USS Colorado (BB-45) was a battleship of the United States Navy that was in service from 1923 to 1947. She was the lead ship of the Colorado class of battleships. Her keel was laid down on 29 May 1919, by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation. She was launched on 22 March 1921, and commissioned on 30 August 1923. She was armed with eight 16-inch (406 mm) guns and fourteen 5-inch (127 mm) deck guns; two 5-inch guns were removed in an overhaul.
USS Colorado visiting New York City in 1932.
Colorado steams through rough seas, circa 1932
USS Colorado off Tinian, on 24 July 1944, with hull damage, the result of 22 hits from shore batteries
Pennsylvania leading Colorado, Louisville, Portland, and Columbia into Lingayen Gulf in January 1945.
Colorado-class battleship
The Colorado-class battleships were a group of four United States Navy super-dreadnoughts, the last of its pre-Treaty battleships. Designed during World War I, their construction overlapped the end of that conflict and continued in its immediate aftermath. Though all four keels were laid, only three ships entered service: Colorado, Maryland, and West Virginia. Washington was over 75% completed when she was canceled under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty in 1922. As such, the 16" gun Colorado-class ships were the last and most powerful battleships built by the U.S. Navy until the North Carolina class entered service on the eve of World War II.
Colorado steaming off New York City, c. 1932
Hull of Maryland under construction c. 1917
USS Maryland in March 1944
USS West Virginia in her final configuration, June 1944. Note 5 in/38 twin turrets and number of AA guns