Naval Warfare

USS New Orleans (CA-32)

2012-01-31T09:25:00.013-05:00

Figure 1: USS New Orleans (CA-32) in English waters, circa June 1934. Photographed by Wright & Logan, Southsea, England. Donation of Captain Joseph Finnegan, USN (Retired), 1970. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: USS New Orleans (CA-32) in port, circa 1937. Note the broad band painted on her after smokestack, probably a recognition feature. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: USS New Orleans (CA-32) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 9 February 1942. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: USS New Orleans (CA-32) underway during exercises in Hawaiian waters, 8 July 1942. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the U.S. National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5: Port bow view as USS New Orleans (CA-32) entered Tulagi harbor in the Solomon Islands about 8 hours after being struck by a torpedo, 1 December 1942. US Navy photo from the collection of Fred Overman family. Courtesy Henry A. Wristen, FTCS(DV) USN (Ret.). Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6: USS New Orleans (CA-32) seen here after the Battle of Tassafaronga. The PT boat in the foreground is carrying survivors from the USS Northampton (CA 26). US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7: USS New Orleans (CA-32) camouflaged at Tulagi, Solomon Islands, some days after she was torpedoed during the Battle of Tassafaronga on 30 November 1942. Note that her stern is riding high, and that her forward end is low in the water. The torpedo and subsequent explosion had severed her bow between No. 1 and No. 2 eight-inch gun turrets. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8: Patched up in Australia, USS New Orleans (CA-32) is heading to the United States for a new bow and permanent repairs. In order to balance the ship, the barrels were removed from No. 2 turret and stored at the stern. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 9: USS New Orleans (CA-32) steams through a tight turn in Elliot Bay, Washington, 30 July 1943, following battle damage repairs and overhaul at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Washington. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 10: USS New Orleans (CA-32) off the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, following battle damage repairs and overhaul, 5 August 1943. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 11: USS New Orleans (CA-32) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 8 March 1945. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after a city in Louisiana, the 9,950-ton USS New Orleans (CA-32) was the lead ship in a class of seven heavy cruisers. New Orleans was built at the New York Navy Yard, New York, and was commissioned on 15 February 1934. The ship was approximately 588 feet long and 61 feet wide, had a top speed of 32 knots, and had a crew of 708 officers and men. New Orleans was armed with nine 8-inch guns, eight 5-inch guns, and eight .50-caliber machine guns, and carried four aircraft.

New Orleans conducted her shakedown cruise to northern Europe in May and June of 1934 and returned to New York on 28 June. The heavy cruiser then steamed to the Pacific to participate in exercises with the cruiser USS Houston and the airship Macon. For the next two years, New Orleans served in the Atlantic, though she periodically sailed to the Pacific and then was regularly stationed there after early 1937. New Orleans was based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and remained there for the next four years.

On the morning of 7 December 1941, New Orleans was moored at Pearl Harbor and was taking electricity from the dock while her engines were being repaired. Unfortunately, after the attack on Pearl Harbor started, all electrical power to the ship was halted. As the engineers on board frantically tried to restore power, Japanese bombs were exploding next to the ship. Crewmen were defiantly firing at the Japanese aircraft with rifles and pistols for several minutes until power was restored. Once the ship had electrical power, the ship’s anti-aircraft batteries started firing at the enemy planes. New Orleans continued firing at the enemy aircraft until the attack was over. Several crewmen were injured when a fragmentation bomb blew up next to the ship. But, other than that, the ship was ready to leave the harbor which was, by this time, engulfed in flames.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, New Orleans briefly escorted convoys until she was sent to San Francisco on 13 January 1942 for engineering repairs and the installation of a new search radar as well as several 20-mm guns. The ship then escorted a convoy to Brisbane, Australia, on 12 February and from there escorted yet another convoy to Noumea, New Caledonia. After that, New Orleans returned to Pearl Harbor.

New Orleans joined Task Force 11 and on 15 April 1942 she began escorting the carrier USS Yorktown. This large American task force steamed southwest of the New Hebrides and a few days later, on 7-8 May, the ships participated in the momentous Battle of the Coral Sea, which was the first major carrier battle of the war. Although American carrier pilots sank one Japanese carrier, the Japanese mortally wounded an American carrier, USS Lexington. Lexington was wracked by explosions and engulfed in flames. New Orleans was sent to assist the stricken carrier. As flames continued to spread on board Lexington, her crewmen began to abandon ship. As New Orleans stood by the sinking carrier, many of her crewmen dove into the water to rescue the survivors from the carrier, especially the wounded ones. The motor lifeboats from New Orleans came in close to the flaming Lexington to pick up even more men, even though bombs that were stored on board the carrier were exploding on a regular basis. Metal and debris showered the surrounding area, yet New Orleans’ boat crews continued plucking men out of the water. New Orleans rescued approximately 580 men from Lexington before the cruiser had to leave the area. Lexington, though, was a tough ship and even though she was devastated by fire and internal explosions, the carrier remained afloat. To prevent the burning hulk from falling into the hands of the Japanese, Lexington had to be sunk by two torpedoes from an American destroyer. She sank on an even keel after one last, major explosion. New Orleans brought her 580 survivors to Noumea and then patrolled the eastern Solomon Islands before sailing back to Pearl Harbor for supplies.

New Orleans left Pearl Harbor on 28 May 1942 and began escorting the carrier USS Enterprise. A few days later on 2 June, this task force participated in the cataclysmic Battle of Midway. Midway was the naval turning point in the Pacific during World War II, where American carrier pilots sank four Japanese carriers for the loss of one American carrier, USS Yorktown. New Orleans remained by the side of Enterprise, protecting her from Japanese aircraft. Fortunately for the US Navy, Enterprise survived the battle. The American victory at Midway stopped Japan’s eastward expansion and heavily crippled her naval air arm for the rest of the war. After the battle, New Orleans returned to Pearl Harbor.

New Orleans left Pearl Harbor on 7 July 1942 and rendezvoused off the Fiji Islands with an American task force for the invasion of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. New Orleans escorted the carrier USS Saratoga and assisted in repelling serious Japanese air attacks off Guadalcanal on 24-25 August. The task force New Orleans was in defended the American invasion of Guadalcanal and prevented the Japanese from reinforcing Guadalcanal during the Battle of the Eastern Solomon Islands. But when Saratoga was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine on 31 August, New Orleans escorted her back to Pearl Harbor for repairs, arriving there on 21 September.

Once Saratoga was repaired, New Orleans sailed with her to Fiji early in November and then proceeded to Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, before arriving back in the Solomon Islands on 27 November 1942. On the night of 30 November, New Orleans, along with four other cruisers and six destroyers ran into a column of eight Japanese destroyers not far from Guadalcanal. What followed was the Battle of Tassafaronga and it turned out to be a disaster for the US Navy. The Japanese were not only experts at fighting at night, but their destroyers were armed with the powerful Type 93 “Long Lance” torpedoes, perhaps the best torpedoes in the world at that time. As the American task force attacked, the Japanese destroyers fired a large number of torpedoes at the American warships. The flagship of the American task force, the cruiser USS Minneapolis, was hit by two torpedoes. Minneapolis was severely damaged and slowed down almost immediately. New Orleans was in line right behind Minneapolis and was approaching the crippled flagship so rapidly that the commander of New Orleans, Captain Clifford H. Roper, was forced to throw his rudder hard right to avoid hitting Minneapolis. Unfortunately, in doing so, Captain Roper steered his ship right into the path of some oncoming torpedoes. One of the torpedoes hit New Orleans’ port bow abreast two gun magazines. The combined blast of the torpedo plus the two magazines going up completely tore off the bow of the ship as far back as the No. 2 8-inch turret. The crew was horrified as they watched the bow of their ship, with its No. 1 8-inch gun turret pointing skyward, pass along the port side of the ship, gouging holes in New Orleans along the way and tangling briefly with the propellers once it hit the cruiser’s stern. The entire event happened so suddenly that the crewmen at the stern of the ship thought that Minneapolis had sunk and that they were passing the remains of that ship.

New Orleans was in desperate shape. Roughly 120 feet of her bow, over one fifth of the ship’s length, was gone. All of the men in the detached bow and in the No. 2 turret, which had been consumed by flames, were killed by the initial blast. But the New Orleans’ engines were intact, power and lighting were normal, and the fires were under control. Captain Roper remained on the bridge where he had a clear view ahead while his executive officer stayed aft to control steering and the engines. Although water pressure severely strained the bulkheads on the forward part of the ship, the bulkheads held. The crew kept the ship afloat even though the forward end of the ship was down by about 40 feet into the water. So long as the bulkheads held, the ship remained afloat and could even make five knots, which was amazing considering the shape the ship was in. Blown to pieces but still afloat, New Orleans made it to the tiny American port at Tulagi, a small island just south of Florida Island in the Solomons. Of the five American cruisers that took part in the battle, one was sunk and three were severely damaged and out of action. The Japanese lost only one destroyer, making this one of the worst defeats for the US Navy during World War II.

Tulagi Harbor was very small and used mainly as a repair base for motor torpedo boats. The repair crews here were not used to seeing something as large as a heavy cruiser, but they did the best they could with what they had. They first put New Orleans under camouflage netting to hide the wounded warship from Japanese aircraft. Then they worked with the ship’s crew to create a jury-rigged temporary bow made from coconut tree logs. They also used the logs to strengthen the ship’s bulkheads. The repairs seemed to hold and on 12 December New Orleans left Tulagi and headed for Australia for more permanent repairs in a normal dockyard. Even though the ship was battered and missing her bow, New Orleans steamed gallantly into the harbor at Sydney, Australia, on 24 December 1942, Christmas Eve. It was an amazing journey, especially since Japanese aircraft, warships, or submarines could have easily sunk the ship on its way to Australia. On 7 March 1943, New Orleans left Sydney with a temporary steel bow and made its way back to the United States. The cruiser arrived at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Washington, a few weeks later where a new bow was already built and waiting for her.

After the new bow was welded on and the ship was totally repaired, New Orleans returned to Pearl Harbor on 31 August 1943. For the remainder of the war in the Pacific, New Orleans used her guns to bombard Japanese shore positions and also escorted various carrier task forces. Her major combat operations in 1943 and 1944 included the invasions of the Gilbert Islands in November 1943, the Marshall Islands in January and February 1944, and attacks on New Guinea in April and the Marianas Islands in June and July. While steaming off the coast of New Guinea on 22 April, a disabled plane from the carrier USS Yorktown flew directly into New Orleans’ mainmast, with parts of the shattered aircraft hitting gun mounts as they fell into the sea. The ship was sprayed with flaming gasoline as the plane exploded on impact, with one crewmember on board the ship being killed and another seriously wounded. But New Orleans remained in action. She went on to bombard the Palau Islands in September, Leyte in the Philippines in October and Mindoro in December.

In December 1944, New Orleans returned to the United States and entered the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, for an overhaul. After the overhaul was completed, New Orleans returned to battle and participated in the invasion of Okinawa from April to June 1945. As usual, she bombarded land targets and escorted other ships when needed. By late August, after the war in the Pacific had ended, New Orleans supported the American occupation operations in China and Korea. From late 1945 to early 1946, New Orleans transported US troops home from Asia. The ship arrived at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, in March 1946 to prepare for inactivation. USS New Orleans was formally decommissioned on 10 February 1947 and was put in reserve until struck from the Navy List on 1 March 1959. This noble warship was sold for scrapping on 22 September later that year.

Rarely has one warship suffered such horrific damage and manage to survive. Not only did New Orleans survive, but she went on to serve in most of the major American amphibious invasions during the latter part of the war in the Pacific. A truly unique warship and one that earned 16 battle stars for her service during World War II.

USS Cincinnati

2012-01-24T09:05:00.015-05:00

Figure 1: USS Cincinnati (1862-1865) photographed on the Western Rivers in 1862-63. Note laundry drying on lines rigged from her mainmast and awnings spread over her upper deck. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: USS Cincinnati (1862-1865) line engraving published in Harper's Weekly, 20 June 1863, soon after she was sunk off Vicksburg, Mississippi, by Confederate gunfire. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: "Gun-Deck of One of the Mississippi Gun-Boats Engaged in the Attack on Fort Henry." Line engraving after a sketch by Alexander Simplot, published in Harper's Weekly, 1862. It depicts a gun deck scene on board one of the "City" class ironclad gunboats. Of the seven ships of that class, Carondelet, Cincinnati and Saint Louis were present during the attack on Fort Henry, Tennessee, on 6 February 1862. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: "City" class ironclad gunboats off Cairo, Illinois, in 1863, with barges moored in the foreground. These ships are (from left to right): USS Baron de Kalb (1862-1863); USS Cincinnati (1862-1865) and USS Mound City (1862-1865). Boats are tied astern of Baron de Kalb and Cincinnati. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5: Sketch of USS Cincinnati (1862-1865) during the later part of the Civil War, with a long deckhouse fitted above her casemate. Courtesy of the Philibrick Collection, Kittery, Maine. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6: Battle of Fort Henry, 6 February 1862. Line engraving after a drawing by Rear Admiral Henry Walke, published in the History of the Great Rebellion, by Harper. The print depicts the federal gunboats Saint Louis, Carondelet, Essex and Cincinnati bombarding Fort Henry. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7: Bombardment and capture of Island Number Ten on the Mississippi River, April 7, 1862. Colored lithograph published by Currier & Ives, New York, circa 1862. It depicts the bombardment of the Confederate fortifications on Island Number Ten by federal gunboats and mortar boats. Ships seen include (from left to right): Mound City, Louisville, Pittsburg, Carondelet, Flagship Benton, Cincinnati, Saint Louis and Conestoga. Mortar boats are firing from along the river bank. Official US Navy Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8: "Battle of Fort Pillow, First position." Engraving published in Rear Admiral Henry Walke's "Naval Scenes and Reminiscences of the Civil War in the United States ..." (1877), depicting the action between the Confederate River Defense Fleet and federal ironclads near Fort Pillow, Tennessee, 10 May 1862. Confederate ships, seen at right, include (from left to right): General Earl Van Dorn, General Sterling Price, General Bragg, General Sumter and Little Rebel. The federal ironclads, in the center and left, are (from left to right): Mound City, Carondelet and Cincinnati. A federal mortar boat is by the river bank in the lower right. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 9: “They Swam to and from Shore, Saving their Comrades." Artwork by Bacon, published in Deeds of Valor, Volume II, page 47, by the Perrien-Keydel Company, Detroit, 1907. It depicts Landsman Thomas E. Corcoran assisting fellow crewmen of USS Cincinnati as their ship sinks under fire of Confederate batteries at Vicksburg, Mississippi, on 27 May 1863. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at this time. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 10: Landsman Thomas E. Corcoran, USN. Copied from Deeds of Valor, Volume II, page 47, published by the Perrien-Keydel Company, Detroit, 1907. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism during the loss of USS Cincinnati while in action with Confederate batteries at Vicksburg, Mississippi, 27 May 1863. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after a city in Ohio, the 512-ton USS Cincinnati was a City class stern-wheel ironclad river gunboat that was built by James Eads at Mound City, Illinois, and was commissioned on 16 January 1862. The ship was built for the US Army’s Western Gunboat Flotilla and was technically under the command of the US Army. Cincinnati was approximately 175 feet long and 51 feet wide, had a top speed of 4 knots, and had a crew of 251 officers and men. The gunboat was armed with six 32-pounders, four 42-pounders, one 12-pounder, and three 8-inch smooth-bore cannons.

Cincinnati joined a flotilla of gunboats that was under the overall command of Flag Officer Andrew H. Foote and was immediately sent into action. Cincinnati participated in the attack and capture of Fort Henry, Tennessee, on 6 February 1862. From 12 March to 7 April 1862, Cincinnati joined the successful assault on Island No. 10 at the New Madrid or Kentucky Bend of the Mississippi River. Then on 10 May, Cincinnati was part of the attack on Fort Pillow, which overlooked the Mississippi River in western Tennessee. During the battle, Cincinnati was rammed repeatedly by gunboats from the Confederate River Defense Fleet and sank in shallow water.

Cincinnati, though, soon was raised, repaired, and returned to service. But although Cincinnati was repaired quickly, the lessons from Fort Pillow were not forgotten. To protect Union gunboats from future attacks by Confederate rams, the Union gunboats were reinforced with railroad iron around their stems and sterns and logs were suspended along their sides.

Cincinnati was officially transferred to the US Navy on 1 October 1862 and during the latter part of the year participated in attacks on Confederate positions along the Yazoo River in Mississippi. In January 1863, Cincinnati took part in the White River campaign and assisted in capturing Fort Hindman in Arkansas. More fighting along the Yazoo River was followed by the enormous Union assault on Vicksburg, Mississippi. During the struggle for Vicksburg, Cincinnati attacked Confederate shore batteries on 27 May 1863. Unfortunately, the ship came under heavy enemy fire and the battered ironclad started to sink. Seeing that his ship was about to go down, Cincinnati’s captain was still able to move his ship up the river and grounded close to shore. Once there, Cincinnati sank for the second time. The ship lost 40 men during the course of the battle.

Incredibly, Cincinnati was raised, repaired, and returned to service once again in August 1863. She was assigned to patrol duties along the Mississippi River and its tributaries until February 1865. Cincinnati then was transferred to the Union’s West Gulf Blockading Squadron and patrolled off Mobile Bay and in the Mississippi Sounds until decommissioned on 4 August 1865 at Algiers, Louisiana. USS Cincinnati was sold at New Orleans, Louisiana, on 28 March 1866 but sank for the last time later that year.

Ironclads like USS Cincinnati were tough and resilient warships. The Union ironclads were also critical in winning the battles along the Mississippi River, as well as the other western rivers of the United States. The Confederate states managed to build some ironclads, but there were not nearly enough of them and soon the few they did have were overwhelmed by the sheer number of ironclads produced by the Northern states. Few people today know how many naval battles actually took place on American rivers during the Civil War, but ships like Cincinnati made sure they were won by the North

USS Helena (CL-50)

2012-01-17T08:50:00.025-05:00

Figure 1: USS Helena (CL-50) anchored in President Roads, Boston, Massachusetts, 15 June 1940. Taken by a USS Wasp (CV-7) photographer. Courtesy of the US Naval Institute Photograph Collection, Annapolis, Maryland. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: USS Helena (CL-50) at anchor in President Roads, Boston, Massachusetts, 15 June 1940. Taken by a USS Wasp (CV-7) photographer. Courtesy of the US Naval Institute Photograph Collection, Annapolis, Maryland. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: USS Helena (CL-50) photographed circa 1940. Courtesy of the US Naval Institute Photograph Collection, Annapolis, Maryland. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: Pearl Harbor Attack, 7 December 1941. View from Pier 1010, looking toward the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard's dry docks, with USS Shaw (DD-373) in floating dry dock YFD-2 -- and USS Nevada (BB-36) burning at right. In the foreground is the capsized USS Oglala (CM-4), with USS Helena (CL-50) further down the pier, at left. Beyond Helena is Dry Dock Number One, with USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) and the burning destroyers Cassin (DD-372) and Downes (DD-375). Official US Navy Photograph, National Archives Collection. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5: Pearl Harbor Attack, 7 December 1941. View looking down Pier 1010 toward the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard's Dry Dock Number One, in center, which holds the battleship Pennsylvania (BB-38) and the burning destroyers Cassin (DD-372) and Downes (DD-375). Alongside Pier 1010, in the center middle distance, are the light cruiser Helena (CL-50), listing slightly from a torpedo hit, and the capsized minelayer Oglala (CM-4). Official US Navy Photograph, National Archives Collection. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6: USS Helena (CL-50) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, following battle damage repairs and overhaul, 1 July 1942. This image has been retouched to censor radar antennas from the gun directors and masts. Courtesy of the US Naval Institute Photograph Collection, Annapolis, Maryland. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7: USS Helena (CL-50) at a South Pacific base, between battles, circa 1943. This image has been retouched to remove radar antennas from the gun directors and masts. Courtesy of the US Naval Institute Photograph Collection, Annapolis, Maryland. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8: Munda-Vila Bombardment, 13 May 1943. USS Helena (CL-50) firing during the night bombardment, as seen from USS Honolulu (CL-48). Gunfire causes wavy pattern of tracers. Collection of Vice Admiral Walden L. Ainsworth. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 9: Central Solomons Campaign, 1943. Light cruisers maneuvering off Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, during exercises on 20 June 1943, ten days before the invasion of New Georgia. Ships are USS Saint Louis (CL-49), at left, USS Helena (CL-50), at right, and USS Honolulu (CL-48) in the center distance. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 10: Battle of Kula Gulf, 5-6 July 1943. USS Helena (CL-50), in the center, firing during the Battle of Kula Gulf, just before she was torpedoed and sunk. The next ship astern is USS Saint Louis (CL-49). Photographed from USS Honolulu (CL-48). Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 11: Battle of Kula Gulf, 5-6 July 1943. Wet and oil-covered survivors of USS Helena (CL-50) go over papers after their rescue from the waters of the Central Solomons, 6 July 1943. Photographed on board another US Navy warship, possibly USS Nicholas (DD-449). Helena was sunk by Japanese torpedoes the previous night. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 12: Battle of Kula Gulf, 5-6 July 1943. Marines aboard USS Honolulu (CL-48) fire a salute during funeral services for a casualty from the sunken USS Helena (CL-50), following the Battle of Kula Gulf. Note chaplain at right and audio equipment in left center, atop the cruiser's hangar cover. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after the capital of Montana, the 10,000-ton USS Helena (CL-50) was a Saint Louis class light cruiser built at the New York Navy Yard, New York, and was commissioned on 18 September 1939. The ship was approximately 608 feet long and 61 feet wide, had a top speed of 33 knots, and had a crew of 888 officers and men. Helena was armed with 15 6-inch guns, eight 5-inch guns, and eight .50-caliber machine guns.

After being commissioned, Helena was assigned to the US Navy’s Pacific Fleet. Helena was based at Pearl Harbor and was there when the Japanese attacked on 7 December 1941. She was moored at Pier 1010 on the east side of the harbor, a spot normally reserved for the battleship USS Pennsylvania (BB-38). As a result of this unfortunate coincidence, 1010 Dock became a prime target for Japanese aircraft that fateful morning.

Moored alongside Helena was USS Oglala (CM-4), flagship of the Pacific Fleet Mine Force and the Navy‘s principal minelayer. A few minutes after the first bombs started falling on Ford Island at Pearl Harbor, a Japanese aircraft dropped a torpedo that ran underneath Oglala and hit Helena on the starboard side almost amidships. A tremendous explosion rocked the ship as the crew was still running to their battle stations. Soon water came pouring into the ship and one engine room and one boiler room were flooded. The wiring to the 5-inch batteries was severed, but quick action on the part of the crew brought the forward diesel generator on line within two minutes, making power available to all gun mounts. As soon as power was restored, the ship’s guns sent up a heavy and accurate curtain of fire that protected her from any further air attacks. Thanks to excellent damage control performed by the crew, plus the fact that all watertight doors and hatches were quickly secured throughout the ship, Helena was able to remain afloat. Oglala, unfortunately, was not so lucky. The massive torpedo explosion that damaged Helena also tore a huge hole in Oglala amidships and the minelayer started to flood rapidly. A bomb also exploded next to Oglala, causing even more underwater damage. As the old ship began to sink, Oglala was moved aft of Helena so that it would not pin the cruiser against the dock. Two hours after being hit, Oglala rolled over to port and sank adjacent to Pier 1010.

Once the attack on Pearl Harbor ended, preliminary repairs were made to Helena. The ship then was sent to the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, for more permanent repairs. After the repairs were completed in June 1942, Helena escorted several ships steaming to the South Pacific. Helena then made two quick trips from Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. Once these trips were completed, Helena joined the task force that was being built around the carrier USS Wasp (CV-7).

Soon Wasp’s new task force was ordered to escort six transports filled with Marine reinforcements to Guadalcanal. But on 15 September 1942, Wasp was suddenly hit by three torpedoes from a Japanese submarine. The explosions caused enormous fires throughout the ship and soon the carrier had to be abandoned. Helena stood by to rescue survivors and eventually picked up 400 of Wasp’s officers and men. Helena brought the survivors back to Espiritu Santo.

Helena encountered Japanese warships on 11 October 1942, during the Battle of Cape Esperance. The Japanese sent warships and troop transports to try and neutralize Henderson Field, the American air strip on Guadalcanal, but an American task force that included Helena was there to stop the enemy assault on the island. In the naval battle that followed, Helena assisted in sinking a Japanese cruiser and a destroyer. Helena then came under attack on the night of 20 October 1942, while on patrol between Espiritu Santo and San Cristobal Islands. Several torpedoes were fired at the ship, but none of them hit. Helena then went on to bombard Japanese positions near Koli Point, Guadalcanal, on 4 November.

