Category Archives: US Navy

Steaming in Circles

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80 years ago this week, how about this great original color image of the Moore-McCormack company’s American Republics Liner Rio de la Plata, seen in her WWII configuration as the escort carrier USS Charger (CVE-30), seen with a Grumman TBF (or TBM) “Avenger” torpedo plane landing on board, during flight training operations in the Chesapeake Bay Area, 22 April 1944. Note flight deck crewmen in the galleries and the ship’s angular smokestack.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-K-1518 (Color)

Charger had an interesting career, and by the time of the above image, she had already recorded 23,000 landings– a figure she would almost double before the end of the war.

Built by the Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Chester, Pennsylvania for Moore-McCormack to a 17,500-ton government C3-P&C cargo/passenger liner design, she was launched on 1 March 1941 but acquired, incomplete along with her three sisters, by the Navy soon after.

All four would be completed as 15,000-ton escort carriers including a 410-foot flight deck, a 190×47-foot hangar for aircraft stowage, the capability to operate as many as 15 aircraft, a single 42×34 elevator, and 9 arrestor wires. Armarment was four 4″/50 DP guns and 15 20mm Orelikons.

Commissioned on 2 October 1941 as HMS Charger (D27) for the Royal Navy at a time when the U.S., still two months out from the attack on Pearl Harbor, was still at an uneasy peace, for various reasons she reverted to U.S. custody two days later and became USS Charger (AVG-30) under the command of Capt. Thomas Lamison Sprague (USNA 1918).

USS Charger (CVE-30), 3 pts off starboard bow, January 6, 1944. 80-G-208394

While her three sisters went on to serve the RN well as HMS Avenger (D14), HMS Biter (D97), and HMS Dasher (D37), Charger remained in American service throughout the war, steaming circles around Chesapeake Bay training pilots and ships’ crews in carrier operations.

A U.S. Navy General Motors FM-2 Wildcat fighter prepares to take off from the escort carrier USS Charger (CVE-30) during training operations in the Chesapeake Bay area, 8 May 1944. Another FM-2 is passing overhead with its tail hook down, apparently having received a “wave-off” due to the carrier’s fouled flight deck. Note the light Atlantic area paint schemes worn by these planes. U.S. Navy photo 80-G-K-1601

She logged over 44,000 landings between April 1942 and April 1945, typically averaging 250 per day when underway on evolutions.

From her War History:

As noted by DANFS:

Men trained on her decks played an important role in the successful contest for the Atlantic with hostile submarines carried out by the escort carrier groups.

Charger, perhaps the only U.S. Navy carrier to serve for the entire duration of WWII to not receive any battle stars, was decommissioned at New York on 15 March 1946 and sold on 30 January 1947.

Postwar, she was converted to serve in her original role as a combiliner, operated by the Italian-managed Sitmar (Vlasov) Line as the SS Fairsea until 1969 when she was finally scrapped.

Seperated by 9,000 miles: 66 & 77

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80 years ago.

Two Gator (LST Mk 2) sister ships, built almost side-by-side in the same yard in Indiana (Jeffboat), were hard at work on opposite sides of the globe in two very different campaigns in the same week.

USS LST-66 disembarking troops while beached at Red Beach #2, Tanah Merah Bay, Dutch New Guinea (Hollandia Operation), 23 April 1944. (US National Archives Identifier 205584995, Local Identifier 26-G-2184, U.S. Coast Guard Photo # 2184. by Coast Guard photographer Struges)

USS LST-77 lands Fifth Army M-4 Sherman medium tanks on the Anzio Waterfront, Italy, on 27 April 1944. National Archives SC 189668

USS LST-66, under the command of LT. Howard E. White, USCGR, had been built by the Jeffersonville Boat & Machine Co., Jeffersonville, Indiana between August 1942 and April 1943. Sailing for the Pacific, she joined LST Flotilla Eleven where she landed troops and equipment during the Bismarck Archipelago operation (Cape Gloucester, Admiralty Islands), Eastern New Guinea (Saidor), Hollandia, Western New Guinea (Toem-Wakde-Sarmi, Biak, Noemfoor, Cape Sanaspoor, Morotai), Leyte, Luzon, Mindanao, and Balikpapan, earning eight battle stars and the Navy Unit Commendation. Decommissioned, on 26 March 1946 and struck soon after, she was sold for scrap in 1948.

USS LST-77, under the command of LT(jg) Anothy Kohout Jr., USNR, had been built by the Jeffersonville Boat & Machine Co., Jeffersonville, Indiana between February and July 1943. She sailed to Europe and fought off German attacks as part of the hard-luck Convoy UGS-37, landed troops and equipment at Anzio, and participated in the Dragoon Landings in Southern France– delivering troops to Grande Beach on 24 August 1944 and St Tropez the following week. Loaned to the Royal Navy in December 1944, she was sailed around the Adriatic as a part of the 11th Flotilla, carrying troops, partisans, and civilians until October 1945 when handed back over to the USN. She was stricken from the NVR in 1946 and sold the following year for scrap, having earned two battle stars.

Polaris Surface Surprise

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Some 60 years ago this month, an important show of force for the Fleet Ballistic Missile Progam:

The Lafayette class ballistic missile submarine USS Henry Clay (SSBN-625) launches a Polaris A-2 missile from the surface of the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Kennedy, Florida, on 20 April 1964. This was the first demonstration that Polaris subs could launch missiles from the surface as well as from beneath the surface. Just 30 minutes earlier, Clay had successfully launched an A-2 missile submerged.

USN Photo 1094722

The above tactic would come in handy if, say, the FBM was stuck in port and an emergency launch order came, or, for instance, if surfaced in the icepack.

The objects flying through the air around the missile are launch adapters designed to detach themselves automatically once the missile has left the tube. The sub’s slight port list is a standard part of surface launch procedures. The tall mast is a temporary telemetry antenna installed for operations at the Cape only.

The 15th of the famed “41 for Freedom” boomers, Henry Clay was launched on 30 November 1962 and commissioned on 20 February 1964.

Henry Clay was decommissioned on 5 November 1990 and her recycling was completed on 30 September 1997.

Pegasus Out, T-54A In

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The twin PT6A-34B turboprop Beech King Air B90 was adopted in 1977 by the Navy as the T-44 Pegasus for “intermediate and advanced multi-engine flight training for the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and select international military partners.” In short, training the guys (and gals) who would go on to fly E-2 Hawkeyes, C-130s, and P-3 Orions.

A T-44C Pegasus (above) stands on the flight line aboard Naval Air Station Corpus Christi before a scheduled flight. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by 1st Lt. Pawel Puczko/Released)

In all, some 61 T-44s were purchased in the late 1970s and later updated in the early 2000s to the T-44C standard, currently operated by Training Air Wing (TAW) 4 out of NAS Corpus Christi.

However, the surviving T-44s are all pushing some 40 years on their frames and have thousands of hours on them, meaning a replacement was needed for these unsung school birds.

That led NAVAIR to contract Textron and Beech to develop the new T-54A multi-engine training system (METS) aircraft last January, with 64 new aircraft to take over the role of the T-44 in training the next several generations of V-22 Osprey, E-2D Hawkeye, C-130 Hercules, and P-8 Poseidon drivers.

The T-54A is a twin PT6A-52 turboprop-powered Beech King Air 260 that is essentially off the shelf with a few tweaks requested by the Navy.

Artistic rendering of T-54A aircraft. Image courtesy of Textron Aviation.

The first two T-54As arrived at NAS Corpus Christi yesterday— and, while in Beech’s standard blue and white livery now, they will soon have a great scheme.

The arrival of the first multi-engine training system (METS) replacement in over 45 years is not just historic for TAW-4, but for the entire naval air training enterprise. This aircraft is the first of the Chief of Naval Air Training’s (CNATRA) entire fleet of over 650 aircraft to include a glossy grey paint scheme. This paint scheme, which was announced alongside a “Midway” blue paint coat for CNATRA’s T-6B Texan II aircraft, is an effort to reconnect students and instructors with the fleet. The glossy grey color of the T-54A reflects similar paint coats of the P-8A Poseidon and E-2D Hawkeye.

