Figure 1: USS Bennington (Gunboat No. 4) photographed circa 1891 by J.S. Johnston, New York City. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 2: USS Bennington (Gunboat No. 4) dressed with flags in a harbor, probably while serving with the Squadron of Evolution, circa 1891-1892. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 3: USS Bennington (Gunboat No. 4) in a fine-screen halftone reproduction of a photograph of the ship in harbor, circa 1891-1901. It was published by the SUB-POST Card Co., of Los Angeles, California. Donation of H.E. ("Ed") Coffer. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 4: USS Bennington (Gunboat No. 4) in a European harbor, circa 1892-1893, with USS Newark (Cruiser No. 1) alongside. Courtesy of Arrigo Barilli, Bologna, Italy. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 5: USS Bennington (Gunboat No. 4) off Valparaiso, Chile, 3 April 1894. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 6: USS Bennington (Gunboat No. 4) in dry dock at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, circa 1894-98. This photograph was published on a color-tinted postcard by Edward H. Mitchell, San Francisco, California. Courtesy of H.E. ("Ed") Coffer, 1986. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 7: USS Bennington (Gunboat No. 4) at Shanghai, China, on 4 July 1901, dressed with flags in honor of Independence Day. Collection of Chief Boatswain's Mate John E. Lynch, USN. Donated by his son, Robert J. Lynch, in April 2000. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 8: USS Bennington (Gunboat No. 4) in the Kowloon dry dock, Hong Kong, China, in 1901. Collection of Chief Boatswain's Mate John E. Lynch, USN. Donated by his son, Robert J. Lynch, in April 2000. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 9: USS Bennington (Gunboat No. 4) underway in heavy seas, circa 1903-1905. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 10: USS Bennington (Gunboat No. 4) at anchor while serving with the Pacific Squadron in 1904. Donation of John C. Reilly, Jr., 1977. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 11: USS Bennington (Gunboat No. 4) at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, circa 1903. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, 1975. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 12: USS Bennington (Gunboat No. 4) at anchor, probably in San Francisco Bay, California, circa 1903-1905. This color-tinted photograph is printed on a postcard, published during the first decade of the twentieth century by Frank J. Stumm, Benicia, California. Courtesy of Harrell E. ("Ed") Coffer, 2007. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 13: USS Bennington (Gunboat No. 4) removing the dead from the ship following her boiler explosion at San Diego, California, 21 July 1905. Photographed and published on a stereograph card by C.H. Graves, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Courtesy of Commander Donald J. Robinson, USN(MSC), 1979. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 14: USS Bennington (Gunboat No. 4) salvage party at work on the partially sunken ship in San Diego harbor, California, after her 21 July 1905 boiler explosion. Donation of William L. Graham, 1977. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 15: USS Bennington (Gunboat No. 4) partially sunk in San Diego harbor, California, after her 21 July 1905 boiler explosion. Donation of William L. Graham, 1977. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 16: USS Bennington (Gunboat No. 4) salvage party at work on the partially sunken ship in San Diego harbor, California, after her 21 July 1905 boiler explosion. Bennington's National Ensign is flying at half staff. Donation of William L. Graham, 1977. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 17: USS Bennington (Gunboat No. 4) in a halftone reproduction of a photograph, showing the ship as her engine room was being pumped out soon after her 21 July 1905 boiler explosion at San Diego, California. Note her National Ensign flying at half-staff. Donation of Rear Admiral Ammen Farenholt, USN (Medical Corps), November 1931. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 18: USS Bennington (Gunboat No. 4) in a halftone reproduction of a photograph, showing the ship half sunk and beached at San Diego, California, soon after her 21 July 1905 boiler explosion. A steam launch from Bennington is in the foreground. Donation of Rear Admiral Ammen Farenholt, USN (Medical Corps), November 1931. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 19: USS Bennington Monument, San Diego, California. Ceremonies dedicating the monument at Fort Rosecrans, overlooking San Diego harbor, 7 January 1908. It was erected in memory of the Navy personnel who lost their lives in the boiler explosion on board USS Bennington (Gunboat No. 4) at San Diego on 21 July 1905. North Island and Coronado are in the left background. USS Charleston (Cruiser No. 22) is at right. Photographed by Norton-Bennette, 820 Fifth St., San Diego. Collection of Lieutenant Commander Abraham DeSomer, donated by Myles DeSomer, 1975. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Figure 20: USS Bennington Monument, Fort Rosecrans, San Diego, California. Color-tinted postal card, published by the Newman Company, Los Angeles, California. This monument was erected in memory of the Navy personnel who lost their lives in the boiler explosion on board USS Bennington (Gunboat No. 4) at San Diego on 21 July 1905. Courtesy of H.E. ("Ed") Coffer, 1983. US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Click on photograph for larger image.