On 11 November 1942, Helena safely escorted a convoy of transports off San Cristobal Island, which is at the southern edge of the Solomon Islands. The convoy then made its way to Guadalcanal, but during the afternoon of 12 November a warning was issued that “enemy aircraft were approaching.” Unloading operations on Guadalcanal were halted and all of the ships moved away from the island to meet the oncoming Japanese attack. Once the Japanese aircraft arrived, the transports were basically in a tight formation while being protected by the escorting American warships. Because of the excellent maneuvering during the attack, the transports managed to avoid most of the bombs falling from the Japanese aircraft. The Japanese did damage two transports, but no ships were sunk. Helena’s antiaircraft gunners shot down eight of the attacking aircraft while sustaining no damage herself.

But as soon as the air battle of 12 November 1942 ended, some disturbing reports were received on Guadalcanal from patrolling American aircraft. Another major Japanese task force was headed for Guadalcanal, which meant that the Japanese Navy was intending to assault the American warships defending the island. Helena was attached to Rear Admiral Daniel J. Callaghan’s task force and the two opposing forces collided on the evening of 13 November 1942, the bloody “Friday the 13th” battle off Guadalcanal. During the battle, Callaghan was on the bridge of the cruiser USS San Francisco (CA-38) when incoming Japanese shells killed him and most of his staff. Earlier in the battle, Rear Admiral Norman Scott had also been killed on board the cruiser USS Atlanta (CL-51), meaning that most of the senior staff in the American task force had been wiped out. Yet despite these losses, all of the American ships charged into the attacking Japanese warships. Helena received only minor damage to her superstructure during the battle. But Helena’s guns scored solid hits on several of the Japanese warships. The battle was a wild melee of shells flying in every direction because ships from both fleets steamed right next to each other, sometimes firing at point-blank range at an opponent. Added to this was that not all of the ships had radar, making shooting at targets at night even more confusing. With daylight came the end of the battle. The US Navy lost two cruisers and four destroyers, while the Japanese lost one battleship, one cruiser, and two destroyers. But the American warships had prevented the Japanese from pushing them away from Guadalcanal, which was a major strategic victory. The Japanese were forced to retreat and, once again, the Marines on Guadalcanal were safe (at least for a few more days). Both Admirals Callaghan and Scott were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for their roles in the battle.

After this battle, Helena went on the offensive. In January 1943, Helena bombarded Japanese positions on New Georgia, also in the Solomon Islands. Her guns hit vital Japanese supply depots and artillery emplacements. Helena continued her participation in the Battle for Guadalcanal through February 1943, usually by escorting merchant ships and bombarding Japanese positions. After completing a brief overhaul in Sydney, Australia, Helena went back to Espiritu Santo in March and eventually took part in another bombardment of New Georgia.

On 5 July 1943, US Navy intelligence received word that Japanese warships were heading for the Solomon Islands once again. By midnight on 5 July, the task force Helena was in was steaming off the northwest corner of New Georgia. It consisted of three cruisers and four destroyers. Heading straight for them was a Japanese task force of ten destroyers. At 0157 on the morning of 5-6 July, the Battle of Kula Gulf had begun and Helena started blasting away at the Japanese warships. Unfortunately, Helena’s guns were firing so quickly that night that the flashes from her guns lit her up like a ball of fire, making her a perfect target for the Japanese ships. Seven minutes after she opened fire, Helena was hit by a torpedo from one of the Japanese destroyers. Within the next three minutes, Helena was hit by two more torpedoes. The ship began to jackknife into the air and then broke into three parts. Helena was flooding rapidly as crewmembers started abandoning ship. As the bow section of the ship rose into the air, many crewmen in the water clustered around it, only to be fired on by the Japanese. Roughly half an hour after she sank, the destroyers Nicholas (DD-449) and Radford (DD-446) started picking up the survivors.

As daylight broke, the two destroyers stopped their rescue operations because of a possible Japanese air attack. They returned to Tulagi carrying most of the crew except for roughly 275 survivors. One group of men still in the water organized themselves into three motor lifeboats, each towing a life raft. Among these 88 survivors was Captain C.P. Cecil, Helena’s commanding officer. This group made it to a small island and were rescued a day later by the destroyers USS Owin (DD-433) and USS Woodworth (DD-460).

For another group of almost 200 sailors, Helena’s shattered bow, which was torn from the rest of the ship by the torpedo explosions, acted as their life raft. But the bow was sinking slowly and soon these men would have nothing to cling to. Fortunately, a US Navy patrol bomber spotted them and dropped some life jackets and rubber life rafts to the struggling men in the water. The wounded were placed into the rafts while the able-bodied men held on to the boats while still in the water. The survivors tried to push themselves toward the nearby island of Kolombaranga, but wind and currents carried them away from the island and further into enemy waters. During a horrible day in the water, many of the wounded died. Evidently, American search planes had lost track of the survivors and could not find them. After spending another night in the water, the Japanese island of Vella Lavella appeared before them. Because the survivors were in no shape to remain in the water, they headed for it, regardless if it meant being murdered by the Japanese (who were not too fond of prisoners). By dawn, the survivors managed to pull the remaining three life rafts to shore. Fortunately, two Allied coastwatchers and friendly natives found the survivors and radioed news of them to Guadalcanal. Soon the destroyers Nicholas and Radford, augmented by the destroyers Jenkins (DD-447) and O’Bannon (DD-450), steamed towards the island to rescue the remaining crewmembers. On the evening of 16 July 1943, the ships arrived and rescued the last 165 members of Helena’s crew. Of Helena’s roughly 900 crewmembers, 168 perished during the battle or were lost at sea.

USS Helena was the first ship to receive the US Navy’s Unit Commendation. Her actions in the Battles of Cape Esperance, Guadalcanal, and Kula Gulf were named in the citation. Helena also earned the Asiatic-Pacific Area Campaign medal and seven battle stars.

USS Arkansas (BM-7)

2012-01-10T08:42:00.010-05:00

Figure 1: "US 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: Launching of USS Arkansas (BM-7) at Newport News, VA, 10 November 1900. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: The monitor USS Arkansas (BM-7) fitting out at Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., 1 July 1902. Her armament has been completely installed and the ship is only four months away from commissioning. The ship in the background is the battleship Missouri (BB-11). US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: Postcard of the Arkansas (BM-7). Photograph courtesy of SK/3 Tommy Trampp. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5: Officers and crew of the monitor USS Arkansas (BM-7), circa 1907. US National Archives photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6: USS Ozark (formerly USS Arkansas) as completed, port-side view. She was renamed Ozark in March 1909. Date and location of this photograph is unknown. Photograph from National Archives and Record Administration (NARA), Record Group 19-N, Box 33. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7: USS Ozark (formerly USS Arkansas) painted in wartime gray. She was renamed Ozark in March 1909. US Navy photograph courtesy of US Warships of WW1 by Paul Silverstone. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8: USS Ozark (BM-7) probably in a Mexican port, circa 1914-1918. The original photograph is printed on postal card stock. Photographed by Carreras. Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2005. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after the state of Arkansas, the 3,225-ton USS Arkansas (BM-7) was built by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, Virginia, and was the lead ship in a class of single-turreted “New Steel Navy” monitors. She was one of the last monitors built for the US Navy and was commissioned on 28 October 1902. The ship was approximately 255 feet long and 50 feet wide, had a top speed of 12 knots, and had a crew of 220 officers and men. Arkansas carried two 12-inch guns in its single turret, plus four 4-inch guns and three 6-pounders.

After her shakedown cruise, Arkansas was initially used as a training ship for the US Naval Academy. She then was ordered to join the Coast Squadron of the North Atlantic Fleet. Her primary duties included patrolling off America’s east coast, in the Gulf of Mexico, and in the West Indies. But Arkansas continued making summer training cruises for the midshipmen at the Naval Academy and in 1906 was assigned to the Academy as a training ship for more than three years.

To free up her name for a new battleship that was being built at the time, Arkansas was renamed USS Ozark on 2 March 1909. The ship then was assigned to the District of Columbia’s Naval Militia from 26 June 1910 to 6 March 1913. Later that month, Ozark was sent to Norfolk, Virginia, to be converted into a submarine tender. Although she began those new duties on 12 July 1913, Ozark was sent off the coast of Mexico for most of 1914 and participated in Atlantic Fleet training exercises in 1915. In 1916, Ozark was assigned to patrol the Chesapeake Bay area off the coasts of Virginia and Maryland.

On 6 April 1917, the day the United States entered World War I, Ozark was assigned to Submarine Division (SubDiv) 6 of the Atlantic Fleet as a submarine tender. But Ozark soon was ordered to steam to Tampico, Mexico, where she was used as a gunboat to protect American lives and property along the coast of that politically unstable country. Ozark left for New Orleans on 18 December 1918 and then patrolled off the coasts of Key West, Florida, as well as Central America and the Panama Canal Zone. Ozark returned to Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 23 June 1919 and was decommissioned at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 20 August. USS Ozark remained there until 26 January 1922, when she was sold for scrapping.

USS Adams

2012-01-03T08:48:00.007-05:00

Figure 1: USS Adams moored off Vallejo, California, in mid-March 1898, shortly before the ship was placed out of commission at the Mare Island Navy Yard. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: Adams class steam sloop at anchor in what appears to be a Far Eastern port, circa the later 1870s or the 1880s. Ships of this class included USS Adams (1876-1920), USS Enterprise (1877-1909), USS Essex (1876-1930), USS Alliance (1877-1911) and USS Nipsic (1879-1913). US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: Adams class steam sloop in port, probably in the vicinity of New York City, circa the 1880s. Photographed by E.H. Hart, 1162 Broadway, New York City. Ships of this class included USS Adams (1876-1920), USS Enterprise (1877-1909), USS Essex (1876-1930), USS Alliance (1877-1911) and USS Nipsic (1879-1913). US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: USS Vandalia (1876-1889) fitting out in dry dock at the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, circa early 1876. Behind her, at right, is USS Adams, also fitting out. In the distance is the Navy Yard's receiving ship, USS Ohio. Steam sloops like Adams and Vandalia made up the backbone of the US Navy until the steel warships of the “New Navy” started being commissioned in 1886. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5: Closer view of USS Vandalia (1876-1889) fitting out in dry dock at the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, circa early 1876. Behind her, at right, is USS Adams, also fitting out. In the distance is the Navy Yard's receiving ship, USS Ohio. Steam sloops like Adams and Vandalia made up the backbone of the US Navy until the steel warships of the “New Navy” started being commissioned in 1886. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after President John Adams, the 1,375-ton USS Adams was the lead ship in a class of single-screw, wooden-hull, bark-rigged steamers. She was laid down by Donald MacKay in February 1874 at Boston, Massachusetts, and was commissioned on 21 July 1876 at the Boston Navy Yard. Adams was approximately 185 feet long and 35 feet wide, had a top speed of 9.8 knots, and had a crew of 190 officers and men. The ship was armed with one 11-inch gun, four 9-inch guns, and one 60-pounder Parrott rifle.

After being commissioned, Adams spent most of her time visiting ports along America’s east coast. On 12 March 1877, Adams arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, and stayed there for five weeks. Then on 21 April, the ship set sail for duty on the South Atlantic Station. Adams arrived at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 2 June and over the next three months patrolled along the Brazilian coastline. On 8 September, Adams left Rio de Janeiro and headed south to the Strait of Magellan. Along the way, she made stops at Montevideo, Uruguay, and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Adams arrived at the Strait of Magellan on 12 November and remained there almost a month to assist Chilean government officials at Sandy Point during a mutinous situation there on board a ship. Adams resumed her voyage on 8 December and arrived at Valparaiso, Chile, on 14 December.

On 1 January 1878, Adams left Valparaiso and headed for Callao, Peru, to join the US Navy’s Pacific Station. The ship remained at Callao from 11 January to 5 February and then reached Panama on 21 February. Adams stayed at Panama for three months and then left for the island of Samoa, which had just completed negotiations with Washington on a treaty of “amity and commerce” between the United States and that island kingdom. Adams arrived at Apia, Samoa, on 28 June and remained there for roughly a month until the treaty was finalized. After the treaty was signed, Adams left Samoa and sailed back to Valparaiso. She remained there until late November. The ship continued making stops at ports in South and Central America, as well as Mexico, until the summer of 1879. Adams then headed for San Francisco, California. She arrived there on 19 July and entered the Mare Island Navy Yard two days later for a lengthy overhaul.

Adams completed her overhaul on 3 February 1880. She returned to the Pacific Station and made frequent trips to Mexico, Costa Rica, and Peru. The ship returned to San Francisco on 12 July and then re-entered the Mare Island Navy Yard on 28 July 1881. After that, Adams continued patrolling the waters off Mexico and Central America until 13 May 1882, when she returned to the Mare Island Navy Yard for yet another overhaul.

On 12 September 1882, Adams left San Francisco but instead of heading south, like she normally did, the ship headed north for Alaska. Adams reached Sitka, Alaska, on 1 October and remained in the northern Pacific for almost 23 months. During her stay in Alaska, Adams primarily monitored the seal fur industry and regulated the relations between the native Indian and Eskimo populations and the large number of traders, trappers, prospectors, sealers, and whalers that had established themselves in that area since the United States purchased the territory from Russia in 1867. Adams patrolled Alaskan waters from her base at Sitka until late in the summer of 1884. On 19 August, the gunboat departed Sitka and headed south along the coast of North America. Adams arrived in San Francisco on 27 August and went into the Mare Island Navy Yard the following day. On 20 September 1884, Adams was placed out of commission at Mare Island. She remained inactive for more than a year. On 2 November 1885, Adams was re-commissioned at Mare Island and spent the next month preparing for an extended tour of duty patrolling the waters of South and Central America.

Adams left San Francisco on 2 December 1885 and, after making several stops at Mexican ports along the way, arrived at the port of San Jose, Guatemala, on 4 January 1886. For the next 16 months, Adams “showed the flag” along the western coast of Latin America. But on 15 May 1887, Adams left Acapulco, Mexico, and set a new course for the Hawaiian Islands. The ship arrived at Honolulu, Hawaii, on 14 June.

After spending several months in Hawaii, Adams left on 2 October for Samoa. Adams reached Apia Harbor on 19 October. At that time, Germany was making moves to increase its influence in Samoa, but regular visits by American warships such as Adams discouraged the Germans from taking over the island. Adams remained in the area until 1 February 1888, when she returned to Hawaii. She arrived at Honolulu on 27 February and remained there until mid-May. On 14 May, Adams returned to Samoa and remained there until 6 December, when she began her journey back to the United States. After making a stop at Honolulu, the ship arrived at the Mare Island Navy Yard on 1 February 1889. After being placed out of commission from 25 March to 22 April 1889, Adams was re-commissioned and sent back to Hawaii, arriving at Honolulu on 4 July.

Adams assisted in maintaining American control over the Hawaiian Islands. While there, a small insurrection group tried to overthrow the king that was installed by American business and missionary interests in Hawaii. Although a local militia unit put down the rebellion, a landing party from Adams went ashore and established itself in the vicinity of the American legation. The Hawaiian government restored order quickly without the necessity of American military intervention, so the landing party was sent back on board Adams the following morning.

On 4 August 1889, Adams left Honolulu and returned to Samoa. She remained there for the next nine months, serving as the American station ship there and making periodic visits to other islands. On 2 May 1890, Adams left Samoa and returned to the United States, via Hawaii. She arrived at the Mare Island Navy Yard on 25 June 1890 and was decommissioned on 31 July. After almost 20 months at Mare Island, Adams was re-commissioned on 23 March 1892. She left San Francisco on 12 April 1892 and returned to Sitka, Alaska, to monitor the seal fur industry there. By 17 December, the ship was back at Mare Island and underwent yet another overhaul before she set sail once again for Hawaii. By 12 April 1893, Adams was on her way back to Hawaii. However, this time the warship was going to observe conditions and protect American lives and property during a period of domestic and political unrest. The political situation in Hawaii had worsened since Adams’ last trip there. A revolution had taken place in January of 1893, where the faction that favored annexation by the United States overthrew the native Hawaiian monarchy, replacing the government of Queen Liliuokalani with a republic. Adams arrived in Honolulu on 26 April 1893 and remained there for almost a year, making sure that the outcome of the political events there favored the United States.

On 15 April 1894, Adams left Honolulu and returned to Alaska after making a stop at Port Townsend, Washington, for some repairs. After patrolling the sealing grounds off Alaska for several months, Adams returned to San Francisco and Mare Island on 12 September. Adams was once again placed out of commission on 16 November 1894.

After more than 13 months of inactivity at Mare Island Navy Yard, Adams was placed back in commission there on 24 December 1895. What followed were a few more tours of duty in Hawaii, which included a training cruise for recruit apprentices in February 1897. On 30 April 1898, Adams was decommissioned once more at Mare Island, but was re-commissioned on 7 October of that same year. But time was catching up to Adams and with newer, more powerful, steel gunboats now being produced, her days as a warship were numbered. From then on, Adams was used primarily as a training ship, making many more trips to Hawaii, Samoa, and Alaska. On one of those training cruises, Adams left Samoa on 17 June 1907 and returned to the United States by way of the Indian Ocean, the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean. On 21 November 1907, while Adams was completing the last leg of her journey home, the Navy Department decided to loan her to the State of Pennsylvania as a training ship. The ship arrived at League Island, Pennsylvania, on 19 December 1907 and was decommissioned there on 31 December 1907.

Turned over to the state of Pennsylvania on 20 August 1908, Adams served as a school ship for the Public Marine School at Philadelphia until she was returned to the US Navy on 6 February 1914. On 1 May, the ship was loaned to the State of New Jersey and used as a training ship for that state’s naval militia. Adams continued to be used as a training ship for New Jersey naval militiamen until after the United States entered World War I in 1917. Re-commissioned on 27 August 1917, Adams served as a station ship in the Delaware River until well after the end of the war. USS Adams was decommissioned for the last time on 5 August 1919 and was sold in August 1920. The old warship served briefly as a merchant ship before being broken up in either 1921 or 1922.

USS Adams was one of the last wooden gunboats built by the US Navy before the advent of the all-steel warships. And even as newer, larger, and much more powerful steel gunboats were being built in the 1890s, ships like Adams were still used to “show the flag” and defend American lives and property around the world. Adams’ career spanned roughly 43 years and in that time she patrolled off the coasts of Mexico, South and Central America, Hawaii, Samoa, and Alaska; and when her days as a gunboat were over, she was used as a training ship. Adams proved that even though she was one of the last ships in the US Navy with a wooden hull, she still was a tough warship that could be used for numerous jobs over many years.

USS Naiad ("Tinclad" No. 53)

2011-12-27T09:43:00.002-05:00

Figure 1: USS Naiad (1864-65). Photograph was taken on one of America's western rivers during the Civil War and reproduced as a stereograph. Note mine clearance "rake" projecting from her bow. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after a nymph in Greek mythology who lived in and gave life to lakes and rivers, the 183-ton USS Naiad was a stern-wheel steamer that was originally built as the civilian riverboat Princess at Freedom, Pennsylvania, and was purchased by the US Navy from F. Martin at Cincinnati, Ohio, on 3 March 1864. The ship was converted into a “tinclad” (or lightly armored) river gunboat and was commissioned on 3 April 1864. Naiad was approximately 156 feet long and 30 feet wide, had a draft of only six feet, and had a top speed of roughly 6 knots. Naiad was armed with eight 24-pounder cannons.

Naiad was used to reinforce Union forces along the Mississippi River and its tributaries against Confederate cavalry and guerilla raids. The gunboat steamed in these shallow and dangerous waters throughout the rest of the Civil War. Naiad usually bombarded Confederate shore batteries along the banks of the Mississippi. On 15 and 16 June 1864, Naiad, along with USS General Bragg and USS Winnebago, attacked the Southern artillery batteries at Ratliff’s Landing, Louisiana, silencing them on both days. On 2 September, Naiad destroyed the Confederate battery near Rowe’s Landing, Louisiana.

These shallow-draft gunboats played a big role in defeating the South during the Civil War. Constant patrolling of the rivers by Naiad and her sister “tinclads” helped the Union maintain open communications and supply lines in the west while preventing the South from using the rivers to send reinforcements against Union Generals Sherman and Grant. They also took a heavy toll of Confederate batteries that were positioned along the banks of the Mississippi, as well as other major and minor rivers.

Naiad was decommissioned at Cairo, Illinois, on 30 June 1865 and sold at auction at Mound City, Illinois, on 17 August 1865. In post-war commercial service, the riverboat was given back her old name, Princess, but, unfortunately, she hit some rocks and sank at Napoleon, Missouri, on 1 June 1868.

USS Lanikai

2011-12-20T09:00:00.005-05:00

Figure 1: USS Hermes (1918-1926) at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, circa 1918. Ships in the background are USS Monadnock (BM-3) and probably USS Navajo (1908-1948). This auxiliary schooner, built in 1914, was formerly a German vessel. Taken over at Honolulu under an executive order on 27 September 1917, she was soon put into service and formally commissioned on 1 April 1918 as USS Hermes. She was sold on 21 October 1926. She would eventually become USS Lanikai in World War II. The original print is in National Archives' Record Group 19-LCM. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: USS Hermes (1918-1926) at Pearl Harbor, circa 1918. Ships in the background are USS Monadnock (BM-3) and probably USS Navajo (1908-1948). This auxiliary schooner, built in 1914, was formerly a German vessel. Taken over at Honolulu under an executive order on 27 September 1917, she was soon put into service and formally commissioned on 1 April 1918 as USS Hermes. She was sold on 21 October 1926. She would eventually become USS Lanikai in World War II. The original print is in National Archives' Record Group 19-LCM. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: USS Lanikai during the early days of World War II in the Pacific, exact place and date unknown. She is flying a Dutch flag, which Lanikai could have been flying while in Java after her escape from the Philippines in late December 1941. Courtesy Hyperwar, U.S. Navy in WW II. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: USS Lanikai during World War II, date and place unknown. Courtesy Hyperwar, U.S. Navy in WW II. Click on photograph for larger image.

This amazing ship was originally built as the schooner Hermes by W.R. Stone of Oakland, California, for the Williams-Diamond Company, agents for a firm called Jaluit Gesellschaft of Hamburg, Germany, and launched in 1914. At the time she was built, the 340-ton Hermes was approximately 89 feet long and 25 feet wide, had a draft of 7 feet 6 inches, and had a crew of 26. Hermes was used in the inter-island copra trade in the German-held Pacific Islands prior to World War I. When America entered the war in April 1917, the ship was confiscated by the US government and, after some modifications, was formally commissioned into the US Navy as USS Hermes on 1 April 1918.

Originally intended as a submarine patrol vessel, Hermes performed this duty out of Honolulu, Hawaii, during the summer of 1918. On 31 August, she sailed on a cruise among the islands northwest of Hawaii, including Laysan and Wake, to search for survivors of shipwrecks and signs of enemy activity, and to conduct a survey on wildlife, particularly birds, for the Biological Survey Commission, Washington. After returning to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 2 October, she continued as a patrol craft.

Hermes was decommissioned on 16 January 1919 and placed at the disposal of the Hawaiian territorial government for use as a tender to leper colonies. When the territorial government decided they could not afford her upkeep, Hermes was turned over to the Pacific Air Detachment and served as a store ship and general auxiliary craft. She then was sold on 21 October 1926 to the Lanikai Fish Company and renamed Lanikai, after a village on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. The ship was used in the pearling and fishing industries in Hawaiian waters but was laid up in 1931 due to how poorly the fishing industry was doing at that time.

Lanikai was sold again to Northrup Castle of Honolulu in late 1933. The ship was used as a commercial charter yacht based at Honolulu. Lanikai then was sold to Harry W. Crosby in early 1936 and her homeport moved to Seattle, Washington, where she was used as a salmon fishing boat in Alaska. But Lanikai changed hands again when, of all things, she was sold in early 1937 to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios and used in the movie “Hurricane,” which starred Jon Hall and Dorothy Lamour. After the film was completed, the ship was used as an MGM yacht.

