The battleship was ordered on March 3, 1909. The keel of the ship was laid on February 9, 1910 in Philadelphia in William Cramp and Sons shipyard. The launching took place on May 25, 1911, the godmother was Dorothy Eunice Knight, daughter of the former head of the Wyoming State Supreme Court. She entered the service on 25 September 1912 in Philadelphia Navy Yard. Commander Frederick L. Chapin became first in command. The Wyoming-class ships were considerably larger than their Florida-class predecessors, the difference was about 20%. This made it possible to install a sixth turret and improved armor. Thus the Wyoming class had a total of 12 heavy guns, an impressive number for that time. However, the arrangement of the two central gun turrets proved to be problematic, as these and their ammunition magazines were located near the boiler rooms, which led to considerably increased temperatures of the powder and a changed range. Efforts to keep this area cooled only had moderate success.