A T-54A multi-engine aircraft sits on the flight line of Naval Air Station (NAS) Corpus Christi, April 18. The arrival of the T-54A heralds a new generation of Naval Aviators who will use the trainer to earn their wings of gold as they prepare to fly such aircraft as the P-8A Poseidon, E-2D Hawkeye and C-130 Hercules. The T-54A replaces the T-44C Pegasus, an aircraft that has been in naval service since 1977. Photo by Ensign Alan Wang

Warship Wednesday (On a Thursday) April 18, 2024: Return for the Taxpayer

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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 (On a Thursday) April 18, 2024: Return for the Taxpayer

U.S. Navy photograph 80-G-289893, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Above we see the leader of her class of dreadnoughts, USS New York (Battleship No. 34), photographed clad in Measure 31a/8B camo, off Norfolk on 14 November 1944. Note rows of shielded 20mm Orelikons manning her rails, a stern quad 40mm Bofors, and large SG and SK radars on her foremast. 

Still echoing the fine lines of a Great War battlewagon– during which she served with the British Grand Fleet– New York had already done hard work in WWII off North Africa and in riding shotgun on convoys in case Kriegsmarine surface raiders appeared and is shown above just as she was preparing to leave for more fighting in the Pacific, in all steaming some 123,867 miles from 7 December 1941 to her homeward bound journey back to the East Coast from Pearl Harbor.

Commissioned on Tax Day some 110 years ago this week– 15 April 1914– for $14 million, the taxpayers got a great return for their investment.

Empire State and Lone Star

By 1911, the U.S. had ordered eight dreadnoughts in successively larger sizes in four different pairs ranging from the two-ship South Carolina class (16,000 tons, 8×12 inch guns, 18.5 knots, 12-inch armor belt), to the two-ship Delaware class (20,000 tons, 10×12 inch guns, 21 knots, 11-inch belt), the two ship Florida class (21,000 tons, 10×12 inch guns, 21 knots, 11 inch belt) and finally the two Wyoming class ships (26,000 tons, 12×12 inch guns, 20 knots, 11-inch belt).

With the lessons learned from these, the next pair, New York, and sistership USS Texas (BB-35),

Postcard showing ship information of the New York class battleships, which included USS New York (BB 34) and USS Texas (BB 35). PR-06-CN-454-C6-F6-31

The ship’s main battery would be 10 of the new 14″/45 Mark 1 guns, arranged in five two-gun turrets. It could fire a 1,400-pound Mark 8 AP shell to 22,000 yards. At point blank (6,000 yards) range, the Mark 8 was thought capable of penetrating 17.2 inches of side armor plate.

USS New York (BB-34) in her original configuration as seen from a kite balloon about 1300 feet above the ship, which was making 17 knots, giving a great overhead look at her armament. NH 45149

The secondary battery would be 21 5″/51s arranged one “stinger” aft, in casemates, and on deck. By tradition, one of these was manned by her Marine Detachment.

USS New York (Battleship #34), Marine Detachment loading the 5″/51 Gun, during World War I.

The class was also built, as most battleships of the era, with surface attack torpedo tubes for some reason. They had four 21-inch tubes installed- one on each side of the bow and one on each side of the stern– with co-located magazines able to carry a total of a dozen 1,500-pound Bliss-Leavitt Mark 3 torpedoes, rated to carry their 200-pound warhead to some 4,000 yards at 26 knots.

Almost as an afterthought, two 1-pounder 37mm guns were fitted, one atop each lattice mast, for AAA/counter-kite work. 

Jane’s Fighting Ship’s entry for the class, circa 1914.

Meet New York

Our subject is the fifth U.S. Navy ship to carry the moniker of the 11th State of the Union, with previous name carriers including a Revolutionary War gundalow, a 36-gun frigate burned by the Brits in 1814, a 74-gun ship-of-the-line that languished on the ways for 40 years, a screw sloop that shared a similar fate, and an armored cruiser who saw combat in the Spanish American War then was renamed (first Saratoga, then Rochester) to free up the name for new battlewagon.

“Bombardment of Matanzas” by the armored cruiser USS New York, the protected cruiser USS Cincinnati and monitor USS Puritan, April 27, 1898, by Henry Reuterdahl NH 71838-KN

The latter armored cruiser even gave up her 670-pound circa 1893 Meneely Bell Co. of Watervliet, NY, bell, which was rededicated and presented to the new New York in 1914.

Appropriately, while Texas was built at Newport News, our subject was ordered from the New York Navy Yard. The future USS New York was laid down (ironically now) on 11 September 1911 and launched on 30 October 1912, sponsored by Miss Elsie Calder, daughter of Congressman William M. Calder of Brooklyn.

She was commissioned on 15 April 1914 with her first skipper being Capt. Thomas Slidell Rodgers (USNA 1878), a veteran of the Spanish-American War.

USS New York (BB-34) the National Ensign is raised at the battleship’s stern during her commissioning ceremonies, on 15 April 1914, at the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y. with a view of the same event from a different angle showing her stern 5″/51 gun mount and sistership USS Texas (BB-35) in background, fitting out with scaffolding around her main mast. NH 83711 and NH 82137.

How about this for a dreadnought shot? USS New York (BB-34) loading stores at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on April 24, 1914. Note the brown hoist 15-ton locomotive crane at left and horse-drawn vehicles, including one from the Busch Bottling Co. George G. Bain Collection. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Shortly after bringing her into commission, Rodgers took on funds for the fleet and an oversized detachment of Marines and took New York south to the Gulf of Mexico, where the brand-new battleship served as the flagship for RADM Frank Friday Fletcher’s squadron blockading Veracruz, Mexico, a role she continued to hold through most of the summer.

USS New York (BB-34) underway at high speed, 29 May 1915. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. 19-N-13046

After the crisis abated, New York would sail for Hampton Roads and assume the mantle of flagship, First Division, Atlantic Fleet, which she would hold until March 1915. She would then spend the next two years in an annual cycle of winter gunnery and tactical training in Caribbean waters and summer cruising off the East Coast.

USS New York (BB-34). In Hampton Roads, Virginia, 10 December 1916. Note the rangefingers atop Turrets No. 2. and No. 4. NH 45138.

War!

When the Great War finally reached the long-slumbering American giant in April 1917, New York and her sisters began a feverish workup period to get war-ready. For what, it turned out, was to be tapped to augment the British fleet. As the newest U.S. battleships were oil burners, and New York– at the time, the flagship of Division Six, Atlantic Fleet– and her older sisters and cousins could still be fed on good Welsh coal, the call went through.

As detailed by DANFS:

The Navy Department, on 12 November 1917, selected the coal-burners New York, Florida (Battleship No. 30), Wyoming, and Delaware (Battleship No. 28) to form Battleship Division Nine as reinforcement for the British Grand Fleet. The battleships were to be commanded by Rear Adm. Hugh Rodman. The next day the flag for Division Six, Battleship Force was transferred from New York to Utah (Battleship No. 31) and the flag for the Commander of Division Nine, Battleship Force was broken in New York. The battleship arrived at Tompkinsville on 15 November and the next day, she shifted to the New York Navy Yard to be fitted out for distant service. She remained at the yard until the 22nd, when she departed for Lynnhaven Roads, Va., arriving on the 23rd.

At 3:00 p.m. on 25 November 1917, Battleship Division Nine sailed from Lynnhaven Roads with Manley (Destroyer No. 74) in escort. While Manley was to join the convoy escort and patrol forces based at Base No. 6, Queenstown [Cobh], Ireland, Division Nine was bound for the Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet anchorage at Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands, Scotland, to serve under the command of Adm. Sir David Beatty, RN. The weather on the voyage was bad from the start, but worsened during the night of 30 November-1 December. Delaware and Florida lost contact with New York and Wyoming. New York took on over 250 tons of water in her chain locker and forward compartments and only the efforts of bailing lines for three days prevented the ship from foundering. Division Nine eventually re-consolidated at 7:00 a.m. on 7 December at Cape Wrath and continued on to Scapa Flow. With a hearty welcome from the crews of the ships of the Grand Fleet, the ships anchored at noon.

“Arrival of the American Fleet at Scapa Flow, 7 December 1917” Oil on canvas by Bernard F. Gribble, depicting the U.S. Navy’s Battleship Division Nine being greeted by British Admiral David Beatty and the crew of HMS Queen Elizabeth. Ships of the American column are (from front) USS New York (BB-34), USS Wyoming (BB-32), USS Florida (BB-30) and USS Delaware (BB-28). U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C. NH 58841-KN

Under British command, Battleship Division Nine was re-designated as the Sixth Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet.

USS New York (BB-34) in British waters, 1918. NH 45144

USS New York (BB-34) camouflaged with a false bow, in 1917-18, while serving in British waters. Note another American battlewagon in the background left. NH 45142

The Squadron sailed extensively on both workups with the British and convoy missions, with New York’s gun crews counting at least one encounter with a German U-boat.

