USS South Carolina, lead ship of a class of two 16,000-ton battleships, was built at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Commissioned in March 1910, she spent most of her career operating off the U.S. east coast and in the Caribbean area. However, the battleship made voyages to Europe in late 1910 and early 1911 and again in mid-1911. During 1913-14, South Carolina was heavily involved in U.S interventions in Haiti and Mexico.

For most of the First World War, both before and after the United States entered the conflict, South Carolina continued her activities in the Western Hemisphere. In September 1918, she escorted a convoy part-way across the Atlantic. Following the end of the fighting, in February-July 1919, she made four round-trips to France, bringing home over 4,000 servicemen.

In June-August 1920, South Carolina carried Naval Academy midshipmen on a training cruise to the Pacific, visiting ports on the U.S. west coast and Hawaii before returning to the east coast by way of the Panama Canal. She made another midshipmen's training cruise, to European waters, in mid-1921. USS South Carolina was decommissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in December 1921. She was stricken from the Navy list in November 1923 and scrapped in accordance with the Washington naval limitations treaty. Her remains were sold in 1924.