 As part of the US response to Germany 's unrestricted submarine warfare , Connecticut was recommissioned on 3 October 1916 . Two days later , Admiral Herbert O. Dunn made her the flagship of the Fifth Battleship Division , transferring his flag from Minnesota . Connecticut operated along the East Coast and in the Caribbean until the United States entered World War I on 6 April 1917 . For the duration of the war , Connecticut was based in York River , Virginia . More than 1 @,@ 000 trainees — midshipmen and gun crews for merchant ships — took part in exercises on her while she sailed in Chesapeake Bay and off the Virginia Capes . 