When the Germans finally sortied out in strength, it was to surrender.

New York, with VADM William Snowden Sims and RADM Hugh Rodman aboard, assumed her position in column with the entirety of the Grand Fleet in the Firth of Forth on 21 November 1918, to accept the surrender of the High Seas Fleet.

Surrender of German High Seas Fleet, as seen from USS New York, 21 November 1918. Oil on canvas by Bernard F. Gribble, 1920. NH 58842-KN

Battleships of the Sixth Battle Squadron The squadron is shown anchored in a column in the left half of the photograph, at Brest, France, on 13 December 1918. NH 109382.

While seconded to the Royal Navy, New York played host repeatedly to visiting royals in British waters. This included Admiral Price Hirohito (yes, the future Emperor, on his only visit to an American warship), King George V, the young Prince of Wales (future King Edward VIII) King Albert of Belgium, the 8th Duke and Dutchess of Athol, and Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn.

She would also escort Wilson to France for the Versailles conferences.

USS New York (Battleship #34) escorted President Wilson to France in 1918. Note the AAA guns on platforms between the stacks. Naval History and Heritage Command, NH 48144

She was welcomed back home to New York City (where else) just in time for Christmas 1918.

USS New York (BB-34) off New York City for the Victory review on 27 December 1918. NH 45145

Soon after, a commemorative bronze tablet was installed on her quarterdeck.

NH 114261

Celebrating New York’s Great War service, her image, shown steaming from west to east, was used on the reverse of the $2 Federal Reserve Bank Note, of which $136,232,000 worth of bills were printed between 1918 and 1922.

Interbellum and reconstruction

After just a few months stateside, New York was ordered to transfer to the Pacific Fleet, stationed out of San Francisco, which would be her home

USS New York (BB-34) in the east chamber, Pedro Miguel lock, during the passage of the Pacific fleet through the Panama Canal, 26 July 1919. NH 75721

USS New York (BB 34), aerial view of the battleship as she transits the Panama Canal. Photograph released July 1919. Note the details of her masts and secondary armament. 80-G-461375.

USS New York (BB-34) entering Vancouver Harbor, B.C., on 5 August 1921. NH 89557

Sisters are back together again! USS New York (BB-34) and USS Texas (BB-35) Drydocked at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia, during the mid-1920s. NH 45153

USS New York, in the foreground, followed by sister Texas (BB-35), and Wyoming (BB-32), proceeding at full speed across the Pacific firing their guns during annual battle maneuvers. Courtesy of the San Francisco Maritime Museum NH 69006

By August 1926, she was sent to Norfolk Navy Yard for an extensive 13-month modernization.

This reconstruction gutted the old coal-fired engineering suite, replacing 14 original Babcock boilers with 6 more efficient oil-fired boilers, which of course required her bunkerage to change from one medium to the other. This resulted in her two stacks becoming one single stack. Her beam stretched 10 feet with the addition of torpedo blisters on her sides. Meanwhile, her lattice masts were ditched, and replaced by enclosed pagoda-style houses on shorter tripod masts, which dropped her overall height (from keel) from 199 feet to 186 feet.

USS New York BB-34 in drydock during refit at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Virginia. 10 April 1927.

When it came to armament, her four torpedo tubes were removed as was most of her secondary battery (culling it from 21 5″/51s to just 6 guns, all above decks). Her 14″/45s were upgraded with their chamber volumes enlarged to allow larger charges to give an increased muzzle velocity, switching from Mark 1/2/3 guns to Mark 8/9/10 standard. For AAA work, she picked up eight 3″/50 DP guns arrayed four to a side. She also picked up the capability to carry, launch, recover, and maintain as many as four observation planes.

When she rejoined the fleet in September 1927, her mother would not have recognized her.

USS New York anchored in Hampton Roads on October 17, 1929. Note the single stack and rearranged masts, now with houses. NH 64509

Jane’s Fighting Ship’s entry for the class, circa 1931.

USS New York (BB 34), port bow, while anchored, February 12, 1930. Photographed by U.S. Naval Air Station, Coco Solo, Canal Zone. 80-CF-14-2043-1

She was a favorite of the fleet, a showboat, and was often at the head of formations during this period.

USS New York (BB-34) leads USS Nevada (BB-36) and USS Oklahoma (BB-37) during maneuvers, in 1932. The carrier USS Langley (CV-1) is partially visible in the distance. NH 48138

USS New York (BB-34) leading the formation for fleet review in New York on 31 May 1934. Note how wide she is post torpedo blisters. This added 3,000 tons to her displacement and gave her and Texas a tendency to roll in heavy seas. NH 712

USS New York (BB-34) At fleet review in New York, 31 May 1934. Note the assortment of Curtiss floatplanes on her catapult. NH 638

New York attended the Coronation ceremonial naval review at Spithead in 1937 for King George VI, continuing her long link to the British royals.

Battleship USS New York, Spithead Coronation Fleet Review, May 20th, 1937. IWM

More improvements would come. In 1937, she picked up two quad 5-ton 1.1-inch/75 caliber “Chicago Piano” AAA guns– thought state of the art at the time and were just entering service.

1.1 AA gun, the Chicago Piano

In December 1938, New York became the first American warship to carry a working surface search radar set. The experimental Brewster 200 megacycle XAF set, designed by the Naval Research Laboratory, ran just 15 kW of energy but its giant 17 sq. ft. rotating “flying bedspring” duplexer antenna proved capable of tracking an aircraft out to 100 nm and a ship at 15. By 1940, the XAF was modified to become the more well-known RCA-made CXAM, and the rest is history.

USS New York (BB-34). View of the ship’s forward superstructure, with the antenna of the XAF radar atop her pilot house, circa late 1938 or early 1939. Note the battleship’s foremast, with its gunfire control facilities; her armored conning tower; and the rangefinder atop her Number Two gun turret. NH 77350

She was going to need it.

Battleships of the New York-class, USS New York and USS Texas, in New York City during the New York World’s Fair, 3 May 1939.

War (again)

After the grueling Neutrality Patrol following the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, New York spent the beginning of the war escorting convoys between the U.S. and Iceland, which the Americans had occupied.

Occupation of Iceland, July 1941. Seen from the Quarterdeck of USS New York (BB-34), Atlantic Fleet Ships steam out of Reykjavik Harbor, Iceland at the time of the initial U.S. occupation in early July 1941. The next ship astern is USS Arkansas (BB-33), followed by USS Brooklyn (CL-40) and USS Nashville (CL-43). Note 3″/50 gun on alert at left, and quick-release life ring at right. 80-G-K-5919

Her AAA suite would balloon throughout the conflict to 10 quad 40mm Bofors mounts (40 guns) and another 46 20mm Oerlikons. She also saw her crew almost double, from her designed 1,069-man watch bill to one that grew to over 1,700 by 1944.

Early in the war, her Curtiss SOC Seagulls were replaced by iconic OS2U Kingfishers, which had a longer range and greater payload. She would put them to effective use.

Three Vought OS2U scout planes take off in Casco Bay, Maine, on 3 May 1943. Photographed from USS New York (BB-34) floatplanes seaplanes

USS New York (BB 34), placing 3rd OS2U on the catapult. Photographed May 1943. 80-G-82708

Once the U.S. got into the war post-Pearl Harbor, New York was one of the few battleships left in the Atlantic. She was assigned to escort two further convoys to Iceland (16 Feb- 18 March 1942, and 30 April- 10 May 1942) as well as two to Scotland (in June and August 1942), alternating with Atlantic patrol duty looking out for the Bismarck– with both New York and Texas coming very close to the German boogeyman and her consort, Prinz Eugene. 

By November 1942, New York was tapped to help provide coverage to the Torch Landings in North Africa. There, off Safi, she fired 60 of her big 14-inch shells– the first time in anger– supporting the U.S. Army’s 47th Infantry Regiment ashore. During the campaign, she was straddled by French coastal artillery and, at Fedala, narrowly avoided German torpedoes.

Battleship USS New York (BB-34) Norfolk Naval Yard 11 August 1942 escort carrier USS Charger (ACV-30) just before leaving for Torch landings

USS New York (BB-34) off North Africa on 10 November 1942, just after the Battle of Casablanca. 80-G-31582

Once Torch was wrapped up, New York was used for two subsequent convoy runs (December 1942 and March-April 1943) between the U.S. and North Africa.

