USS Nevada (BM-8)

Figure 1: "U.S. Monitors Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida and Wyoming." Pen-and-ink side elevation and plan view, by the Bureau of Construction and Repair. These monitors (numbers 7-10, respectively) were built under the 1898 ship construction program. Connecticut (Monitor No. 8) was renamed Nevada in January 1901, after launching but more than two years before completion. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 2: Color postcard of the USS Nevada (BM-8) at anchor at New London, Connecticut, in 1905. Photograph by Enrique Muller, courtesy of Tommy Trampp. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 3: Caption of this black-and-white photograph reads: “The crew of the USS Tonopah (BM-8) dressed in whites in 1909, while the ship was at anchor, probably on a Sunday. “ But this photograph looks like the picture used by Enrique Muller for the color postcard dated 1905. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 4: Starboard view of USS Nevada (BM-8) circa 1903-09, location unknown. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 5: USS Tonopah (BM-8) heading out to sea, circa 1914. Originally laid down as USS Connecticut, she was renamed USS Nevada to avoid confusion with a pre-dreadnought battleship. She was again renamed in March 1909 to USS Tonopah. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 6: View on USS Tonopah’s (BM-8) foredeck, showing 12-inch guns and crewmen, taken while she was serving as submarine tender at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts, circa 1917. Submarines alongside are USS L-11 (Submarine No. 51) and USS L-9 (Submarine No. 49). Note the workbench, with vise attached, in the left foreground. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 7: USS Tonopah (BM-8) in the harbor at Ponta Delgada, Azores, in April 1918. She is painted in what appears to be Mackay-type camouflage. Photographed from USS Margaret (SP-527) by Raymond D. Borden. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 8: Postcard of USS Nevada (BM-8), date and place unknown. US Navy photograph courtesy of Darryl L. Baker. Click on photograph for larger image.



USS Connecticut (BM-8) was a 3,225-ton Arkansas class monitor that was laid down on 17 April 1899 at the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, and was launched on 24 November 1900. But the ship was re-named USS Nevada in January 1901 and was commissioned on 5 March 1903. Nevada was approximately 225 feet long and 50 feet wide, had a top speed of 13 knots, and had a crew of 220 officers and men. Nevada was armed with one main turret that held two 12-inch guns and also carried four 4-inch guns and two 6-pounders.

Nevada’s initial career was rather subdued. She was in commission for roughly three years when the ship was decommissioned on 19 August 1906. Nevada was then re-named USS Tonopah on 2 March 1909 to allow Battleship Number 36 to be named Nevada. Re-commissioned on 14 May 1909, Tonopah was assigned to the US Navy’s Atlantic Fleet as a submarine tender. Tonopah operated along America’s east coast from Massachusetts to Key West, Florida, until January 1918.

Although briefly based in Bermuda, Tonopah was sent to Ponta Delgada on the island of San Miguel, Azores, in February 1918. From February to December 1918, the ship tended to five submarines and several submarine chasers operating from the Azores. In December, Tonopah was towed to Lisbon, Portugal, and then returned to the United States. The ship was decommissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in October 1919. On 26 January 1922, USS Tonopah was sold for scrapping.

The era of the big-gun monitor had drawn to a close. They were powerful ships, but anachronisms, with a design that belonged to a previous century. Monitors were very slow, poorly ventilated, and extremely sluggish and hard to handle in heavy seas. In fact, it’s amazing more of them were not lost in stormy weather. Yet from 1865 to about 1900, they were still considered by many old-fashioned admirals to be the last word in battleship design. But with time came change and with so many newer and more modern battleships joining the American fleet after 1900, there was no need for them, even as coastal patrol boats. Most of these strange-looking warships were disposed of by the 1920s.

