All Hands on Deck: Life and Legacy of the USS Colorado Battleship

History Colorado is hosting All Hands on Deck: Life and Legacy of the USS Colorado Battleship at the History Colorado Center, on the second floor in the Holland & Hart Gallery. It's an exhibition that follows the life of the USS Colorado (BB-45), a battleship commissioned by the US Navy in 1923 that spent more than two decades serving across the globe.

There's a lot of ground to cover in those twenty-some years. The ship's crew of more than 2,000 men searched for the missing aviator Amelia Earhart and shelled Pacific Islands during World War II, earning seven battle stars before the ship was dismantled in 1947. The exhibit brings that history down to the people who lived it, with stories from the sailors who served aboard alongside uniforms, documents, and photographs. You'll see a crew menu dated July 4, 1937, and artifacts belonging to sailor Elton O'Conner Clem, who spent nearly twenty years on the ship, and machinist Frank Wayne Kizer, who fought in Saipan, Tinian, and Leyte Gulf.

The battleship's name lives on in the USS Colorado nuclear submarine (SSN-788), which keeps the state's link to the sea going. History Colorado is presenting the show in recognition of America's 250th and Colorado's 150th anniversaries.

Admission to the exhibition is included with general admission to the center. You'll find it on the second floor in the Holland & Hart Gallery.