Named after a town in Vermont, the 1,708-ton USS Bennington (Gunboat No. 4) was the third (and last) of the Yorktown class steel gunboats. The ship was built by the Delaware River Iron Works at Chester, Pennsylvania, and was commissioned on 20 June 1891. Bennington was approximately 244 feet long and 36 feet wide, had a top speed of 17.5 knots, and had a crew of 197 officers and men. The gunboat was armed with six 6-inch guns, two 6-pounders, two 3-pounders, and one 1-pounder.
Bennington initially was assigned to the “Squadron of Evolution,” the US Navy’s first unit solely made up of modern steel warships. The main purpose of the Squadron of Evolution was to develop tactics and operational training procedures for these new warships. Bennington, along with the rest of the ships in the Squadron, steamed in the Caribbean and off South America from late 1891 to 1892. She then served briefly with the South Atlantic Squadron before being sent to the Mediterranean. Bennington visited Spain in 1892 to help celebrate the quadricentennial of Columbus’ voyage to the New World. Bennington ended her stay in Europe on 18 February 1893, when she left Cadiz, Spain, for Cuba with a replica of one of Columbus’ ships, the Pinta, in tow. After making stops in the Canary Islands and the Netherlands West Indies, Bennington delivered the Pinta to Havana, Cuba, and then steamed north and arrived at Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 26 March.
After an overhaul at the New York Navy Yard from 24 May to 6 August 1893, Bennington returned to the Mediterranean for the next six months. In February 1894, she received orders to sail to the Pacific. After transiting the Strait of Gibraltar and crossing the Atlantic, Bennington headed south, rounded Cape Horn, steamed north and eventually arrived at the Mare island Navy Yard in San Francisco, California, on 30 April.
For more than four years, Bennington remained in the Pacific. She spent most of her time operating off the west coasts of North and South America, while making occasional trips to protect American lives and property in Hawaii. During the Spanish-American War in 1898, Bennington patrolled off the coasts of Hawaii and California. In September 1898, Bennington was sent to the Far East. On her way west to the Philippines, Bennington (under the command of Commander Edward D. Taussig) stopped at Wake Island on 17 January 1899 and claimed the tiny atoll for the United States. The island is a US territory to this day. After stopping at Guam from 23 January to 15 February, Bennington arrived at Manila in the Philippines on 22 February 1899.
For more than two years, Bennington supported the US Army’s campaign to suppress the insurrection in the Philippines. She was assigned to patrol and escort duties and transported American troops and supplies between the numerous Philippine islands. On 3 January 1901, Bennington left for Hong Kong and spent more than six months there being overhauled. Once the work was completed, she left Hong Kong on 25 June and, after a brief visit to Shanghai, steamed back to the United States and arrived at the Mare Island Navy Yard on 19 August. Bennington was decommissioned there on 5 September 1901.
Bennington was re-commissioned on 2 March 1903. For the next 27 months, she patrolled the eastern Pacific along the coasts of North and South America. In May 1904, she sailed to Hawaii and then was sent to the Aleutian Islands in June. From late 1904 to the spring of 1905, Bennington visited several Pacific ports in Central and South America. After spending two more months in the Hawaiian Islands, Bennington arrived at San Diego on 19 July 1905.
At approximately 1030 on 21 July 1905, an enormous explosion tore through the ship. An improperly closed steam line valve, feed water filled with oil, and a malfunctioning safety valve generated an enormous amount of pressure within the ship’s boilers. As a result, one of the boilers exploded, filling the ship with scalding steam and tearing a large hole in the ship. The explosion and the subsequent escape of scalding steam killed 60 men and injured most of the rest of the crew. As the gunboat started to go down, the tug Santa Fe came alongside Bennington and beached her in shallow water, thereby preventing her from sinking in deep water. The number of wounded from the ship so quickly overwhelmed San Diego’s hospitals that many of the badly burned crewmen were placed in temporary facilities staffed by volunteers. The number of fatalities was too much for local morticians to handle, so the dead were quickly buried on 23 July at the Army’s Fort Rosecrans, which was located nearby. Although the US Navy lost more men in one day than in the entire Spanish-American War, the official US Navy investigation into the matter determined that the tragedy was not caused by negligence. Eleven of the Bennington’s crew received the Medal of Honor for their actions on board the ship at the time of the explosion.
Bennington was refloated and towed to the Mare Island Navy Yard. Judged to be so badly damaged that she wasn’t even worth repairing, Bennington was decommissioned on 31 October 1905. The gunboat remained inactive for five years before being sold on 14 November 1910. Her new owners converted her into a barge and, ironically, took her back to Hawaii, where she had spent so many months as a gunboat. The barge operated until the mid-1920s, when it was eventually scuttled at sea.
Two years after the horrific boiler explosion on board Bennington, a 60-foot granite obelisk was erected on the site where most of the ship’s dead were buried. The monument was dedicated on 7 January 1908 and is now part of the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.