Across her six convoys (two each to Iceland, Scotland, and Casablanca), none of the ships under her watchful eye were lost or damaged by enemy action.

What a magnificent photo! USS New York (BB-34) pitching into heavy seas while en route from Casablanca on convoy escort duty, in March 1943. The view looks forward from her foremast. Note her twin 14″/45 gun turrets and water flowing over the main deck. 80-G-65893

USS New York (BB-34) in Casablanca Harbor, 1943. Photo from the LIFE Magazine archives, taken by J.R. Eyerman. Note that her radar and antennas have been airbrushed out

In March 1943, the Sultan of Morocco visited her.

Then came more than a year stateside, used for training.

She would serve as a floating Main Battery (14″/45, which was still used by sister Texas as well as Nevada and Pennsylvania while California, Tennessee, Idaho, and New Mexico had only slightly different 14″/50s) and Destroyer Escort Gunnery (3″/50, 40mm Bofors, 1.1/75 Chicago Piano, and 20mm Oerlikon) School from June 1943 to July 1944, steaming circles in Chesapeake Bay, and then, in the late summer of 1944, would be used for a trio of midshipmen training cruises to the Caribbean.

USS New York (BB-34) off the U.S. east coast, circa 1943, while a gunnery training ship. The only slightly older USS Wyoming would spend her entire WWII career in the Chesapeake on this duty. 80-G-411691

During this quiet period, New York trained approximately 750 officers and 11,000 recruits of the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, and allied forces as well as 1,800 Annapolis midshipmen.

Missing the landings in Italy and France, it was decided to shift the old girl to the Pacific in preparation for the last amphibious operations in the drive to the Japanese home islands. Leaving New York in November 1944– the lead photo of this post– she would arrive at San Pedro, California via ‘The Ditch” by 6 December.

USS New York (BB-34) photographed in 1944-45, while painted in camouflage Measure 31A, Design 8b. Note her extensive radar suite and annetaa array– which by this time of the war included SG, SK, and FC (Mk 3) radars as well as two Mk 19 radars– has not been airbrushed out. NH 63525

En route to Iwo Jima, she had an engineering casualty, with a blade on her port screw dropping that limited her maximum speed to just 13 knots and cramped her ability to maneuver. Nonetheless, New York still arrived in time for the pre-invasion bombardment of Iwo on 16 February and closed to within 1,500 yards of the invasion beaches to deliver rounds on target. She fired 1,037 14-inch shells in the campaign in addition to another 5,300 smaller caliber rounds (not counting AAA fire).

USS New York (BB-34) bombarding Japanese defenses on Iwo Jima, on 16 February 1945. She has just fired the left-hand 14″/45 gun of the Number Four turret. The view looks aft, on the starboard side. 80-G-308952

Able to get her busted screw repaired at Manus once the Iwo Jima landings ended, New York was in the gunline off Okinawa in late March, again in time to get in on the pre-invasion bombardment, providing NGFS to the U.S. Tenth Army and the Marine III Amphibious Corps throughout the month-long campaign, firing more than 4,000 14-inch shells alone.

Her aviation unit while off Okinawa was also amazingly active, with her three Kingfishers not only correcting fire from New York and 11 other ships on the gunline to support the Devils and Joes ashore, but they also fired 30,000 rounds of .30-06 in strafing runs on exposed Japanese targets– an unsung mission for Navy floatplanes.

Her closest brush with the Divine Wind came on 14 April 1945 off Okinawa when a Japanese plane came in amidships and crashed into a Kingfisher on the catapult. Incredibly, the Old Lady shrugged off the impact with only superficial damage– the bulk of the Japanese aircraft continued to come to rest in the ocean some 50 yards off New York’s starboard side–
and the ship listed just two personnel with minor casualties.

The Kingfisher damaged after being clipped by a kamikaze on 17 April 1945. The aircraft was later craned off ashore. NH 66187

Once the Okinawa operations stabilized, New York retired to Pearl to swap out her well-used 14″/45s for new ones in preparation for the upcoming invasion of Japan proper, Operation Olympic. She was there when VJ Day came, and those new guns weren’t needed.

She held to a quote attributed to Admiral Mahan, that, “Historically, good men on old ships are better than poor men on new ships,” with the words written on a sign on her quarterdeck.

Despite her extensive campaigning– from the Torch landings and screening convoys to bringing the pain in Iwo Jima and Okinawa– New York only earned three battle stars for her WWII service.

She made two fast trips shuttling personnel between the West Coast and Hawaii, then set sail for New York City on 29 September to celebrate Navy Day there along the “surrender ship” USS Missouri (BB-63) and the famed carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6).

USS New York (BB-34) arrives at New York from the Pacific, circa 19 October 1945. She was featured in Navy Day celebrations there later in the month. 80-G-K-6553

Same as above, 80-G-K-6554

Of the 13 old battlewagons on the Navy List going into WWII, New York was one of only three that was never seriously damaged or sunk, despite the French coastal artillery, German torpedoes, and Japanese suicide planes.

During her career, she boasted that she had schooled the most flag officers– future commodores and admirals– than any other ship, a figure that stood at more than 60 by 1945. One thing is for sure is the fact that, of her 26 skippers, at least 10 went on to wear admiral’s stars.

Atomic Ending

Post-war, the Navy had three entire classes of ultra-modern fast battleships giving them eight of the best such ships in the world (Washington, North Carolina, South Dakota, Indiana, Massachusetts, Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri, and Wisconsin) as well as eight legacy dreadnoughts that had undergone extensive modernization/rebuilds post Pearl Harbor (the 16″/45 carrying Colorado, Maryland, and West Virginia along with the 14″/50-armed California, Tennessee, Idaho, and New Mexico). Besides these 15 battlewagons, arguably the toughest battle line ever to put to sea, the Navy also had two more Iowas under construction (Kentucky and Illinois) and a trio of 27,000-ton Alaska-class battle cruisers (classified as “Large Cruisers” by the Navy).

This meant the service, which crashed into WWII with a dire battleship shortage, ended with a massive surplus.

As such, the older battleships that had not undergone as drastic a wartime modernization as the Pearl Harbor ships– USS Mississippi, USS Pennsylvania, USS Nevada, USS Arkansas, USS Wyoming, USS Texas, and our New York— were quickly nominated for either disposal or limited use as experimental ships or targets and rapidly left the Naval List.

The eldest, Wyoming, was decommissioned in August 1947 and sold for scrap by that October, preceded by her sister, Arkansas, which was sunk on 25 July 1946 as part of the Operation Crossroads nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll.

This left New York as the oldest American battleship still afloat. She would not hold this title for long.

Like Arkansas, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, she had been used in the Crossroads tests.

USS New York BB-34 before Test Able during Operation Crossroads at Bikini Atoll – 1946. Note the Curtiss SC Seahawk floatplanes on deck and skyward-pointing 3″/50s. Most of her 20mm and 40mm mounts appear to have been deleted. LIFE Bob Landry

New York was just off the old Japanese battleship Nagato (to the right of the “X’) for the Able airdrop test.

And was the closest surviving battleship to the underwater “Baker” shot.

USS Achomawi (ATF-140) Spraying USS New York with Salt Water Post Baker. 374-ANT-18-CR-2416-010

Somehow enduring both bombs, New York, Nevada, and Pennsylvania were towed to Kwajalein for decontamination (where Pennsylvania was later scuttled), then to Pearl Harbor and studied by radiological experts there for the next 15 months.

In the meantime, on 29 August 1946, the empty New York was quietly decommissioned.

USS New York (BB-34) entering Pearl Harbor after being towed from Kwajalein, on 14 March 1947. Note Floating drydock (ABSD) sections in the background. 80-G-371904

The experts satisfied they had garnered everything they needed to know from the mildly radioactive old battleship, it was decided to tow her out and allow the fleet a proper SINKEX in the deep sea off Oahu. It took them all day to send the leviathan to the bottom. Similarly, Nevada was towed out for the same fate a few weeks later.

ex-USS New York (BB-34) is towed from Pearl Harbor to be sunk as a target, on 6 July 1948. USS Conserver (ARS-39), at left, is the main towing ship, assisted by two harbor tugs on New York’s port side. 80-G-498120

ex-USS New York (BB-34) was sunk as a target off Hawaii on 8 July 1948. 80-G-498140

Same as above, 80-G-498138

Same as above, 80-G-455669

ex-USS New York (BB-34) capsizes while being used as a target off Hawaii on 8 July 1948. 80-G-498141-A

Epilogue

While New York currently rests some 15,000 feet down, she has lots of relics ashore.

