Category Archives: Spanish american war

A Forest of Doomed Lattice

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105 years ago today. Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania. 22 October 1919. Obsolete “pre-dreadnought” type battleships in the Reserve Basin almost a year after the conclusion of the Great War, awaiting a very near future that would turn nearly all of them into recycled scrap iron or sunk in live fire exercises.

Courtesy of Frank Jankowski, 1981. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 92300

Ships in the front row are, from left to right: USS Iowa (BB-4), USS Massachusetts (BB-2), USS Indiana (BB-1), USS Kearsarge (BB-5), USS Kentucky (BB-6), and USS Maine (BB-10), while at least three other battlewagons are in the rear, almost certainly including USS Missouri (BB-11) and USS Ohio (BB-12). Although some including the three Maine-class ships were rather “low mileage” — Ohio had only joined the fleet 15 years prior and had spent much of her latter career in ordinary, only venturing out of mothballs for summer midshipman cruises– others were relics of the Span-Am War, with Indiana credited with having dispatched two Spanish destroyers at the Battle of Santiago. 

While all had seen updates in their service life, switching from pole masts and the gleaming paint schemes and bow crests of the Great White Fleet days to lattice masts and haze grey, they could not compete with the new way of war. For instance, a single Colorado-class super-dreadnought, the first of which would enter service in 1921, weighed 32,000 tons and carried eight 16-inch guns compared to Indiana’s circa 1893 10,000-ton displacement and main battery of four 13″/35s.

Of the above nine or ten battleships, all save for Kearsarge— the only United States Navy battleship not named after a state– would be sold for scrap or sunk (Iowa and Massachusetts) by 1923 to comply with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty. They were left to be remembered only by their silver services, bells, and bow crests, typically preserved somewhere in their namesake states. 

Soon after the above image was snapped, Kearsarge was converted into a cruising heavy-lift crane ship (AB-1) in 1920, then was unimaginatively renamed Crane Ship No. 1 in 1941, before being finally sold for scrap in 1955.

Heavy Lift Crane Ship No1,(Ex Lead Ship, Battleship USS Kearsarge) pictured in dry dock at Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston. c.1925.

 

During her “second life,” Kearsarge raised the lost submarine USS Squalus in 1939 and would lift into place much of the heavy guns, turrets, and armor for cruisers and battleships constructed or rebuilt at Norfolk/Newport News through 1945. Here, she is seen, left, alongside the new SoDak-class fast battleship USS Alabama (BB-60), right, fitting out at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1942. Note the size difference between the two hulls. NH 57767

Interestingly, the wreck of Massachusetts scuttled off Pensacola in shallow water in 1923, was still used as a target through WWII when she passed to the ownership of the state of Florida.

Civil War echos via Long Beach

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The California State Military History & Museums Program in Rancho Cordova recently received a pair of circa 1905 3-inch Salute Guns.

The museum believes they were originally part of the old San Diego Army Barracks (which closed in 1921 and became the property of the city in 1938) before standing guard in front of the Long Beach Seventh Street National Guard Armory from the mid-1930s until 2020.

The Long Beach Armory, 854 East 7th Street, Long Beach, Los Angeles County, California, before its closure in 2020. Note the signal guns. 

These guns are the last remnants of one of the best-known (and loved) field guns of the Civil War.

Patented in 1855 by cannon engineer John Griffen, superintendent at Phoenix Iron Co in Pennsylvania, and thus known originally as “The Griffen Gun,” the 3-inch (9.5 pounder) Ordnance Rifle, Model of 1861, became one of the most popular and prolific pieces of light artillery in Union service during the Civil War, with some 1,100 produced– 940 from Phoenix Iron alone. It was lighter (816 pounds) and more accurate than the slightly more common M1857 12-pounder Napoleons and available in better quantities than the 10-pounder M1861 Parrott.

Tidball’s Battery (Battery A, 2nd U.S. Artillery), near Fair Oaks, Va., June 1862 – Lt. Robert Clarke, Capt. John C. Tidball, Lt. William N. Dennison, and Capt. Alexander C.M. Pennington, posing around an M1861 3-inch Ordnance Rifle, PIC (for Phoenix Iron Company) Nr 247 LOC image LC-DIG-cwpb-01024

Starting in 1885, the Army began replacing these Civil War-era guns with more contemporary steel, rifled, breech-loading models, ultimately resulting in the M1897 field piece, which would remain in service until the Great War.

Although a wrought iron muzzle-loading rifled cannon, the Army kept some 300 unconverted M1861 3-inchers on inventory for assorted reasons (primarily as gate guards) through the Spanish-American War, although none deployed to that conflict.

Another 350 usually non-spiked guns, many of which had been sold as surplus through Bannerman’s to local cities and towns, have made their way into the assorted state and National Military Parks since then.

Starting in 1905, the Army made a move to convert its stocks of remaining M1861s to breech-loading saluting guns capable of firing standard 3-inch black powder blank cartridges. They were then mounted on steel pedestal mounts and typically placed on either side of an installation’s flagpole.

Saluting guns, 3-inch, at Fort Worden circa 1930s. Puget Sound Coast Artillery Museum Collection

3-inch M1861/05 Saluting gun, Washington Barracks, Washington, D.C. 1921. Note the breech. NARA 111-SC-000213-ac

From a 1908 War Department Ordnance report

In all, at least 25 were converted by the United States Rapid-Fire Gun and Power Company of Derby, Connecticut, and the balance (about 270) was done by Army cannon works, primarily Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois, with the Army allocating $4,600 in 1905 and another $16,000 in 1906 for the conversions.

It was noted that a whopping 13,800 pounds of saluting powder was on hand in Army depots in 1907 (vs 367,183 pounds of smokeless powder for artillery) for use with such guns and many posts, besides lighting them off for special events and on holidays, would fire a “Noon-day gun.”

By the late 1940s, especially with the general contraction of bases following WWII, most of these saluting pieces found their way to the scrap heap. 

As for the recently saved California guns, they will soon be installed on either side of the CSMH&MP’s Consolidated Headquarters Complex’s flagpoles.

The CMP Krags Are Here (Don’t Get too Excited)

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The Span Am Monument in New Orleans on Poydras, complete with Krag. (Photo: Chris Eger)

So, as promised, CMP has announced they have a small supply of Springfield Krag-Jorgensen rifles up for sale through their normal channels and in their three retail locations.

They will be in three grades and generally do not include cleaning rods, accessories, and/or bayonets: 

CMP image

The problem is, as almost all of these came from veterans group returns (VFW, American Legion, etc) many of these rifles have spent the past 80 years in ceremonial service and, by their own admission, have “little or no original finish remaining,” or, worse, “finished in chrome or nontraditional finish,” with some that have “had barrels cut to a shorter length but are not CARBINES.” Overall condition is fair, with pitting and uneven finishes expected but on the bright side “have been checked with a FIELD gauge and function fired,” so at least they work.

