Hutcheson, Joanne and James Sterling

Construction began on the first turboelectric-driven battleship, the USS New Mexico (nicknamed "The Queen"), in October of 1915 at the New York Navy Yard. The ship was christened the USS New Mexico by Margaret C. de Baca on April 23, 1917, and placed into commission by the US Navy on May 20, 1918, just before the fall of Germany in World War One. Assigned to the west coast in 1919, the New Mexico became the first flagship of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and was stationed in San Pedro, California.

In 1941 the USS New Mexico returned to the east coast to patrol shipping lanes in the Atlantic during World War Two. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the ship journeyed to San Francisco, was conditioned for war, and sailed for Hawaii. There, she participated in the Pacific and Northern Pacific theaters, including the battles in the Aleutian Islands.

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