Lanikai was sold again on 6 April 1939 to George W. Simmie, acting agent for E.M. Grim, an American resident of Manila in the Philippines. Lanikai was assigned to the Luzon Stevedoring Company and was used as Grim’s yacht and inter-island trading ship. On 5 December 1941, Lanikai was chartered by the US Navy for an indefinite period of time for one dollar per year with the ship to be returned in the same condition as when it was chartered. The ship was commissioned USS Lanikai the same day with Lieutenant Kemp Tolley in command. Throughout the years, Lanikai had been transformed into a 150-ton schooner with a diesel engine that gave the ship a top speed of 7 knots. Lanikai was now approximately 87 feet long and 9 feet wide, had a crew of 19 men, and was given one 3-pounder cannon and two .30-caliber machine guns. The crew wasn’t sure what would have happened to the frail ship if it actually had to fire the cannon.

On 2 December 1941, President Roosevelt had ordered through Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral H. R. Stark, that Commander-in-Chief of the Asiatic Fleet Admiral Thomas C. Hart, “Charter three small vessels to form a defensive information patrol...to observe and report by radio Japanese movements in the west China Sea and Gulf of Siam.” Lanikai was ordered to be one of those “three small vessels.” Lieutenant Tolley’s orders read, “Patrol off the entrance of Camranh Bay [Vietnam] and report the directions taken by the Japanese Fleet when it emerges.” The orders did not tell Lieutenant Tolley what he should do when the Japanese spotted his ship and heard him transmitting their position back to the American fleet, but orders were orders and Lieutenant Tolley was not about to disobey them. During the early morning hours of 8 December 1941 (7 December east of the International Date Line), Lanikai was stopped at the entrance of Manila Bay waiting for daylight so that she could thread her way through the complicated minefields in the area. But at 0300 hours, word arrived of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and Lanikai was ordered to return to Manila.

During the next few weeks, Lanikai patrolled the approaches to Manila Bay and served as a dispatch vessel within Manila Harbor. On 10 December, the small ship survived the horrific Japanese aerial attack on the Cavite Navy Yard, which destroyed most of the facilities there. On Christmas Day, Lanikai assisted in the evacuation of Manila, carrying Army officers and equipment to the island fortress of Corregidor. Because of a recommendation from Lieutenant Commander Charles Adair, Flag Lieutenant to Admiral Hart, approval was given to Lanikai to attempt to escape to the Netherlands East Indies. Lieutenant Tolley jumped at the chance and quickly took on board extra fuel, water, and food for the trip (including a number of live chickens). The ship was painted green (so that it would blend in with the foliage along the coast) and Lanikai carried a crew of 18 men and six passengers (a combination of Dutch and American officers). On the evening of 26 December 1941, USS Lanikai sailed out of Mariveles Harbor, Luzon, Philippines, and began her long journey south.

Lanikai usually hid in friendly coves during the day and sailed along the coast of the Philippines at night, gradually making her way south to Java. It seemed that Japanese forces were everywhere, either steaming near them or flying above them. Passing storms were very useful in hiding the ship from Japanese aircraft, although it made life extremely difficult for the men on board the small ship. Lanikai eventually made it to Java, but the rapid advancement of Japanese forces on that island made it clear that the ship’s only hope for survival lay in making it all the way to Australia. While at Surabaya, Java, on 3 February 1942, Japanese aircraft attacked the port and dropped three bombs on Lanikai. Although all of them missed, they did straddle the ship, causing large explosions when they hit the water. But Lanikai’s crew, ever resourceful, jumped right into their dinghy and collected the large quantity of stunned fish that were floating next to their ship as a result of the explosions. Supplies were very scarce and the men had to make do with what they could find. Little did they know that the Japanese would actually help them in their search for food!

Most Japanese aircraft simply ignored Lanikai, thinking that attacking her wasn’t really worth the effort. In late February 1942, Lanikai left Tjilatjap, Java, under full sail and continued heading south. She was moving very slowly because of heavy seas, making the crew sick and wet. Lanikai headed for Darwin, Australia, and was trying her best to avoid any Japanese ships in the area. But on 1 March, approximately 200 miles east of Christmas Island, Lanikai sighted a large Japanese task force on her port bow. Fortunately, Lanikai was able to steer away from the task force before she was spotted.

Finally on 18 March 1942, 82 days and roughly 4,000 miles after leaving Mariveles in the Philippines, USS Lanikai arrived at Fremantle, Australia. The Australians didn’t quite know what to make of the ship, but she still received a hearty welcome. After being given food, fuel, and other supplies, Lanikai left Fremantle on 4 April and cruised along the northwest coast of Australia to search for possible Japanese coast watchers or commandos. Lieutenant Commander Adair relieved Lieutenant Tolley of command of the ship on 27 April and continued her patrol duties until mid-May. Lanikai was decommissioned at Fremantle on 22 August and was transferred to the Royal Australian Navy. She served as a harbor defense ship for the rest of the war.

Once the war ended, Lanikai was brought back to the Philippines and was to be returned to her original owner. But, while anchored in Leyte Gulf off the island of Samar, Philippines, the ship sank during a typhoon. Thus ended one of the most unique stories in US Naval history. Although she never fought in a battle and never attacked a single enemy warship, USS Lanikai served in two World Wars and successfully completed one of the most dramatic escapes in all of World War II. A handful of grateful sailors also owed their lives to this tough little ship. Lieutenant Kemp Tolley went on to become a rear admiral in the US Navy and died in 2000, at the age of 92. USS Lanikai also received one battle star for her service during World War II.

USS Pasadena (CL-65)

2011-12-13T08:51:00.011-05:00

Figure 1: USS Pasadena (CL-65) underway off Boston, Massachusetts, 21 July 1944. Photographed from a Squadron ZP-11 blimp, position is 42 45'N, 70 50'W. Pasadena is painted in Camouflage Measure 32, Design 24d. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: USS Pasadena (CL-65) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 2 May 1946. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: USS Pasadena (CL-65) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 2 May 1946. Among the attack transports alongside the seawall at left are USS Shelburne (APA-205) and USS Sarasota (APA-204). Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: USS Pasadena (CL-65) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 2 May 1946. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5: USS Pasadena (CL-65) entering Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, during a NROTC midshipmen's cruise in the summer of 1948. The photograph was released for publication on 9 August 1948. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6: View in the Combat Information Center (CIC) of USS Pasadena (CL-65), 21 November 1944. Note aircraft status board in the center background. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7: Forward view taken of USS Pasadena (CL-65) at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 8 May 1946. Note crewmen working on the ship, and the many visible details of her structure, among them the two forward 6-inch triple gun turrets and two of her six 5-inch twin gun mounts. White outlines mark recent alterations to the ship. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8: View amidships of USS Pasadena (CL-65) taken at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 8 May 1946. Note details of her structure, among them two 5-inch twin gun mounts, twin and quadruple 40-mm gun mounts, whaleboat and davits, and life rafts.The truck on shore is an international type, with Navy serial number 45742. White outlines mark recent alterations to the ship. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 9: View aft of USS Pasadena (CL-65) taken at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 8 May 1946. Note details of her structure, among them 6-inch triple gun turrets, 5-inch twin gun mounts, and Curtiss SC floatplanes on the catapults. White outlines mark recent alterations to the ship. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 10: Port bow view of USS Pasadena (CL-65) at anchor while assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet in Bremerton, Washington, 1972. Photograph courtesy of Richard Leonhardt. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after a city in California, the 10,000-ton Cleveland class light cruiser USS Pasadena (CL-65) was built by the Bethlehem Steel Company at Quincy, Massachusetts, and was commissioned on 8 June 1944. The ship was approximately 610 feet long and 66 feet wide, had a top speed of 32 knots, and had a crew of 1,319 officers and men. Pasadena was armed with 12 6-inch guns, 12 5-inch guns, 28 40-mm guns, and 10 20-mm guns, and carried four aircraft.

Pasadena completed her shakedown cruise in the summer of 1944 and on 25 September began her journey to the Pacific theater of operations during World War II. She joined Task Force 38 at Ulithi atoll in the middle of November and for the rest of the year participated in operations against Luzon and Formosa in support of the Philippine campaign. In mid-January 1945, as the battle for Luzon continued, Task Force 38 steamed into the South China Sea and attacked Japanese installations and shipping along the coasts of Indo-China and Formosa. In February, Pasadena’s task force (now called TF 58) attacked the Japanese home islands, and then moved southeast to provide cover for the amphibious assault on Iwo Jima. Pasadena joined other major warships in bombarding Japanese targets on the island. During this time, Pasadena was assigned patrol duties as well.

After returning to Ulithi for ammunition and provisions, Pasadena’s task force began the process of “softening up” the Japanese home islands and the Ryukyu Islands for the major assault that was about to take place on the principal target of Okinawa. Pasadena remained at sea for 80 days as flagship of Cruiser Division 17 and participated in the night bombardments of Minami Daito (28 March and 10 May) and in the continuous bombardment against Japanese positions on Okinawa and Kyushu (1 April to 30 May 1945).

After again returning to Ulithi for more provisions in June 1945, Pasadena’s task force made its last attacks against the Japanese home islands in July and August, pounding coastal targets in northern Honshu and Hokkaido in anticipation of heavy resistance for what appeared inevitable, the amphibious assault on Japan. The US Navy expected tough resistance to the American landings on the Japanese home islands and, considering the terrible US casualties sustained during the assault on Okinawa (approximately 50,000 Americans killed or wounded), their expectations were probably right. But after America dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945.

After hostilities ended in the Pacific, Pasadena began occupation duties. On 23 August 1945, she became the flagship of Task Group 35.1 and on 27 August dropped anchor in Sagami Wan, Honshu, Japan. But on 2 September, Pasadena was at Tokyo Bay to witness Japan’s formal surrender to the Allies on board the battleship USS Missouri. From then until mid January 1946, Pasadena remained in Tokyo Bay supporting American occupation forces. On 19 January, the ship returned to the United States and eventually arrived at San Pedro, California, for a badly needed overhaul.

By September 1946, Pasadena was ready to return to duty and once again headed west. From November 1946 to February 1947, Pasadena participated in naval exercises in Micronesia and then fleet maneuvers in Hawaiian waters. After that, she returned to California. During the summer of 1948, the ship conducted an NROTC training cruise and then on 1 October she got underway for the Far East. Pasadena arrived at Tsingtao, China, at the end of October and continued patrolling off the coast of that troubled nation until May 1949, as Communist forces successfully completed their long fight to win control of China.

On 1 June 1949, Pasadena returned to the United States and began inactivation preparations in September 1949. She was decommissioned at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Washington, in January 1950 and remained in the Pacific Reserve Fleet for twenty years. USS Pasadena was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in December 1970 and was sold for scrapping in July 1972. Pasadena received five battle stars for her service during World War II.

USS Vestal (Collier # 1, AR-4)

2011-12-06T08:49:00.012-05:00

Figure 1: USS Vestal (Collier # 1) photographed circa 1909-1912, while serving as a fleet collier prior to her conversion to a repair ship. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: USS Vestal (AR-4) anchored off New York City, circa 17-20 December 1918, while still painted in World War I disruptive camouflage. Ship in the distance, beyond Vestal's stern, is USS Iowa (BB-4). US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: USS Vestal (AR-4) photographed circa the early 1920s. Collection of the New York Naval Shipyard. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: USS Vestal (AR-4) at anchor, circa the mid-1920s. An Omaha class light cruiser is in the left background. The original image is printed on postcard stock. Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2007. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5: USS Vestal (AR-4) with six destroyers alongside, during the later 1920s. Outboard destroyer is USS Sands (DD-231). Next inboard is USS Hatfield (DD-231). Two of the other destroyers present are also of the group (DD-231-235) armed with 5-inch guns, which can be seen on the ships' fantails. Collection of Vice Admiral Dixwell Ketcham. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6: USS Vestal (AR-4) view taken from USS Houston (CA-30) in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on 20 February 1939, with her crew manning the rail in honor of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was then embarked in Houston. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7: Pearl Harbor Attack, 7 December 1941. USS Vestal (AR-4) beached on Aiea shoal, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, after the Japanese raid. She is listing from damage caused by two bombs that hit her during the attack. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8: Pearl Harbor Attack, 7 December 1941. USS Vestal (AR-4) after she was beached in Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. She had been damaged by Japanese bomb hits during the raid. An officers' motor boat is alongside her starboard quarter. Official US Navy Photograph, NHHC Collection. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 9: USS Vestal (AR-4) moored in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, circa early 1942, following repair of damage she received in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 10: Commander Cassin Young, USN, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism and distinguished conduct in action while serving as Commanding Officer of USS Vestal (AR-4) during the 7 December 1941 Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor. Halftone reproduction, copied from the official publication "Medal of Honor, 1861-1948, The Navy," page 285. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 11: Battle of Kolombangara, 13 July 1943. USS Saint Louis (CL-49) comes alongside USS Vestal (AR-4) for initial repair of torpedo damage received in the action. Photographed at Tulagi, Solomon Islands, about 20 July 1943. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after the Roman goddess of hearth and fire, the 12,585-ton collier USS Vestal was built by the New York Navy Yard at Brooklyn, New York, and was placed in service with a civilian crew on October 1909. The ship was approximately 465 feet long and 60 feet wide, had a top speed of 16 knots, and had a crew of 90 officers and men. As built, Vestal did not have any armament, but later on was equipped with several anti-aircraft guns.

After entering service as a collier in 1909, Vestal spent the next three years in the Atlantic providing coal to the ships of the US fleet. She made one trip to Europe as well. But the ship was taken out of service in October 1912 and converted at the Boston Navy Yard at Boston, Massachusetts, into a repair ship (later receiving the hull number AR-4). Vestal was re-commissioned as a repair ship in September 1913 and served mainly in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico area until 1917. Shortly after America entered World War I on 6 April 1917, Vestal was sent to Queenstown Ireland, where she assisted US warships engaged in anti-submarine and escort duties. Vestal returned to the United States after the war and continued repairing American warships for the next 20 years. During that time, the ship was modernized (1925), supported the salvage efforts of the sunken submarine S-51 (1925-1926), and moved her base of operations from the Atlantic to the Pacific (1927).

After Vestal joined the US Pacific Fleet in 1927, she participated in yearly fleet exercises and maneuvers as part of her training. When the Pacific Fleet was moved permanently to Hawaiian waters upon the conclusion of fleet exercises in the spring of 1940, Vestal was based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. After returning to the west coast for an overhaul at the Mare Island Navy Yard at Vallejo, California, Vestal steamed back to Pearl Harbor and resumed her important, though largely unnoticed, duties. On 6 December 1941, Vestal was moored alongside USS Arizona (BB-39) at berth F 7, just off Ford Island. She was going to provide Arizona with a scheduled period of maintenance from December 6 to December 12.

Then, shortly after 0800 on the morning of 7 December 1941, Japanese carrier-based aircraft attacked Pearl Harbor. The Japanese planes swooped down and dropped bombs and torpedoes on the American fleet. Explosions started erupting all over the harbor. Vestal’s skipper, Commander Cassin Young, USN, immediately ordered the crew to “general quarters” and men ran to the few anti-aircraft guns that were on board the ship. At approximately 0805, Vestal’s 5-inch guns, 3-inch gun, and .30-caliber Lewis machine guns located on the bridge wings all opened fire on the attacking planes.

As the crew manned their guns, two bombs (probably intended for the nearby Arizona) hit Vestal. One bomb crashed into the port side of the ship, went down three decks, passed through a crew’s space, and exploded in a stores hold, starting a fire that necessitated flooding the forward magazines. The second bomb hit the starboard side, went through the carpenter’s shop, the shipfitter’s shop, and ended up leaving a hole roughly five feet in diameter in the bottom of the ship. Vestal was in trouble but the worst was yet to come.

At approximately 0820, Arizona, still moored inboard of Vestal, took a torpedo hit in the stern of the ship. Almost simultaneously, a bomb went through Arizona’s deck after bouncing off the faceplate of her Number 2 turret and exploded in the black powder magazine below. The explosion that followed touched off yet another massive explosion in the ship’s main battery magazines. The gigantic blast that followed tore apart the forward part of the battleship. The concussion from that blast literally cleared Vestal’s bridge and deck, blowing anybody standing in the open into the water.

Blown off Vestal’s bridge was her skipper, Commander Cassin Young. Young was tossed into the water by the huge explosion, yet despite severe enemy bombing and strafing at the time, as well as his shocking experience of having been blown overboard, Commander Young, with extreme coolness and calmness, swam back to his ship. Once back on board Vestal, he countermanded an abandon ship order that someone had given and ordered what was left of the crew to get Vestal underway. Fortunately, the engineer officer and the engine room’s “black gang” were still on board the ship and were able to get steam up.

On Vestal’s main deck, things looked bad. Arizona’s huge explosion set off oil fires from the battleship’s ruptured fuel tanks and those, in turn, caused fires to start on board Vestal, both aft and amidships. But Commander Young was not about to give up on his ship. At 0845, crewmen on board Vestal cut the mooring lines that had kept her tied to the flaming Arizona. As Vestal started her engines, a tugboat managed to pull the repair ship’s bow away from Arizona. The tugboat and Vestal slowly crept away from the doomed battleship, but Vestal was now listing to starboard from her previous bomb hits and was taking water in aft. At 0910, Vestal anchored in 35 feet of water off nearby McGrew’s Point. But with fires burning in several places and with water still flooding into his ship, along with an ever increasing list, Commander Young decided to ground Vestal on Aiea Shoal to prevent her from sinking and possibly even blocking a vital part of the harbor.

Commander Young and his crew could now concentrate on putting out the fires and stopping the flooding. But even though badly damaged herself, some of Vestal’s crewmembers lent a hand to more badly damaged ships at Pearl Harbor. Right after the attack, some of Vestal’s welders were used to cut away part of the hull of the battleship Oklahoma (BB-37), which had capsized during the attack. The welders were feverishly trying to cut holes into the overturned battleship to rescue men that were still trapped inside the hull. Some of the attempts to rescue the sailors were successful, some, unfortunately, were not.

For his distinguished conduct in action and outstanding heroism on 7 December 1941, Commander Cassin Young was awarded the Medal of Honor. He was promoted to Captain in February 1942 and was later given command of the heavy cruiser San Francisco. On 13 November 1942, during a major naval battle off Guadalcanal, he guided his ship in action against a superior Japanese force and was killed by enemy shells while closely engaging the Japanese battleship Hiei. Captain Young posthumously was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions during the Guadalcanal Campaign, and San Francisco received the Presidential Unit Citation.

Meanwhile over the next few days after the Pearl Harbor attack, Vestal’s crew turned to the task of repairing its own ship because the yard facilities at Pearl Harbor were severely damaged from the attack. A week after the attack, Vestal’s crew had pumped out the oil and water that had flooded the compartments below the waterline and cleared out the damaged and gutted holds. This was work that had to be completed before the ship could be permanently rebuilt.

After repairs and alterations were completed at Pearl Harbor, Vestal received orders on 12 August 1942 to steam to the South Pacific. Roughly two weeks later, Vestal arrived at Tongatabu in the Tonga Islands. By now the American invasion of the Solomon Islands and Guadalcanal was in full swing and American warships were being battered at a fast pace. During the next 60 days that Vestal was at Tongatabu, she completed 963 repair jobs for roughly 58 ships. Included were repairs to such notable warships as USS Saratoga (CV-3), which was torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-26 on 31 August; USS South Dakota (BB-60), which was seriously damaged from a grounding at Lahai Passage, Tonga Islands, on 6 September; and USS North Carolina (BB-55), which was damaged by a torpedo on 15 September.

Vestal was moved to Noumea, New Caledonia, on 31 October 1942. Her arrival could not have been more timely because the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands had just taken place a few days earlier. USS South Dakota and USS Enterprise (CV-6), two large warships that suffered major damage during the battle, were at Noumea. Both of these ships required extensive repairs from Vestal and her crewmembers. While at Noumea, Vestal completed 158 repair jobs on 21 ships. Vestal left Noumea on 13 November and reached Espiritu Santo three days later to set up shop there. During the next twelve months, Vestal tackled roughly 5,603 repair jobs on 279 ships. Some of the most outstanding repairs were made on warships damaged during the bitter fighting off Guadalcanal from late 1942 to early 1943. Some of these ships included USS San Francisco (CA-38), torn by heavy caliber hits during the night battle off Savo Island on 13 November 1942; USS New Orleans (CA-32) and USS Pensacola (CA-24), the latter with a torpedo hole measuring 24 by 40 feet, a flooded after engine room, and two propeller shafts broken; the Australian light cruiser HMAS Achilles, which besides shrapnel and collision damage, had taken a direct hit on her after turret; and the torpedoed and fire-damaged cargo ship Alchiba (AK-23). Only once during that time, from 27 May to 2 June 1943, did Vestal herself undergo any repairs.

One of the most outstanding pieces of salvage work performed by Vestal was on USS Pensacola, which was heavily damaged during the Battle of Tassafaronga. A torpedo caused such extensive damage aft that Pensacola’s stern was barely attached to the rest of the ship. A few frames, some hull plating, and one propeller shaft were practically all that still held the aft section to the rest of the ship. As Vestal’s commanding officer at the time later stated, “Never had an AR (repair ship) been presented with such a task; no records on how it should best be done were available. But with a lot of ingenuity, a lot of hard work, and a lot of luck, Vestal’s crew repaired Pensacola well enough so that the heavy cruiser could make it back to the United States for permanent repairs. Another major repair job was on the cruiser USS Minneapolis (CA-36), which was torpedoed amidships and had 75 feet of her bow missing. Vestal also repaired her well enough to make it back home for permanent repairs.

On 18 November 1943, Vestal departed Espiritu Santo and headed for the Ellice Islands, reaching the port of Funafuti on 22 November. While in Funafuti, Vestal completed approximately 604 major repair tasks for 77 ships. Her biggest job there was on the light carrier USS Independence (CVL-22). Vestal left Funafuti on 30 January 1944 and reached Majuro atoll in the Marshall Islands on 3 February. The big repair job waiting for her there was on the battleship USS Washington (BB-56), which had suffered heavy damage forward after a collision. Although estimates called for it to be a 30-day job, Vestal, often working 24-hour shifts, completed the task in only 10 days. After that, Washington was able to sail to Pearl Harbor for permanent repairs.

At this point, Vestal needed a substantial overhaul of her own. She steamed back to Pearl Harbor and then on to the Mare Island Navy Yard in California. After a major overhaul was completed, giving the ship new equipment and alterations (not to mention a new paint job), Vestal left Mare Island on 8 September, and headed towards yet another war zone. After reaching Ulithi atoll in the Caroline Islands, Vestal went straight to work. While at Ulithi, Vestal completed 2,195 jobs for 149 ships, including 14 battleships, nine aircraft carriers, five cruisers, five destroyers, 35 tankers, as well as other miscellaneous naval and merchant ships. Vestal left on 25 February 1945 to repair ships at Saipan in the Marianas Islands for more than two months and then participated in the invasion of Okinawa, arriving on 1 May at Kerama Retto, which is a chain of islands off the southwestern tip of Okinawa.

During the month of May, Vestal had to go to general quarters 59 times as Japanese planes made suicide attacks on ships that were part of the invasion force. The best defense against these kamikaze aircraft was a smoke screen produced by all the ships that blended into one gigantic mass of low-hanging clouds. For that purpose, Vestal had two small boats equipped with fog generators and several barrels of oil. Besides the fog generators, smoke pots would be thrown over the bow of the ship to emit a dense, white, sickly smelling smoke for about 15 minutes. In addition to the danger posed by kamikaze aircraft, deck sentries kept a sharp lookout for any Japanese commandoes that attempted to swim out to the ships with mines or explosive charges.

Most of the ships Vestal repaired at Kerama Retto were destroyers hit and severely damaged by kamikaze aircraft. Vestal left Kerama Retto in mid-June 1945 but remained in the area until the end of the war. Once the war with Japan formally ended on 2 September 1945, Vestal assisted in the occupation of Japan and China. Vestal then returned to the United States. Once back home, Vestal assisted in the decommissioning work of other ships sent to the Thirteenth Naval District for disposal. USS Vestal herself was ultimately decommissioned at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Washington, on 14 August 1946. Although struck from the Navy list on 25 September of that same year, Vestal remained inactive for the next two and one-half years before she was totally stripped of all useful equipment on 20 May 1949. Her hulk was sold on 28 July 1950 for scrapping.

USS Vestal not only survived the attack on Pearl Harbor, but went on to provide extremely valuable service to the US Navy throughout the rest of the war. Few people noticed ships like Vestal, but few naval wars can be won without them. Like many ships during the war, they did their work quietly and with no fanfare, but got the job done, enabling hundreds of damaged (and in some cases, extremely damaged) ships to eventually make their way back home to the United States.