The announcement:

CMP is excited to announce the release of a limited supply of Krag-Jorgensen rifles. These rifles will be available in 3 variants, distinguished by physical characteristics. Condition of all variants is best described as “Fair”, and all have been minimally inspected for completeness and general serviceability. Inventory on these rifles is expected to cap at approximately 800 units across all variants and orders will be processed on a first come-first served basis. We will provide timely notice via email, social media channels, website and forums when we have received more order requests than we have available rifles.

The CMP’s price ($1,200 to $1,350) is truly kind of meh, as sporterized Krags can be had for $300-$500, stripped receivers and barreled actions for less than that for folks looking to do a rebuild, and even complete and correct-ish U.S. martial Krags (with cartouche) for around $800-$1,000 for anything that isn’t a saddle ring carbine or rare production date.

Lots of complete milsurp Krags were sold on the commercial market for a song starting just after the Great War, a trend that would continue into the 1950s. That means a lot of these old guns are already floating around and regularly come up for sale

Yes, I know these are CMP guns and have spent their entire lives in government service or on loan to government-approved entities, rather than in the back of great-grandpa’s closet since Ike was in office, but still, for me at least, the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.

CMP has M1903 Springfields & M1917 Enfields on Hand (with Krags on the Way!)

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This U.S. Volunteer, photographed in Tampa in 1898, preparing to ship out for points south in the War with Spain, is carrying the distinctive Krag

It seems the returns from old VFW and American Legion posts have yielded some old war vets in quantity large enough to pass on to the public.

As noted in a memo from our Civilian Marksmanship Program friends in Anniston:

Effective June 26, 2024, customers are allowed to purchase up to six (6) bolt-action rifles per year while supplies last. The current inventory of M1903 and M1917 rifles by grade is listed below. CMP also plans to release up to 1,000 Krag-Jorgensen rifles beginning in mid to late July. These have not been worked so a grade break-out is currently unavailable. Given the six (6) bolt rifle per customer per year limit, please plan accordingly.

Once this inventory of bolt action rifles is exhausted the CMP does not expect to have further supply. The rifles will be sold via mail order and in CMP stores. Store sales may be limited due to inventory.

Additionally, if a customer has already purchased their limit of six (6) bolt action rifles they are authorized to bid on and purchase bolt action rifles for sale on the CMP auction site above the six (6) rifle limit.

Current Inventory:

M1903 Rifles — Service Grade: 78; Field Grade: 386; and Rack Grade: 356
M1917 Enfield Rifles — Service Grade: 203; and Field Grade: 1,067

Additional details, including rifle descriptions, ordering information, and purchase eligibility requirements can be found on our CMP Rifle Sales web page at https://thecmp.org/cmp_sales/rifle-sales/.

It seems current pricing on the M1903s ranges from $700 (rack) to $950 (Service) with S/H included while M1917s are a bit more spendy, running $1000-$1100.

No word on pricing for the Krags yet.

Warship Wednesday, April 3, 2024: The Bathtub of Sampson, Schley, and Sims

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Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, April 3, 2024: The Bathtub of Sampson, Schley, and Sims

Naval Historical and Heritage Command Photo NH 85726

Above we see the “Propeller-class” brigantine-rigged cruising cutter Manning of the newly-formed U.S. Coast Guard as she steams in European service with the U.S. Navy during the Great War, circa 1917-18. Note her dazzle camouflage, rows of depth charges over her stern, and four 4″/50 cal open mounts, fore and aft, made all the more out of place due to her antiquated plow bow and downright stubby 205-foot overall length.

You wouldn’t know it to look at her, but Manning was in her second war and still had a lot of life left.

Turn of the Century Cutters

The Propeller class was emblematic of the Revenue Cutter Service– the forerunner of the USCG– at the cusp of the 20th Century. The USRCS decided in the 1890s to build five near-sisterships that would be classified in peacetime as cutters but would be capable modern naval auxiliary gunboats.

These vessels, to the same overall concept but each slightly different in design, were built to carry a bow-mounted torpedo tube for 15-inch Bliss-Whitehead type torpedoes (although they appeared to have not been fitted with the weapons) and as many as four modern quick-firing 3-inch guns (though they typically used just two 6-pounder, 57mm popguns in peacetime). They would be the first modern cutters equipped with electric generators, triple-expansion steam engines (with auxiliary sail rigs), steel (well, mostly steel) hulls with a navy-style plow bow, and able to cut the very fast (for the time) speed of 18-ish knots.

All were built 1896-98 at three different yards to speed up delivery.

These ships included:

–McCulloch, a barquentine-rigged, composite-hulled, 219-foot, 1,280-ton steamer ordered from William Cramp and Sons of Philadelphia for $196,000. She was the longest of the type as she was intended for Pacific service and so was designed with larger coal bunkers.

–Gresham, a brigantine-rigged 206-foot, 1,090-ton steel-hulled steamer built by the Globe Iron Works Company of Cleveland, OH for $147,800.

–Manning, a brigantine-rigged 205-foot, 1,150-ton steamer ordered from the Atlantic Works Company of East Boston, MA, for a cost of $159,951.

–Algonquin, brigantine-rigged 205.5-foot, 1,180-ton steel-hulled steamer ordered from the Globe Iron Works Company of Cleveland, OH for $193,000.

–Onondaga, brigantine-rigged 206-foot, 1,190-ton steel-hulled steamer ordered from the Globe Iron Works Company of Cleveland, OH for $193,800.

Meet Manning

As the USRSC (and the USCG until 1967) was part of the Treasury Department, our vessel was the only one named in honor of Grover Cleveland’s Treasury secretary, Daniel Manning, although she only carried the last name and not the full name while in service. Accepted by the Service, Manning was commissioned on 8 January 1898, and she would soon “see the elephant.”

War with Spain!

Unlike the coming World Wars where the entire Service would be placed under the control of the Navy, only those vessels deemed modern enough to hold their own in a fight were seconded to the larger sea-going branch for the conflict with the Empire of Spain.

On 24 March 1898, President McKinley instructed his T-Sec to place nine cutters– ours included– “under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy, and cooperate with the Navy, until further orders. This was five weeks after the mysterious and controversial sinking of the USS Maine in Havanna harbor and a full month before Congress declared war on Spain, a fateful vote tallied on 25 April.

In all, the RCS would place 13 revenue cutters– carrying 61 guns and crewed by 98 officers and 562 enlisted— under Navy control during the conflict. This would include four (Grant, Corwin, Perry, and Rush) used to patrol the Pacific coastline and one (Manning’s sister McCulloch) to Commodore Dewey’s Asiatic Squadron for the push on Manila.

This left the Manning, under the command of Captain Fred M. Munger, Morrill, Hamilton, Windom, Woodbury, Hudson, Calumet, and McLane, to join the North Atlantic Squadron under RADM William Thomas Sampson (USNA 1861).

