Stored ashore for decades, a sterling silver serving set that once graced the captain’s mess in the battleship USS Colorado is destined to go to sea again, aboard the soon-to-be-commissioned USS Mesa Verde.
A 600-piece array of plates, pitchers and flatware – kept in trust by the Colorado Historical Society since the famed World War II warship was retired in 1947 – is being catalogued and packed for return to the U.S. Navy within the month.
The presentation silver will see duty at formal occasions aboard the Mesa Verde, a $1.2 billion vessel designed to carry helicopters, landing craft and troops on amphibious assaults.
The ship is expected to go into service this year, the 100th anniversary of Mesa Verde National Park. Its home port will be Norfolk, Va.
Each piece bears the Colorado state seal. The set was presented to the Navy by the residents of Colorado in 1908 for use on an armored cruiser named the Colorado, then was reassigned when the battleship was commissioned in 1921.
“The tradition of gifting silver to Navy ships began in the late 1890s, when ships were being named after cities and states around the country,” says Susan Moyer, manager of the Navy’s presentation silver program.
While funds for the presentations often came from the general public, with schoolchildren sometimes collecting pennies for them, the Colorado silver was purchased with state tax revenues, Moyer reports.
Portions of the set have been displayed at the Colorado History Museum, most recently in a 2004 exhibit on the USS Colorado, which contributed to the allied victory in the Pacific in 1945, setting a record at one point for the most ordnance fired during a battle.
“It’s a pretty serious set,” says Melissa Bechhoefer, the museum staffer who has prepared the silver for shipment. “When you think about it, everything has a story, and it’s neat that this one is continuing because of this new ship.”
Staff writer Jack Cox can be reached at 303-820-1785 or jcox@denverpost.com.