Please remember that 7 December 2011 will be the seventieth anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. If possible, mention the anniversary to a friend or a relative. It is up to this generation of Americans to keep the memories of that horrible day alive for future generations, so that the sacrifices made by thousands of servicemen on that day will never be forgotten.

USS Wilmette (IX-29)

2011-11-29T08:46:00.007-05:00

Figure 1: The Chicago-South Haven Steamship Line steamer SS Eastland getting underway circa 1905-07, location unknown. Photo source Eastland Disaster Historical Society. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: Postcard image of SS Eastland in the livery of the Eastland Navigation Co., Cleveland, Ohio, and SS Christopher Columbus underway from Chicago in 1909. Courtesy Robert Hurst. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: USS Wilmette at Chicago, circa 1918. US Navy Photograph (19-N-10494). Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: USS Wilmette moored at the Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois, date unknown. Courtesy Gunter Krebs. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5: USS Wilmette moored at Chicago, Illinois, circa 1932. Courtesy Robert Peterson. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6: Aerial view of German submarine UC-97 at Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1919. The submarine was given to the United States as part of German war reparations after World War I ended and was brought to the Great Lakes to be put on display for people living in the region. The submarine was sunk as a gunnery target by USS Wilmette on Lake Michigan on 7 June 1921. Courtesy the Canadian Navy Heritage website and the Canadian Post Card Company. Image Negative Number PA-030314. Click on photograph for larger image.

The steamship SS Eastland was built in 1903 by the Jenks Shipbuilding Company at Port Huron, Michigan, and was acquired on 21 November 1917 by the US Navy for service in World War I. The ship was converted into a gunboat and was renamed USS Wilmette, after a town in Cook County, Illinois. The 2,600-ton Wilmette was commissioned on 20 September 1918 and was approximately 265 feet long and 38 feet wide, had a top speed of 16.5 knots, and had a crew of 209 officers and men. The ship was armed with four 4-inch guns, two 3-inch guns, and two 1-pounders.

Because Wilmette was commissioned late in World War I, she did not see any combat service. But the Navy did use her as a training ship until she was placed in reserve on 9 July 1919. Wilmette had a 10-man caretaker crew on board until she was re-commissioned on 29 June 1920. For the rest of her 25-year career, Wilmette served as a training ship for naval reservists on the Great Lakes. Wilmette made voyages along the shores of the Great Lakes and, as part of a training exercise, the gunboat participated in the gunfire sinking of the former German submarine UC-97 on Lake Michigan. The submarine was given to the United States as part of German war reparations after World War I ended and was brought to the Great Lakes to be put on display for people living in the region. After the submarine was no longer of any interest, UC-97 was sunk on 7 June 1921 as a gunnery target by Wilmette. The gunboat remained in commission and continued training naval reservists until she was decommissioned on 15 February 1940.

Wilmette was re-designated IX-29 on 17 February 1941 and resumed her training duties on 30 March 1942. Her primary function was to train armed guard crews for duty manning the guns on armed merchant ships. This was a critical job considering the large number of merchant ships that were lost to German U-boats at the start of the war. She continued fulfilling this duty until the end of World War II. USS Wilmette was decommissioned for the last time on 28 November 1945 and her name was struck from the Navy list on 19 December 1945. On 31 October 1946, the old gunboat was sold for scrapping. All large navies need training ships and Wilmette accomplished this task for many years. Not bad for a gunboat that started out her career as a private steamship.

USS Alchiba (AK-23, AKA-6)

2011-11-22T08:50:00.017-05:00

Figure 1: USS Alchiba (AK-23) off the Boston Navy Yard, Boston, Massachusetts, 18 June 1941. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: USS Alchiba (AK-23) off the Boston Navy Yard, Boston, Massachusetts,18 June 1941. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: USS Alchiba (AK-23) off the Boston Navy Yard, Boston, Massachusetts, 18 June 1941. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: USS Alchiba (AK-23) photographed circa early 1942. Note her camouflage scheme. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5: Guadalcanal-Tulagi Landings, 7-9 August 1942. A US Marine Corps M2A4 "Stuart" light tank is hoisted from USS Alchiba (AK-23) into a LCM(2) landing craft, off the Guadalcanal invasion beaches on the first day of landings there, 7 August 1942. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6: USS Alchiba (AK-23) fighting fires in her forward holds, with the assistance of a tug (probably USS Bobolink, AT-131), while she was aground near Lunga Point, Guadalcanal, circa late November 1942. Torpedoed on 28 November by the Japanese submarine I-16 and torpedoed again on 7 December, she was salvaged and repaired. Note smoke venting from the top of her kingposts. US Marine Corps Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7: USS Alchiba (AK-23) on fire near Lunga Point, Guadalcanal, circa late November 1942, after she had been torpedoed in the forward holds. Alchiba was torpedoed on 28 November by the Japanese submarine I-16. Her crew ran her aground and delivered her cargo while fighting fires, which burned until 2 December. She was torpedoed again on 7 December, but was salvaged and reentered service. Photographed by Sgt. Robert Brenner. US Marine Corps Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8: USS Alchiba (AK-23) aground and on fire near Lunga Point, Guadalcanal, circa late November 1942. She had been torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-16 on 28 November. Men are handling cargo on the beach, possibly assisting in unloading Alchiba while she was fighting her fires. Note barbed wire fencing in the foreground. US Marine Corps Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 9: USS Alchiba (AKA-6) underway off Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, 4 August 1943. US National Archives photo # 19-N-49818., a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 10: Broadside view of USS Alchiba (AKA-6) underway off Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, 4 August 1943. Alchiba was overhauled at the shipyard from 3 June until 7 August 1943. Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 5645-43. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 11: USS Alchiba (AKA-6) departing Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, 4 August 1943. Note the imposing bridge front in this class and the semi-enclosed bridge wings. US National Archives, RG-19-LCM. Photo # 19-N-49818. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 12: Amidships looking aft view of USS Alchiba (AKA-6) at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, 31 July 1943. Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 5542-43. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 13: Aft view of USS Alchiba (AKA-6) at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California, 31 July 1943. USS Suamico (AO-49) is pictured at left. Navy Yard Mare Island photo # 5541-43. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 14: USS Alchiba (AKA-6) photographed circa 1945. Courtesy of James Russell. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 15: Ex-USS Alchiba (AKA-6) in commercial service as the Dutch flagged Royal Interocean Lines MS Tjipanas, circa 1950, location unknown. Courtesy Gerhard Mueller-Debus. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 16: Ex-USS Alchiba (AKA-6) in commercial service as the Singapore flagged MS Tong Jit underway in the Malacca Straits, date unknown. ©Airfoto, Malacca. Courtesy Gerhard Mueller-Debus . Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after a star, the 14,125-ton cargo ship USS Alchiba (AK-23) was originally built in 1940 as the civilian freighter Mormacdove by the Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company at Chester, Pennsylvania. The US Navy acquired the ship on 2 June 1941 from the Moore-McCormack Ship Lines, renaming it Alchiba the next day and giving it the designation AK-23. Alchiba was converted into a cargo ship for naval service by the Boston Navy Yard at Boston, Massachusetts, and was officially commissioned into the Navy at Boston on 15 June 1941. Alchiba was approximately 459 feet long and 63 feet wide, had a top speed of 16.5 knots, and had a crew of 356 officers and men. The ship was armed with one 5-inch gun, four 40-mm gun mounts, and four single .50-caliber machine guns. Alchiba could also carry roughly 274,000 cubic feet or 4,705 dead-weight tons of cargo.

After being commissioned, Alchiba spent the rest of 1941 hauling cargo for the Navy in the western and north Atlantic, going as far east as Iceland. In early 1942, Alchiba was sent to the Pacific to transport supplies to the Society Islands and then returned to America’s east coast via Chile and the Panama Canal. The ship was ordered back to the Pacific in mid-June of 1942 and arrived in New Zealand the following month to join the amphibious force that was gathering there for the invasion of Guadalcanal. In early August 1942, Alchiba took part in the initial invasion of Guadalcanal and continued providing vital supplies to the American troops on the island for the next four months.

On 21 November 1942, Alchiba and the transport Barnett left Noumea, New Caledonia. Both ships were escorted by a destroyer. The ships were bound for Guadalcanal and Alchiba was carrying a highly volatile cargo of aviation gasoline, bombs, and ammunition. Alchiba was also towing a barge filled with Marston mats, steel mats needed for the critical runways on Guadalcanal. On the morning of 28 November, just two days after Thanksgiving, Alchiba was starting to unload her deadly cargo at Lunga Point on the coast of Guadalcanal when the Japanese midget submarine I-16 crept into the area. The submarine fired a torpedo that ran past a screen of five American destroyers and hit Alchiba right in her No.2 hold. There was a large explosion followed by a huge fire in the forward part of the ship. Alchiba took on a 17-degree list as the fire made steady progress to the aviation gasoline and bombs stored deep within her hull. The captain of the ship, Commander James S. Freeman, decided that the only way to save Alchiba was to beach her, giving his crew a chance to concentrate on the fire without having to worry about the ship sinking. Commander Freeman then gave the order to beach the transport two miles west of Lunga Point. At least if the ship blew up, it wouldn’t take the whole landing area along with it.

Within minutes, the burning Alchiba moved away from Lunga Point and grounded her bow hard into the sand so that more than 150 feet of her keel rested on the solid bottom. At the same time, Alchiba’s executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Howard R. Shaw, organized damage control teams to fight the fires, flood the magazines, and pour CO2 into the blazing hold. As the rest of the crew were frantically unloading ammunition from the ship onto small landing craft that transported the supplies to the beach, fire hoses were passed over from the minesweeper Bobolink (now doubling as a fleet tugboat), which was assisting Alchiba in fighting the blaze. The firefighting efforts continued all day, as exploding machine gun ammunition filled the air along with the smoke and the fire. Men scrambled all over the ship to fight the blaze, even though some of them passed out from all the smoke generated by the fire. That night, all crewmembers that were not fighting the fire were evacuated from the ship. By now Japanese aircraft were attracted to Alchiba, which was glowing in the night like a beacon because of the flames. Some bombs were dropped close to the cargo ship at 0330, but none of them scored a direct hit. For the time being, Alchiba was still alive.

The crew continued fighting the fire throughout the next day, 29 November 1942. Good progress, though, was being made in unloading the ship, thereby reducing the risk of a major explosion taking place. But the flames kept growing and there was still much more cargo to pull off Alchiba. The ship continued to burn for four more days, until finally the crew got the situation under control. An incredible effort was made by the crew to not only stop the ship from being consumed by the fire, but to also unload the precious cargo that was desperately needed by the men on Guadalcanal. Then on 7 December 1942, a torpedo was fired by yet another midget submarine and this one hit the aft section of the ship. The explosion killed three men, wounded six others, and caused severe structural damage to the ship. Fire and flames once more engulfed the ship, while the crew tried frantically to plug the new hole that was torn into the transport. Alchiba was in such bad shape now that the US Navy announced her to be a “total loss.” But the captain and the crew of this tough ship simply would not give in. They continued to battle the fires until they were finally extinguished. They also managed to patch up all the holes in the ship so that Alchiba actually floated again. The transport was eventually pulled off the sand and, remarkably, was able to start all its engines. The ship then was ordered to return to America for more permanent repairs. After spending the rest of December and part of January 1943 getting Alchiba in good enough shape to make the trip back to the United States, the ship began her long journey home. Although Alchiba had to make a stop along the way at Espiritu Santo for further temporary repairs, the battered cargo ship finally made it back to the United States and entered the Mare Island Navy Yard at Vallejo, California, on 2 June 1943.

Extensive repairs were made to Alchiba and work continued on the ship until August 1943. Alchiba was also re-classified an attack cargo ship and re-designated AKA-6. For the remainder of 1943 and up until March 1944, Alchiba performed logistics duties in the south Pacific. After an overhaul in mid-1944, the ship was plagued by recurrent engine troubles. She was in and out of shipyards for the next year and, during that time, completed only one voyage to the south Pacific. In July and August 1945, Alchiba delivered cargo to bases in the central and western Pacific. She stayed in the western Pacific area until late October 1945 and then returned to the United States, reaching the east coast by way of the Panama Canal in mid-December 1945.

USS Alchiba was decommissioned at Portsmouth, Virginia, on 14 January 1946 and her name was struck from the Navy list on 25 February 1946. The ship was transferred on 19 July 1946 to the Maritime Commission for disposal. She was sold in 1948, refitted as a civilian merchant vessel, and entered service as the Dutch-flagged MS Tjipanas. In 1967, the ship was sold to a Singapore-based company and re-named MS Tong Jit. In 1973, she was sold to a company in Whampoa, China, and scrapped.

The crew of USS Alchiba not only refused to give up their ship, but they knew they had to get their valuable cargo to the men who were struggling on Guadalcanal. For her service in World War II, Alchiba was awarded three battle stars as well as a Presidential Unit Citation for her service at Guadalcanal from August to December 1942. This was a rare honor for a US Navy cargo ship, but one that was certainly well deserved.

USS Northampton (CL-26, CA-26)

2011-11-15T09:19:00.015-05:00

Figure 1: Late 1930s photograph of USS Northampton (CA-26) while at anchor. Note that all four of her scout planes are on catapults. Courtesy Robert M. Cieri. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: Late 1930s photograph of USS Northampton (CA-26) while underway. Courtesy Robert M. Cieri. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: USS Northampton (CL-26) underway during builder's trials, circa spring 1930. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: USS Northampton (CA-26) underway during the early 1930s, prior to the removal of her torpedo tubes. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5: USS Northampton (CA-26) photographed during the later 1930s, after her forward smokestack was raised. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6: This appears to be the Pedro Miguel locks, Panama Canal Zone. If so, the Northampton (CA-26) is heading south toward the Pacific, December 1934. Courtesy Robert M. Cieri. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7: Starboard beam of Northampton (CA-26) while underway, 23 August 1935. Excellent detail image of the ship. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8: USS Northampton (CA-26) entering the river at Brisbane, Australia, 5 August 1941. Note her false bow wave camouflage. Courtesy of Perry M. Allard, 1983. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 9: USS Northampton (CA-26) preparing to dock at Newcastle Wharf, Brisbane, Australia, on 5 August 1941. Note her false bow wave camouflage. Courtesy of James W. Fitch, 1984. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 10: USS Northampton (CA-26) refueling from USS Cimarron (AO-22) during the Doolittle Raid operation. Photographed from USS Salt Lake City (CA-25). The original photo caption states that this view was taken on 18 April 1942, the day the Doolittle Raid aircraft were launched to attack targets in Japan. Note that Northampton's forward smokestack had been reduced in height by this time. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 11: USS Northampton (CA-26) off Gonaives, Haiti, circa early 1939. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, collection of Rear Admiral Paul H. Bastedo. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 12: USS Northampton (CA-26) steams into Pearl Harbor on the morning of 8 December 1941, the day after the Japanese air attack. Photographed from Ford Island, looking toward the Navy Yard, with dredging pipe in the foreground. Northampton was at sea with Vice Admiral Halsey's task force on the day of the attack. Note her Measure One (dark) camouflage, with a Measure Five false bow wave, and manned anti-aircraft director positions. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 13: USS Northampton (CA-26) under attack by a Japanese seaplane during the US raid on Wake Island, 24 February 1942. Photographed from USS Salt Lake City (CA-25), one of whose 1.1-inch machine gun mounts is in the foreground. Note anti-aircraft shell bursts above Northampton and nearby bomb splash. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 14: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, October 1942. USS Northampton (CA-26), at right, attempting to tow USS Hornet (CV-8) after she had been disabled by Japanese air attacks on 26 October 1942. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after a city in Massachusetts, the 9,050-ton USS Northampton (CL-26) was built by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation at Quincy, Massachusetts, and was commissioned on 17 May 1930. Northampton was the lead ship of a class of six similar ships and was approximately 600 feet long and 66 feet wide. The ship had a crew of 831 officers and men and a top speed of 32 knots. Northampton was armed with nine 8-inch guns, four 5-inch guns, several 8.50-calibre machine guns, six 21-inch torpedo tubes, and four aircraft.

After being commissioned, Northampton went on a shakedown cruise in the Mediterranean and then participated in the US Navy’s regular program of operations and exercises. The ship was re-classified a heavy cruiser in July 1931 and received a change in hull number from CL-26 to CA-26. Northampton served primarily in the Atlantic and Caribbean oceans until 1932, at which point she was transferred to the Pacific Ocean and served there for the rest of her career. In 1941, Northampton steamed across the Pacific for a good-will trip to Australia.

On 7 December 1941, Northampton was at sea with the carrier USS Enterprise’s (CV-6) task force. The following day, Northampton entered Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and saw firsthand the massive destruction caused by the Japanese the previous day. Northampton’s early wartime operations were primarily in the Hawaiian area, but in late January 1942 she steamed to the central Pacific, where on 1 February she bombarded Wotje in the Marshall Islands. The ship then bombarded Wake Island on 24 February. Northampton was attacked by Japanese aircraft during her assault on Wake Island, but the ship sustained no damage. In March 1942, Northampton was assigned to a carrier task force that struck Marcus Island and then the following month she participated in the famous Doolittle Raid on Japan. She then escorted USS Enterprise to the south Pacific in May 1942 and defended the carrier during the Battle of Midway in early June.

Northampton returned to the south Pacific in August 1942 to participate in the American amphibious assault on Guadalcanal. For the next two months she escorted carrier task forces and was present when the carrier USS Wasp (CV-7) was sunk by a Japanese submarine on 15 September and was escorting USS Hornet (CV-8) during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands on 26 October. When the carrier was severely damaged by Japanese torpedoes and bombs, Northampton tried to tow Hornet to safety. But Northampton had to cut the tow line with Hornet after another Japanese air attack inflicted additional damage to the carrier, eventually forcing her to sink.

In November 1942, Northampton joined a cruiser-destroyer surface action group that was assigned to prevent the Japanese from reinforcing their troops on Guadalcanal. Forty minutes before midnight, 30 November 1942, Northampton’s cruiser-destroyer surface action group ran right into a Japanese task force off Guadalcanal and the Battle of Tassafaronga began. The American destroyers started the action by firing torpedoes at the Japanese, after which all of the American warships opened fire. This stunned the Japanese task force for approximately seven minutes. But the Japanese soon recovered and fired torpedoes of their own at the American ships. Within the space of a minute, two American cruisers were hit by torpedoes and ten minutes later another cruiser was hit as well. All three of the damaged American cruisers had to leave the area, forcing the US cruisers Northampton and Honolulu, along with six destroyers, to continue the battle on their own. Shells were flying in every direction while Japanese searchlights scoured the water for American warships. Northampton was holding her own with Japanese ships until, towards the end of the battle, two torpedoes hit the cruiser, tearing a huge hole in the port side of the ship. The explosions tore away decks and bulkheads and flaming diesel oil was sprayed all over the ship. Northampton took on water rapidly and began listing sharply to port. The crew did their best to stop the flooding and put out the fires, but the damage was just too much for them. Three hours later, Northampton began to sink stern first. The crew abandoned ship and USS Northampton slipped under the waves. Fortunately, two American destroyers soon arrived on the scene and rescued the bulk of the crew from the water. The destroyers picked up 773 men, remarkable considering the damage that was done to the ship. Northampton lost 58 crewmembers during the battle, most of them when the two torpedoes hit the ship.

The Battle of Tassafaronga was a terrible defeat for the US Navy. At the start of the battle, the US Navy had five cruisers and four destroyers attacking a Japanese force of eight destroyers. The Americans should have overwhelmed the Japanese destroyers, but Japan’s better training at night fighting and their expert use of their “Long Lance” torpedoes, which were fired with deadly accuracy, made the difference. The US Navy lost one heavy cruiser sunk (Northampton) and three cruisers heavily damaged (USS Minneapolis, New Orleans, and Pensacola). The Japanese lost only one destroyer. The only good news was that the Japanese were prevented from reinforcing Guadalcanal that night. The US Navy was sustaining terrible losses to protect the Marines on that island and it would be another few months of intense fighting before the battle for Guadalcanal would end in an American victory.

USS Hornet

2011-11-08T08:52:00.014-05:00

Figure 1: USS Hornet pursued by HMS Cornwallis, 28 April 1815. Artwork depicting the British 74 gun ship Cornwallis (at left) chasing the US sloop of war Hornet in the South Atlantic, as the latter's crew throws overboard spare spars, guns and other items in an effort to increase her speed. Courtesy of Mr. Beverly R. Robinson, March 1937. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: US Hornet (1805-1829). Rigged model of a brig, made circa 1812. Hornet was converted from brig to ship rig in 1811. Courtesy of the Anderson Galleries, New York. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: Action between USS Hornet and HMS Peacock, 24 February 1813. Artwork depicts Peacock's mainmast collapsing at the close of the engagement. Courtesy of Mr. Beverly R. Robinson, March 1937. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: Captain James Lawrence, USN, Commanding Officer of USS Hornet and USS Chesapeake. Engraving of the medal authorized by the United States Congress in honor of Captain Lawrence's 24 February 1813 victory in the action between USS Hornet and HMS Peacock. The Congress ordered a gold version of the medal and requested that the President present it to his nearest male relative. A silver version was presented to each commissioned officer who served under him in Hornet. The engraving was published in Lossing's "Field Book, War of 1812," page 700. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5: Captain James Lawrence, USN (1781-1813). Stipple engraving by David Edwin, after Gilbert Stuart, printed with a line engraving by Francis Kearny depicting HMS Peacock sinking after she was captured by USS Hornet, under Lawrence's command, on 24 February 1813. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6: Master Commandant James Lawrence, USN (1781-1813). Oil on wood, 28.5" x 23.5," by Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828), Boston, circa 1812. Painting in the US Naval Academy Museum Collection. Bequest of George M. Moffett, 1952. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7: USS Hornet captures HMS Penguin, 23 March 1815. Colored lithograph by S. Walters , after a sketch by William Skiddy, depicting the two sloops close aboard during the engagement, which took place in the south Atlantic off Tristan d'Acunha. Note that the erroneous date of 23 January 1815 appears on the print. Courtesy of the US Naval Academy Museum, Annapolis, Maryland. Beverly R. Robinson Collection. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8: USS Hornet in action with HMS Penguin, 23 March 1815. Halftone reproduction of an artwork by Carlton T. Chapman, depicting the capture of HMS Penguin by USS Hornet off Tristan da Cunha, in the south Atlantic. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 9: Lithograph of USS Hornet by Imbert, published in "The Sailors Magazine" March 1830. It depicts Hornet foundering off Tampico, Mexico, on 29 September 1829. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 10: USS Hornet (1805-1829), at top, and the schooner USS Grampus (1821-1843). Sketches of hulls and rigging (with the latter out of scale to the hulls), by William A.K. Martin, circa 1843 or later. Both vessels, which were lost at sea with all hands, are depicted flying their National Ensigns upside down, a sign of distress. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

USS Hornet was a 440-ton brig sailing ship that was built by William Price of Baltimore, Maryland, and was commissioned there on 18 October 1805. She was approximately 106 feet long and 31 feet wide and was armed with 2 12-pounder “long guns” and 18 32-pounder carronades. Carronades were short smoothbore cast-iron cannons that were used primarily as short-range weapons. The long guns were positioned forward for use when chasing an enemy.

After being commissioned, Hornet patrolled America’s Atlantic coastline until 29 March 1806, when she was ordered to join a small US Naval squadron that was protecting American shipping in the Mediterranean from pirates. Hornet then returned to the United States and arrived at Charleston, South Carolina, on 29 November 1807 and was soon decommissioned there.

Hornet was re-commissioned on 26 December 1808. She transported General James Wilkinson to New Orleans, patrolled off America’s eastern coastline, and carried dispatches to Holland, France, and England. Hornet then was sent to the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, DC, to be rebuilt and re-rigged as a sloop of war. This conversion took place between November 1810 and September 1811.

At the start of the War of 1812, Hornet was assigned to Commodore John Rodgers’ squadron. She captured the privateer Dolphin on 9 July 1812, but the prize ship Dolphin was recaptured by the British while en route back to the United States. By the middle of 1812, Hornet (now under the command of Master Commandant James Lawrence) had been cruising in the Atlantic for nearly four months, sometimes escorting the big frigate USS Constitution. But by early January 1813, Hornet was on her own and spent most of January blockading the Brazilian port of Bahia. While blockading Bahia, Hornet managed to keep the British sloop of war Bonne Citoyenne in port while also capturing several British merchant ships that were sailing nearby.