Meanwhile, another seven smaller cutters (Dallas, Dexter, Winona, Smith, Galveston, Guthrie, and Penrose), with a total of 10 guns between them and crewed by 33 officers and 163 men, were placed under Army orders patrolling coastwise minefields off protected harbors from Boston to New Orleans.

Manning was up-armed with three 4-inch guns (2 forward, one aft) with a mix of 250 AP and Common shells. She was also given steel gun shields for her 6-pounders for which she took on 1,500 AP shells, and was fitted with a Maxim-Nordenfeldt 1-pounder 37mm “pom pom” with another 2,200 rounds for that eclectic gun.

A Maxim-Nordenfelt 37mm 1-pounder autocannon fitted on the yacht USS Vixen in 1898. Manning was fitted with one of these for her SpanAm War service. Basically a super-sized Maxim machine gun, it had a very respectable 300 rpm rate of fire, as long as the shells held out. LC-DIG-det-4a14810

Manning would head south to Key West, and eventually be folded into Commodore Winfield Scott Schley’s 2nd Squadron.

His little gunboat was listed by the Navy as having engaged in combat on 12 and 13 May at Cabanas and Mariel, Cuba, and 18 July at Naguerro. Munger noted some 71 rounds of 4-inch and 148 rounds of 6 pdr. ammunition expended in the earlier of the three.

May 12, 1898, USS Manning in engaged off Cabanas, Cuba By Lieut. G. L. Carden, R.C.S. This is the only known photo of a Revenue Cutter in action during the Spanish-American War.

Munger filed three detailed reports with the T-Sec’s office, detailing the cutter’s actions in the war, including a total of some 600 rounds fired across several more engagements than what the Navy detailed.

Returned from Navy service to the RCS on 17 August 1898, Manning put into Norfolk to remove the bulk of her wartime armament and settled into her “salad days.”

Interbellum

USRC Manning. Photograph by Hart, taken off New York City circa 1898-99. Note that she still has at least one 4-inch gun forward and her steel shields over her 6-pounders. NH 46627

On 2 January 1900, Manning was ordered to report to San Francisco via the Straits of Magellan for duties with the Bering Sea Patrol, where she would perform the hard work in the remote region for 13 of the next 16 summers, with occasional pivots to warmer climes in Hawaii.

As with other cutters sent to Alaska, this ranged from policing fishing and sealing grounds, responding to natural disasters, conducting hydrographic surveys, responding to wrecks and distress, and generally serving as the sole federal institution for hundreds of miles in many cases– a job that spanned from carrying supplies and medicine to isolated coastal villages to serving as constabulary force ashore, and even holding court with an embarked judge from time to time. Her Public Health Service physician was often the only medical professional to call at many of these areas with any regularity.

Boiler room of the USS Manning with four crew members, Washington State, between 1898 and 1906

the crew of the Revenue Cutter Manning while on a Bering Sea Patrol 1901 210604-G-G0000-1004

the crew of the Revenue Cutter Manning while on a Bering Sea Patrol 1910 210604-G-G0000-1005

the crew of the Revenue Cutter Manning while on a Bering Sea Patrol 1910 210604-G-G0000-1006

U.S. Revenue Cutter Manning, Unalaska, Aug. 1908. A great view of her torpedo tube. LOC LC-USZ62-130291

Equipped sometime during this period with a 2-KW DeForest spark transmitter/receiver, Mannng could also serve as a floating wireless station while her original coal-fired suite was replaced with oil-fired boilers during a refit at Mare Island Naval Shipyard.

At Sea – “USRC Manning’s race boat crew (1902-1904) which used the Corwin’s Gig. Left to right: Seaman ‘Frenchie’ Martinesen, Master-at-Arms Stranberg (Coxswain), Seaman Andreas Rynberg, Magnus Jensen, and Franze Rynberg.”

Japanese schooners caught poaching near the Pribilof Islands, Bering Sea, Alaska, 1907. “On verso of image: Schr. Nitto Maru is in the foreground. Schr. Kaiwo Tokiyo in the center. Both poachers on Pribloff Islands, Behring Sea, now under the guard of Rev. Cutter McCulloch at Unalaska. Manning is on the right. 63 Japanese in both crews.” John N. Cobb Photograph Collection, University of Washington UW14289. At the time, Capt. Fred Munger, Manning’s old SpanAm War skipper, was head of the Bearing Sea Fleet. 

Manning, 1912. Note this is before her refit that changed her to oil and reduced her masts, ditching her auxiliary sail rig. Note her torpedo tube, still with a hatch. 

In June 1912, while docked at Kodiak Island, Manning’s crew noted the rumbling and ash in the distance that was the historic eruption of Novarupta/Katmai— the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century. She would spend the next several days harboring refugees from the surrounding communities– as many as 414 onboard the small gunboat at any one time– and, as every well was full of ash, run her then rare desalination plant to make fresh water.

Crew and deck of the US Revenue Cutter Manning covered in ash from June 6, 1912. Via Anchorage Museum

U.S. Revenue Service cutter Manning, crowded with Kodiak residents seeking safety during the 1912 eruption of Novarupta, which resulted in about a foot of ashfall on Kodiak over nearly three days. The photograph was published in Griggs, 1922, and was taken by J.F. Hahn, U.S.R.S.

While many of her crew became sick from the ash of Navarupta, and she had fought both malaria and the Spanish off Cuba for nearly four months during the war, Manning had been a lucky ship when it came to deaths. This streak ended on 10 October 1914 when she lost four crewmen and a Public Health Service physician after one of her small boats swamped in heavy surf off Sarichef, Unimak.

Then came trouble in Europe.

Great War

While in Astoria, Oregon on 26 January 1917, Manning received orders to report, via the Panama Canal, to the Coast Guard Depot at Curtis Bay, Maryland to prepare for possible Naval service.

Soon after she arrived there, on 6 April 1917, the day Congress declared war on Imperial Germany, U.S. Navy’s radio centers transmitted “Plan One, Acknowledge” to all Coast Guard cutters, units, and bases, the code words initiating the service’s transfer from the Treasury Department to the Navy and placing it on an immediate wartime footing. Manning became part of the Navy once again.

It was decided to use the little gunboat as part of the scrappy Squadron 2, Division 6 of the Atlantic Fleet Patrol Forces, and sent overseas to report to VADM(T) William Sowden Sims. Based at Gibraltar, this force consisted of six Coast Guard cutters (Tampa, Algonquin, Seneca, Manning, Ossipee, and Yamacraw). On a list compiled for the British Admiralty, the USCG cutters were described as “good sea boats, good crews, much better than old gunboats.”

With Royal Navy communications personnel aboard, they would escort convoys between Gibraltar and the British Isles and conduct antisubmarine patrols in the Mediterranean against very active German U-boats there.

