On October 7, 1904, the battleship USS Nebraska is launched from Moran Brothers shipyard in Seattle. It is the only battleship built in Washington state. Fifty-five thousand people attend, including 40,000 along the wharves and shoreline and 15,000 in boats across Elliott Bay.

The Moran Brothers Company, founded as a machine shop in 1882, operated a shipyard at the foot of South Charles Street, south of Seattle's Pioneer Square. Company President Robert Moran (mayor of Seattle in 1888-1890) submitted the lowest bid to build the Nebraska, but it was still more than the Navy wanted to pay. To help the company win the contract, 536 citizens pledged a total of $100,000 to offset the cost.

The keel was laid for the 435-foot-long battleship on July 4, 1904, and her hull was launched on October 7. The Navy's final bill came to $4,500,000.
Source: HistoryLink.org

In accordance with the Washington Naval Treaty limiting naval armament, Nebraska was declared "incapable of further warlike service" on 9 November 1923 and sold for scrap a few weeks later.