Then on 24 February 1813, while still sailing off the northern coast of South America, Hornet sighted the slightly smaller brig-rigged sloop of war HMS Peacock. Both ships probably saw each other at approximately the same time and closed for battle. At 1620, Peacock hoisted her colors and so did Hornet. By 1725, both ships were within range to exchange broadsides. Peacock, under the command of Captain William Peake, tried her best, but Hornet was more maneuverable and her gunnery was much more accurate than Peacock’s. Hornet’s guns swept Peacock’s decks and were rapidly blowing the ship to pieces. Within fifteen minutes, after having lost her commanding officer and seven other men killed or mortally wounded, Peacock gave up. The British ship had six feet of water in her hold and was cut to pieces in both her hull and masts. Some British sailors hoisted the Union Jack from her mainmast upside down, a signal of distress. But shortly after that, Peacock’s mainmast collapsed and fell overboard. Both Hornet and Peacock anchored after that and every attempt was made to save the British ship, but HMS Peacock sank soon after the end of the short confrontation. Hornet, which had lost only one man during the battle, took aboard Peacock’s survivors and then went about repairing her own damages. Because of the British survivors, Hornet was now badly overcrowded, so she sailed back to the United States and arrived at Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, on 19 March 1813.

Upon her return to the United States, Hornet’s commander, Master Commandant James Lawrence, was promoted to full captain and the US Congress authorized that a medal be made in honor of Captain Lawrence’s victory over HMS Peacock. Two months after the battle, Captain Lawrence took command of the frigate USS Chesapeake, which was preparing to go to sea at Boston, Massachusetts. Chesapeake left port on 1 June 1813 and immediately engaged the Royal Navy frigate HMS Shannon in a fierce battle. Unfortunately, Captain Lawrence was mortally wounded by small arms fire and, as he was being taken below to the doctor, he uttered the famous words: “Don’t give up the ship.” Chesapeake was soon overwhelmed by British boarders and the ship had to give up. Captain James Lawrence died of his wounds on 4 June, while Chesapeake was being taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia, by her captors. His body was later repatriated to New York for burial. However, Congress still ordered that a gold version of Lawrence’s medal commemorating his victory over HMS Peacock be struck and requested that the president of the United States present it to his nearest male relative. A silver version of the medal was also presented to each commissioned officer who served under Lawrence on board Hornet.

Although the United States Congress ratified the Treaty of Ghent on 18 February 1815, thereby ending the War of 1812 with England, this news took a long time to reach ships at sea. So during the late morning of 23 March 1815, when Hornet (now under the command of Master Commandant James Biddle) sighted the British brig-sloop HMS Penguin off Tristan d’Acunha island in the south Atlantic, neither ship was aware that they were at peace.

The two sloops approached each other on roughly parallel courses, with Penguin to windward. Hornet and Penguin opened fire on each other at roughly 1340, exchanging broadsides, with Hornet firing to starboard and Penguin to port. After fifteen minutes, Hornet let loose a devastating broadside that killed Penguin’s commanding officer and many of her crewmen. Penguin’s bowsprit then caught in Hornet’s rigging and, as the two ships separated, the British ship’s bowsprit broke away, taking her foremast with it. Penguin was totally disabled and what was left of her crew surrendered to Hornet shortly after 1400. After the battle ended, the US schooner Tom Bowline and the US sloop of war Peacock arrived on the scene as Penguin began to sink. After Penguin sank, her surviving crewmembers were sent to Rio de Janeiro aboard Tom Bowline while Hornet and Peacock remained in the area for about three more weeks.

Hornet and Peacock then headed for the East Indies, still unaware that the war had already ended. On 27 April 1815, while sailing to the East Indies, both ships sighted HMS Cornwallis, a 74-gun ship-of-the-line. The two American ships mistook Cornwallis for a merchant ship and decided to attack. But after discovering their error, both ships retreated. However, Cornwallis saw the American ships and decided to give chase to Hornet. Hornet tried her best to get away from the giant British warship, but Cornwallis was beginning to gain on it. So Hornet’s skipper, James Biddle, gave the order to throw almost everything overboard to lighten the ship to gain more speed. Soon spare spars, boats, nearly all of her guns and ammunition, anchors, cables, some ballast, and a lot of other equipment went over the side. Through Biddle’s skillful seamanship and Cornwallis’ poor gunnery, Hornet picked up speed and got away. Now defenseless, Hornet returned to the United States and arrived at New York City on 9 June 1815.

After the war, Hornet went on a cruise to the West Indies and then was sent to Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1818. After making another trip to the Mediterranean in 1819, Hornet returned to the United States. She was based at Key West and Pensacola, Florida, to assist in ending piracy in the Caribbean Sea. Hornet captured the pirate schooner Moscow on 29 October 1821 off the coast of Santo Domingo and continued patrolling the Caribbean for several more years.

Hornet left her base at Pensacola on 4 March 1829 and set course for the coast of Mexico. She was never heard from again. On 27 October 1829, the commander of the US Navy’s West Indies Squadron received information that USS Hornet had been dismasted in a gale off Tampico, Mexico, on 29 September 1829 and had foundered with the loss of all hands. It was a sad end to one of the finest ships in America’s young Navy.

USRC Hudson

2011-11-01T09:26:00.008-04:00

Figure 1: USRC Hudson at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, 21 April 1898. Courtesy of the US Coast Guard History website. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: USRC Hudson at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, 21 April 1898. Courtesy of the US Coast Guard History website. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: USRC Hudson at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, 21 April 1898. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: USS Winslow (TB-5) photographed circa 1898, with a small "water taxi" rowing past her bow. Courtesy of Jack Howland, 1985. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5: USS Winslow (TB-5) off Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1898. The Neafie & Levy shipyard is in the background. The original photograph was copyrighted by William H. Rau, 1898. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6: USRC Hudson coming to the rescue of USS Winslow during the Battle of Cardenas, Cuba, during the Spanish-American war, 11 May 1898. Courtesy USCG Historian’s website: http://www.76fsa.org/cgta/usrc_hudson_-_battle_of.htm Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after William L. Hudson (1794-1862), a noted US Navy Captain, the 128-ton United States Revenue Cutter (USRC) Hudson was built by John H. Dialogue at Camden, New Jersey, and was commissioned into the Revenue Cutter Service (which was the forerunner of the US Coast Guard) 17 August 1893. Hudson was approximately 94 feet long and 20 feet wide, had a top speed of 12 knots, and had a crew of 11 officers and men. Hudson also was the Revenue Service’s first vessel to have a steel hull and a triple-expansion steam engine. The small ship was armed with two 6-pounder Driggs-Schroeder rapid fire guns and one Model 1895 Colt automatic machine gun.

For most of her career, Hudson was assigned to duties in the New York Harbor area. Since she was a Revenue Cutter, the ship was under the control of the Treasury Department. But with the coming of the Spanish-American War, Hudson was transferred to the US Navy on 24 March 1898 and commissioned as USS Hudson, with First Lieutenant Frank Hamilton Newcomb of the Revenue Cutter Service in command.

Hudson left New York on 24 April 1898, shortly after war was declared with Spain. She steamed south to Key West, Florida, and was assigned to patrol duties as soon as she arrived. Hudson then was used as a dispatch carrier and ordered to join the other US Navy ships that were blockading Cuba. On the morning of 11 May 1898, the gunboats Machias, Wilmington, as well as Hudson, were ordered to blockade the harbor at Cardenas on the north coast of Cuba. These ships were joined by the torpedo boat USS Winslow, under the command of Lieutenant J. B. Bernadou. After three Spanish gunboats were seen in the harbor, the small American task force decided to run in after them. Winslow went in first to reconnoiter the area closest to shore, with the two larger gunboats ready to provide gunfire support as soon as anything was spotted.

At this point, Hudson was sent to scout the western shore of the bay while Winslow was investigating the east side of the harbor. When Winslow was roughly 1,500 yards from Cardenas, numerous shore guns opened fire on the torpedo boat. Shells were exploding all around Winslow, when, suddenly, some of them started to hit their target. Within a few minutes several more shells slammed into the torpedo boat, killing and wounding some men, and disabling the ship. Winslow now was dead in the water and drifting towards shore.

As soon as First Lieutenant Frank H. Newcomb, commander of Hudson, saw what was happening to Winslow, he immediately steered his ship into the enemy fire to assist the torpedo boat. Hudson’s six-pounders sent a steady stream of fire at the Spanish artillery emplacements on shore. At the same time, the gunboat Wilmington kept firing everything she had against the town of Cardenas, destroying storehouses along the shore as well as all three of those Spanish gunboats that were originally in port. Because of the fire coming from both Hudson and Wilmington, the shots coming from the Spanish artillery began to subside. This allowed Hudson to gradually come near Winslow and try to rig a tow line. But as the Revenue Cutter neared the torpedo boat another Spanish artillery shell hit Winslow, killing Ensign Worth Bagley and wounding several men. Yet despite the Spanish shells that were now hitting the revenue cutter, Hudson got closer to Winslow and, after two tries, managed to secure a tow line.

By now Winslow was in terrible shape and near sinking. Unfortunately, Winslow’s rudder was jammed due to a direct hit on her stern and this made towing impossible. So, as a last resort, First Lieutenant Newcomb ordered that both ships be lashed together. Even though Spanish shells were still hitting both Winslow and Hudson, the Revenue Cutter managed to pull Winslow away from shore and limp slowly out of the harbor area. Hudson’s two six-pounders kept up a steady stream of protective fire, shooting 120 rounds in less than 30 minutes. But even though progress was unbearably slow, Hudson managed to keep Winslow afloat and pull her to safety.

As soon as Winslow was out of range and out of danger from further damage, Lieutenant Bernadou on board Wilson signaled to Wilmington, “Many killed and wounded—send boat!” Eventually, Hudson brought Winslow alongside Wilmington and all of Winslow’s dead and wounded were transferred to the larger gunboat. Of the Winslow’s crew of 21, five were killed and five were wounded (including Bernadou, who was hit by some shrapnel from an exploding Spanish shell that ripped into his right thigh; he used a towel as a tourniquet so that he could stay in command of his ship during the battle). Once the wounded were treated on board Wilmington, they (along with the dead) were again transferred, this time to Hudson, which was heading back to Key West along with some dispatches regarding the battle.

While this whole battle was going on, the other American gunboat during this operation, Machias, was also very active. Machias was bombarding Spanish positions on the smaller islands within Cardenas Harbor known as “The Keys.” Machias opened fire on the Spanish signal station on Diana Key, destroying it. After it was destroyed, Machias sent a landing party to take over Diana Key and to make sure there were no wires on the island that were attached to mines in the bay. After the landing party arrived on Diana Key, the American flag was hoisted next to the burning Spanish signal station and the men also discovered that there were no wires leading to mines in the bay.

As soon as Hudson returned to Key West, the wounded and the dead were taken off the ship. First Lieutenant Newcomb was interviewed after the battle and stated, “I know we destroyed a large part of the town near the wharves and burned their gunboats. But we were in a vortex of shot, shell and smoke, and could not accurately tell how much damage we did to the city.” Evidently the American ships did a lot of damage to Cardenas, because it was never a problem for the United States for the rest of the war. For their bravery during the Battle of Cardenas, First Lieutenant Frank H. Newcomb received a gold Congressional medal, the other officers on board Hudson received silver medals, and the crew received bronze medals. These were unique awards made specifically to commemorate the battle itself and were the only specially struck medals awarded for bravery during the war. President William McKinley noted in his request to Congress for the special medals that: “In the face of a most galling fire from the enemy’s guns, the revenue cutter Hudson, commanded by First Lieutenant Frank H. Newcomb, United States Revenue Cutter Service, rescued the disabled Winslow, her wounded commander and remaining crew. The commander of the Hudson kept his vessel in the very hottest fire of the action, although in constant danger of going ashore on account of the shallow water, until he finally got a line fast to the Winslow and towed that vessel out of range of the enemy’s guns, a deed of special gallantry.”

Hudson remained on blockade duty for several weeks after the attack on Cardenas, mostly to deliver dispatches for the fleet, though she did capture two small fishing sloops that were attempting to run the blockade off Havana, Cuba. She then returned to Key West and steamed to Norfolk, Virginia, arriving there on 21 August 1898. The ship was then returned to the Revenue Service and became, once again, USRC Hudson.

Once back with the Revenue Service, Hudson was again based in the New York Harbor area. She resumed her traditional duties as a Revenue Cutter, which was generally patrol, search and rescue, and stopping any smuggled goods or contraband from entering the country. On 28 January 1915, the Life-Saving Service and the Revenue Cutter Service were combined to create the US Coast Guard. Hudson became the US Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Hudson and remained with the Coast Guard until 6 April 1917, when she was once again transferred into the Navy for use during World War I. Hudson was mainly given patrol and escort duties during the war, but was returned to the Coast Guard on 28 August 1919. Hudson remained active in the Coast Guard until 3 May 1935, when she was decommissioned and sold after giving more than 40 years of service. USCGC Hudson proved that you don’t have to be big or powerful to make a difference in a battle and both Winslow and her crew owed much to this little ship.

USS Barton (DD-599)

2011-10-25T08:30:00.004-04:00

Figure 1: USS Barton (DD-599) in Boston Harbor, Boston, Massachusetts, 29 May 1942, the day she was commissioned. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: USS Barton (DD-599) in Boston Harbor, Boston, Massachusetts, on the day she was commissioned, 29 May 1942. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: USS Barton (DD-599), date and place unknown. US Navy Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after John Kennedy Barton (1853-1921), a former Chief of the US Navy’s Bureau of Steam Engineering, USS Barton was a 1,620-ton Benson class destroyer that was built by the Bethlehem Steel Company at Quincy, Massachusetts, and was commissioned on 29 May 1942. The ship was approximately 348 feet long and 36 feet wide, had a top speed of 37 knots, and had a crew of 208 officers and men. Barton was armed with four 5-inch guns, four 40-mm guns, seven 20-mm guns, 10 21-inch torpedo tubes, and depth charges.

Following a brief shakedown cruise off the coast of Maine, Barton began escorting various ships off the New England coastline starting in July 1942. She was ordered to the Pacific on 23 August and, after transiting the Panama Canal at the end of August, Barton joined Task Group (TG) 2.12 at the Tonga Islands, arriving at Tongatabu on 12 September. Shortly after that, Barton sailed to Noumea, New Caledonia.

At this time, the battle for Guadalcanal was being fought in earnest. On 2 October 1942, Barton joined Task Force 17 which was leaving Noumea and headed for the Shortland Islands, where Japanese forces were rumored to be gathering for an attack on Guadalcanal. Task Force 17 was built around the carrier USS Hornet (CV-8), along with two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and four other destroyers. By 5 October, Hornet’s planes reached the Shortland Islands and, although plagued by bad weather, damaged two Japanese destroyers and sank one transport. But the bulk of the Japanese fleet was not there.

By now, the Japanese were desperate to destroy the one major airstrip held by the Americans on Guadalcanal, called Henderson Field. Whoever controlled the airstrip controlled the skies and the shipping around Guadalcanal, which made the airfield such an important target. The Japanese began daily air raids against the airfield and mounted nightly bombardments by surface warships as well. The Japanese then sent a major task force to engage the American Navy off Guadalcanal and the two forces met on 26 October 1942 in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. Barton was still escorting Hornet, which was also joined by the carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6). During the massive battle that followed, Barton provided anti-aircraft cover for Hornet but the carrier was hit repeatedly by Japanese aircraft and began to sink. Barton rescued 250 of Hornet’s crew before the carrier went down. Although the battle was basically a draw (with two Japanese carriers severely damaged for the loss of Hornet), this was only the beginning of Japan’s naval assault on Guadalcanal.

After making a daring rescue of 17 American crewmen and passengers that were on board a C-47 aircraft that crashed on a reef near Guadalcanal, Barton returned to Noumea and was assigned to Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner’s Task Force 67. The task force rendezvoused with Rear Admiral Daniel J. Callaghan’s Task Force 67.4 just east of Guadalcanal (near San Cristobal Island) on the morning of 11 November 1942. The two admirals received intelligence reports that a major Japanese naval task force was headed for Guadalcanal. At the same time, a large number of American troop and cargo ships were going to be unloading their badly needed cargo onto the beaches of Guadalcanal. The American warships had to protect the cargo ships from the oncoming Japanese task force.

By 0718 on the morning of 12 November 1942, the cruiser USS Helena (CL-50) and the destroyer Shaw (DD-373) joined Barton in firing on Japanese batteries on land that were firing on the American transports. The counter-battery fire coming from the American warships was extremely accurate and silenced the Japanese guns. This allowed the American transports to continue unloading their troops and cargo without interruption. During the daylight hours, Japanese aircraft tried to attack the cargo ships, but accurate anti-aircraft fire destroyed many enemy warplanes without the loss of any cargo ships.

Then came nighttime. Knowing that the Japanese were approaching, Rear Admiral Turner moved the transports away from the beach and ordered Rear Admiral Callaghan to meet the oncoming Japanese warships. Rear Admiral Turner concluded that this was the only way to stop the Japanese. Even if Callaghan’s force was annihilated, the attack would prevent the Japanese from bombarding Henderson Field and it would inflict so much damage on the enemy that it would allow Turner to continue unloading his merchant ships onto Guadalcanal.

At 1815 on the evening of 12 November, Rear Admiral Turner’s troop transports and cargo ships steamed eastward, away from Guadalcanal. At the same time, Rear Admiral Callaghan’s task force headed north to intercept the Japanese. The ships were deployed in a single column, with four destroyers leading five cruisers followed by another four destroyers, with Barton being among those last four ships. At 0124 on the morning of 13 November 1942, American radar on board the lead ships located the enemy. It was a Japanese task force under the command of Rear Admiral Hiroaki Abe and it consisted of two battleships, one light cruiser, and 14 destroyers.

When the two columns of warships finally slammed into each other, a melee ensued. Some of the ships were only 1,000 yards from each other when the firing began. As the battle continued, the ships from both sides got mixed up, making shooting even more difficult. Barton opened fire with her forward 5-inch guns as soon as she saw the enemy searchlights illuminating the American ships ahead of her. Barton’s forward guns were aimed to port and fired roughly 60 rounds, while her two aft guns fired about 10 rounds each. Barton then altered course to port, moving closer to the enemy column of warships, and launched five torpedoes at the Japanese. Barton’s guns fired for about seven more minutes before the ship had to stop to avoid colliding with the ship in front of it, possibly the destroyer USS Aaron Ward (DD-433). But in stopping, Barton became a perfect target for the Japanese destroyers. After a few seconds, the Japanese destroyer Amatsukaze, which was only 3,000 yards away, fired a torpedo that hit the forward part of Barton. A few seconds later, a second torpedo hit Barton in her forward engine room. There were two tremendous explosions from these torpedo hits that literally broke the ship in half. USS Fletcher (DD-445) which was bringing up the rear of the American column, saw Barton explode at 0156. Lookouts on board Fletcher later stated that Barton “simply disappeared in fragments.”

Ironically, the flames from what was left of Barton and her burning fuel oil illuminated the area, enabling Fletcher’s lookouts to see the wake of a torpedo that was headed straight for her. Fletcher altered course to avoid the torpedo, but in doing so the destroyer moved straight through a group of Barton’s survivors that were struggling in the water. Only 42 of Barton’s crew were later rescued by the cruiser USS Portland (CA-33), as well as by some landing craft from Guadalcanal.

Among the dead was the ship’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Douglas H. Fox. As a tribute to this fine officer, a destroyer, USS Douglas H. Fox (DD-772), was named after him. But the enormous sacrifice made by the US Navy that night in terms of men and warships was not in vain. The Japanese task force not only suffered huge losses, but it was prevented from bombarding and destroying Henderson Field. It was a major victory against terrible odds and it enabled the Marines to hold onto Guadalcanal.

As for Barton, she earned four battle stars for the roughly six months she was in service. In 1992, an expedition that was examining the wrecks off Guadalcanal located part of Barton. She lies in more than 2,000 feet of water southeast of Savo Island. All that was found was the first 100 feet or so of her bow, resting on its port side with both forward five-inch guns still facing port. The ship’s stern section should be nearby, but was never found.

USS Philadelphia (CL-41)

2011-10-18T08:35:00.013-04:00

Figure 1: USS Philadelphia (CL-41) off the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, on 22 October 1937. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: USS Philadelphia (CL-41) anchored in the Hudson River, off New York City, 1939. Donation of Lieutenant Gustave J. Freret, USN (Retired), 1972. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: USS Philadelphia (CL-41) at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 9 April 1942. USS Munargo (AP-20) is in the upper left background. Courtesy of Charles N. Dragonette, 1979. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: Curtiss SOC Seagull scout-observation aircraft is hoisted on board USS Philadelphia (CL-41), during the North African operation, November 1942. Note crewmen holding lines to steady the plane as the aircraft crane swings it inboard. Photographed by Lieutenant Horace Bristol, USNR. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5: USS Philadelphia (CL-41) in New York Harbor, 26 April 1943. A Liberty Ship is in the background, with a crated deck cargo. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6: USS Philadelphia (CL-41) off New York City, 26 April 1943. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7: USS Philadelphia (CL-41) off the New York Navy Yard, 26 April 1943. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8: Salerno Operation, September 1943. A US Navy destroyer lays a smoke screen during a "Red Alert" for air attack off the Salerno invasion beaches in September 1943. Photographed from the port bridge wing of USS Philadelphia (CL-41). Note manned and ready 20-mm and 40-mm guns on Philadelphia and elevated fire control radar antenna and 5-inch guns on the destroyer. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 9: Salerno Operation, September 1943. USS Philadelphia (CL-41) and a motor minesweeper (YMS) making a smoke screen to cover the landing area from German air attack, circa 9 September 1943. Photograph from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 10: Roman Catholic church services on board USS Philadelphia’s after deck, while she was at Algiers, Algeria, circa 1944. Note the use of the US ensign and signal flags as a backdrop, and the cruiser's aircraft catapults flanking the ceremonies. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 11: Undated starboard side photograph of the Brazilian Navy’s Barroso (C11), formerly USS Philadelphia. Courtesy Robert Hurst. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 12: Undated photograph of the Brazilian Navy’s Barroso (C11), formerly USS Philadelphia, in Guanabara bay, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Courtesy Artemio Bueno Rosa, Jr. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after the city in Pennsylvania, USS Philadelphia (CL-41) was a 9,700-ton Brooklyn class light cruiser built by the Philadelphia Navy Yard at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and commissioned on 23 September 1937. The ship was approximately 608 feet long and 61 feet wide, had a top speed of 32 knots, and had a crew of 868 officers and men. Philadelphia was armed with 15 6-inch guns, eight 5-inch guns, 20 40-mm guns, and 10 20-mm guns, and carried four scout planes.

After being commissioned, Philadelphia spent most of her time on patrol in the Atlantic area. On 30 April 1938, Philadelphia arrived at Charleston, South Carolina, and hosted President Franklin Roosevelt during the first week of May for a cruise in Caribbean waters. The president returned to Charleston on 8 May. The ship then resumed operations off the Atlantic coast until mid-1939, when she left for the Pacific. After transiting the Panama Canal, Philadelphia was based at San Pedro, California, and then at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. While at Pearl Harbor, the ship participated in fleet maneuvers until May 1941. Philadelphia left Pearl Harbor on 22 May 1941 and returned to the Atlantic via the Panama Canal. The cruiser arrived at Boston, Massachusetts, on 18 June.

Once Philadelphia arrived at Boston, she was assigned to participate in “Neutrality Patrols,” which were created on 4 September 1939 as a response to the war in Europe. Neutrality Patrols were ordered to track and report the movements of any warlike operations of belligerents in the waters of the western hemisphere. As part of the patrols, Philadelphia steamed as far south as Bermuda and as far north as Halifax, Nova Scotia. The ship entered the Boston Navy Yard on 25 November 1941 for an overhaul and was there when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December.

After her overhaul was completed on 18 December 1942, Philadelphia resumed patrol and escort duties off the coast of the United States. Philadelphia escorted two convoys to Scotland during the middle of 1942, but was pulled off escort duty to become the flagship of the Southern Attack Group for the invasion of North Africa. Philadelphia’s task force left Norfolk, Virginia, on 24 October 1942 with 102 ships carrying 35,000 men and their equipment bound for North Africa. The troops were under the command of the famous General George S. Patton and the entire landing force reached Casablanca, Morocco, shortly before midnight on 7 November. The invasion force was split up into three different sections and landed at three different points along the Moroccan coast in the early morning darkness of 8 November.

During the invasion, Philadelphia provided critical and highly accurate gunfire support for the troops landing on shore, knocking out several Vichy French artillery batteries that were firing at the invasion force. Once the landing troops had secured their beachheads, Philadelphia was ordered to leave Morocco for New York City on 13 November and arrived there on 24 November. The ship was based at New York until 11 March 1943, when she escorted two convoys to Casablanca. Philadelphia then moved to Norfolk, Virginia, and began preparing for the next big Allied invasion.

