 As Connecticut was only 55 % complete when she was launched , missing most of her upper works , protection , machinery and armament , it was two years before Connecticut was commissioned on 29 September 1906 . Captain William Swift was the first captain of the new battleship . Connecticut sailed out of New York for the first time on 15 December 1906 , becoming the first ship in the US Navy to ever go to sea without a sea trial . She first journeyed south to the Virginia Capes , where she conducted a variety of training exercises ; this was followed by a shakedown cruise and battle practice off Cuba and Puerto Rico . During the cruise , she participated in a search for the missing steamer Ponce . 