For her role, Manning and her sister cutters headed to Gibraltar were given a dazzle camouflage scheme. She and sister Algonquin would be armed with four 4-inch guns with 1,500 shells stored in two magazines fore and aft, two racks capable of carrying 16 300-pound depth charges, and four 30.06 Colt “potato digger” machine guns. A small arms locker would be filled with a pair of .30-06 Lewis guns, 18 .45 caliber Colt pistols, and 15 Springfield rifles.

USCG Cutter Manning in her Great War dazzle 170807-G-0Y189-009

USCGC Manning in dry dock. Note the canvased deck guns. 170807-G-0Y189-010

Although Manning’s Gibraltar service is not well documented, the risk was no joke as fellow Squadron 2 cutter Tampa, after completing a convoy run from Gibraltar to England, was torpedoed by UB-91, killing all 131 (111 USCG, 16 RN and 4 USN) personnel aboard.

Returning to USCG service

Reverting back to the Treasury Department on 28 August 1919, Manning would remain on the East Coast, spending the next 11 years operating out of Norfolk with her traditional white hull. During this period, she would participate in the reestablished International Ice Patrol, and take part in the “Rum War” against bootleggers, and other traditional USCG taskings.

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Manning At Norfolk, Virginia, 30 December 1920. Note her armament has been landed but her torpedo tube remains although the hatch has been removed and the tube plated over. Panoramic photograph, taken by Crosby, Boston, Massachusetts. Donation of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum, 1970. NH 105313

Manning would be involved in the landmark human smuggling case of the schooner Sunbeam in December 1919 and race to the scene of the sinking British liner SS Vestris off the Virginia Capes in November 1928.

Manning, Norfolk, 1920s. Note the lattice masts of the battleship to the right and the tall gantry works of what looks to be a Proteus class collier to the right

Manning late in her career. Note her RF DF equipment. Also, her torpedo tube has been removed altogether. 

Manning Underway 1927

Past her prime and slated to be replaced by a new and much more modern 250-foot Lake class cutter, Manning was decommissioned at Norfolk on 22 May 1930. The following December, she was sold to one Charles L. Jording of Baltimore for just $2,200.02.

As for her classmates: Cleveland-built sisters Algonquin and Onondaga had been sold in 1930 and 1924 respectively and disposed of. Gresham, sold by the Coast Guard in 1935 for scrap was required by the service in WWII for coastal patrol, then became part of the Israeli Navy before disappearing again in the 1950s and was last semi-reliably seen in the Chesapeake Bay area as late as 1980. McCulloch was lost in 1917 northwest of Point Conception, California when she collided with the Pacific Steamship Company’s steamer Governor (5,474 tons) in dense fog and endures as a reef.

Epilogue

Some of her logs are digitized and online. Few other relics of the old girl exist, which is a shame.

While the Coast Guard has not commissioned a second USCGC Manning, it did, in 2020, commission a painting by Michael Daley, MBE, GAvA, of the old girl steaming out of Gibraltar at the head of a convoy during the Great War with another cutter on the horizon.

Artist Michael Daley, MBE, GAvA. CGC MANNING escorting a convoy out of Gibraltar during World War I. 210610-G-G0000-101

Ships are more than steel
and wood
And heart of burning coal,
For those who sail upon
them know
That some ships have a
soul.

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Civilize ’em with the…Hotchkiss

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Official caption: “A bullet-marked Hotchkiss gun of the American Army, at Malolos, Philippians, circa 1899.”

New York, N.Y. : Strohmeyer & Wyman, Publishers, 1899. LOC LC-DIG-stereo-1s48423 (digital file from original) LC-USZ62-80482 (b&w film copy neg.) https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s48423

Note the blue-uniformed U.S. Volunteers in the background.

The photo should be taken into account with this one, “Malolos, Philippines: Advancing on Malols – taking a Hotchkiss gun over a bridge destroyed by insurgents,” 1899. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/stereo.1s48355

The light 5-barreled 37mm Gatling style gun weighed only 1,045 pounds and could fire an 18.51-ounce shell out to 4,700 yards when at a 30-degree maximum elevation. All up, in its heavy configuration with an armored shield with carriage and limber, 300 shells, and all needed accessories, the weight was 4,510 pounds.

Note the loading via a 10-shell clip

They were most often seen in the P.I. with volunteer artillery units, in particular, the First Battalion of California Heavy Artillery, and the Utah Batteries.

Hotchkiss 37mm Revolving Cannon, 1st Battalion California Heavy Artillery, P.I.

Hotchkiss 37mm Revolving Cannon, 1st Battalion California Heavy Artillery, P.I.

As noted by the U.S. Army Artillery Museum at Fort Sill, which has one on display:

In 1879, Captain Edmund Rice took a Hotchkiss Cannon on the campaign on the Western Frontier; the first time a revolving cannon was taken into the field. The Army Hotchkiss Revolving Cannons were little used until the Philippine Insurrection (1899 – 1902) where they served admirably, mounted on field carriages, trains, and riverboats, and in fixed positions. The Hotchkiss would prove to be excessive in the waste of ammunition. By 1908, it was replaced by a conventional single-barreled cannon.

Warship Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024: One Unlucky Beauty

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Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024: One Unlucky Beauty

National Archives Record Group 19-LCM. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 102049

Above we see the beautiful U.S. steam yacht Nahma in all her pre-Great War finery. She had entertained Kaisers and Kings and had a strange yet underreported knack for damaging Italian warships in both times of peace and conflict.

Matching yachts for matching brothers

Ordered as Yard No. 300 from the Clydebank Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., the fine Scottish-built Nahma was paid for in 1896 by one Mr. Robert W Goelet, son of Manhattan real estate tycoon Robert R. Goelet. A familiar design to the builder– one by George L. Watson of Glasgow– Nahma was a carbon copy of much more famous future presidential yacht Mayflower, ordered the year prior by Ogden Goelet, brother to Robert W.

As noted by the NYT in October 1897:

She is built entirely of steel, on the spar-deck principle, and has a clipper stem and a square stern. From the foremast to within 50 feet of the taffrail extends the promenade, or boat, deck, which has a length of 190 feet. The vessel is schooner rigged, each mast being in one length. She has a standing bowsprit, and in all respects her rig is most smart in appearance. She is painted white, with a green boot top, and, with her great array of portholes, her fine set of boats, including a steam launch, and her large funnels, ventilators, and awning supports, which are of metal tubes, she presents a handsome appearance.

She is subdivided into several water-tight compartments by seven bulkheads, all of which are cemented. Her dimensions are as follows:- Length on load water line, 275 feet; length between perpendiculars, 288.8 feet; and from over the figurehead to taffrail 320 feet; breadth 36.7 feet, with a depth molded of 17.7 feet. Her tonnage is 969.79 and 1,739.83, net and gross, respectively, and 1,844, according to the Thames yacht measurement.

The Nahma is equipped with electric lighting, heating, and ventilating devices, and a refrigerating machine. She is propelled by two triple expansion engines of 4,250 horsepower. On her trial trip she developed a sustained speed of 16¾ knots per hour. The yacht mounts two Hotchkiss quick-firing guns and carries a stand of carbines, and among her crew of seventy-two men is a gunner. She is commanded by Capt. Churchill, who was formerly in the Cunard service.