Philadelphia left Norfolk with nine destroyers on 8 June 1943 and arrived at Oran, Algeria, on 22 June. Oran was the final staging area for the invasion of Sicily and on 5 July the entire invasion force left Oran and headed north for the Italian island. The Allies arrived off the beaches of Scoglitti, Sicily, shortly before midnight on 9 July 1943, with Philadelphia once again providing gunfire support for the troops on shore. Philadelphia provided gunfire support for Allied troops until 5 September. While hitting targets all over Sicily, Philadelphia also endured numerous enemy air attacks and shot down a total of six aircraft during these battles.

On 9 September 1943, Philadelphia’s guns were used yet again during the Allied invasion of Salerno in southern Italy. One of the ship’s scout planes spotted 35 German tanks not far from the beach where the Allies were landing and this information was relayed back to the ship. Philadelphia opened fire with her six-inch guns and destroyed seven of the tanks before the rest retreated from the area. The ship was almost hit by a German glide bomb during an aerial attack. The bomb exploded next to the ship, wounding several of her crewmen. But the ship could still remain in action and her guns continued to provide badly needed support for the troops on shore. Philadelphia’s guns shot down another German aircraft on 15 September and two more on 17 September. After providing numerous gunfire support missions along the Italian coast, Philadelphia returned to the United States on 6 November as part of a convoy heading for Norfolk.

Philadelphia left Norfolk on 19 January 1944 and, after making a stop in Oran, Algeria, joined the Allied invasion force off the coast of Anzio, Italy, on 14 February. The ship provided gunfire support for the troops on shore until 23 May. In August 1944, Philadelphia then provided gunfire support for the Allied invasion of southern France. After bombarding German positions along the coast of southern France, the ship returned to Philadelphia on 6 November.

Philadelphia underwent a major overhaul at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and, after a refresher training cruise for her crew, was ready for another assignment on 4 June 1945. Although the war in Europe had ended on 8 May 1945, Philadelphia was still a very active warship and was ordered to escort USS Augusta (CA-31), which was carrying President Harry Truman to and from the Potsdam Conference in Europe. Later that year, Philadelphia transported US military personnel home from Europe as part of Operation “Magic Carpet.”

Philadelphia returned to her namesake city and was placed on the “inactive” list on 9 January 1946. She was decommissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 3 February 1947 and was struck from the Navy List on 9 January 1951. As a part of a plan to assist countries that were allied to the United States during the Cold War, USS Philadelphia was sold to Brazil in 1951 and reactivated at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. The ship was re-named Barroso (C-11) and served in the Brazilian Navy for more than two decades. Barroso was eventually scrapped in 1973.

USS Patterson (DE-1061, FF-1061)

2011-10-11T08:52:00.008-04:00

Figure 1: USS Patterson (DE-1061) underway in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, 27 August 1970. Photographed by PHCS W.H. Long, USN. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: USS Patterson (DE-1061) underway in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, 27 August 1970. Photographed by PHCS W.H. Long, USN. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: USS Patterson (DE-1061) underway, circa the early 1970s. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: USS Patterson (DE-1061) visiting a German port, circa June-July 1971. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1974. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5: USS Patterson (FF-1061) at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, 1984, while serving as a unit of the Naval Reserve Force. Photographed by Francis M. Cox. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6: A port view of USS Patterson (FF-1061) at sea on 14 September 1990. The date on this, and the next photograph, has to be incorrect. Patterson went through the Knox Class hull upgrade program prior to 1987, per ex-crewmember Brian Wells. US Navy photo DVID #DN-ST-90-11618 by PHCS Long. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7: A port-bow view of USS Patterson (FF-1061) at sea on 14 September 1990. The date on this photograph has to be incorrect. Patterson went through the Knox Class hull upgrade program prior to 1987, per ex-crewmember Brian Wells. US Navy photo DVID #DN-ST-90-11617 by PHCS Long. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after Commodore Daniel Todd Patterson (1786-1839), a naval hero from the War of 1812, USS Patterson (DE-1061) was a 3,011-ton Knox class destroyer escort that was built by the Avondale Shipyard at Westwego, Louisiana, and was commissioned on 14 March 1970. The ship was approximately 415 feet long and 46 feet wide, had a top speed of 27 knots, and had a crew of 224 officers and men. Patterson was armed with one 5-inch gun, one Mk 16 ASROC missile launcher, four Mk 46 torpedoes, one Mk 25 BPDMS Sea Sparrow missile launcher, and one SH-2 Seasprite (LAMPS I) helicopter.

After being commissioned, Patterson conducted her shakedown cruise off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. From June to August 1971, the ship made her first overseas deployment to northern Europe. During the first half of 1974, she steamed to the Mediterranean Sea for service with the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet. All newer escort ships were reclassified as frigates in mid-1975, so Patterson was re-designated FF-1061. At this time, the ship was also modified. She received enlarged helicopter facilities and the Basic Point Defense Missile System, which included a launcher installed on her afterdeck for eight Sea Sparrow guided missiles.

Patterson completed a second deployment in the Mediterranean from late 1976 to mid-1977, and a third one from 1978 to early 1979. From September to October 1979, the ship returned to northern European waters and in mid-1980 Patterson provided help to the West Indies island of St. Lucia after it was hit by a massive hurricane. After returning to the Mediterranean in October 1980, Patterson continued eastward and sailed into the Persian Gulf towards the end of the year and during the first month of 1981. Patterson completed a fifth deployment with the Sixth Fleet from late 1981 into 1982, with a trip to the Red Sea at the end of that deployment. The ship earned a Meritorious Unit Commendation for her service during that period.

In June 1983, Patterson was assigned to the US Naval Reserve Force, based at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The ship remained in this “non-deploying” status for the next eight years, but was used as a training ship for Naval Reservists. In this capacity, Patterson sailed in the western Atlantic, from Canada to the West Indies. In late 1990, Patterson conducted counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean, making a round-trip passage through the Panama Canal as part of that mission. On her final cruise, Patterson went to Bermuda in May 1991. The ship was decommissioned on 30 September 1991. USS Patterson was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register of ships on 11 January 1995. Although Patterson was considered for transfer to Greece as a source of spare parts, this never took place and the ship was sold for scrapping on 29 September 1999. Patterson was one of 46 Knox class frigates built in the United States and these ships provided excellent service during the final years of the Cold War, from 1969 to the end of the 1980s.

USS Adams (DM-27, MMD-27)

2011-10-04T08:48:00.003-04:00

Figure 1: USS Adams (DM-27) off San Francisco, California, 2 May 1945. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1971. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: USS Adams (DM-27) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, in late June 1945, following repair of kamikaze damage. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives.

Named after Lieutenant Samuel Adams (1912-1942), a US Navy hero of the Battle of Midway, the 3,218-ton USS Adams was an Allen M. Sumner class destroyer that was originally laid down as DD-739 at the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, but was re-designated a destroyer-minelayer, DM-27, on 20 July 1944. The ship was commissioned at Boston, Massachusetts, on 10 October 1944. Adams was approximately 376 feet long and 40 feet wide, had a top speed of 34 knots, and had a crew of 363 officers and men. The destroyer-minelayer was armed with six 5-inch guns, eight 40-mm guns, 12 20-mm guns, depth charges, plus 80 mines.

Adams completed her shakedown cruise on 29 November 1944 and the ship arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, on 3 December. On 11 December, Adams, along with her sister ship USS Shea (DM-30), left Norfolk and headed north to New York, where they rendezvoused with the carrier USS Bennington (CV-20). Together, all three ships left for the Panama Canal on 15 December. They transited the canal on 20 December and two days later headed for the coast of California. The three ships arrived at San Diego, California, on 29 December and stayed there for two days undergoing repairs. On 1 January 1945, the three ships left San Diego and arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, six days later.

For almost two months, Adams remained based in Hawaii. While there, she acted as plane guard for the escort carrier USS Bataan (CVL-29) while the carrier conducted landing qualifications for pilots. Adams also conducted gunnery and shore bombardment exercises. Early in February, Adams laid mines and tested mine-detection equipment on them. Adams completed all of her exercises by the end of February 1945.

Adams left Pearl Harbor on 2 March 1945 and headed for the western Pacific. She arrived at Ulithi Atoll on 14 March and stayed there for five days. Adams then left Ulithi with the task force that was going to invade Okinawa, just off the Japanese mainland. On 23 March, the day before arriving off the coast of Okinawa, Japanese aircraft attacked the task force. As the guns on board Adams began shooting at the incoming aircraft, a shell fired from an aft 5-inch gun exploded prematurely, killing two crewmen and wounding 13 others. At dawn the next day, Adams began minesweeping operations off Okinawa, and also provided anti-aircraft gunfire support for the task force.

Over the next few days, the Japanese mounted heavy air attacks on the American warships off Okinawa. During that time, Adams was attacked by at least 12 different aircraft. Adams managed to shoot down six of the Japanese planes and claimed two more as “probable kills.” On 28 March, a Japanese aircraft was shot down and crashed roughly 25 feet from the port bow of the ship, showering Adams with debris and burning gasoline. Then on 1 April, while steaming not far from Okinawa, a badly damaged Japanese aircraft crashed close to the stern of the ship. Unfortunately, the plane was carrying two bombs and they both exploded under the fantail of the ship, causing severe damage and jamming the ship’s rudders at hard right. While Adams moved in a constant right-hand circle, two more Japanese kamikaze planes dove at the ship. Adams managed to shoot one down while the other was shot down by a nearby destroyer. Adams had to be towed to Kerama Retto, an island near Okinawa, for temporary repairs.

Adams left Kerama Retto on 7 April 1945 and was sent back to the United States for permanent repairs. After making stops at Guam and Pearl Harbor, Adams arrived at the Mare Island Navy Yard in California on 7 May. Repairs were completed and the ship left for Hawaii on 17 July, arriving at Pearl Harbor several days later. After that, Adams spent the next few days participating in gunnery exercises around Hawaii.

On 4 August 1945, Adams left Pearl Harbor with USS Koiner (DE-331) and again headed for the western Pacific. After a brief stop at Eniwetok Atoll, the two ships, along with the attack transport Sitka (APA-113), arrived at Guam on 15 August, the day hostilities ceased with Japan. The next day, Adams left for Okinawa and arrived there on 18 August. She stayed there until 31 August and the next day left for mainland Japan. Adams arrived off Kagoshima, Kyushu, Japan, on 3 September and began minesweeping a channel into the port. Adams completed that mission on 9 September and then the ship returned to Okinawa. Adams reached Okinawa on 11 September and remained there to avoid a typhoon that was moving through the area.

Adams left Okinawa on 24 September 1945 and returned to mainland Japan. She arrived at Ise Wan, Honshu, Japan, on 26 September and began minesweeping operations in preparations for the landing of US Army occupation troops at Nagoya. Adams remained at Ise Wan until the end of October. On 1 November, Adams steamed to Sasebo, Japan, and arrived there two days later. The ship stayed there through most of November and made preparations for returning back to the United States.

Unfortunately for the crew of Adams, the ship had to make a few stops before returning home. On 25 November, the ship left Sasebo and steamed to Taiwan, where she arrived three days later. Adams then joined Task Group (TG) 70.5 and starting on 4 December had to spend ten days minesweeping the Taiwan Strait. After that, Adams was sent to Shanghai, China, and entered the famous Yangtze River on 21 December. Adams stayed at Shanghai until 3 January 1946, but then headed back to Sasebo, Japan.

Adams continued to be assigned various minesweeping duties until early April 1946 and then was finally allowed to return to the United States. After arriving back home, the ship was assigned to the First Fleet and served in it until being decommissioned in December 1946. Adams was berthed with the San Diego Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet, and in February 1955, while still in reserve, USS Adams was re-designated a fast minelayer (MMD-27). Her name was struck from the Navy list on 1 December 1970 and she was sold for scrapping on 16 December 1971.

USS Nevada (BM-8)

2011-09-27T08:28:00.009-04:00

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)

2011-09-20T08:51:00.016-04:00

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)

2011-09-13T08:43:00.012-04:00

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)

2011-09-06T08:43:00.011-04:00

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.

USS PGM-7

2011-08-30T09:31:00.009-04:00

PLEASE NOTE: Due to changes in my schedule, we are now back to our normal schedule. The next ship will be featured on Tuesday, September 6.

Figure 1: USS PGM-7 photographed by the South Coast Company, Newport Beach, California, in January 1944. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: USS PGM-7 photographed by the South Coast Company, Newport Beach, California, on 7 January 1944. Courtesy US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: USS PGM-7 photographed by the South Coast Company, Newport Beach, California, in January 1944. Courtesy US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: Interior of bridge and mast details on board PGM-7. Date unknown. Photo by Kent Hitchcock, Marine and Commercial Photographer, Balboa, CA. Courtesy of the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5: Interior of bridge of PGM-7. Date unknown. Photo by Kent Hitchcock, Marine and Commercial Photographer, Balboa, CA. Courtesy of the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6: Interior of radio room on board PGM-7. Date unknown. Photo by Kent Hitchcock, Marine and Commercial Photographer, Balboa, CA. Courtesy of the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

USS SC-1072 was a 95-ton submarine chaser that was built by the Mathis Yacht Building Company at Camden, New Jersey, and was commissioned on 28 June 1943. The ship was 110 feet long and 23 feet wide, had a top speed of 21 knots, and had a crew of 28 officers and men. This particular sub chaser was armed with one 3-inch gun, one 40-mm gun, and four twin .50-caliber machine guns (although weapons sometimes varied from ship to ship).

After being commissioned, SC-1072 served along America’s east coast. But on 10 December 1943, she was re-classified a gunboat and named PGM-7. This small gunboat then was transported all the way to the Solomon Islands for patrol duty. After PGM-7 arrived in the Solomon Islands, she immediately began patrolling the general area. But on the night of 18 July 1944, USS PGM-7 was lost in an accidental collision off Torokina, Bougainville Island. The ship sank a little more than a year after she was commissioned.

These are all the facts that can be found on this small ship. There were many such boats that were lost by the US Navy throughout the war. Few will ever know the names of the crewmembers that served on board these ships, let alone what they did. But they were just as much a part of the final victory over the Japanese and Germans as any of the larger warships possessed by the Allied navies. Their sacrifices should not be forgotten.

USS New Mexico (BB-40)

2011-08-23T08:46:00.013-04:00

PLEASE NOTE: Due to a prior commitment, the next ship will be posted on Thursday, September 1. Thank You.

Figure 1: USS New Mexico (BB-40) photographed from an airplane while steaming in line with other battleships, 13 April 1919. Note S.E.5A airplane on the flying-off platform atop the battleship's second turret. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: USS New Mexico (BB-40) photographed during the early or middle 1920s. Note anchors hanging from her bow. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: USS New Mexico (BB-40) photographed by Tai Tsing Loo in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in about 1935. Collection of Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: USS New Mexico (BB-40) off the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, following overhaul, 6 October 1943. A barge and motor launch are alongside her port quarter, with sailors coming on board from the latter. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5: USS New Mexico’s 5-inch guns prepare to fire during the bombardment of Saipan, 15 June 1944. Note time-fuse setters on the left side of each gun mount, each holding three "fixed" rounds of ammunition, and triple 14-inch guns in the background. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6: USS New Mexico’s 14-inch projectiles on deck, while the battleship was replenishing her ammunition supply prior to the invasion of Guam, July 1944.The photograph looks forward on the starboard side, with triple 14-inch gun turrets at left. Note floater nets stowed atop the turrets. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7: USS New Mexico (BB-40) firing her after 14-inch guns during the pre-invasion bombardment of Guam, circa 14-20 July 1944. Taken by a Combat Photo Unit Two (CPU-2) photographer, looking aft along the port side from the forward sky lookout position. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8: USS New Mexico (BB-40) at sea with two other battleships and an amphibious force command ship (AGC), probably at the time of the Iwo Jima or Okinawa operations, circa February-April 1945. Battleship in the center background is USS Idaho (BB-42). The one further to the left is either Tennessee (BB-43) or California (BB-44). Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 9: USS New Mexico (BB-40) is hit by a "kamikaze" at dusk on 12 May 1945, while off Okinawa. Photographed from USS Wichita (CA-45). Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 10: USS New Mexico (BB-40) anchored in the Tokyo Bay area, circa late August 1945, at the end of World War II. Mount Fuji is in the background. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

USS New Mexico (BB-40) was the lead ship of a class of three 32,000-ton battleships and was built by the New York Navy Yard at Brooklyn, New York, and commissioned on 20 May 1918. The ship was approximately 624 feet long and 97 feet wide, had a top speed of 21 knots, and had a crew of 1,084 officers and men. As built, New Mexico was armed with 12 14-inch guns, 14 5-inch guns, and four 3-inch guns, but this armament changed dramatically during the course of the ship’s career.

New Mexico was commissioned during World War I and spent the rest of the war patrolling off the east coast of the United States. She did, however, travel to Europe early in 1919 and escorted President Woodrow Wilson back to the United States from the Versailles peace conference in France. Later that year, New Mexico became the flagship of the US Pacific Fleet. She participated regularly in Battle Fleet exercises in both the Pacific and the Caribbean in the 1920s and the 1930s. The ship also visited Australia and New Zealand in 1925 and made numerous stops at South American ports during the 1920s.

New Mexico was overhauled and extensively modernized at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, beginning in March of 1931. The massive job was completed in January 1933 and it greatly altered her appearance. The ship’s original “cage” masts were replaced by a then-modern tower superstructure, and many other modifications were made to both her armament and thick armor protection. In 1940, New Mexico was based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, as a deterrent to the Japanese Navy, but the ship was transferred to the Atlantic in May 1941 to reinforce the US Atlantic Fleet in case of war with Germany.

After America entered World War II on 7 December 1941, New Mexico returned to the Pacific in early 1942 to assist the Pacific Fleet that had been shattered at Pearl Harbor. During most of 1942, New Mexico patrolled off the west coast of the United States and around the Hawaiian Islands. From 6 December 1942 to 22 March 1943, New Mexico patrolled and escorted convoys in the southwest Pacific. She then steamed back to Pearl Harbor and went on to participate in the Aleutians campaign to recapture the islands of Attu and Kiska from the Japanese. On 17 May 1943, her massive guns were a major part of the bombardment of Kiska, which forced the Japanese to abandon the island a week later.

In late 1943 and early 1944, New Mexico provided heavy gunfire support for the invasions of the Gilbert and Marshall Islands. She bombarded Japanese positions on New Ireland in March of 1944, and in June and July New Mexico assisted in the successful American amphibious assaults on Saipan, Tinian, and Guam. After those campaigns, New Mexico was sent to Bremerton, Washington, for an overhaul that lasted from August to October 1944. The ship was sent right back into battle and participated in the invasion of the Philippines. On 22 November, New Mexico arrived off Leyte Gulf and provided anti-aircraft cover for the troops heading for the beaches, and also served as a floating artillery platform to bombard enemy positions on shore. During the invasion of Luzon in the Philippines, New Mexico was constantly attacked by Japanese kamikaze suicide planes. On 5 January 1945, while bombarding enemy positions on shore, a kamikaze scored a direct hit on the bridge of the ship. The explosion killed New Mexico’s commanding officer, Captain R.W. Fleming, as well as 29 other crew members. Eighty-seven men were injured in the explosion and resulting fire. But the ship’s guns remained in action as the rest of the crew temporarily repaired the damage. The tough battleship remained in action until 9 January and then was ordered to return to Pearl Harbor for more permanent repairs.

After being repaired at Pearl Harbor, New Mexico was sent back into the thick of things. She left Pearl Harbor on 21 March 1945 and joined the invasion force for Okinawa. On 26 March, New Mexico and other ships in her task force opened fire on Okinawa. New Mexico kept up the bombardment until 17 April, as troops struggled on shore against the Japanese. On 21 and 29 April she again provided gunfire support for the troops on shore, and on 11 May New Mexico destroyed eight Japanese suicide boats that tried to ram the ship. But on 12 May, two kamikaze aircraft speeded toward the battleship. The first dove at her and missed as the ship put up a hail of anti-aircraft fire. But the second plane, which was also carrying a bomb, hit New Mexico. There was a giant explosion followed by an intense fire. Fifty-four men were killed and 119 were wounded. But once again New Mexico’s crew rose to the occasion and managed to put out the roaring fire within 30 minutes. On 28 May, New Mexico steamed to Leyte for repairs.

During the last few days of World War II, New Mexico began rehearsals in the Philippines for the invasion of mainland Japan. But with the dropping of the atom bombs, the war suddenly ended. On 16 August, New Mexico steamed to Okinawa to join the American occupation forces that were gathering there. She was present in Tokyo Bay when Japan formally surrendered on 2 September 1945. After that, New Mexico returned to the United States. She transited the Panama Canal and reached Boston, Massachusetts, on 17 October 1945. USS New Mexico was decommissioned there on 19 July 1946 and was sold for scrapping on 13 October 1947. The ship served in two World Wars, participated in numerous amphibious assaults, was hit and seriously damaged twice by Japanese kamikaze aircraft, and received six battle stars for her service during World War II.

USS Lake Champlain (CV-39, CVA-39, CVS-39)

2011-08-16T08:35:00.011-04:00

Figure 1: USS Lake Champlain (CV-39) underway at sea on 23 June 1945, less than three weeks after she went into commission. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: USS Lake Champlain (CVA-39) at anchor in Aden harbor, 18 May 1953, while she was enroute to take part in the Korean War. Among the planes on her flight deck are a few Douglas F3D "Skyknight" all-weather fighters, parked just in front of the carrier's island. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: USS Lake Champlain (CVS-39) catapults a pair of F2H-2 "Banshee" jet fighters for her first Korean War strikes, 15 June 1953. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: "A flight of (F2H-2) Banshees streaks over the USS Lake Champlain (CVA-39) in a photo taken by an accompanying destroyer of Task Force 77. The Essex class carrier, recently arrived in the Far East, is in her first tour of Korean duty." Quoted from original caption released with this photograph by Commander Naval Forces Far East, under the date of 18 July 1953. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for lager image.

Figure 5: USS Lake Champlain (CVA-39) and USS Purdy (DD-734) refueling at sea from USS Neosho (AO-143) in the Mediterranean, 20 October 1955. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6: USS Lake Champlain (CVA-39) anchored at Cannes, France, on 17 June 1957, during her final deployment as an attack aircraft carrier. Among the planes on her flight deck are three large AJ "Savage" attack aircraft. Photographed by PH2 J.R. Sholar. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7: USS Lake Champlain (CVS-39) underway at sea. The original print bears the rubber stamp date 1 July 1960. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8: USS Lake Champlain (CVS-39) underway while conducting anti-submarine exercises in the western Atlantic, circa early 1965. The original print was received by "All Hands" magazine on 23 April 1965. Note flight deck markings on this ship, the last axial-deck fixed-wing aircraft carrier in U.S. Navy service. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 9: USS Lake Champlain (CVS-39) anchored at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, while making a liberty call after exhaustive anti-submarine warfare exercises in the Caribbean. Presence of Sikorsky HSS/SH-34 helicopters on her flight deck indicates that the photo was taken during the early 1960s. The original print was received by "All Hands" magazine on 23 April 1965. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 10: Gemini Titan 2 Suborbital Test, 19 January 1965. "U.S.S. Lake Champlain -- Navy frogmen place the floatation collar around the Gemini Titan 2 spacecraft. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched the spacecraft from Cape Kennedy, Jan. 19, 1965 at 9:03 and it was recovered by the recovery forces aboard the U.S.S. Lake Champlain some 2100 miles downrange at 10:45 a.m. Flight time was 19:03 minutes. Actual landing was 16 miles short of the programmed landing area." Quoted from the original caption released by NASA with this photograph. Lake Champlain (CVS-39) is in the background. One of her SH-3 helicopters is hovering over the spacecraft. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after a lake in New York where a major naval battle was fought during the War of 1812, USS Lake Champlain (CV-39) was a 27,100-ton Ticonderoga class aircraft carrier that was built by the Norfolk Navy Yard at Portsmouth, Virginia, and was commissioned 3 June 1945. The ship was approximately 888 feet long and 147 feet wide, had a top speed of 33 knots, and had a crew of 3,448 officers and men. As built, Lake Champlain was armed with 12 5-inch guns, 32 40-mm guns, and 46 20-mm guns, and carried approximately 80 aircraft.