USS Tangier (AV-8)

Figure 1: USS Tangier (AV-8) off Mare Island, California, circa August 1941. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 2: USS Tangier (AV-8) anchored off Mare Island, California, circa August 1941. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 3: USS Tangier (AV-8) anchored off Mare Island, California, circa August 1941. Note OS2U seaplanes on deck, aft. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 4: Japanese bomb explodes some twenty feet off the starboard side of USS Tangier (AV-8), forward of the bridge, during the Pearl Harbor air raid, 7 December 1941. The original photograph was in the CinCPac report of the Pearl Harbor attack, 15 February 1942, Volume 3. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 5: Damage to glass windows on USS Tangier’s (AV-8) bridge, caused by a Japanese bomb that exploded off the starboard side during the Pearl Harbor air raid, 7 December 1941. The original photograph was in the CinCPac report of the Pearl Harbor Attack, 15 February 1942, Volume 3. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 6: USS Utah (AG-16) capsizing off Ford Island during the attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941, after being torpedoed by Japanese aircraft . Photographed from USS Tangier (AV-8), which was moored astern of Utah. Note colors half-raised over fantail, boats nearby, and sheds covering Utah's after guns. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 7: USS Curtiss (AV-4) on fire after she was hit by a crashing Japanese dive bomber. Photographed from USS Tangier (AV-8). USS Medusa (AR-1) is at right. Timbers floating in the water (foreground) may be from USS Utah (AG-16), which had been sunk at her berth, astern of Tangier. Note weathered paintwork on Curtiss and Medusa. The original photograph was in the CinCPac report of the Pearl Harbor attack, 15 February 1942, Volume 3. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 8: USS Tangier (AV-8) anchored at Noumea, New Caledonia, 14 April 1942. She has a PBY-5 and an OS2U-2 on the seaplane deck, aft. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 9: USS Tangier (AV-8) at anchor, circa 1942-1943. The radar tower over the bridge and the small funnel extension were probably fitted during a refit at Oakland, California, in July to September 1942. US National Archives photo # 19-N-40106, RG-19 LCM, a US Navy Bureau of Ships photograph now in the collections of the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 10: Broadside view of USS Tangier (AV-8) off San Francisco, 17 February 1944. Mare Island Navy Yard photo # 1056. Courtesy Darryl Baker. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 11: USS Tangier (AV-8) in the south Pacific area, July 1944. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 12: USS Tangier (AV-8) anchored in the south Pacific area, July 1944. Note PBY patrol seaplane flying past, beyond her bow. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.



Figure 13: USS Currituck (AV-7) (upper), and USS Tangier (AV-8) (lower), moored at Morotai (now part of Indonesia) in October 1944, while supporting seaplane operations there in connection with the Leyte invasion. Note aircraft rescue boats tied up alongside Tangier and OS2U floatplanes on both ships' seaplane decks. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 14: SS Detroit berthed at Bremerhaven, Germany, July 1971. She used to be USS Tangier (AV-8). Courtesy Gerhard L. Mueller-Debus. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 15: SS Detroit berthed at Bremerhaven, Germany, July 1971. She used to be USS Tangier (AV-8). Courtesy Gerhard L. Mueller-Debus. Click on photograph for larger image.



Named after an island and a sound in the lower Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, the 11,760-ton USS Tangier was the lead ship in a class of three seaplane tenders. Built by the Moore Dry Dock Company at Oakland, California, the ship was originally being built as a civilian steamer named Sea Arrow until it was purchased by the US Navy on 8 July 1940 and renamed Tangier (AV-8). The ship then was converted into a seaplane tender and commissioned on 25 August 1941. The ship was approximately 492 feet long and 69 feet wide, had a top speed of 18.4 knots, and had a crew of 1,075 officers and men. Tangier was armed with one 5-inch gun, four 3-inch guns, and eight 40-mm guns.

Shortly after being commissioned in August 1941, Tangier completed her shakedown cruise and was assigned to act as the seaplane tender for Patrol Wing (PatWing) 2, based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Tangier arrived at Pearl Harbor on 3 November and was moored just aft of the former battleship USS Utah (AG-16), which was serving as an antiaircraft training ship. For the next month, Tangier tended to numerous seaplanes that were based at Pearl Harbor.