Yes, you read that right. As a 320-foot private yacht, she was built with a well-stocked small arms locker and carried a pair of 6-pounder QF 37mm Hotchkiss guns. More on this later.

Before the lights went out in Europe

She would sail briefly for the Winter 1897 season to the waters off New York and Newport, and early 1898 would see the new yacht back in Scottish waters for upgrades deemed needed by her owner. She was still in her builder’s yard when her sister, Mayflower, was purchased by the Navy from the estate of the late Ogden Goelet– who had passed aboard her at Cowes– and converted for use in the Spanish American War as a patrol yacht.

Speaking of the late Mr. Ogden, Robert W. Goelet passed away shortly after his brother, having only enjoyed his new yacht for a few months. He passed aboard her while in Nice in April 1899, and his body was returned to the States aboard her, the yacht’s flag at half mast, to be buried in Newport’s Woodlawn Cemetery.

While his widow, Mrs. Henrietta Louise (née Warren) Goelet, briefly considered the sale of the Nahma to Sir Thomas Lipton for £80,000, she elected instead to keep the vessel and made it her more or less permanent home for the next 13 years.

Mrs. Goelet kept Nahma underway, sailing from New England to Europe and back, where the elegant yacht was a staple of Cannes, Nice, Cowes, St. Petersburg, Christiania, and Kiel. Kaiser Wilhelm and his wife became regular guests aboard, calling on Mrs. Goelet on no less than seven occasions over the years. She also entertained King Edward and a legion of lesser nobility and both Mrs. Goelet and her skipper often received foreign orders and decorations in return. 

The vessel would typically just return to American waters for the late summer cup races off New York.

America’s Cup race, yacht Nahma 1901 LC-DIG-det-4a15306

America’s Cup race, yacht Nahma 1901, LOC

American-owned yacht Nahma. Commanded by Captain George Harvey of Wivenhoe with a Colne crew of 70. She could steam at 18 kts and carried quick-firing guns and searchlights for her voyaging in remote seas. A postcard, posted in Le Havre to Mrs. S Cranfield. Mersea Museum Collection BOXL_026_004_002. Used in The Northseamen, page 185

Steam yacht Nahma. A postcard was posted to Le Havre on 20 May 1912. Date: 20 May 1912. Image: John Leather Collection. Mersea Island Museum BOXL_026_004_003

Steam Yacht Nahma at anchor. Photo from J. Gelser, Alger. John Leather Collection. Mersea Museum Collection. ID BF69_006_013

Steam Yacht Nahma at Saint Malo. Postcard. John Leather Collection. Mersea Museum Collection. BF69_006_012

The New York Yacht Club’s steam yacht Nahma off Naples, 1908 by Italian artist Antonio de Simone

On one occasion, Nahma would run afoul due to her 6-pounders while passing to Constantinople.

From the NYT:

On April 27 [1903] Mrs. Goelet with a party of New York friends entered the Dardanelles on her yacht Nahma. The Nahma carries two six-pounders mounted forward and aft, “for saluting purposes.” When the sentinels on the Turkish fortresses caught the outlines of these guns under their tarpaulin coverings there was a rushing to and fro, signals flashed back and forth, and soon a shot plunged across the Nahma’s bow and the yacht hove to.

Mrs. Goelet had a dinner engagement in Constantinople for which she had already broken all speed ordinances and she did not like interference by Turkish officers with her plans.

The officers were polite, but firm. The Nahma was a warship, witness the six-pounders, and to such the passage was closed. Two days of delay followed. Mrs. Goelet demanded that Minister Leishman secure from the Sultan respect and proper reparation for her broken dinner engagement and a passage for the Nahma.

Although an extensively married man, Abdul Hamid is not without a sense of humor. At any rate, the Nahma, six-pounders and all, was allowed to steam on at the end of two days as a yacht and not as a warship. His Sultanic Majesty also conferred on Mrs. Goelet the Grand Cordon of the Turkish Order of the Chefakat, which was not much, after all, for a woman who had done what the powers have never been able to do with all their armaments.”

She also had a crack up with the Italian Navy, suffering a collision with the elderly (and quite immobile) ironclad Affondatore in Venice in May 1906, which had been largely laid up as a guard ship there for years. With the captain of the Nahma blamed by the Italian Admiralty, Mrs. Goelet quickly offered to pay for the damages stemming from the bloodless incident.

Italian ironclad “Affondatore” in her post-1888/1889 refit configuration. The Battle of Lissa veteran was semi-retired when Nahma brushed against her in Venice in 1906. She ended her days as a floating ammunition depot at Taranto in the 1920s.

Then, in August 1912, ailing with cancer, Mrs. Goelet went to Paris for treatment there and passed in the City of Lights that December. The Nahma passed to her only son, Robert Walton Goelet, who showed little interest in the vessel, although did bring legal action to keep from having to pay an exorbitant amount of tax on the ship.

Soon, the stately ship ended up in pier-side storage in Greenock, Scotland.

War!

With the U.S. entry into the Great War, and sister Mayflower still in service with the Navy since 1898, it was an easy decision that the U.S. Navy acquire the mothballed Nahma for the duration.

Picked up in early June for the patriotic sum of $1 per year, SECNAV “Cup of Joe” Daniels wrote VADM Sims that the ship would be placed at his disposal and a battery sent from the States to arm her while a crew of 130 assorted bluejackets sent across the Atlantic aboard the steamer SS New York to man her. Meanwhile, much of her original equipment was stripped and put into dockside storage in Glasgow. Her pennant was SP 771.

She was soon after equipped with two 5″/51 mounts, two 3″/50 mounts, and two machine guns– all drawn from USS Melville (AD-2), as well as a supply of depth charges (she would later pick up two Y-guns) and placed in commission under the command of LCDR Ernest Friedrick, (USNA 1903) on 27 August. Friedrick, who had sailed on the destroyers Lawrence, Stewart, and Hopkins as well as the battleship Arkansas, had earned his sea legs with the Great White Fleet and was well-respected. 

Manning a 5-inch gun on the USS Nahma. Copied from the U.S. Navy in the World War, Official pictures. Page 99. NH 124132

USS Nahma (SP-771) at sea, during World War I. Courtesy of John C. O’Connell. NH 50474

USS Nahma (SP-771) Photographed by Herman Whitaker while at anchor, circa 1917-1918. NH 42548

She would be inspected by no less a personage than King George V who had a habit of visiting American warships large and small in UK ports in 1917-18 and was no doubt familiar with Nahma.

King George V and Commander E. Friedrick of the US Navy on board the American armed yacht USS Nahma, in Liverpool, September 1917.

THE US NAVY IN BRITAIN, 1917-1918 (Q 54806) King George V and Commander E. Friedrick of the US Navy on board the American armed yacht USS Nahma, probably in Liverpool, September 1917. Copyright: � IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205287785

Then everything went bad.

