on 1 july 1908, "florida" was renamed uss "tallahassee" to free the state name for assignment to a battleship. on 1 august 1910, she was placed in commission in reserve and began a regular schedule of ordnance experimentation and occasional duty in the panama canal zone and norfolk area as a submarine tender. during world war i she served as submarine tender in the canal zone, the virgin islands, and bermuda areas and on 30 september 1919, entered charleston navy yard where she was decommissioned on 3 december 1919. "tallahassee" was assigned to the 6th naval district as a reserve training ship from 19 february 1920, serving in commissioned status from 3 september 1920 to 24 march 1922.