At 0755 on the morning of 7 December 1941, the first of two waves of Japanese aircraft attacked the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Tangier was still anchored aft of Utah, but managed to shake off the initial surprise of being attacked and went directly to general quarters. Within three minutes after the start of the attack, Tangier’s antiaircraft guns started firing at the oncoming Japanese aircraft. Tangier’s gunners claimed to have shot down three Japanese aircraft and scored a hit on a Japanese midget submarine which had penetrated the harbor’s defenses. Tangier and her sister seaplane tender, USS Curtiss (AV-4), continued firing at the submarine until the destroyer Monaghan (DD-354) arrived and sank the submarine with depth charges. During the attack, Curtiss was hit by a bomb and by an enemy plane that crashed right into it. Tangier sustained only minor damage from a bomb that exploded next to the ship. By 0920, the skies were clear of Japanese warplanes, but most of the Pacific fleet was in ruins. Tangier began rescuing crewmen from Utah, which capsized in front of her.

Roughly a week after the attack, Tangier was attached to a small task force sent to reinforce the beleaguered American Marine garrison on Wake Island. The task force, though, was recalled to Pearl Harbor after the island fell to the Japanese on 23 December 1941. In February 1942, Tangier was sent to the South Pacific and was based at Noumea, New Caledonia. She spent the next three months there and her seaplanes played a supporting role in the Battle of the Coral Sea, which took place in May 1942. On 20 June, Tangier was relieved in New Caledonia and headed back to the United States for an overhaul. After making a stop at Pearl Harbor, Tangier arrived at San Francisco, California, on 15 July.

Once her overhaul was completed in September 1942, Tangier was sent again to the South Pacific. From February to August 1943, Tangier carried cargo to various bases and tended to seaplanes. In August, Tangier returned to Pearl Harbor and for the next few months she transported aviation supplies from Pearl Harbor and the United States to American Samoa and New Caledonia. Tangier arrived in San Diego, California, on 3 December 1943 for another overhaul.

On 21 February 1944, Tangier headed west again. From March 1944 until June 1945, Tangier moved from bases in Australia, New Guinea, and the Philippines, assisting seaplanes attached to the US Seventh Fleet and to General MacArthur’s forces. On several occasions, the seaplane tender had to fight off Japanese air attacks during her trek across the Pacific. Tangier was sent back to the United States for yet another overhaul on 27 June 1945 and arrived at San Francisco on 20 July. The ship was being overhauled when the war ended in the Pacific in August 1945, but was sent back to the Far East to support American occupation forces in Japan and China from October 1945 to March 1946. Tangier then made the long trip back to the United States, went through the Panama Canal, and arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, in late April. She then was sent to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for de-activation. USS Tangier was decommissioned in Philadelphia in January 1947 and remained in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet until 17 November 1961, when she was sold to the Union Minerals & Alloys Corporation for scrapping. But the corporation must have received a good offer for the tough old ship, because the company resold Tangier to the Sea-Land Service in 1962. This company overhauled and converted Tangier into a car carrier/container ship and re-named her SS Detroit. Detroit served until 1974 when she was sold for scrap for the last time.

USS Massachusetts (BB-2)