Her Chelsea chronometer, removed by a member of her crew before the Bikini tests, is now in the NHHC’s collection. As noted by the donor:

“By the time I left the ship, it was full of goats, rabbits, guinea pigs, and assorted other small animals that were to be on the ship at the time of the explosion. They were expected to survive as the New York was considerably more than a mile from the explosion. As I left the ship, I decided that I would save the clock we had in our quarters and put it in my bag. The New York survived the explosion- as was intended- as did all the animals- to the delight of the traditional navy. However, within one month all of the animals were dead.”

Her XAF-1 radar, the first installed on a U.S. Navy warship, has been in the collection of the National Museum of the U.S. Navy since the 1960s.

XAF Radar Antenna, 1960s. Being delivered to the Washington Navy Yard for display. Note the U.S. Navy tug alongside a small thin barge carrying the radar antenna. The tug appears to be USS Wahtah (YTB-140). This radar was the first shipboard radar to be installed onboard a U.S. Navy ship, USS New York (BB-34). NMUSN-1019.

Meanwhile, the antenna, which was delivered to the Washington Navy Yard by boat and is currently on display in the National Electronics Museum, Linthicum, Maryland after being displayed outdoors until the late 1980s.

The National Archives has her plans, deck logs, and war history preserved.

Her amazing 229-page WWII cruise book, from which many of the above images are obtained, is digitized online via the Bangor Public Library. It contains the best epitaph to the “Old Lady of the Fleet”:

Her sister Texas, of course, was preserved just after the war and is currently undergoing a dry dock availability to keep her in use as a museum ship for generations to come.

Out of the water! USS Texas at Gulf Copper 31 Aug 2022 Photo by Sam Rossiello Battleship Texas Foundation. Note the paravane skeg at the foot of the bow, her 1920s torpedo bulge love handles, and the stabilizer skeg on the latter.

Since BB-34 slipped beneath the waves in 1948, the Navy has since recycled her name twice, kind of.

USS New York City (SSN-696), an early Flight I Los Angeles-class hunter-killer, was commissioned in 1979 and retired (early) in 1997.

The seventh USS New York (LPD-21), a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock built at Ingalls and commissioned in November 2009, is the current holder of the name. At 684 feet overall, she is larger and faster (“in excess of 22 knots”) than our battleship although she hits the scales at a paltry 25,000 tons– including 7.5 tons of steel salvaged from the World Trade Center.

 

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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The ‘Last’ Yankee Battleship

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Some 80 years ago today, the final American battleship laid down whose construction was completed* entered the fleet.

The second U.S. Navy warship to be named for the 30th State, USS Wisconsin (BB-64), was ordered on 12 June 1940, laid down on 25 January 1941 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard; launched on the second anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, 7 December 1943 (of note, sistership USS New Jersey was commissioned on the 1st anniversary the year before); sponsored by Mrs. Margaret Roche Goodland, wife of Wisconsin Governor Walter S. Goodland; and commissioned on 16 April 1944, with Milwaukee-born Capt. Earl Everett Stone (USNA 1917), in command.

A Badger-state battlewagon, for sure!

*While Wisconsin was the fourth and final– sisters Illinois and Kentucky were never completed– Iowa class super battleship ordered, the third member of the class, USS Missouri (BB-63), which was ordered on the same day (12 June 1940) and laid down two weeks before BB-64 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, was not commissioned until 11 June 1944, making the third member of the class the last delivered, even though she had an earlier hull number and keel authentication date.

USS Wisconsin (BB-64) at anchor on 30 May 1944, during her Atlantic coast shakedown period. 80-G-453313

After shakedown in the Caribbean, Wisconsin sailed for the Pacific in October 1944 and stopped at Pearl Harbor to be inspected by Nimitz himself on her way to the combat zone.

She tied up next to the shattered hulk of the raised dreadnought USS Oklahoma (BB-37), which had only been decommissioned two months prior.

USS Wisconsin tied up outboard of the hulk of USS Oklahoma (BB-37), at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, 11 November 1944. Note: anti-torpedo netting outboard of the ships as well as the great difference in lengths of these two battleships (887 vs 583 feet), commissioned just 28 years apart. NH 78940

Over the next nine months, Wisconsin took part in operations to capture the Philippines, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, as well as raids on the Japanese home islands, surviving two typhoons in the process.

Wisconsin earned five battle stars for her WWII service, another for Korea, and the Navy Unit Commendation for Desert Storm. Although 62 years passed from when she was commissioned and stricken for good, she only served roughly 14 of those (1944-48, 1951-58, and 1988-1991) on active duty.

Wisconsin also held a couple of other important “lasts” in naval history.

While Missouri and Wisconsin both fought in the First Gulf War (Desert Storm) in 1991, it was the “Big W” who fired the last battleship naval gunfire-support mission of the war, and, on 28 May 1991, would be the final member of her class to fire her 16-inch guns.

The Wisconsin (BB-64) fires one of its Mark 7 16-inch 50-caliber guns from turret No. 2 while underway. This is the last firing of the vessel’s guns, 28 May 1991. USN photo # DN-ST-92-00496, by PH1 Bruce M. Morris, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection.

Iowa and Wisconsin were finally stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 17 March 2006, making them the last battleships in service in the world.

Now, some 80 years in the rearview, and 33 after her guns fell silent, she is still beautiful.

The Nauticus Museum, where she has been since 2001 (although the Navy only transferred ownership to the City of Norfolk in 2010, still technically holding on to the possibility of reactivating her until then) is celebrating all month. 

When in Norfolk, please stop by and tell the old girl hello. 

Welcome, Hannah!

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80 years ago today:

A great shot of the brand new Essex-class fleet carrier USS Hancock (CV-19) underway in Boston harbor on 15 April 1944, the day of her commissioning from the Fore River Shipyard at Quincy, Massachusetts. The paint scheme is Measure 32, Design 3A; note the small hull number on the Dull Black bow area.

Official US Navy photograph from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command (NH&HC), # NH 91546.

As noted of this image by Wolfgang Hechler at Navsource:

Hancock was the only “long bow” Essex to wear Design 3A. Since all the Pattern Design Sheets had been prepared for “short bow” Essexes, there were several noticeable differences in the bow area for Intrepid (CV-11), Hornet (CV-12), and Franklin (CV-13)—compare, for example, to this photo of Intrepid. Two 40-mm quad AA mounts were fitted on the extended forecastle of the “long hull” ships. Hancock had two more 40-mm mounts on the fantail but none on the starboard side, amidships. There were four deck-edge masts.

Just six months after the above image was snapped, the new carrier had completed shakedowns and air group quals then joined the Pacific Third Fleet in time for the brutal Philippines Campaign in October 1944.

Hannah earned four battle stars in her short but hectic WWII service. Reconstructed twice during the Cold War (SCB-27C then later SCB-125), she was dubbed an attack carrier (CVA-19) and went on to complete nine deployments to Vietnam– eight with Carrier Air Wing 21 (CVG/CVW-21), and one with CVW-5.

She would earn 13 Vietnam battle stars along with five Navy Unit Commendations and was present for the endgame in April 1975 when Saigon fell, saving 2,500 souls.

USS HANCOCK (CVA-19) With men of VA-55 and crew members information of “44-74” in honor of the ship’s thirty years of service. Photo taken 3 January 1974 by PH1 Cook. NH 84727

Of her sisters, the wooden-decked Hancock outlived all in the fleet except the training carrier USS Lexington and 1950s latecomer USS Oriskany. Even with that, the newer (and steel-decked!) Oriskany was laid up just eight months after Hannah.

Decommissioned for the last time on 30 January 1976 and struck from the Navy list the following day, Hannah was sold for scrap that same September.

And in USCG News…

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Lots of stories from the Coast Guard that you may have missed (as they don’t get much press).

Polar Star Returns

The 48-year-old USCGC Polar Star (WAGB-10) and her crew have returned home to Seatle after a monumental 138-day deployment to Antarctica in support of Operation Deep Freeze 2024.

The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star (WAGB 10) stands on the ice in front of the cutter in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, Dec. 29, 2023. Every year, a joint and total force team works together to complete a successful Operation Deep Freeze season. Active, Guard, and Reserve service members from the U.S. Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, and Navy work together to forge a strong JTF-SFA that continues the tradition of U.S. military support to the United States Antarctic Program. (U.S. Coast Guard photo

During their deployment, the crew traveled over 27,500 miles, navigating through various oceans and breaking through thick Antarctic ice to ensure the delivery of vital supplies, including nine million gallons of fuel and 80 million pounds of cargo, to resupply the United States Antarctic stations, in support of the National Science Foundation (NSF) – the lead agency for the United States Antarctic Program (USAP).