The Second Italian Affair

While DANFS is short on her subsequent service, saying only:

Soon after fitting out and shakedown, Nahma reported to Gibraltar to join a group of U.S. vessels based there and serving as convoy escorts. With these ships, she escorted vessels in the Mediterranean, as well as between the U.K. and Gibraltar until the end of World War I.

Nahma was involved in a serious incident, again with the Italian fleet, just a month before the Armistice.

As described in a December 1934 article in Proceedings by LCDR Leonard Doughty:

On October 5, 1918, the Italian submarines 11-6 and 11-8, escorting the S.S. Bologna was approaching Gibraltar, coming from Bermuda. The convoy was five days late. There had been three submarines in company but one had become separated from the convoy in a fog, after sighting a supposed enemy submarine.

On the same date the U.S.S. Nahma, an armed yacht, was on patrol west of Gibraltar, and at 7:00 p.m. received a radio report of an enemy submarine in the vicinity. She proceeded toward the position given, and at 2:00 a.m., October 6, sighted a flash ahead, which resembled gunfire. At 2:30 a.m. the Bologna was sighted, followed by the two submarines.

On the Nahma, it was assumed that they were enemy submarines attacking the ship. Two shots, which did not hit, were fired at the leading submarine and the recognition signal challenge was made. After some delay, and after two more shots were fired, the correct answer was made to the challenge by the leading submarine.

The Nahma then approached the other submarine, the 11-6. As the yacht approached, men were seen running aft. They were going to hoist the colors, but on the Nahma, it was supposed that they were going to man the gun. One shot was fired, which hit the conning tower, killed two men, and wounded seven, of whom two died later. By this time the Nahma was convinced that the submarines were not enemy and stood by for the remainder of the night.

At about 5:00 A.M. the British torpedo boat 93 approached the scene and accidentally fired one shot toward the Nahma, which headed toward the flash but did not find the firing vessel. At 5:20 the T. B. 93 was observed and mistaken for another submarine, and two shots were fired at her by the Nahma before she was recognized.

In the morning, the Nahma escorted the submarines to Gibraltar.

As recalled by GM2c Lewis Clark, who was aboard that day:

On one of those submarine patrols, when we were off the coast of Spain, we spotted distant lights to starboard shortly after midnight. We steamed over to investigate and discovered a large vessel surrounded by submarines. We had no knowledge of friendly submarines in those waters, as we should have had were there any there, and it had been rumored that the Spanish were secretly supplying German submarines off the coast. It was only natural, therefore, for our captain to assume that we had come upon such an operation.

General Quarters was sounded, which meant that every man went to his battle station – I was sight center on the 3-inch gun on the quarter deck aft – full speed ahead was signaled, which, for us, was 22 knots, and the “recognition signal” was flashed from our bridge. Recognition signals were used to identify friendly craft. They were changed each midnight. We received a wrong recognition signal and reply, and the captain immediately gave the order to commence firing. We had the submarines in our gun sights when the order was given, and we were firing almost at point-blank range. Before it was discovered that the vessels were not German, we had blown the conning tower off one of the submarines, and did much damage to the others, and there were men in the water screaming for help.

It developed later that we had encountered five submarines and their mothership which the United States had given to Italy, and which were being taken by their Italian crews to Italy for service in the Mediterranean. There was hell to pay later in Gibraltar.

Friedrick was relieved and replaced by LCDR Harold Raynsford Stark of Sim’s staff, who had served briefly on sistership Mayflower, and would command the yacht over Halloween.

Sims would write the SECNAV on 17 October: 

As a result of a Board of Investigation made up of officers of our own Service and the British and Italian Services, the Commanding Officer of the Nahma will be tried by General Court Martial.

Incidents of this character have occurred a number of times during the war. As previously reported, British Patrol Vessels have frequently fired on their own submarines. In one case, covered by report submitted to the Department, a British destroyer attacked, and had every reason to believe that they had destroyed a submarine, which later proved to be a British submarine which succeeded in reaching port. During the summer, a British Auxiliary Cruiser sank a French armed sailing ship owing to a misunderstanding of an attempted recognition signal.

The Commanding Officer of the Nahma is known to be a very conscientious and capable young officer, and if any fault is to be ascribed to him it was probably due more to inexperience in this particular kind of warfare than anything else. It is considered that in view of the international character of the incident, a General Court Martial is probably the best step that could be taken.

Back in the war

Nahma, placed under the command of CDR Richard Philip McCullough, (USNA 1904), the former skipper of the armed yacht USS Cythera (SP 575), was dispatched to Constantinople with a relief crew for the armed yacht USS Scorpion (PY-3), arriving there on 16 December 1918, and would later carry RADM Mark L. Bristol to Beirut and Gibraltar and State Department consulate officers to Odessa.

As noted by DANFS:

Following the Armistice, Nahma remained in the Mediterranean for relief and quasi-diplomatic work. Operating in the Aegean and Black Seas she carried relief supplies to refugee areas; evacuated American nationals, non-combatants, the sick, and the wounded from civil war-torn areas of Russia and Turkey; and provided communications services between ports.

Nahma was decommissioned on 19 July 1919 and turned back over to Mr. Goelet’s agent in Glasgow.

Part of the lost generation

Post-war, the once immaculate yacht became a bootlegger, renamed Istar. Sold to Jeremiah Brown & Co Ltd, she made at least seven voyages (the first six profitable) from Glasgow to the waters off Long Island under the employ of the colorful Sir Brodrick C. D. A. Hartwell, “The Commodore of Rum Row,” crammed with Scotch on west-bound trips.

By 1927, with Hartwell bankrupt and squeezed out of the market, Istar had been converted for service as a shark-skinning vessel working the South African and Australian coasts but this was short-lived. Having gone aground at St Augustine Bay, Madagascar, she was salvaged and scuttled off Durban in March 1931.

Epilogue

While little remains of Nahma, her sister Mayflower served as a presidential yacht until 1929 then was ordered sold by President Hoover as an economic measure, and subsequently damaged by fire while tied up at the Philadelphia Navy Yard 24 January 1931.

USS Mayflower (PY- 1) off Swampscott, Mass., circa 1919-20. At left is a navy F-5L seaplane that had been placed at the president’s disposal by the Navy Dept. NH 46443

Nonetheless, she was still around on the East Coast when World War II came, and she was acquired by the Coast Guard as a gunboat (WPE‑183) and used in ASW patrols and training duties until decommissioned a second time in July 1946. She ended her days carrying Jewish refugees to Haifa in the late 1940s. Placed on the Israeli Navy’s list as the training ship INS Maoz (K 24), she was only scrapped in 1955.