Figure 1: USS Massachusetts (BB-2) halftone photograph, taken prior to 1898. Copied from the contemporary publication Uncle Sam's Navy. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 2: USS Massachusetts (BB-2) photographed by E.H. Hart off New York City during the Spanish-American War victory review, circa August 1898. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 3: USS Massachusetts (BB-2) photograph taken in 1898. The original photograph was copyright J.F. Jarvis and printed on a stereograph card. Courtesy of Captain George Atkins, USNR(DC), 1975. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 4: USS Massachusetts (BB-2) at anchor, 1898. The original photograph was copyright 1898 by J.F. Jarvis and published on a stereograph card. Courtesy of Commander Donald J. Robinson, USN(MSC), 1975. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 5: USS Massachusetts (BB-2) in 1893. This could be a black-and-white photograph from either a book or a postcard that has had color added to it by the publisher. Courtesy of Arnold A. Putnam. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 6: Starboard bow view of USS Massachusetts (BB-2) at a wharf, June 1901. US Naval Historical Center Photograph #1 81-NYS-15-46. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 7: USS Massachusetts (BB-2) is seen at the coaling facility (Building 109) on Pier 1 of the Boston Navy Yard in 1904. Astern of the battleship is USS Constitution. Photograph by E. Chickering, National Park Service, Boston National Historical Park, cat. no. BOSTS-10053, courtesy of Stephen P. Carlson, Preservation Specialist, Boston NHP, Charlestown Navy Yard. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 8: Pre-cruise fitting out of USS Massachusetts (BB-2) at the New York Navy Yard, 1904. USS Indiana (BB-1) is in the background. USNI/USN photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 9: The Massachusetts (BB-2) in dry dock, possibly at the New York Navy Yard, 1904. USNI/USN photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 10: USS Massachusetts (BB-2) in harbor, date and place unknown. This is a black-and-white photograph on a postcard that has had color added to it by the publisher. Courtesy of Arnold A. Putnam. Click on photograph for larger image.



USS Massachusetts (BB-2) was a 10,288-ton battleship of the Indiana class and was built by William Cramp & Sons at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was commissioned on 10 June 1896. The ship was approximately 350 feet long and 69 feet wide, had a top speed of 16 knots, and had a crew of 473 officers and men. Massachusetts was armed with four 13-inch guns, eight 8-inch guns, four 6-inch guns, 20 6-pounders, six 1-pounders, and four 18-inch torpedo tubes.

Massachusetts left on her shakedown cruise on 4 August 1896. She conducted trials and maneuvers off the east coast of the United States until 30 November and then entered the New York Navy Yard in New York City for an overhaul. For almost two years, Massachusetts patrolled off America’s Atlantic coastline and participated in training maneuvers with the North Atlantic Squadron off Florida.

After the start of the Spanish-American War on 21 April 1898, Massachusetts participated in the naval blockade of Cuba. She was stationed off Cienfuegos, Cuba, and on the afternoon of 31 May she bombarded the forts at the entrance of Santiago de Cuba and exchanged gunfire with the Spanish cruiser Cristobal Colon, forcing the enemy ship to retire into the inner harbor of Santiago for safety. Massachusetts remained on patrol off Santiago, occasionally bombarding the Spanish fortifications there until 2 July 1898. The battleship went to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for coal and this trip caused her to miss the naval Battle of Santiago, which occurred on 3 July. But Massachusetts quickly steamed back to Santiago and did arrive in time to help the battleship USS Texas force the Spanish cruiser Reina Mercedes to beach and surrender at midnight on 6 July. The ship then supported the American occupation of Puerto Rico from 21 July to 1 August. After that, Massachusetts steamed home and arrived in New York City on 20 August.

For the next seven years, Massachusetts patrolled off America’s Atlantic coast and in the eastern Caribbean as a member of the North Atlantic Squadron. From 27 May to 30 August 1904, she served as a training ship for US Naval Academy midshipmen off New England and then entered the New York Navy Yard in New York City for an overhaul. After the overhaul was completed, Massachusetts left New York on 13 January 1905 and went to the Caribbean on training maneuvers. The battleship returned to New York on 12 November 1905, where she underwent inactivation overhaul and was decommissioned on 8 January 1906.

Massachusetts was placed in “reduced commission” on 2 May 1910 and served as a summer practice ship for US Naval Academy midshipmen. Over the next four years, Massachusetts made three midshipman cruises (two of them to Europe) and entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet in September 1912. After a brief trip to New York from 5 to 16 October 1912 for a Presidential Fleet Review, Massachusetts went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was based there until being decommissioned on 23 May 1914.

Massachusetts was re-commissioned at Philadelphia on 9 June 1917. She left there on 9 October and arrived at the Naval Training Station at Newport, Rhode Island, on 15 October and embarked US Naval Reserve gun crews for gunnery training in Block Island Sound off Rhode Island. Massachusetts continued serving as a training ship during World War I. After the war ended, Massachusetts was re-designated Coast Battleship No. 2 on 29 March 1919. USS Massachusetts was decommissioned for the last time on 31 March 1919. She was struck from the Navy list on 22 November 1920 and given to the War Department as a target ship. Towed to Pensacola, Florida, on 6 January 1921, the ship was bombarded by guns from nearby Fort Pickens and sunk. Her hulk remains there to this day.