After arriving in Antarctica, the cutter broke a 38-mile channel through fast ice up to 12 feet thick, creating a navigable route for cargo vessels to reach McMurdo Station. The Polar Star and crew executed three close-quarters ice escorts for cargo vessels through difficult ice conditions to guarantee the delivery of nine million gallons of fuel and 80 million pounds of cargo to advance scientific endeavors in the most remote region of the world. The cutter departed the Antarctic region on Feb. 14 after 51 days of operations in support of Operation Deep Freeze 2024.

Harriet Lane Flexes in the Pacific Rim

The 40-year-old 270-foot USCGC Harriet Lane (WMEC 903), the only member of her class deployed to the Pacific, just completed her inaugural 15,000-mile, 79-day Operation Blue Pacific Patrol in Oceania.

Just moved to the Pacific after a 15-month SLEP, it looks like they ditched her old MK75 OTO for a 25mm MK38 Mod 2, which offers better optical fire control but far less punch. At least she still has her AN/SLQ-32 electronic warfare suite that hopefully has been updated to a (V)3 standard, which would allow her to jam. Plus, in theory, she could carry an MH-60. 

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane (WMEC 903) crew renders honors to the Battleship Missouri Memorial as the Harriet Lane and crew return to home port in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, April 9, 2024. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Senior Chief Petty Officer Charly Tautfest)

Based now in Hawaii, Harriet Lane and crew “partnered alongside allies and several Pacific Island countries from January to April 2024. Among those countries were Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Nauru and Marshall Islands. The focus was on advising and sharing best practices, along with bolstering our partners’ capabilities to promote and model good maritime governance in the region.”

Of note, the Chinese ambassador said that USCG boarding of their trawlers in Oceania is illegal, so there’s that.

Bertholf Returns from West Pac Deployment

The more modern 4,600-ton USCGC Bertholf (WMSL 750) and crew returned home on 10 April following a 21,000-mile, 98-day Indo-Pacific deployment in support of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet.

Throughout the deployment, Bertholf led international engagements in the Republic of Singapore, Malaysia, and India, strengthening interoperability and maritime governance through joint at-sea exercises, professional engagements, and subject matter expert exchanges.

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf (WMSL 750) transits near the Singapore Straits, on Feb. 29, 2024. The Bertholf is a 418-foot National Security Cutter currently deployed to the Indo-Pacific region under the tactical control of the U.S. 7th Fleet. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer Steve Strohmaier)

Meanwhile, in the 4th Fleet AOR…

Coast Guard Reserve crews from three Port Security Units (PSU) will be conducting exercise “Poseidon’s Domain” along the northeast and eastern coasts of Puerto Rico from April 8 to April 25. The exercise will train crews from PSUs 305, 307, and 309 on Coast Guard Reserve PSU functions in support of national defense and homeland security missions.

The company-sized units deployed– with their boats and equipment– via USCG HC-130s, which is cool.

 

The PSU training events will include boat operations, unmanned aerial system operations, and Life Support Area establishment. PSU crews will also work with the U.S. Army Reserve 432nd Transportation Company, U.S. Customs and Border Protection-Air and Marine Operations Fajardo Maritime Unit, Maritime Surveillance Division FURA and Policía de Puerto Rico Distrito Vieques to enhance joint maritime security capabilities in the region.

Finally, an embarked USCG Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) aboard the elderly Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55) recently intercepted three different vessels while on patrol in the Caribbean Sea under USSOUTHCOM/JIATF-South orders.

One of the vessels, it should be pointed out, was a narco sub (self-propelled semi-submersible drug smuggling vessel), which then became the subject of a SINKEX.

240322-G-N3764-1001 ATLANTIC OCEAN (March 22, 2024) – The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55), embarked U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) and Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 50 work together to intercept a self-propelled semi-submersible drug smuggling vessel (SPSS), in the Atlantic Ocean, March 22, 2024. Leyte Gulf is on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command area of operations, employed by the U.S. Fourth Fleet to support joint and combined military operations, which include counter-illicit drug trafficking missions in the Caribbean and the Atlantic. (U.S. Coast Guard Courtesy Photo/Released)

Romeo Actual Gets a Well-Deserved Dry-Docking

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The “Black Dragon,” USS New Jersey (BB-62), whose keel was laid in September 1940, was last dry docked from late 1990 into 1991 when she was being deactivated and prepared for the mothball fleet. Stricken in 1999, capping an impressive 56-year career (21 of them on active duty), she has been a museum ship since 2001.

With “Big J” currently dry docked for the first time in three decades, it is interesting to see how her hull is holding up and, luckily, she will be open for limited tours every Saturday and Sunday for the next two months while the Battleship is in dry dock.

If you can’t make it to Philly for the tour, below is a rundown of how she looks and how the project is going thus far.

Battle Group Romeo

With the above in mind, this post seems like a great time to highlight a couple of her biggest cruises following her third (and final) recommissioning– operating with the Pacific Fleet as the centerpiece of her own surface action group: Battle Group Romeo. It was the first time a battleship had operated in those waters since 1954. 

This would include a lengthy 1986 West Pac cruise with port calls at Pearl, Inchon, Manila, Sasebo, Hong Kong, Pattaya Beach (!), and a brush with the Red Fleet in the Sea of Okhost before returning stateside.

Then came the 1988 West Pac cruise which saw Battle Group Romeo steam to Australia and operate in tandem with ships of the Royal Australian Navy and call at Sydney there to mark the country’s bicentennial celebration.

Drink in the “Big Thunder Down Under” pics, all taken by PH2 Barry Orell, across the 86 and 88 deployments, and currently in the National Archives.

An aerial bow view of the first battleship battle group to deploy to the Western Pacific since the Korean War underway with Australian ships during a training exercise. The ships are, clockwise from bottom: USS LONG BEACH (CGN-9), USS MERRILL (DD-976), HMAS SWAN (D-50), HMAS STUART (D-48), HMAS PARRAMATTA (D-46), USNS PASSUMPSIC (T-AO-107), USS WABASH (AOR-5), HMAS DERWENT (D-49), USS KIRK (FF-1087), USS THACH (FFG-43), HMAS HOBART (D-39) and USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62), center.

An aerial bow view of the first battleship battle group to deploy to the Western Pacific since the Korean War underway. The ships are, clockwise from top: replenishment oiler USS WABASH (AOR 5), destroyer USS MERRILL (DD 976), frigate USS GRAY (FF 1054), guided missile frigate USS THACH (FFG 43), nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser USS LONG BEACH (CGN 9) and the battleship USS NEW JERSEY (BB 62), center.

An aerial port bow view of the first battleship battle group to deploy to the Western Pacific since the Korean War underway with Australian ships during a training exercise. The ships are, clockwise from bottom left: USS LONG BEACH (CGN-9), USS MERRILL (DD-976), HMAS SWAN (D-50), HMAS STUART (D-48), HMAS PARRAMATTA (D-46), USNS PASSUMPSIC (T-AO-107), USS WABASH (AOR-5), HMAS DERWENT (D-49), USS KIRK (FF-1087), USS THACH (FFG-43), HMAS HOBART (D-39) AND USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62), center.

An aerial port beam view of the first battleship battle group to deploy to the Western Pacific since the Korean War underway with Australian ships during a training exercise. The ships are, clockwise from left: USS LONG BEACH (CGN-9), USS MERRILL (DD-976), HMAS SWAN (D-50), HMAS STUART (D-48), HMAS PARRAMATTA (D-46), USNS PASSUMPSIC (T-AO-107), USS WABASH (AOR-5), HMAS DERWENT (D-49), USS KIRK (FF-1087), USS THACH (FFG-43), HMAS HOBART (D-39) and USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62), center.

An aerial starboard bow view of the first battleship battle group to deploy to the Western Pacific since the Korean War underway with Australian ships during a training exercise. The ships are, clockwise from right: USS LONG BEACH (CGN-9), USS MERRILL (DD-976), HMAS SWAN (D-50), HMAS STUART (D-48), HMAS PARRAMATTA (D-46), USNS PASSUMPSIC (T-AO-107), USS WABASH (AOR-5), HMAS DERWENT (D-49), USS KIRK (FF-1087), USS THACH (FFG-43), HMAS HOBART (D-39) and USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62), center.