After a very brief shakedown cruise off the coast of New York, Lake Champlain participated in Operation “Magic Carpet,” which was designed to transport large numbers of American troops back to the United States from post-war Europe. Lake Champlain left Norfolk, Virginia, on 14 October 1945 and arrived in Southhampton, England, on 19 October. She immediately brought back a large number of American troops to the United States. On a subsequent transport trip completed 26 November 1945, Lake Champlain set a speed record for crossing the Atlantic when she arrived at Hampton Roads, Virginia, after having completed a run from Cape Spartel, Morocco, in 4 days, 8 hours, and 51 minutes. This record stood until it was beaten by the SS United States in the summer of 1952.

Lake Champlain was decommissioned on 17 February 1947 and remained in reserve until the start of the Korean War in 1950 increased the demand for aircraft carriers. Lake Champlain was taken out of reserve and overhauled to accommodate the new jet aircraft that were entering the Navy. She was given a strengthened flight deck, a new “island,” and many other modifications. Lake Champlain was modernized at the Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company at Newport News, Virginia, and she was re-commissioned on 19 September 1952. After completing her modernization, Lake Champlain was also re-designated CVA-39.

After a brief shakedown cruise off Cuba and Haiti from 25 November to 25 December 1952, Lake Champlain set sail for Korea on 26 April 1953. She arrived at Yokosuka, Japan, on 9 June 1953. Lake Champlain was made flagship of Carrier Task Force 77 and steamed out of Yokosuka on 11 June, arriving off the west coast of Korea three days later. The carrier’s air group immediately launched missions that destroyed enemy airfields, attacked enemy troop concentrations, and provided close air support for US and United Nations troops on the ground in Korea. Her planes also escorted American bombers on the way to their targets. Lake Champlain’s aircraft continued their air strikes until an armistice was signed on 27 July 1953. Lake Champlain remained in the area until 11 October, when she was relieved by USS Kearsarge (CVA-33). Lake Champlain headed toward the South China Sea and arrived at Singapore on 24 October. She left the Pacific on 27 October and headed home via the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea and arrived at Mayport, Florida, on 4 December 1953.

For the next four years, Lake Champlain made several cruises with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. In August 1957, the ship was converted into an anti-submarine warfare support aircraft carrier and re-designated CVS-39. While in that role, Lake Champlain patrolled the Atlantic, the Caribbean, and the Mediterranean for another eight years. Lake Champlain also participated in the “Quarantine” of Cuba in October and November of 1962. In addition to her normal anti-submarine activities, Lake Champlain conducted midshipmen training cruises, acted as a recovery ship for manned space flights, and assisted in a hurricane relief operation in Haiti in 1963.

By the early 1960s, Lake Champlain had become the only “axial” (or straight) flight deck fixed-wing aircraft carrier in the fleet, while all of the other fixed-wing carriers had adopted the angled flight deck. As time went on, Lake Champlain was incapable of safely handling newer and heavier fixed-wing aircraft. That, plus the introduction into the fleet of the much larger “super” carriers, made the ship obsolete. USS Lake Champlain was decommissioned on 2 May 1966 and was sold for scrapping in July of 1972.

USS Mobile (CL-63)

2011-08-09T08:25:00.012-04:00

Figure 1: USS Mobile (CL-63) off the Norfolk Navy Yard at Portsmouth, Virginia, 14 April 1943. Official US Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: USS Mobile (CL-63) off the Norfolk Navy Yard at Portsmouth, Virginia, 14 April 1943. Official US Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: USS Mobile (CL-63) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 18 July 1943. Official US Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: USS Mobile (CL-63) underway in the Pacific, October 1943, probably at the time of the raid on Marcus Island. Photographed by Lieutenant Commander Charles Kerlee, USNR. Official US Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5: USS Mobile (CL-63) underway in the Pacific, with an SBD aircraft flying overhead. Taken during combat operations in October 1943, probably at the time of the raid on Marcus Island. Photographed by Lieutenant Commander Charles Kerlee, USNR. Official US Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6: USS Mobile’s (CL-63) plan view amidships, looking aft, taken from a pier-side crane at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 18 July 1943. Circles mark recent alterations to the ship. Note: antennas for SG radar atop the fore and main masts; Mark 34 and Mark 37 gun directors, with antennas for Mark 8 and Mark 4 radars atop them; fully equipped life rafts. Official US Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7: USS Mobile’s (CL-63) plan view amidships, looking forward, taken from a pier-side crane at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 18 July 1943. Circles mark recent alterations to the ship. Official US Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8: USS Mobile’s (CL-63) plan view aft, taken from a pier-side crane at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 18 July 1943. Circles mark recent alterations to the ship, in this case newly installed life rafts and floater nets. Note OS2U "Kingfisher" floatplanes atop the ship's catapults. Official US Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 9: View from USS Mobile’s (CL-63) fantail, looking across her open aircraft hangar hatch toward the starboard quarter, during the October 1943 raid on Marcus Island. Vought OS2U "Kingfisher" floatplanes are on her catapults. The plane on the starboard catapult has a small bomb under its wing. USS Yorktown (CV-10) is in the center distance. Photographed by Photographer's Mate Alphonso Ianelli. Official US Navy Photograph, now in the Collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 10: Battle of Leyte Gulf, October 1944, with USS Mobile (CL-63) firing on the Japanese destroyer Hatsuzuki, during the evening of 25 October 1944, at the end of the Battle off Cape Engaño. Photographed from USS Wichita (CA-45). Official US Navy Photograph, now in the Collections of the National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 11: USS Mobile (CL-63) in San Francisco Bay, California, circa late 1945. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1973. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after a city in Alabama, USS Mobile (CL-63) was a 10,000-ton Cleveland class light cruiser that was built by the Newport News Shipbuilding Company at Newport News, Virginia, and was commissioned on 24 March 1943. The ship was approximately 610 feet long and 66 feet wide, had a top speed of 33 knots, and had a crew of 1,266 officers and men. Mobile was armed with 12 6-inch guns, 12 5-inch guns, and 28 40-mm guns. Mobile also carried one Vought OS2U "Kingfisher" floatplane on each of her two catapults.

After being commissioned in March 1943, Mobile completed her shakedown cruise along the east coast of the United States. The ship then was sent to the Pacific and almost immediately participated in bombarding Japanese-held islands. On 31 August 1943, Mobile bombarded tiny Marcus Island, hitting the Japanese garrison there. On 18 September, the cruiser did a preliminary bombardment of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands. Then on 5 and 6 October, Mobile pounded Wake Island, which had been taken from the United States at the beginning of the war, and on 21 October, the light cruiser hit Bougainville in the Solomon Islands. In November 1943, Mobile participated in the actual invasions of Bougainville and Tarawa. She was then assigned to Task Force 50, a fast carrier task force, on 1 December and joined the initial attack on the Marshall Islands. After a brief return to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and then San Diego, California, Mobile was sent back to the fighting. In late January 1944, Mobile participated in a major American assault on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. For roughly two weeks, the ship pounded targets on Kwajalein in support of the American amphibious landings on the island.

From mid-February through May 1944, Mobile was attached to carrier task forces that assaulted targets throughout the central Pacific and along the northern coast of New Guinea. She went on to participate in the Marianas campaign in June and July, which included the Battle of the Philippines Sea. In early August 1944, Mobile made a surface sweep through the area of the Bonin and Volcano Islands, assisting in the sinking of one Japanese destroyer and a large cargo vessel.

Mobile screened carriers during the Palau Islands campaign in September 1944, and went on to bombard numerous Japanese targets in the western Pacific region. On 25 October 1944, during the invasion of Leyte in the Philippines, Mobile took part in the Battle off Cape Engaño, the northern component of the epic Battle of Leyte Gulf, using her guns to assist in sinking the Japanese aircraft carrier Chiyoda and destroyer Hatsuzuki.

Mobile continued to screen carriers until late December 1944, as they continued to support the American re-conquest of the Philippines. After being sent back to the United States for a badly needed overhaul in January 1945, Mobile returned to fighting in March 1945 and spent all of April and May providing gunfire support for US ground forces on the island of Okinawa. She remained there until the Japanese were defeated.

After the Japanese surrendered in late August 1945, Mobile assisted in the occupation of Japan. In late 1946, Mobile also made two “Magic Carpet” voyages which transported American troops from Asia back to the United States. After completing those trips, Mobile was sent to the Puget Sound Navy Yard at Bremerton, Washington, for inactivation. She was formally decommissioned on 9 May 1947, but remained part of the Pacific Reserve Fleet for the next 12 years. However, USS Mobile was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 March 1959 and sold for scrapping in December of that same year. The ship received 11 battle stars for her service during World War II.

USS Osprey (AM-56)

2011-08-02T09:03:00.005-04:00

Figure 1: USS Osprey (AM-56) underway circa April 1941, probably while running trials. Note that her bow numbers have been freshly painted out. Photograph was received from the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1972. Official US Navy Photograph from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: USS Osprey (AM-56) off the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, 19 April 1941. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: USS Osprey (AM-56) off the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia,19 April 1941. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: USS Osprey (AM-56) off the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, 19 April 1941. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after a large, hawk-like bird, USS Osprey (AM-56) was an 810-ton Raven class minesweeper that was built by the Norfolk Navy Yard at Norfolk, Virginia, and was commissioned on 16 December 1940. The ship was approximately 220 feet long and 32 feet wide, had a top speed of 18 knots, and had a crew of 105 officers and men. Osprey was armed with two 3-inch guns, two 40-mm gun mounts, and two depth-charge tracks.

After being commissioned, Osprey was assigned to coastal patrol and escort duties off the east cost of the United States and in the Caribbean. She performed these tasks for almost two years until she was ordered to cross the Atlantic and participate in the Allied amphibious landings in Morocco, which took place in November 1942. Osprey assisted in directing and protecting the waves of landing craft that moved towards Port Lyautey, Morocco, during the invasion. After the amphibious landings were completed, Osprey conducted numerous anti-submarine patrols off Casablanca, Morocco, before being sent back to the United States.

For the balance of 1943 and well into 1944, Osprey was assigned to coastal escort duty while based at Norfolk. On 3 April 1944, Osprey left the United States and steamed to England to become part of operation “Overlord,” the invasion of Europe. Along with other ships in her minesweeping unit, Osprey successfully conducted minesweeping operations off Tor Bay, England. The date set for the actual Normandy landings was 6 June 1944. But on the evening of 5 June, while sweeping a path across the English Channel for the other ships in the invasion force to follow, Osprey hit a German mine. The crew on board the ship managed to put out the fires caused by the explosion, but the damage from the mine blast was just too severe for the ship to survive. Osprey sank later that night in the English Channel.

USS Osprey was the first US Navy warship lost during the invasion of Normandy.

USS Southard (DD-207, DMS-10)

2011-07-26T08:52:00.011-04:00

Figure 1: USS Southard (DD-207) underway on 20 April 1932. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: USS Southard (DD-207), date and place unknown. Photograph courtesy of Robert M. Cieri. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: USS Southard (DD-207) in Alaskan waters during the 1930s. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: USS Southard (DMS-10) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 9 June 1942. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5: USS Southard (DMS-10) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 9 June 1942. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6: USS Southard (DMS-10) photographed from dead ahead, off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 10 June 1942.The actual date of the photo may be 9 June 1942. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7: USS Southard (DMS-10) photographed from directly astern, off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 10 June 1942. The actual date of the photo may be 9 June 1942. Note details of her conversion to a fast minesweeper: squared-off triangular transom, with her name visible; sweep gear and davits on the stern; depth charge tracks angled out over the propeller guards; .50 caliber anti-aircraft machine guns at the rear of her after deckhouse. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the US National Archives. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8: USS Southard (DMS-10) off San Francisco, California, 27 May 1943, after an overhaul. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 9: USS Southard (DMS-10) off San Francisco, California, 27 May 1943, after an overhaul. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 10: USS Southard (DD-207), circa the early 1930s. Photograph courtesy of Marc Piché. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after Secretary of the Navy Samuel L. Southard (1787-1842), USS Southard (DD-207) was a 1,215-ton Clemson class destroyer that was built by William Cramp & Sons at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was commissioned on 24 September 1919. The ship was approximately 314 feet long and 30 feet wide, had a top speed of 35 knots, and had a crew of 122 officers and men. Southard was armed with four 4-inch guns, one 3-inch gun, 12 21-inch torpedo tubes, and depth charges.

Shortly after being commissioned, Southard patrolled off the east coast of the United States and then was deployed to the Mediterranean. In late 1920, the ship steamed through the Suez Canal and moved on to the Far East, arriving at the Cavite Navy Yard in the Philippines on 16 February 1921. Southard remained in the Philippines until August 1922, when she was ordered to return to the United States. She arrived at San Diego, California, in October and was decommissioned there on 7 February 1922.

Southard was re-commissioned on 6 January 1930. For the next ten years, the ship served mainly in the Pacific, but also made occasional visits to the Atlantic. By 1940, as war was raging in Europe, Southard was converted into a high-speed minesweeper and was re-designated DMS-10 in October of that same year. Although now based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Southard was at sea when Pearl Harbor was attacked on 7 December 1941. She returned to Pearl Harbor two days after the attack and was assigned to patrol various approaches to the naval base until 23 January 1942.

During the next seven months, Southard assisted in escorting convoys between Hawaii and the west coast of the United States. The destroyer then was sent to the South Pacific in July 1942 and one month later participated in the American amphibious assaults on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands. For the rest of 1942, Southard was assigned to convoy escort duty between New Caledonia and the New Hebrides and the Solomon Islands.

Early on the morning of 10 November 1942, while steaming off Guadalcanal on her way to another convoy assignment, Southard spotted a Japanese submarine steaming on the surface. Southard immediately slowed down to 10 knots and opened fire on the submarine. The submarine submerged and Southard began her first depth-charge attack of the war. After making a preliminary attack, the destroyer lost contact with the Japanese submarine for more than three hours. But Southard remained in the area and regained contact. For the next three hours, the destroyer made five more depth-charge runs over the submarine. Finally, after her last attack, the men on board Southard spotted oil floating to the surface, an indication that the submarine was hit. Southard steamed over the oil slick to investigate, but found no other wreckage from the submarine. Suddenly, like a wounded shark, the submarine surfaced almost vertically, exposing her whole conning tower, the hull forward of the tower, and part of her keel. The submarine’s bow gradually dropped about 10 degrees and then the ship sank rapidly by the stern. Although absolute confirmation of the kill was never obtained, all evidence pointed to Southard having sunk the Japanese warship.

Southard was sent back to the United States for an overhaul and arrived at San Francisco, California, on 19 April 1943. The overhaul was completed by 8 June, at which point Southard was sent back to the Solomon Islands, just in time to take part in the amphibious assault on the island of Bougainville. Southard was one of the ships that bombarded enemy targets on Bougainville and was also used for minesweeping duties in Empress Augusta Bay, Florida Island, and Purvis Bay. But the bulk of Southard’s time was spent on convoy escort duties. After several months of convoy escort duty, Southard was sent back to the United States for another major overhaul. The ship returned to San Francisco and arrived there on 31 May 1944.

Southard’s overhaul was completed in July of 1944. She was immediately sent back to the western Pacific and participated in minesweeping duties during the invasions of the Palau Islands in September 1944, Leyte Island in October and Luzon in January 1945, both of which were in the Philippines. But while on a minesweeping mission in Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines on 6 January 1945, a Japanese kamikaze aircraft crashed into Southard amidships. The plane’s engine buried itself inside the ship while the rest of the plane broke off and bounced off her starboard side, tearing a hole six feet wide in her deck. The crew began emergency repairs on the destroyer and, incredibly, after only 14 hours the ship was back in action sweeping for mines. On 14 January, the ship was sent back to Pearl Harbor for more extensive repairs. She reached Hawaii in February and repairs were completed in May 1945.

After repairs were completed, Southard was sent to Okinawa to participate in the assault on that island. She reached Okinawa towards the end of May and for the next three months she swept mines, screened transports, and delivered mail to the fire support ships around Okinawa. After the Japanese surrendered in August 1945, Southard remained in the vicinity of Okinawa. Sadly, In September and October 1945, soon after the end of the war in the Pacific, the ship was battered by typhoons and driven aground on two different reefs during two different storms. The ship was written off as a total loss and Southard was formally decommissioned on 5 December 1945. Her hulk was destroyed on 14 January 1946. USS Southard received 10 battle stars for her service during World War II.

USS Belknap (CG-26)

2011-07-19T09:11:00.016-04:00

Figure 1: USS Belknap (CG-26) in the Kithira Strait off of Greece on October 1975. View from the Soviet ship Krasny Krim ( a Kashin class DDG). Photograph courtesy of Eugene Ivkin. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: USS Belknap (CG-26) in the Kithira Strait off of Greece on October 1975. View from the Soviet ship Krasny Krim ( a Kashin class DDG). Photograph courtesy of Eugene Ivkin. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: USS Belknap (CG-26) in the Kithira Strait off of Greece on October 1975. View from the Soviet ship Krasny Krim ( a Kashin class DDG). Photograph courtesy of Eugene Ivkin. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: USS Belknap (CG-26) in the Kithira Strait off of Greece on October 1975. View from the Soviet ship Krasny Krim ( a Kashin class DDG). Photograph courtesy of Eugene Ivkin. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5: USS Belknap (CG-26) in the Kithira Strait off of Greece on October 1975. View from the Soviet ship Krasny Krim ( a Kashin class DDG). Photograph courtesy of Eugene Ivkin. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6: USS Belknap (CG-26) was heavily damaged and caught fire when it collided with the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) during night operations in the Ionian Sea on 22 November 1975. In this photograph, firefighters aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Claude V. Ricketts (DDG-5) direct spray from their hoses onto the fire on board Belknap. US Navy Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7: USS Belknap (CG-26) was heavily damaged and caught fire when it collided with the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) during night operations in the Ionian Sea on 22 November 1975. In this photograph, firefighters aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Claude V. Ricketts (DDG-5) direct spray from their hoses onto the fire on board Belknap. US Navy Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8: Official US Navy photograph taken on 23 November 1975, the day after Belknap’s collision with John F. Kennedy. Though essentially intact up to the weather deck, her aluminum superstructure burned and melted. This significantly influenced the decision to build the Arleigh Burke class destroyers with steel superstructures. US Navy Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 9: An overhead amidships view of the damaged superstructure of the guided-missile cruiser Belknap on 23 November 1975, the day after she collided with the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy during night operations in the Ionian Sea. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 10: USS Belknap (CG-26) on 10 May 1980, the day she was re-commissioned after completing extensive repairs due to her collision with the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67). Courtesy Dale Hargrave. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 11: Port bow view of Belknap (CG-26) in 1983, location unknown. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 12: Belknap (CG-26) taken sometime in 1985, location unknown. After her collision with USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67), she was rebuilt and then selected to serve as the flagship for the commander of the Sixth Fleet. This is the flagship configuration. Note the added deck house in front of the superstructure. Courtesy Demetrius J. C. Carter, SM1 USN. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 13: A port bow view of the guided-missile cruiser USS Belknap (CG-26) and the guided-missile destroyer USS Conyngham (DDG-17) moored at a pier, with the city of Gaeta, Italy, in the background. Photograph by JO1 Burke, 1 November 1989. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 14: A port bow view of the guided-missile cruiser USS Belknap (CG-26), flagship of the US Sixth Fleet, 21 July 1992. Photograph by JO1 James Slater. US Navy Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after Rear Admiral George Belknap (1832-1903), the 8,957-ton USS Belknap (CG-26) was the lead ship of a class of guided-missile cruisers for the US Navy. The ship was built by the Bath Iron Works at Bath, Maine, and was commissioned on 7 November 1964. Belknap was approximately 547 feet long and 55 feet wide, had a top speed of 34 knots, and had a crew of approximately 477 officers and men (610 when it acted as a flagship). The cruiser was heavily armed with one 5-inch gun, two 3-inch guns, one Terrier missile/SM-2ER launcher, six 15.5-inch torpedoes, Harpoon missile launchers, and two 20-mm Phalanx Close-in Weapons Systems (CIWS). Belknap was also loaded with various radar and sonar systems.

After completing her sea trials and shakedown cruise in 1965, Belknap was assigned to the US Navy’s Atlantic Fleet. For roughly the next year, Belknap completed numerous training exercises, and patrol and escort missions. In August 1966, Belknap was part of a major NATO deployment just off the coast of Norway and north of the Arctic Circle. She was joined by other American warships, as well as ships from the Norwegian and British navies. After finishing this assignment, Belknap returned to her home port at Norfolk, Virginia, and then headed for the Mediterranean Sea in September 1966 for a six-month tour of duty with the Sixth Fleet.

A year later in September 1967, Belknap was ordered to steam to the Pacific and served off the coast of Vietnam. After the ship arrived in the Gulf of Tonkin, Belknap served as a powerful floating radar station for Task Force 77 of the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet. Belknap monitored the positions of all US and enemy aircraft over the gulf. The ship was also used for various search-and-rescue duties before leaving Vietnam in early 1968.

Belknap spent the rest of 1968 and the first three months of 1969 in dry dock being overhauled. After that, she completed some trials and training exercises before being sent back to the Gulf of Tonkin in early 1970. Belknap left Vietnam in March 1970 and arrived back at Norfolk in May. In September, Belknap was sent back to the Mediterranean and joined the Sixth Fleet for a second time. While there, she was awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation.

Belknap remained with the Sixth Fleet, but on the night of 22 November 1975, the cruiser was severely damaged by the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) in a collision in the Ionian Sea off the coast of Sicily. A huge fire broke out on board Belknap and quickly spread throughout the ship. Other American warships, such as the destroyer USS Claude V. Ricketts (DDG-5), rushed to assist the burning cruiser. The fire was so intense that it melted the aluminum superstructure of the ship, gutting Belknap right down to the deck level. The fire was finally put out the next day, after it claimed the lives of seven crewmembers and injured 47 others. What was left of Belknap was towed back to the United States to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The ship was decommissioned on 20 December 1975.

Belknap was basically reconstructed at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard from 30 January 1976 to 10 May 1980, when she was re-commissioned into the Navy. Belknap returned to the Sixth Fleet and played a brief role in the American intervention in Lebanon in 1983. Belknap also served as the flagship of the Sixth Fleet from May 1985 to March 1986.

In December 1989, Belknap served as the American flagship for the Malta Summit between President George H.W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. President Bush maintained his sleeping quarters on board Belknap, but because of stormy weather the meetings actually took place on board the Soviet cruise ship Maxim Gorkiy. Belknap also won awards for combat preparedness in 1988, 1989, and 1994, and earned three more Meritorious Unit Commendations in 1989, 1992, and 1994.

USS Belknap was decommissioned for the last time on 15 February 1995 and was sunk as a target for gunnery practice on 24 September 1998. Because the tragic fire on board Belknap melted its aluminum superstructure, it was determined by the US Navy that only steel would be used in the superstructures of future warships. That decision was reflected in the next major class of US warships, the USS Arleigh Burke class destroyers. All of the ships were built with steel superstructures.

USS Brooklyn (CA-3)

2011-07-12T08:49:00.010-04:00

Figure 1: USS Brooklyn (CA-3) at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, NY, 1898. Photographed by Enrique Muller. Collection of the New York Naval Shipyard. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: USS Brooklyn (CA-3) in New York Harbor during the Spanish-American War victory naval parade, August 1898. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: USS Brooklyn (CA-3) in New York Harbor during the victory fleet review, August 1898. USS New York (CA-2) is in the left background. The original photograph was copyright by George P. Hall & Son, New York, 1898. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: USS Brooklyn (CA-3) returns to the United States from Cuban waters, August 1898. Her crewmen are waving to the photographer. The original photograph was published on a stereograph card by Strohmeyer & Wyman, New York, 1898. Donation of Louis Smaus, 1985. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5: USS Brooklyn (CA-3) steaming in the New York naval parade, August 1898, upon the return of the fleet from Cuban waters. The original photograph was published on a stereograph card by the American Stereoscopic Company, copyrighted by R.Y. Young, 1899. Donation of Louis Smaus, 1985. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6: USS Brooklyn (CA-3) in drydock at the New York Navy Yard, 1898, with men working over her side. Note rudder and starboard propeller. Original photograph was copyright 1899 by R.Y. Young. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, Corte Madera, CA, 1971. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7: USS Brooklyn (CA-3) sailors and Marines on the cruiser's forecastle, with mascot goat, 1898. Note details of pilothouse and bridge, improvised gun port shields on her forward 8-inch gun turret, and very odd "flathat" worn by one sailor. The original photograph was published on a stereograph card, copyright by C.L. Wasson, 1899. Courtesy of Commander Donald J. Robinson, USN(Ret), 1982. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8: "Next" -- Barber shop scene on board USS Brooklyn (CA-3) in 1898. Note that this shop uses a portable barber's chair, set up in Brooklyn's windlass room. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Originally named after the city of Brooklyn (before it was incorporated into New York City as a borough in 1898), the 9,215-ton USS Brooklyn (CA-3) was an armored cruiser that was built by William Cramp and Sons at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was commissioned on 1 December 1896. The ship was approximately 402 feet long and 64 feet wide, had a top speed of 20 knots, and had a crew of 561 officers and men. Brooklyn was armed with eight 8-inch guns, 12 5-inch guns, 12 6-pounder guns, four 1-pounders, and five 18-inch torpedo tubes.

