadside Detail

USS Columbia undergoes maintenance in a dry dock at New Orleans. Built for speed with an unusual five-funnel arrangement, Columbia required periodic overhauls of her boilers and hull, seen here with black smoke rising from auxiliary steam. Dry-docking photographs like this one document the routine but essential maintenance that kept the Navy's cruisers combat-ready during the age of coal-fired steam power. Project: 218593