A port bow view of the battleship USS NEW JERSEY (BB 62) tied up at a pier with 60 other warships during the Australian bicentennial celebration.

A view of the battleship USS NEW JERSEY (BB 62) lit up at night during the Australian bicentennial celebration.  

Warship Wednesday, April 10, 2024: Mongolia by way of Massachusetts

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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 10, 2024: Mongolia by way of Massachusetts

Photo by Geo. H. Russell. Library of Congress, Box PAN US Military-Army No.92 (E size). Control number 2007664426

Above we see, 105 years ago today (10 April 1919), the well-armed troopship USS Mongolia (ID 1615) arriving at Boston with the returning hometown boys of the 26th “Yankee” Division aboard.

Don’t let her passenger liner appearance fool you, she was a fighter and had the honor of the first surface engagement between U.S. Naval personnel and sailors of the Kaiserliche Marine.

The Beautiful Twins of the Pacific Mail Steamship Co.

Founded in 1848 originally to service the Panama Route across the isthmus during the California Gold Rush, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company had flown its red, white, and blue house flag from more than 60 passenger steamers before the 19th Century was out.

While the majority of these were smallish (2,000-3,000 ton) coastwise vessels, by the late 1890s the company had ordered four progressively larger liners– SS China (10,200 tons), SS Nile (11,000 tons), SS Korea (18,000 tons), and SS Siberia (18,500 tons)– to build its reputation and expand its reach across the Pacific, kicking off its Trans-Pacific service.

By 1901, it moved to pick up two new liners– SS Mongolia and SS Manchuria— that would be its crown jewels.

The sister ships, ordered from the nascent New York Shipbuilding Co in Camden, were huge for their era at 615 feet oal with a registered gross tonnage of 13,363 tons. They could carry 1,712 passengers in four different classes, with speeds sustained at 16 knots, intended for cruises from San Francisco to ports in China and Japan, with a midway stop in Hawaii. The service was later extended to Hong Kong and Manila.

At the time, they were the largest passenger vessels constructed in America, with class leader Mongolia delivered in February 1904. 

“Speed and Comfort” Pacific Mail Steamship Co. poster with artwork by Fred Pansing, showing Mongolia and citing the names of her fellow Trans-Pacific line vessels. LOC LC-DIG-ppmsca-58680

S.S. Mongolia at Manila, Philippine Islands, in 1913. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. NH 45962

By August 1915, with a downturn in Pacific sailings, both Mongolia and sister Manchuria, along with the smaller Korea and Siberia, were sold to the Baltimore-based Atlantic Transport Line and soon began working from the East Coast.

As a war was going on in the Atlantic (ATL had already lost several of its ships to government requisition and U-boats), Mongolia made nine wartime crossings while the U.S. was neutral, carrying munitions and foodstuffs to a hungry England.

In this role, she had “American S. S. Mongolia” painted in large white letters along the sides of her hull flanked by American flags.

S.S. Mongolia, painted with neutrality markings, circa 1915-1917. 165-WW-274A-004

War!

On March 13, 1917– still three weeks away from the U.S. declaration of war– Secretary of the Navy Josephus “Cup of Joe” Daniels issued regs governing the conduct of armed American merchant vessels, on which Navy personnel designated as Armed Guards manned the guns. The Bureau of Ordnance would follow up on the directive and issue guidance to the fleet for the removal of 20 5-inch/51-caliber, 20 6-inch/40-caliber, 4 5-inch/50-caliber, and 26 3-inch/50-caliber guns from storage and warships in reserve for use on merchantmen.

Talk about armed neutrality!

The first to be armed would be the passenger liners Manchuria, Mongolia, and St. Louis, along with the steamships New York, Philadelphia, Kroonland, Aztec, and St. Paul.

Just two days after the SECNAV’s orders, the New York Navy Yard completed the installation of deck guns aboard Manchuria, St. Louis, Aztec, and New York, and on the 16th of March, Manchuria— outfitted with two 4-inch guns forward, one 6-inch gun aft, two 1-pounders, and two Lewis guns– left NYC to become the first American armed merchantman to sail for the European war zone.

Mongolia would receive three 6″/40 Mark 4s, two forward and one over her stern, and later add two additional mounts, giving her a total of five of these large guns– the rough equivalent of a light cruiser. Her initial Armed Guard, consisting of one officer (Massachusetts-born LT Bruce Richardson Ware, Jr., USNA ’07) and 22 enlisted (a size that would later double), likewise carried sidearms and had a locker of rifles and a pair of Lewis guns at their disposal as well.

S.S. Mongolia. One of the ship’s forward six-inch guns, taken while Mongolia was at sea in April 1917. These guns were manned by Armed Guard crews supplied by the U.S. Navy. NH 41973

Mongolia, 1917. Note 6″/40 on stern. 165-WW-335D-021

Mongolia would make history on the early morning of 19 April– the Anniversary of the Battle of Lexington– when, at 0522, the Armed Guard aboard her engaged and drove off a U-boat with their stern 6-inch gun—No. 263, nicknamed “Teddy Roosevelt”—while some 7 miles southeast of Beachy Head in the English Channel. She fired on the submarine, wrecking the periscope and conning tower, and forced it to submerge. These are considered the first shots by the U.S. Navy against Germany in the Atlantic.

S.S. Mongolia. Two officers on board the ship soon after her 19 April 1917 action with a German submarine. They are identified in the original photo captions as Lieutenant Charles F. (or Bruce R.) Ware, USN, and First Officer Waldo E. Wollaston (or Mollaston). Note the right-hand officer’s high boots, communications gear, and .45 caliber M1911 pistol; binoculars worn by both; and non-U.S. Navy insignia on the left-hand officer’s cap. NH 52704

USS Mongolia. The ship’s after six-inch gun, with several shells, circa 1918. This gun was nicknamed Teddy, after former President Theodore Roosevelt. The original image is printed on postcard (AZO) stock. Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2009. NH 106599

S.S. Mongolia. The ship’s after six-inch gun and its crew, April 1917. The two officers at right are identified, in the original photo caption, as Lieutenant Ware and Captain Emory Rice of the U.S. Naval Reserve Force. Note shells on deck, painted with letters: T-E-X-A-S and T-E-D-D-Y. NH 781

The news was electric and widely reported on both sides of the Atlantic, eventually passing into the post-war record.

The engagement was the subject of an art piece by Joseph Christian Leyendecker, used widely in reference to the Mongolia vs U-boat fight, with the gunners, in Leyendecker fashion, shirtless.

As noted by press accounts of interviews given by the ship’s skipper, Capt. Emery Rice:

“It was twenty-two after five o’clock in the morning of the 19th that we sighted the submarine. The officer commanding the gunners was with me on the bridge where, in fact, we had been the most time throughout the voyage.” Captain Rice continues, “There was a haze over the sea at the time. We had just taken a sounding for we were getting near shallow water, and we were looking at the lead when the first mate cried: “My God, there’s a submarine off the port bow!”

“The submarine was close to us, too close in fact for her purpose, and the boat was submerging again in order to maneuver into a better position for torpedoing was where we sighted her.” Rice continues “We saw the periscope go down and the swirl of the water. I quickly ordered the man at the wheel to put her to starboard and we swung the nose of the ship toward the spot where the submarine had been.”

“We were going at full speed ahead and two minutes after we first sighted the U-boat it emerged again about 1,000 yards off. Its intention probably had been to catch us broadside, but when it appeared he had the stern gun trained full on it. The gun crew commander, Lieutenant Ware gave the command “1,000 yards, Scale 50” and the big gun boomed. Gunner’s Mate James A. Goodwin was on the gun at the time, and he actually fired the shell that hit the U-boat. We saw the periscope shatter and tumble end over end across the water and the submarine disappeared. I can’t speak too highly of the cool manner in which the lieutenant handled his crew of gunners. It was a fine exhibition of the efficiency of American Naval men.” The whole encounter lasted only about two minutes. Lt. Ware gave the order to fire, and Gunner’s mate Goodwin pulled the lanyard firing the first shot, which missed. Reloading quickly, the gun crew fired again, and this time they were right on target hitting the conning tower of the U-boat. This shell exploded and hit the area of the conning tower. Quickly in a foamy froth of bubbles, the German slipped beneath the sea. America had just inflicted its first blood at sea against Germany, and it was over as quickly as it had started.

