Figure 1: USS Cleveland (Cruiser No. 19) underway in 1904. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 2: USS Cleveland (Cruiser No. 19) photographed circa 1907, probably just before beginning her cruise to the Far East by way of the Suez Canal. Copied from the Album of Assistant Paymaster Francis J. Daly, by courtesy of Commander Thomas M. Daly, USN, 1984. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 3: USS Cleveland (Cruiser No. 19) in the "Dewey" Dry Dock, Olongapo Naval Station, Philippine Islands, circa 14 January 1908. Copied from the Album of Assistant Paymaster Francis J. Daly, by courtesy of Commander Thomas M. Daly, USN, 1984. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 4: USS Cleveland (Cruiser No. 19) in the "Dewey" Dry Dock, Olongapo Naval Station, Philippine Islands, circa 14 January 1908. Note her decorated stern and the officer posed on the starboard propeller. Copied from the Album of Assistant Paymaster Francis J. Daly, by courtesy of Commander Thomas M. Daly, USN, 1984. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 5: USS Cleveland (Cruiser No. 19) moored at Mare Island Navy Yard, California, in 1914 acting as the shipyard's receiving ship. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 6: Starboard side view of USS Cleveland (Cruiser No. 19) in the Mare Island Navy Yard channel on 25 April 1914. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 7: Port side view of USS Cleveland (Cruiser No. 19) in the Mare Island Navy Yard channel on 25 April 1914. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 8: USS Cleveland (Cruiser No. 19) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 30 October 1915. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1970. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 9: Port side view of USS Cleveland (Cruiser No. 19) at Mare Island on 7 September 1916. The tug USS Active (YT-14) is behind Cleveland. US Navy Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 10: Starboard side view of USS Cleveland (Cruiser No. 19) at Mare Island on 7 September 1916. The tug USS Active (YT-14) is along side. US Navy Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 11: USS Cleveland (Cruiser No. 19) escorting a World War I convoy, 1918. The original image is printed on post card ("AZO") stock. Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2007. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 12: USS Cleveland (CL-21), closest to the camera, and USS Galveston (CL-19) seen from USS Hannibal (AG-1), circa 1923, probably in Cuban waters. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of LeRoy R. Horstman. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 13: Painting of USS Cleveland (CL-21) by an unidentified artist. Courtesy of Mr. Fred Bristol, 1971. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 14: "In Remembrance of My Cruise in China, Japan and P.I." Silk embroidered tapestry featuring a photograph of Henry Rockwell Mousseau, his medals and an embroidered portrait of his ship, USS Cleveland (Cruiser No. 19). Cleveland served in the Far East during 1907-1910. Courtesy of Richard Mosseau, 1981. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Named after a city in Ohio, the 3,200-ton USS Cleveland (Cruiser No. 19) was the last of six Denver class “protected cruisers,” which were ships that possessed armor protection on their main decks but not on their sides. Also known as “Peace Cruisers,” these slow, lightly-armed and armored ships were never meant for fleet actions. They were used as gunboats with the Asiatic Fleet and in the waters off Central America and South America, as well as in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. Because they were needed to patrol distant waters with little support, the Denver class ships were furnished with sails to extend their cruising range while economizing on coal, but they also had large coal bunkers, which increased their range and endurance. Their steel hulls were sheathed with pine and coppered for long service in tropical waters and they possessed roomy, well-ventilated quarters for their crews to ease the discomfort of sailing in hot climates. Each Denver class warship had a two-and-one-half-inch-thick armored deck and was armed with ten 5-inch rapid-fire guns. USS Cleveland was built by the Bath Iron Works at Bath, Maine, and was commissioned 2 November 1903. She was approximately 308 feet long and 44 feet wide, had a top speed of 16 knots, and had a crew of 339 officers and men.
Cleveland was assigned first to the European Squadron and patrolled the waters off the West Indies, Cuba, and along the east coast of the United States. Cleveland remained with the European Squadron until 17 May 1907, when she left New York and headed to the Far East via Gibraltar, Port Said, Aden, Colombo, Singapore, and then finally arrived at Cavite in the Philippines on 1 August. Cleveland was part of the Asiatic Fleet for the next three years, protecting American lives and property in the area. Cleveland returned to the United States via the Pacific Ocean and arrived at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, on 1 August 1910. She was decommissioned on 3 August and placed in reserve.
Cleveland was re-commissioned on 31 August 1912. The cruiser spent the next five years patrolling the waters off the coast of Mexico and Central America. As was usual for gunboats, Cleveland’s primary duty was to protect American lives and property in the politically volatile nations of Latin America. But with the United States drawing closer and closer to war with Germany, Cleveland was assigned to the east coast of the United States and on 31 March 1917 arrived at Hampton Roads, Virginia. From 9 April to 22 June, she patrolled from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, to Charleston, South Carolina, searching for German submarines and surface raiders. From June 1917 to November 1918, Cleveland escorted seven convoys that were headed from the United States to Europe. She escorted the convoys to a midway point between the United States and Europe in the Atlantic Ocean. Cleveland then was relieved by Allied escorts from Britain or France that brought the convoy the rest of the way to Europe.
After the war ended in November 1918, Cleveland returned to patrolling off the coasts of Central and South America. But Cleveland once again was assigned to the Asiatic Fleet in February 1920. She also officially was re-classified as a gunboat (PG-33) in July 1920, but again was re-classified in August 1921, this time as a light cruiser (CL-21). Cleveland remained active in the Caribbean and South American waters during the 1920s, making courtesy calls to various ports, supporting diplomatic missions, providing disaster relief when necessary, and protecting American interests in the area when needed. USS Cleveland was decommissioned in Boston on 1 November 1929 and was sold for scrapping on 7 March 1930.
