USS Columbia (C-12), a fast protected cruiser commissioned in 1894 and famed for her four-funnel silhouette and high-speed trials, is shown dressed overall with signal flags at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on July 4, 1904. 'Dressing ship' — stringing signal flags from bow to stern over the mastheads — was a traditional Navy display for national holidays. This photograph, preserved in a crewman's personal album, captures a moment of peacetime celebration a few years after Columbia's Spanish-American War convoy escort service. Project: 218602