21 August 1883

[Spooooooooooooooooooooon]

On this date took place the installation of electric lighting in the steam frigate USS Trenton – the first such installation in a US warship. Of seven electric power companies asked by the Bureau of Navigation to bid on the project, only the Edison Company for Isolated Lighting did so, asking $5500 for a dynamo, engine, over two hundred lights, wiring and associated equipment. This experiment was a success, and the next year the Navy contracted for the lighting of three more ships.

In 1886, the Bureau of Navigation reported that “[t]his method of lighting ships of war, owing to the small amount of heat given off, the absence of disagreeable odors, and the more perfect illumination, adds much to the health and comfort of the officers and men, tends to make them contented and happy during their long absences from home and friends, promotes discipline and prevents crime.”

[AphelionMarauder]

Seems legit!

[Murotsu]

And less than three years later the Trenton was run aground in a cyclone at Guam and wrecked, along with the rest of the US and German squadrons present likely preventing a war between the US and Germany...