 On 8 January 1941 , the ship was reclassified from BB @-@ 7 to IX @-@ 15 , and was renamed Prairie State so that her name could be used for the new battleship Illinois , which would be laid down a week later . Throughout World War II , she served with the U.S. Naval Reserve <unk> 's School , based in New York . After the end of the war , Prairie State was kept as a barracks ship for a Naval Reserve unit . On 31 December 1955 , the old ship was stricken and subsequently towed to Baltimore , where she was sold for scrap to the Bethlehem Steel Company on 18 May 1956 . 
