The first ship, which was actually named after the Colorado River, was a steam-screw frigate commissioned in 1858 and decommissioned in 1876. (Colorado didn't become a state until 1876.) During the Civil War, it assisted the capture of Fort Fisher in Wilmington, North Carolina.
The second was a Pennsylvania-class cruiser commissioned in 1903. It joined the Atlantic fleet in 1905 and later saw service in China, Japan, and the Hawaiian Islands. It was recommissioned as the USS Pueblo in 1916 so the name Colorado would be available for the Colorado-class battleship. It was decommissioned in 1927.
The third USS Colorado was the first of the Colorado-class battleships, serving in the Navy from 1923 to 1947. It supported combat operations in the Pacific during World War II — including the brutal fight at Tarawa in 1943. It was present during Japan's unconditional surrender in Tokyo Bay in 1945 and was decommissioned in January 1947.
The newly commissioned vessel features the Rocky Mountain Grille — the ship's galley — decked out with landscape photos by a Colorado photographer.
Source: US Navy, Navy Times