#11 in that link says:

“On July 20, 1939, as part of the Golden Jubilee celebration, six Navy dreadnoughts, powerhouses of the Pacific Fleet, entered Commencement Bay at 8:30 in the morning and dropped anchor at the mouth of the Puyallup River. The ships and their 8,000 men and officers would be in Tacoma for the Jubilee celebration and depart on Monday, July 24th. The six battleships, the California, Pennsylvania, Arizona, New Mexico, Mississippi and the Idaho, would be available for tours 1-4 p.m. through Sunday. They would also provide SEARCHLIGHT SHOWS in the evening and take part in the water carnival races. TPL 9081 (TNT 7/20/39, pg 1)” (emphasis mine)

So I’d say July 1939 is a good bet for this pic.

OK, here are two USN battleships, left foreground and center (probably that’s a third on the right, as the interwar USN usually grouped BB’s in three-ship divisions.)

Photo is pre-WWII, as during war portholes (lit up on ship in left fg) were plated up, anti-aircraft guns and radar added (greatly changing appearance), and most searchlights (needed for pre-radar night fighting) removed. Both have tripod masts (foremast spotting-top of ship on left is lit up between searchlight beams), and both have only 2 rear turrets (ruling out _Texas_, _New York_, and _Arkansas_). Which leaves us with a portrait of two of the _Pennsylvania_, _Arizona_, _Nevada_, or _Oklahoma_.

I shall leave it to the Washingtonians to dig thru the local newspapers’ reports of Navy Day / Memorial Day / 4th of July to find the exact date.

Yours, John Desmond

She said nothing about the date I am assuming this because they removed the “Great white fleet” and the “1908″ from the record

who knows when it was taken, other then one can clearly see the Smith Tower

From: Washington State Digital Archives – Orders XXXXXX@digitalarchives.wa.gov

Dear Martin Lawson,

We double checked the image and found that “The Fleet in Elliott Bay” with the photographer was the only information on the back of the photo. The rest must have come from conjecture. i’ve changed the record to reflect only what is on the photograph.

Thank you for using the Washington State Digital Archives,
Mary Hammer
XXXXXX@secstate.wa.gov

http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?displaypage=output.cfm&file_id=3610

so what is this picture of then?