Captain Rice continues, “I assure you we did not stop after the incident, but steamed away at full speed, for it was not improbable that there was another submarine about. The one I got undoubtedly had been lying on the bottom at the spot waiting for the ship and came up when it heard our propellers. I immediately sent a wireless stating that a submarine had been seen.” Rice ended his statement with this “That’s about all the story except this. The gunners had named the guns on board the Mongolia and the one which got the submarine was called “Teddy” after Theodore Roosevelt; so Teddy fired the first gun of the war after all.” Captain Rice stated that Teddy Roosevelt was from Allison, Massachusetts, and that the encounter with the submarine occurred on the date when Massachusetts was celebrating the anniversary of the Battle of Lexington.

Ware’s version was less verbose:

We were just leaving New York Harbor when word reached us that Congress had declared war. On the way over we had daily gun practice and some ill luck with our 6-inch fixed ammunition. By the time we reached the submarine zone, our two bow guns had damaged bores and were not firing true. It was at dawn on the morning of the 19th of April, the anniversary of the Battle of Lexington, that we sighted the U-boat coming at us off the bow. Realizing that our forward guns were unreliable, we swung the Mongolia hard to starboard. The submarine, delighted to see us offering a broadside target for its torpedo, also swung around, coming into the range of our port guns. Our first shot caught the sub square on the conning tower beneath the periscope. There was a splash and when the water cleared away, there was no more submarine.

Post-war analysis doesn’t show a U-boat lost in these waters at the time Mongolia reported the incident, but it is posed by some that the boat involved may have been S.M. UB 40, an extremely successful member of the Flandern Flotilla, which reported taking gunfire in the same area without significant damage around this time.

Both Ware and Rice (who was sheep-dipped as a USNRF officer) were soon issued the Navy Cross.

While widely celebrated, the Armed Guards of Mongolia received what was possibly more press coverage due to an accident that occurred on a later voyage the following month.

On 20 May 1918, while just a few hours out of New York, while conducting target practice with the famed Teddy, an accident occurred that left a group of Red Cross nurses crossing over to France, who were observing the crew at work, with two dead and a third injured.

As noted by the SECNAV’s office at the time:

When about 100 miles to sea, in accordance with the usual procedure, guns were fired to test mounts, ammunition, and to practice the navy crew in their use. The guns were of the 6-inch caliber for which the shell and powder are loaded separately into the gun. The powder charge is contained in a brass case and there held in place by a pasteboard wad, distance pieces, and a brass mouth cup that fits closely, thus making a moisture-tight joint in order that the powder may always give the velocity and pressure intended. When the gun is fired this brass cup is propelled some distance, sometimes whole and sometimes in pieces, but always in front of the gun. Several nurses who were watching the firing were sitting on the promenade deck some 175 feet abaft and 10 feet above the gun. On the third shot the brass mouth cup struck the water peculiarly, boomeranged directly back to the ship, struck the stanchion near where the nurses were sitting and broke. Its pieces instantly killed Mrs. Edith Ayres and Miss Helen Burnett Wood, of Chicago

“Miss Helen B. Wood, the Chicago Red Cross nurse who was instantly killed in a gun accident while the gun crew of the armed American liner Mongolia was at target practice at sea,” followed by an ARC photo of Miss Edith Ayres. Signal Corps 165-WW-55B-84 via NARA/LOC LC-A6195- 4962

For what it is worth, later Congressional hearings into the incident charged that the fuzes involved were of “inferior workmanship” and that the Navy had not inspected them before accepting them from the Raleigh Iron Works, which was in the midst of rushed war work. In the hearings, the makers of the fuzes rebutted the charge, and the whole thing was written off as a terrible, but freak, accident.

Mongolia and her guard, then under one LT Philip Seymour, would, on 1 June 1917, engage another U-boat in a surface action. As noted in Seymour’s Navy Cross citation, the “enemy submarine fired a torpedo at that vessel, which, through quick maneuvering, missed the ship. Four shots were fired at the periscope when the submarine disappeared.”

On 9 April 1918, SECNAV Daniels announced that seven Army-run War Department transports and store ships—Finland (ID-4543), Pastores (ID-4540/AF-16), Tenadores, Henry R. Mallory (ID-1280), Lenape (ID-2700), Mongolia (ID-1615), and Manchuria (ID-1633)—were to be taken over by the Navy.

This led USS Mongolia to be commissioned in the Navy on 8 May 1918, with CDR E. McDowell in command. She went on to make 13 cross-Atlantic voyages from the U.S. to France, transporting over 33,000 troops, before decommissioning on 11 September 1919 for return to her owner. Likewise, her sistership Manchuria had bested that number, carrying 39,000 troops in 13 round trips to Europe (nine of them after the Armistice).

World War I Troop Transport Convoy at Sea, 1918. The most distant ship, in the left center, is the USS Mongolia (ID # 1615). The nearer ship, misidentified on the original print as USS Mercury (ID # 3012), is USS Madawaska (ID # 3011). Note the small destroyer ahead of the forward ship. Photographed by V.J.M. Donation of Charles R. Haberlein Jr., 2008. NH 106288

USS Mongolia (ID # 1615) at the New York Navy Yard, 28 June 1918, after being painted in pattern camouflage. NH 50252

USS Mongolia (ID # 1651) In port, while painted in dazzle camouflage, circa 1918. Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2008. NH 105722

Nurses of Mobile Hospital #39, onboard Mongolia. A.T.S. Base Section #1. St. Nazaire Jan. 20. 1919 111-SC-46348

Homeward-bound troops taking their afternoon walk. St. Nazaire, Jan. 20 1919 111-SC-46349

USS Mongolia. Brest, 1919 111-SC-158226_001

102nd Artillery 26th Division loading on the Mongolia. Brest 3.31.19 111-SC-158223_001

103rd Artillery, 26th Division loading on the S. S. Mongolia. Brest, Finistere, France 3.31.19 111-SC-158225_001

LC-DIG-ggbain-23572

With troops aboard. Note her 6″/40. LC-DIG-ggbain-28781

Officers and men of Mongolia

Camouflaged U.S. Navy transport in harbor with barge and a passenger ferry alongside, circa 1918 or very early 1919. This ship is probably the USS Mongolia (ID # 1615). Donation of Charles R. Haberlein Jr., 2009. NH 106646

Returning to Trade

Post Versailles, Mongolia and Manchuria were operated by the rebooted New York‑Hamburg steamship line, making regular trips to Weimar-era Germany.

SS Mongolia at the St. Pauli Landing Stage, Hamburg, Germany, while in commercial service after World War I. Donation of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR (Retired), 2008. NH 105919

Re-acquired by the Panama Pacific Lines in 1925, within a few years she was under the flag of the Dollar Steam Ship Lines, then in 1938, under the ownership of the American President Lines, was renamed SS President Fillmore.

Mongolia in Gaillard Cut March 17, 1926 185-G-1094

During the first days of WWII, she was sold to Wallam & Co. on 2 February 1940 and would sail for Cia Transatlantica Centroamericana under the Panamanian flag named (wait for it) SS Panamanian, and would carry commercial cargo through the conflict, managing to avoid further U-boat activity.

After suffering a fire at Freemantle’s North Quay while carrying a 10,000-ton cargo of flour in January 1945, she was scrapped at Shanghai in 1946.

As for her sister Manchuria, she had a similar interbellum history but, as the American-flagged President Line’s SS President Johnson, was requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration in 1941 and carried troops throughout the Pacific during WWII. 

Sold post-war to a Panamanian firm, she continued sailing as SS Santa Cruz, typically carrying European war refugees to South America, and was scrapped in 1952.

Epilogue

Mongolia’s naval plans are in the National Archives, as are her USS and USAT deck logs.

One of her 6″40s, No. 155, is preserved at Gosport Park, in Portsmouth, Virginia.

Speaking of Mongolia’s Armed Guard, Ware, its Navy Cross-wearing commander, went on to become an instructor at the Naval Academy then, after passing through the Naval War College program and later the Army War College, would become the XO of the transport USS Gold Star in the 1920s and then filled the same billet on the dreadnought USS West Virginia— during which the battlewagon was first in gunnery in the fleet. He also published extensively.

Retiring from the Navy as a captain in 1935, he passed in San Diego and is buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.

Mongolia is well remembered in the period of maritime art and postcards. 

S.S. Mongolia artwork, printed on a postal card issued by the Jewish Welfare Board to Soldiers and Sailors of the U.S. Army & Navy, during World War I. NH 45961

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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