As for Nahma’s trio of Navy skippers, LCDR Fredrick Ernest was no worse for wear. Cleared by a board of inquiry for the Italian submarine incident, he went on command of the NYC Navy Yard, the destroyer USS Preble (DD-345), the collier USS Jason (AC-12), and the training ship USS Utah (AG-16). He retired from the Navy after 30 years as a captain and, passing in San Diego in 1970 at age 88, is buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.

LCDR Harold Raynsford “Betty” Stark, who commanded Nahma briefly over Halloween 1918, would become the 8th Chief of Naval Operations and supervise United States Naval Forces Europe during WWII. Retiring in 1946, he passed away in 1972 and was buried at Arlington.

Finally, her last skipper, CDR Richard Philip McCullough, retired as a rear admiral in 1932 after 27 years of service but was then recalled for WWII, serving as director of naval intelligence for the 12th District in San Francisco (1939-43) and on the planning board and intelligence panel for the Overseas branch Office of War Information (1943-45). He passed in 1960.

Ships are more than steel
and wood
And heart of burning coal,
For those who sail upon
them know
That some ships have a
soul.

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Those wacky Army sea mines

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The beautiful and brand new 188-foot 1,300-ton U.S. Army Mine Planter No. 16, Col. George W. Ricker, at New Orleans’s Pauline Street Wharf, 14 May 1943. She arrived at the New Orleans Port of Embarkation from Point Pleasant, West Virginia, on 11 May 1943 from her builder, Marietta Manufacturing Co. She only served the Army for a year before the Navy picked her up and commissioned her as the Minesweep Gear and Repair Ship, USS Planter (ACM 2), in April 1944. Struck from the Naval Register on 23 December 1947, she was sold to commercial interests and was still in use as a fishing trawler into the 1970s. Official U.S. Army Photograph 298-1-43 via the WWII Museum.

Lost in the sauce when it comes to U.S. mine warfare in World War II is the Army’s sea mine planting efforts during the conflict.

Brainstormed by the Army as early as 1866 from experience gained against Confederate “torpedoes” in the Civil War, by 1876 an experimental defensive minefield was sown at Fort Mifflin in Pennsylvania. This led to an explosion (pun intended) in floating Army minefields during the Endicott Period of coastal defense.

By the Spanish-American War, at least 28 harbors and coastal chokepoints had Army-controlled electric submarine mines installed.

Mine 1919 Fort Pickens, outside of Pensacola. Typically 45 mines in seven groups were planted there between 1917-18

This only continued to grow and, after Army sea mines were transferred from the Corps of Engineers to the Artillery Corps, leading to the dedicated Coast Artillery Corps in 1907, the branch even kicked off an Army Mine Planter Service in 1918. At least 37 large planters, typically named after colonels and generals, were used by the AMPS during this period as well as twice as many “junior mine planters”, or “pup planters.”

Army-controlled submarine nets, mines, and shore batteries protected the entrance to San Francisco Bay May 1942 Ft. Cronkite. Of note, Fort Funston with its modern 16-inch guns, is not listed

By the time WWII came, the Coastal Artillery controlled 27 Harbor Defense Commands with minefields, at least five of them overseas in Hawaii, the Canal Zone, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. Speaking of which, USAMP Col. George F.E. Harrison and USAJMP Neptune sowed Army minefields at Manila Harbor in 1941 to help block the Japanese advance. Both planters were sunk during the Luzon campaign, with Harrison earning a Navy battle star.

The 704-ton, 172-foot USAMP Col. George F.E. Harrison moored pierside at Ilollo, Panay, Philippine Islands, 2 February 1933. Sunk by Japanese dive bombers in May 1942, she was later raised and would serve as the Japanese Imperial Navy cable ship IJN Harushima, only to be sent to the bottom again, this time by American dive bombers, in 1945. U.S. Army Signal Corps photo # 331549, U.S. National Archives 111-SCA-Album-2986.

On 7 December 1941, the Army had approximately 5,000 controlled mines on hand for harbor defense and during the war would sow 7,320 (3,569 contact and 3,751 magnetic) domestically along with 1,847 mines ex-CONUS.

That doesn’t even count the no less than 12,000 air-dropped offensive mines laid by the USAAF in the Pacific during the war, which is a whole different story.

Operation Starvation. Loading aerial mines on a B-29 of the 468th Bomb Group, 24 January 1945. (NARA)

Via Navweaps: 

By 1945, the Army Air Force was devoting considerable resources to the mining role, with 80 to 100 B-29s based at Tinian being used to mine the home waters around Japan. These B-29s could carry seven 2,000 lbs. (907 kg). or twelve 1,000 lbs. (454 kg) mines. “Operation Starvation” started in March 1945 and continued until early August with 4,900 magnetic, 3,500 acoustic, 2,900 pressure, and 700 low-frequency mines being laid. These mines sank 294 ships outright, damaged another 137 beyond repair, and damaged a further 239 that could be repaired. In cargo tonnage, the total was 1.4 million tons lost or damaged which was about 75% of the shipping available in March 1945.

With the Army’s airborne minedropping capability going in 1947 to the newly established USAAF (which still maintains the little talked about skillset), and the disbandment of the Coastal Artillery branch soon after, when the defunct AMPS was fully zeroed out on paper on 22 January 1954– 70 years ago today– it closed the Big Green’s 88-year run with sea mines.

Propping up the popgun

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How about this great image of a U.S. Coast Guardsman in winter blues on an unidentified cutter alongside a stern 6-pounder 57mm deck gun circa 1916-1920s. Note the Portland Shipbuilding Company Spar Yard sign in the background, an outfit in Portland, Oregon that operated along the west bank of the Willamette River for 70 years.

USCG Historian’s Office 220211-G-G0000-032

The humble 6-pounder, of which the Navy had over 700 examples (of 13 types) on hand in 1901, was a common anti-torpedo boat gun designed in the 1880s originally by Hotchkiss then surpassed by competing designs by Driggs-Schroeder and Nordenfeldt.

They were a ready standby of the Spanish-American War era. 

USS Newark. Electrician 1/c Sullivan with one of the ship’s six-pounder guns, in 1898. NH 80783

It was rapidly replaced during and immediately after the Great War in U.S. Navy service on all but local patrol craft, minesweepers, and auxiliaries with something larger or more effective — typically 3″/23s or 3″50s– although some models with decent elevation attributes were retained for a while as “balloon busters” and for use as saluting guns. 

Nonetheless, the little gun endured with the Coast Guard.

A simple and light mount, typically less than 900 pounds without its shield installed, it did not penetrate the deck and required no electricity or hoists to move it or its handy 6-pound shells. Still, capable of being fired at rates of up to 20 shells per minute if the crew was well-drilled and, with a range of 8,700 yards, it could still bark.