After her shakedown cruise, Brooklyn steamed to Great Britain to represent the United States during Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee celebration. She left England on 6 July 1897 and returned to New York City on 17 July. After that, Brooklyn patrolled along America’s east coast and in the West Indies. Brooklyn became the flagship of Commodore W.S. Schley’s “Flying Squadron” on 28 March 1898, shortly after the battleship USS Maine was sunk in Havana harbor, Cuba, on 15 February. Congress declared war on Spain on 25 April 1898, marking the official beginning of the Spanish-American War.

Schley’s Flying Squadron arrived off Cienfuegos, Cuba, on 21 May 1898 and established a blockade of that port. On 26 May, the Flying Squadron moved to Santiago, Cuba, where the Spanish fleet was hiding behind the protection of Spanish coastal forts. When the Spanish fleet finally left Santiago to do battle with the American fleet on 3 July 1898, Brooklyn was one of the key US naval vessels that took part in what turned out to be the Battle of Santiago. Brooklyn scored numerous hits on the Spanish ships. The US warships ended up dominating the battle and destroyed the Spanish Fleet. Brooklyn also demonstrated her toughness by sustaining 20 hits, but losing only one man killed and one man wounded.

Brooklyn returned to New York on 20 August 1898 and resumed patrolling off America’s east coast and in the Caribbean. She participated in the Spanish-American War victory celebration in New York on 5 October 1899 and then steamed to Manila in the Philippines, going via the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal. Brooklyn arrived in Manila on 16 December 1899 and became the flagship of the US Asiatic Squadron. She participated in the North China Relief Expedition (8 July to 11 October 1900), also known as the “Boxer Rebellion,” and completed a cruise to Australia and the Dutch East Indies from 10 April to 7 August 1901. Brooklyn remained with the Asiatic Squadron until 1 March 1902 and then returned to the United States, again via the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean. She arrived at the New York Navy Yard on 1 May 1902.

On 20 May 1902, Brooklyn arrived at Havana, Cuba, and participated in ceremonies that transferred control of that island from the United States to the new Cuban government. For the next four years, Brooklyn sailed with the North Atlantic Fleet and with the European Squadron, eventually returning to New York on 25 May 1905. On 7 June 1905, while acting as flagship for Rear Admiral C.D. Sigsbee, Brooklyn sailed for Cherbourg, France, where the remains of John Paul Jones were received and transported back to the United States. The ship returned to the United States and arrived at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, where the remains were transferred to shore and placed into a vault at the Naval Academy on 23 July 1905.

After completing a cruise with the naval militia and a tour of the Mediterranean, Brooklyn went into reserve on 16 May 1906. She was placed back into commission for a brief period of time from 30 June to 2 August 1906 for a trip to Havana, Cuba. But Brooklyn was again placed in reserve until the spring of 1907, when she was used as a display for the Jamestown Exposition at Jamestown, Virginia. The ship was placed back in reserve on 21 December 1907.

Brooklyn was decommissioned on 23 June 1908 and remained that way until she was re-commissioned on 2 March 1914. She was assigned to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet and became a receiving ship at the Boston Navy Yard at Boston, Massachusetts, from July 1914 to March 1915. With World War I raging in Europe, Brooklyn conducted neutrality patrols around Boston until November 1915. Brooklyn was sent back to the Asiatic Fleet in the Philippines where she served as the flagship for the commander-in-chief there. She made numerous visits to China, Japan, and Russia until September 1919. Brooklyn went on to become flagship for the commander of Division 1 of the Asiatic Fleet and then in January 1920 was assigned to the Pacific Fleet as the flagship for the commander of destroyer squadrons. She continued functioning in that capacity until 15 January 1921. USS Brooklyn was decommissioned for the last time at the Mare Island Navy Yard in California on 9 March 1921 and was sold for scrap on 20 December of that same year.

USS Seadragon (SS-194)

2011-07-05T10:17:00.009-04:00

Figure 1: USS Seadragon (SS-194) moving along at 19.5 knots off the coast of Provincetown, Massachusetts, 28 August 1939. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: Broadside view of USS Seadragon (SS-194) moving along at 19.5 knots off the coast of Provincetown, Massachusetts, 28 August 1939. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: USS Seadragon (SS-194) moving along at 19.5 knots off the coast of Provincetown, Massachusetts, 28 August 1939. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: USS Seadragon (SS-194) photographed from directly ahead while underway off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 17 April 1943. Note the escort ship (DE) fitting out in the background. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5: USS Seadragon (SS-194) photographed from directly astern while off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 17 April 1943. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6: USS Seadragon (SS-194) off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 5 August 1944. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7: USS Seadragon (SS-194) off the Hunters Point Navy Yard, San Francisco, California, 24 May 1945. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after a small fish, USS Seadragon (SS-194) was a 1,450-ton Sargo class submarine that was built by the Electric Boat Company at Groton, Connecticut, and was commissioned on 23 October 1939. The ship was approximately 310 feet long and 27 feet wide, had a top speed of 20 knots surfaced and 8.75 knots submerged, and had a crew of 55 officers and men. Seadragon was armed with eight 21-inch torpedo tubes and carried a total of 24 torpedoes. The submarine was also armed with one 3-inch deck gun and two .50-caliber and two .30-caliber machine guns.

After her shakedown cruise along America’s east coast, Seadragon left New England and was sent to the Philippines in May 1940. After arriving at Cavite Naval Shipyard in the Philippines on 30 November, Seadragon became part of the US Asiatic Fleet and spent the next year participating in numerous training exercises. On 8 December 1941 (7 December east of the International Date Line), Seadragon was at Cavite undergoing an overhaul when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

On 10 December 1941, Seadragon was moored next to another submarine, USS Sealion (SS-195), when Japanese aircraft attacked Cavite. Sealion took a direct hit which destroyed that submarine but also damaged Seadragon. The force of the explosion that ripped through Sealion tore off part of Seadragon’s bridge and sent shrapnel and splinters flying all over the ship, puncturing her fuel tanks and slicing through her conning tower, killing one officer and wounding five others. The heat from Sealion’s massive explosion scorched Seadragon’s hull and blistered her paint black. Although fires now raged all along the wharf next to Seadragon and flames were moving closer and closer to a nearby barge filled with torpedoes, the submarine rescue vessel USS Pigeon (AM-47) disregarded the imminent danger and moved in close to Seadragon. Pigeon managed to tow Seadragon away from the burning wharf and brought her safely into the nearby channel. Seadragon was then able to steam into Manila Bay under her own power.

After being temporarily repaired by the submarine tender USS Canopus (AS-9), Seadragon transported several Asiatic Fleet staff members to the East Indies. In late December, Seadragon began a combat cruise off the coasts of Indochina and Luzon in the Philippines. She made several attacks on enemy shipping but, due to several torpedo malfunctions, was only able to sink one Japanese merchant ship and severely damage another. Seadragon’s first war patrol ended in February 1942 with another mission to evacuate some vital personnel from the Philippines and bring them to Java in the Netherlands East Indies.

In March and April 1942, Seadragon was based at Fremantle, Australia, and carried urgent supplies to the beleaguered American garrison on Corregidor in the Philippines. She then picked up some passengers at Corregidor for the return trip to Australia. On one of those missions, more malfunctioning torpedoes spoiled an attack on a Japanese destroyer. But during the rest of 1942, Seadragon managed to sink four more Japanese cargo ships. On one of these patrols, Seadragon’s Pharmacist’s Mate also performed a successful emergency appendectomy on a fellow crew member. On 21 November 1942, Seadragon sank the Japanese submarine I-4 but was also damaged when one of her own torpedoes exploded soon after being fired. After that incident, Seadragon was sent back to the United States for an overhaul from January to April 1943. The ship was then based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, from which she completed four anti-shipping cruises in the central Pacific from May 1943 to February 1944. Seadragon damaged several ships, but was not able to sink any.

After completing another overhaul, Seadragon was sent back into action in April and May 1944. She patrolled off the coast of Japan and managed to sink one freighter and one patrol boat. Upon completion of that cruise, Seadragon was overhauled yet again and given new engines. In September 1944, the ship became part of a three-submarine “wolf pack” which attacked Japanese ships off the coast of the Philippines. Seadragon managed to sink three cargo ships during that deployment.

Seadragon ended her combat career with a final patrol that lasted from December 1944 to January 1945. No ships were sunk during that deployment. After that, Seadragon was sent back to the United States and served as a training ship, first off the coast of California and then in the waters off Florida and Cuba. After the war ended in the Pacific in September 1945, Seadragon was scheduled for retirement. Although placed in reserve for a brief period of time, USS Seadragon was officially decommissioned on 29 October 1946 and was struck from the Navy list of ships on 30 April 1948. The ship was sold for scrapping in early July of that same year.

USS Frank Knox (DD-742, DDR-742, DD-742)

2011-06-28T08:52:00.016-04:00

Figure 1: USS Frank Knox (DDR-742) off the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, at the conclusion of her FRAM II modernization, 25 April 1961. Note that hull numbers painted on her bow have not yet had countershading applied. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: USS Frank Knox (DDR-742) off the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, at the conclusion of her FRAM II modernization, 25 April 1961. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 3: USS Frank Knox (DDR-742) off the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, at the conclusion of her FRAM II modernization, 25 April 1961. Note that variable-depth sonar (VDS) gear has not yet been installed on her fantail. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 4: USS Frank Knox (DDR-742) off the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, at the conclusion of her FRAM II modernization, 25 April 1961. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 5: USS Frank Knox (DDR-742) underway off the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California, 25 April 1961, at the conclusion of her FRAM II modernization. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 6: USS Frank Knox (DDR-742) comes alongside USS Coral Sea (CVA-63), while operating at sea on 2 May 1964. Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 7: USS Frank Knox (DDR-742) aground on Pratas Reef, in the South China Sea, July 1965. Official US Navy Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 8: USS Frank Knox (DDR-742) aground on Pratas Reef, South China Sea, in July 1965. An H-34 type helicopter is hovering over her bow to evacuate crewmen. This was the only safe method of transportation to and from the stranded ship during the rough seas that persisted during most of the several weeks of salvage operations that finally freed Frank Knox. Official US Navy Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 9: USS Frank Knox (DDR-742) aground on Pratas Reef, South China Sea, with several ships attempting to pull her off. She went aground on 18 July 1965. This view was probably taken at about the time she was finally refloated on 24 August 1965. Ships pulling are (from left to right): Grapple (ARS-7), Conserver (ARS-39), Sioux (ATF-75), Greenlet (ASR-10) and Cocopa (ATF-101). Official US Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 10: USS Frank Knox (DD-742) underway near Hawaii, January 1969. Official US Navy Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 11: USS Frank Knox (DD-742) underway off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii, 15 January 1969. Official US Navy Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 12: The Greek warship HNS Themistocles (D-210), ex-USS Frank Knox (DD -742), place and date unknown. Courtesy Anthony J. Vrailas. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 13: The Greek warship HNS Themistocles (D-210), ex-USS Frank Knox (DD -742), place and date unknown. Courtesy Panagiotis Moschovitis. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 14: Newspaper clipping of the sinking of HNS Themistocles (D-210), ex-USS Frank Knox (DD -742). The ship was sunk as a target by the Greek Navy on 12 September 2001. Click on photograph for larger image. Courtesy Ed Zajkowski. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named in honor of Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox (1874-1944), USS Frank Knox (DD-742) was a 2,425-ton Gearing class destroyer that was built by the Bath Iron Works at Bath, Maine, and was commissioned on 11 December 1944. The ship was approximately 390 feet long and 41 feet wide, had a top speed of 34 knots, and had a crew of 336 officers and men. Frank Knox was armed with six 5-inch guns, 12 40-mm guns, 11 20-mm guns, ten 21-inch torpedo tubes, and depth charges, although this armament changed dramatically while she was in service with the US Navy.

After completing her shakedown cruise along both coasts of the United States, Frank Knox was sent to the western Pacific and arrived there in mid-June 1945, just in time to participate in the final carrier air raids on the Japanese home islands as part of Task Force 38. The ship was present in Tokyo Bay when Japan formally surrendered on 2 September 1945 and stayed in the Far East until early February 1946, when she returned to her home port at San Diego, California. Frank Knox completed another two deployments in the Far East in 1947 and 1948 and on 18 March 1949 the ship was re-designated DDR-742 because of her radar capabilities.

After the start of the Korean War on 25 June 1950, Frank Knox set sail again for the Far East on 6 July and joined the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet upon arriving off the coast of Korea. The ship was attached to the Seventh Fleet’s fast carrier task forces which were pounding North Korean targets on an almost daily basis with their aircraft. During this deployment, Frank Knox participated in the amphibious assault on Inchon, bombarded numerous shore targets, patrolled the Taiwan Straits, and on 30 January 1951, was part of a fake invasion of the North Korean coast. This diversion was so successful that communist troops were rushed to protect the coastline, when they could have been used against real allied forces in central Korea. Frank Knox also spent 40 straight days bombarding rail centers on Korea’s east coast, as well as using her guns to cut enemy supply and communications routes.

Frank Knox returned to San Diego on 11 April 1951. The ship patrolled America’s west coast and the Hawaiian Islands until 19 April 1952, when she was sent back to Korea. As was the case during her first deployment to Korea, Frank Knox bombarded shore targets, including spending several weeks in Wonsan Harbor giving fire support to US minesweepers that were in the area. Frank Knox returned to San Diego on 18 November 1952. In 1953, the destroyer was sent back to Korea and her deployment coincided with the armistice that halted the war. But the ship continued patrolling the coast of Korea after the war ended and she was given the unique task of escorting transports carrying former Chinese prisoners of war to Taiwan. Evidently, these prisoners chose to go to Taiwan rather than to return to mainland communist China.

For the rest of the 1950s, Frank Knox deployed regularly with the Seventh Fleet, returning back home to San Diego for occasional overhauls. From 1960 to 1961, the ship was modernized under the “Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization” (FRAM) II program, which gave her updated radars and other new equipment. Frank Knox was based in the Far East from late 1961 until mid-1964, before returning to the United States. The ship’s next deployment occurred in June 1965, when she briefly served off the coast of Vietnam. Frank Knox patrolled off the coast of Vietnam and provided naval gunfire support when needed.

But while steaming at 16 knots in the South China Sea on 18 July 1965, Frank Knox ran hard aground on Pratas Reef, some two hundred miles east of Hong Kong. A major salvage effort was immediately launched to save the ship, with the tugs Munsee, Cocopa, and Sioux, the submarine rescue ship Greenlet, and the salvage ships Grapple and Conserver all coming to assist Frank Knox. Although the destroyer was not severely damaged by the grounding, several attempts to pull the ship off the reef between 20 July and 2 August were unsuccessful. The ship also was pushed harder onto the rocks by the waves from two typhoons that passed through the area. Frank Knox was now severely battered and holed, with machinery spaces flooded and her hull structure weakened.

Conventional hole patching and water-removal methods proved inadequate to help the destroyer, so plastic foam was pumped into the flooded compartments. This pushed out the water and increased the buoyancy of the ship. The weakened hull also needed to be reinforced by welding stiffeners to the main deck. Explosives were used to break up the coral around the ship, but this only further damaged the hull, increasing the need for more foam. Another attempt was made to pull the ship off the reef on 11 August, but this attempt also failed.

The salvage tackle to Frank Knox was re-rigged, more weight was removed from the ship, and pontoons were attached to the destroyer’s hull in an attempt to make her even more buoyant. More foam was pumped into the ship and the destroyer USS Cogswell arrived on the scene to assist in the salvage effort. Another attempt on 22 August to pull the ship off the reef produced some favorable results, but Frank Knox was still stuck. Then on 24 August 1965, Frank Knox was finally pulled off the reef, nearly six weeks after running aground. It was an amazing salvage effort that was conducted in a very difficult environment. But at last the ship was free and Frank Knox was towed to Japan for repairs.

After spending more than a year at Yokosuka, Japan, undergoing some very extensive repairs, Frank Knox was ready to re-join the fleet in November 1966. She returned to the Seventh Fleet and was deployed, once again, off the coast of Vietnam. The ship completed numerous naval gunfire support missions and was given patrol and escort duties as well. On 1 January 1969, Frank Knox was given back her old designation of DD-742 and she completed her final deployment in November of 1970. USS Frank Knox was decommissioned on 30 January 1971 and was transferred to the Greek Navy several days later. Renamed Themistocles, the ship was in excellent shape because of the extensive overhaul she received in Japan a few years earlier. The ship went on to serve another 20 years in the Greek Navy before being placed out of commission in the early 1990s. The old warship was sunk as a torpedo target for the Greek submarine Kyklon on 12 September 2001. This was a sad end to a fine ship that served in three wars, two navies, and endured one of the most incredible salvage operations of all time.

USS Mindanao (PG-48, PR-8)

2011-06-21T08:30:00.003-04:00

Figure 1: USS Mindanao (PR-8) circa June 1928 undergoing sea trials. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Figure 2: USS Mindanao (PR-8), date and place unknown. US Navy photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.

Named after the second largest island in the Philippines, USS Mindanao (PG-48) was one of six American gunboats built by the Kiangnan Dockyard and Engineering Works in Shanghai, China. Commissioned on 10 July 1928, Mindanao was part of the US Asiatic Fleet and was built specifically for patrolling China’s Yangtze River. American ships that were assigned to the Yangtze were part of the famous “Yangtze Patrol,” which existed for almost 90 years. The 560-ton Mindanao was approximately 210 feet long, had a beam of 31 feet, but only had a draft of 5 feet 7 inches, making her ideal for steaming in some of the shallower waters of the Yangtze. She was armed with two 3-inch guns and ten .30-caliber machine guns, and had a top speed of 16 knots. Mindanao also had a complement of 65 officers and men.

Although designated PG-48 when she was under construction, Mindanao was re-designated PR-8 when commissioned on 10 July 1928. The gunboat left Shanghai on 28 July 1928 and conducted her shakedown cruise up the Yangtze River and reached Chungking and Wansien before returning to Shanghai on 31 August. Mindanao continued steaming up and down the Yangtze River on convoy and patrol duty until 28 December, when she returned to Shanghai for an overhaul. The overhaul was completed by 21 March 1929 and Mindanao returned to her patrol duties up the Yangtze River, occasionally returning to Shanghai to protect American lives and property in that politically unstable city. On 2 May, Mindanao steamed to Hong Kong and then Canton, arriving there on 14 June. After her arrival, Mindanao was made flagship of the South China Patrol Force of the US Asiatic Fleet. For more than 12 years, Mindanao remained in that area patrolling the southern coast of China while based alternately at Hong Kong and Canton. Her primary duties included protecting American interests in the area as well as fighting piracy, which was a major problem at that time in China. By October 1938, after Japan had invaded southern China and seized Canton, Mindanao’s primary function was to not only protect American citizens, but to also enforce America’s neutrality in China by not taking an active role or choosing sides in the Sino-Japanese conflict.

On 2 December 1941, with the situation in China deteriorating and war between Japan and the United States imminent, Mindanao received orders to leave Hong Kong and sail to the Philippines. This was no small trip for a shallow-draft gunboat like Mindanao, which had rudders and propellers almost at the water’s surface. But the ship’s captain, Lieutenant Commander Alan Reed McCracken, had to make do with what he had. The tug Ranger, from the Luzon Stevedore Company, was ordered to escort Mindanao to Manila in the Philippines. So McCracken did everything in his power to make the ships ready for the journey. According to an article written by A.B. Feuer for Sea Classics Magazine (September 2006), McCracken stated that:

“Heavy spare parts, which had been stowed ashore, were packed on board the Ranger, along with 800 rounds of 3-inch shells. Other machinery was lashed to the fantail of the Mindanao to help keep her stern down and her propellers underwater. The gunboat was also loaded with a quarter-million rounds of .30-caliber ammunition. We had stored six-months’ supply of food staples in Hong Kong. Half of this amount was brought aboard the ship, while the remainder was left at the disposal of the American Consul General, Mr. Southard.”

The ship also had no life rafts for the trip. Fortunately, a Chinese boat yard, working throughout the night, was able to build four rafts for Mindanao. By the early morning of 4 December 1941, Mindanao was finally ready to leave. Ranger wasn’t ready, though, but it was thought the faster tugboat wouldn’t have any problems catching up to the much slower gunboat.

Once leaving Hong Kong harbor, though, the weather deteriorated rapidly. Heavy seas and severe winds made it almost impossible for the little ship to go anywhere. Commander McCracken stated, “Our course put us in the trough of the water, and the ship tossed so violently that it appeared the engines might loosen from their mountings. Therefore, we turned to an easterly direction, on the assumption that the weather would abate sufficiently in a few days so that we would be able to resume a direct route to Luzon.” Mindanao rode the top of every wave, not daring to plunge her small bow into the sea for fear of sinking the ship. Mindanao’s radio operator tried to contact Ranger and let her know that the gunboat had changed course because of the weather, but no one could be reached. Then the weather got worse, and Mindanao had to make numerous course changes simply to keep the ship from being crushed by the huge waves. After three days of being pounded by the ocean, McCracken decided to change course again, this time to head back to the Chinese mainland and calmer waters.

On Sunday morning, 7 December 1941, Mindanao reached Swatow, China. But by that afternoon, McCracken tried once again to head for Luzon in the Philippines. By this time the sea had moderated a bit, but the ship still had to deal with some heavy rolling. On Monday morning, 8 December, Mindanao received word that a state of war existed between the United States and Japan. McCracken prepared his ship for battle and continued his journey to the Philippines. That same day, Mindanao spotted a 60-foot Japanese fishing boat and decided to board her. After overtaking the trawler, a boarding party was sent on board the vessel to inspect it. The Americans found bundles of military uniforms hidden in the fishing boat’s holds, so McCracken decided to capture the ship as a prize of war. The 10 crewmen of the fishing boat were brought on board Mindanao, the first Japanese prisoners captured during the war. Mindanao took the fishing boat in tow for possible use as a harbor patrol craft, but the Japanese ship wallowed behind them and soon became too difficult to tow. McCracken made the difficult decision to cut the boat adrift, losing their prize.

On 10 December 1941, Mindanao reached the Philippines and anchored in Manila Bay. The Japanese prisoners were quickly placed on shore. Two other American river gunboats, USS Luzon (PR-7) and USS Oahu (PR-6), had already arrived. Mindanao was assigned to inshore patrol duties in Manila Bay and a few days later took turns with the other two gunboats in patrolling the waters east of Bataan at night. But, by the end of March 1942, the severe fuel shortage in the Philippines forced an end to these patrols. Mindanao then was assigned to guard against any Japanese boats or landing barges heading for the American island fortress of Corregidor. On the afternoon of 25 March, the US gunboats intercepted nine Japanese landing barges and turned them back. On the night of 6 April, Mindanao and Luzon intercepted 11 Japanese small boats or barges heading for Bataan. Both gunboats immediately opened fire and sank four of the Japanese boats, while damaging several others.

But on 9 April 1942, American and Filipino forces had given up Bataan peninsula and now a last stand was made on Corregidor. With no fuel left and little ammunition, Mindanao was docked at Corregidor and its crew was ordered to Fort Hughes on Caballo Island to man four large 12-inch mortars that were built around 1912. After a little practice, Mindanao’s crew soon became rather proficient at using the mortars. But the Japanese were preparing a major assault and time was running out for all of the Americans on Corregidor. Mindanao was stripped of any useful gear that was on board the ship for use by the sailors who were still fighting on land. On 2 May 1942, USS Mindanao was badly damaged by some bombs dropped by Japanese aircraft. The tough little ship was allowed to sink rather than let her be captured by the oncoming Japanese. Many of Mindanao’s crew was captured on Corregidor and a few managed to survive the war. One of those lucky survivors was Lieutenant Commander McCracken. He received the Navy Cross for his actions on board Mindanao and he retired from the US Navy a Rear Admiral. As for Mindanao, she received one battle star for her service during World War II.