The Snapshots in Time Collection

USS Columbia in Dry Dock at New Orleans, Crew Preparing the Hull for Paint

USS Columbia in Dry Dock at New Orleans, Crew Preparing the Hull for Paint

USS Columbia's triple-screw propulsion, a design feature that made her one of the fastest cruisers in the U.S. Navy when commissioned in 1894, is on full display in this dry-dock photograph from New Orleans. Crewmen posed among the scaffolding around her exposed propellers while preparing the hull for repainting, a routine but essential maintenance task for steel warships of the era. Project: 218597