2nd LT Godfrey L. Carden instructing a 6-pounder gun crew aboard the Revenue Cutter Morill in South Carolina waters, circa 1892. Note the rarely-seen USRSC officer’s sword. Carden would become the COTP for New York City in the Great War. USCGH Photo 210210-G-G0000-1002

For a service that, in peacetime, only needed a popgun to fire shots across the bow of smugglers and poachers and to poke holes in floating derelicts that posed a hazard to navigation, the QF 6 remained a viable option, appearing on several cutters well into the start of WWII and cutters so equipped practiced against moving targets (at a range of 750 yards) at least twice a year. 

US Navy 6 pdr Service (left) and Target (right) ammunition via USN 1943 OP-4 Ord Manual

In the early 1940s, the large 240-foot cruising cutters Haida, Modoc, Mojave, and Tampa, as well as the smaller 165-foot Tallapoosa and Ossippee, along with the five new 327-foot Bibb (Treasury) class and 10 1920s construction 250-foot Cayuga (Lake) class cutters– some 21 ships in total– all still carried a couple of old 6-pounders in addition to their regular armament, with 55 service rounds and 110 “Navy” blanks per gun (the odd number as they were packed in 11-round wooden cases as all-up complete shells).
 

Manning a 5 gun on a Coast Guard Cutter, August 27, 1931. By 1940, the USCG had at least 19 large cutters that carried big (for the service) 5″/51s, and trained with them regularly. However, they were considered “war service” mounts only. NARA 026-g-046-014-001

This is because the more modern 3″/23s, 3″50s, and 5″/51s also carried by these ships were considered reserved for “war use” and were not to be used on normal patrols “unless circumstances of the case render such use highly advisable.” 
 
From the USCG 1938 Ordnance manual: 
 
 
In addition, the 6-pounders could be used for line throwing, more accurately and to longer distances than the standard Lyle gun (which was heavy and typically used ashore) and Trapdoor Springfields that were typically dedicated to the task, making them useful for rescues in high seas or from wrecks on reefs.

Coast Guard cutter Manning (1898-1930) preparing to shoot a tow line to a disabled schooner from her 6-pounder

USCGC Mojave. 11 May 1929. “Coast Guardsmen firing the Camden line-throwing a projectile from the 6-pounder. This line and gun are used in extremely bad weather, where the shoulder line-throwing gun is inadequate.” USCG Image. National Archives Identifier 205580631

For this, the service’s gunners mates made special “impulse” rounds, a much lighter charge that the regular Navy issue blank (which was typically used for salutes and “shots across the bow.”) The impulse round, containing 6 ounces of black powder, was sufficient to heave the line throwing projectile 300 yards or more with the gun elevated to 30 degrees. Of note, the standard Navy saluting/blank load for a 6-pounder used a 12-ounce charge of black shell powder, double the USCG impulse load. 
 

6-pounder and 3-pounder line throwing projectiles, via OP 4 (1943)

 
Using 6 pounder 57mm gun for line throwing USCG Ordnance manual 1938:
 

A reoccurring theme

Similarly, the Coast Guard continued to use the old WWII-era 5″/38 and 3″/50 guns, only retiring them in the late 1990s long after the Navy was done with them.

Last USCG 5 inch 38 being cut at RTC Yorktown 1993 or 1994

Last USCG 5 inch 38 being cut RTC Yorktown 1993 or 1994

Today the USCG is the final American user of the OTO Melera MK 75 76mm gun in U.S. service and has been since 2015.

That mount is likely to be retired in US service sometime in the 2030s when the final 270-foot Bear class cutters are put to pasture after 50 years of service.

The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Northland conducts a live firing of the MK 75 76mm weapons system while underway, on September 20, 2020, in the Atlantic Ocean. The cutter returned to its homeport of Portsmouth, Virginia, Wednesday after a 47-day patrol conducting counter-drug and migrant interdiction operations in the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. (U.S. Coast Guard courtesy photo)

One day, they will probably be the last user of the Bofors 57mm MK 110.

Army Reset, 1903 edition

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Some 120 years ago, the U.S. Army’s experience fighting in Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Spanish-American War, followed by overseas campaigning in the Western Pacific to pacify the Philippines, led the force to leave behind its only gently updated Frontier ways for something more modern. For example in these American Solider prints by H. Charles McBarron.

The 1898 U.S. Soldier shows the last use of the blue Army field uniform in a major U.S. war. The trend toward neutral colors had led to the adoption of a khaki tropical service uniform but few of the troops who reached Cuba were issued it. Also note the exposed cartridge Mills belt, from which hang his canvas haversack and the knife bayonet for his side-loading Krag rifle. In addition to the old “Union blue” uniform trimmed in black mohair, both the Medical Department officer and the artillery private are wearing the enameled red, white, and blue five-bastion fort badge of Headquarters, Fifth Army Corps, on their hats– an extension of the unit identification system introduced during the Civil War.

The below 1903 plate by McBarron shows the difference just a half-decade can make. Showing troops in the Philippine Islands, they are wearing khaki tropical service dress with bronze buttons. The Grab campaign hat, distinctively American, became the official head covering and was the most liked by the soldier.

In the left foreground is a first lieutenant with the gold hat cord and bronze coat of arms of the United States on his standing collar, both worn by all officers of the Army. On his coat he wears the silver shoulder bar of his rank and on his collar bronze crossed rifles indicate his arm, the infantry. The lieutenant’s breeches are laced from the calf nearly to the knee and are close fitting to go under his russet leather leggings. His waistbelt, of the same color of leather, supports his .38-caliber holstered service revolver and his saber.

The sergeant in the right foreground is in the same uniform as the lieutenant. He has an infantry blue cord on his hat and infantry blue chevrons on the sleeves of his coat despite the adoption of white as the infantry color in late 1902. Troops in or returning from the Philippines were permitted to continue using items in the old infantry blue until they were worn out and stocks were exhausted. On the sergeant’s hat can be seen the numeral and letter identifying his unit and on his collar the crossed rifles and the block letters U.S., all in bronze. In the place of the lieutenant’s leather leggings he wears khaki, canvas ones, and his belt is the blue-grey looped cartridge belt used with the .30-caliber Krag rifle.

The privates in the background are wearing the most frequently seen version of the khaki uniform without the coat—dark navy blue wool shirt, which was a holdover from pre-tropical service days. The soldier on the left is ready for field service with his blanket roll, covered by the khaki shelter half, slung over his shoulder. The soldier on the right, a sentry, carries only his rifle and wears the cartridge belt.

Of course, the Krag in 1903 was on its way out, replaced by the Mauser-based M1903 Springfield and its big M1905 bayonet, with the Mills belt to be phased out instead of the 10-pouch dual-stripper clip M1910 canvas belt that would become iconic in the Great War.

Similarly, the largely ornamental Model 1902 Army Officers’ Saber replaced the Civil War-era M1850 Staff & Field Officers Sword– resulting in the weapon no longer being suitable for campaigning– while the very capable M1911 .45 ACP would tap out the anemic Colt M1892 .38 Long revolver. 

With a few other changes, the road to the Doughboy of 1917 was clear.

Soldier with 30th DIV sniping from a trench in Belgium July 9, 1918. 

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