USS Meredith (DD-726)

Figure 1: Launching of USS Meredith (DD-726) at the Bath Iron Works shipyard, Bath, Maine, 21 December 1943. Official US Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 2: USS Meredith (DD-726) off the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, 29 March 1944. She is painted in Camouflage Measure 32, Design 3D. Courtesy of the US Naval Institute Photograph Collection, Annapolis, Maryland. Official US Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 3: USS Meredith (DD-726) off the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, 29 March 1944. She is painted in Camouflage Measure 32, Design 3D. Courtesy of the US Naval Institute Photograph Collection, Annapolis, Maryland. Official US Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 4: USS Meredith (DD-726) underway at sea, 16 April 1944. She is painted in Camouflage Measure 32, Design 3D. Courtesy of the US Naval Institute Photograph Collection, Annapolis, Maryland. Official US Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 5: USS Meredith (DD-726) after striking the mine off Utah Beach on 8 June 1944. Courtesy James D. Bass, Jr. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 6: Ernest C. Graham, GM3C, was in the salvage crew that attempted to save Meredith (DD-726) before she broke in half. After abandoning the ship for the second time, he saw her sink from a Higgins Boat that had rescued the salvage crew. Courtesy Ernest C. Graham, GM3C. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 7: USS Meredith (DD-726) going down after she is hit by a German aircraft and breaks in half on 9 June 1944. Courtesy James D. Bass, Jr. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 8: USS Meredith (DD-726) going down after she is hit by a German aircraft and breaks in half on 9 June 1944. Courtesy James D. Bass, Jr. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 9: Ernest C. Graham, GM3C, was in the salvage crew that attempted to save Meredith (DD-726) before she broke in half. After abandoning the ship for the second time, he saw her sink from a Higgins Boat that had rescued the salvage crew. Courtesy Ernest C. Graham, GM3C. Click on photograph for larger image.


Figure 10: Ernest C. Graham, GM3C, was in the salvage crew that attempted to save Meredith (DD-726) before she broke in half. After abandoning the ship for the second time, he saw her sink from a Higgins Boat that had rescued the salvage crew. Courtesy Ernest C. Graham, GM3C. Click on photograph for larger image.



Named after Jonathan Meredith, a Marine Corps hero in the war with the Barbary Pirates, USS Meredith (DD-726) was a 2,200-ton Allen M. Sumner class destroyer that was built by the Bath Iron Works at Bath, Maine, and was commissioned on 14 March 1944. The ship was approximately 376 feet long and 40 feet wide, had a crew of 357 officers and men, and had a top speed of 34 knots. Meredith was armed with six 5-inch guns, 12 40-mm guns, 11 20-mm guns, 10 21-inch torpedo tubes, and depth charges.

After her shakedown cruise off Bermuda, Meredith left Boston, Massachusetts, and escorted her first convoy to England. She arrived at Plymouth, England, on 27 May 1944. Once in England, Meredith, along with hundreds of other ships, prepared for D-Day, or the invasion of Normandy. On 5 and 6 June 1944, Meredith escorted transports that were participating in the invasion. Then on D-Day, 6 June, Meredith provided gunfire support to the landing forces on Utah Beach.

Early in the morning of 8 June 1944, Meredith hit an enemy mine while working off the coast of Normandy as an escort vessel. The blast killed 35 crewmembers, wounded 15 others, and severely damaged the ship. The destroyer was being taken under tow when she was attacked and bombed by a German aircraft on the morning of 9 June. USS Meredith suddenly broke in two without warning and sank. Although the ship was sunk less than three months after being commissioned, she received one battle star for her wartime service. The sunken hulk of USS Meredith was sold to a French company in 1960 and the ship was raised and scrapped that same year.