Category Archives: US Navy

Mardet White-Glove

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80 Years Ago Today. Aboard the Iowa-class fast super dreadnought USS New Jersey (BB-62). Official caption:

“Looking over a Marine’s pack, during an inspection, 5 September 1943. Officers include Captain Carl F. Holden (third from left); Admiral Donald B. Beary (sixth form left, hands on hips); Captain K. D. Christian (seventh from left, crossed arms). Note expressions of all concerned.”

Of note, this was one of the first Marine Detachments to hit the fleet with M1 Garands. Catalog #: 80-G-82699

A close-up of those concerned faces:

As detailed by DANFS, New Jersey had been commissioned three months prior at Philadelphia on 23 May 1943 and was in the midst of her workups and shakedowns in the Western Atlantic and Caribbean. On 7 January 1944 she passed through the Panama Canal war-bound for duty with the Fifth Fleet and in the next 20 months would earn nine battle stars for her World War II service.

Of note, the sour-looking ADM Beary (USNA 1910) had earned a Navy Cross in the Great War in command of a patrol yacht and destroyer engaged in convoy duty and anti-submarine warfare and early in WWII, as skipper of the troop transport Mount Vernon (AP 22), was credited with landing desperately needed reinforcements at Singapore and the evacuation of refugees from that city despite repeated air raids in the area just prior to the fall of the city. During 1944-45, he was credited with being a sort of logistics genius behind the scenes that helped win the Pacific War. He would become President of the Naval War College post-war and is buried at Annapolis.

50 Years Ago: A Productive Labor Day Weekend

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Dr. Bradford Parkinson (USNA 1957) is a well-respective professor at Colorado State University and Stanford University, as well as the holder of multiple former president and CEO positions in the private sector, including with PlantStar and Trimble Navigation.

However, over Labor Day weekend 1973, he was a career officer with the U.S. Air Force, a colonel at the time, and, as detailed in “From the Sea to the Stars: A Chronicle of the U.S. Navy’s Space and Space-related Activities, 1944-2009,” got a lot of work done over the BBQ.

On Labor Day weekend, 1973, Colonel Parkinson met with Aerospace engineers, together with Mr. Roger Easton of the Naval Research Laboratory and Navy Captain Daniel Holmes, to “synthesize” details of the GPS constellation. At one point, Colonel Parkinson reportedly came into the room and said, “Well, we’ve got a problem: our system is too expensive,” and Captain Holmes replied, “Why don’t you take our Timation] system and manage it?” That, in effect, is essentially what happened; the concept settled on was the one designed and demonstrated in Easton’s Timationsatellites.*

*With approved funding from the Joint GPS Program, Roger Easton and his team at the Naval Research Laboratory continued the Timation satellite program – renamed Navigation Technology Satellites (NTS). As NTS-1, the Navy-built Timation-IIIA satellite was launched in July 1974. In addition to further demonstrating the validity of the passive-ranging concept for position determining, NTS-1 carried NRL’s new rubidium time standard into space. NTS-2, launched into the GPS-constellation orbit in June 1977, had as objectives: (1) to demonstrate the feasibility of using a cesium atomic-clock standard developed by NRL in future GPS satellites; (2) to demonstrate the GPS navigation payload, and (3) to function as one of the satellites in the GPS Phase I constellation. NtS-2 achieved the JCS-required three-dimensional accuracy of “less than 60 feet” against aircraft flying over a calibrated test range. The success of NTS-2 helped keep support for the GPS program alive in 1977, when it had serious cost and schedule problems.

Less than five years later, in February 1978, the first Block I developmental Navstar/GPS satellite, Navstar 1, launched, with Parkinson as the head of the program. Three more Navstar satellites launched by the end of the year.

And, the rest, as they say, is GPS history, with Parkinson remembered today as the Chief Architect of GPS.

Faking it with MTBRon 13

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The campaign to evict the Japanese from the Aleutians saw one of the most motley assemblages of troops and vessels ever put together. This was because everything even remotely “top shelf” was needed on the front lines in Guadalcanal and in protecting Atlantic Convoys against U-boats. This left a hash of obsolete old ships– the 1920s “Sugar Boats” had their last operational hurrah in Alaskan waters– and new formations of ground troops including the 87th Mountain Infantry Regiment (later the core of the 10th Mountain Division) and the U.S./Canadian First Special Service Force (later to become the famed Devil’s Brigade in Italy) to carry out this more “sideshow” of a campaign.

An unlikely force sent to help in the liberation of Alaskan Territory was the newly formed Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron THIRTEEN (MTBRon 13) under the command of LCDR James B. Denny, a unit later augmented by the much similar MTBRon 16.

Aleutian Islands Campaign, June 1942 – August 1943. PT Boats lie alongside tender in Attu Harbor in Aleutians, in the background is Consolidated PBY “Catalina” taking off. Photographed by Lieutenant Horace Bristol, July 1943. 80-G-475727 (TR-5219)

These two squadrons were made up of 78-foot plywood Higgins of New Orleans-made PT Boats, each powered by a trio of 1,500shp Packard W-14 M2500 gasoline engines capable of pushing them at 40 knots. Armament was generally four 21″ torpedoes tubes, a single 20mm Oerlikon mount, and two twin .50 cal. machine guns. Other topside armament was fitted as it was “locally acquired.”

MTBRon 13’s PT 76 Womens Bay, Kodiak Island, Alaska NARA

MTBRon 13’s PT 73 Womens Bay, Kodiak Island, Alaska NARA

3 US Navy PT-boats Aleutians in June 1943 eaplane tender GILLIS AVD12 PBY Catalina Higgins boats Mk 19 torpedo tubes.

This beautiful period Kodachrome shows three U.S. Navy PT-boats, likely of MTBron 13, in the Aleutians in June 1943 along seaplane tender USS GILLIS (AVD 12). Note the PBY Catalina to the stern of the tender and the angled Mk 19 torpedo tubes of the Higgins boats– to include a torpedo visible in the uncovered tube. Official USN Photographs (National Archives) 80-G-K-9454 (Color).

The two squadrons participated in the May 1943 Attu Island invasion and in much patrolling but saw very little combat.

Then came the big show: Operation Cottage, which would recapture the island of Kiska and clear out the last of the Emporer’s men from Alaska.

For Cottage, some 80 years ago this month, 11 PTs were attached to Task Force King under RADM Thomas C. Kinkaid.

Of those, five were sent in at 0750 on D-Day for a tour of Vega Bay.

In a diversionary tactic, they were camouflaged with wood to give the impression that large landing parties were aboard.

Caption: PT boats of MTBRON 13 with plywood “troops” in place, ready to masquerade as landing craft in diversionary operations during the Kiska reoccupation. Note torpedo tubes, skiff, and foul weather gear. NH 44304

As noted by Captain Robert J. Bulkley, Jr. in his At Close Quarters:

For a time it appeared that the PTs at last would have some action since it was estimated that the Japanese had 4,000 to 7,000 troops on the island. While the main landings were being made to the north, five PT’s were to join a group of transports in a feint at Vega Point, the southeastern extremity of the island, to draw enemy reserves from the north and prevent concentration of defenses against the main landings. Strips of plywood cut out to resemble the sides of barges surmounted by rows of soldiers’ heads were tacked to the gunwales of the PTs, outboard of the torpedo tubes. The camouflage was crude close-to, but at a little distance gave the PTs the appearance of loaded landing craft.

Lieutenant Commander Denny, in PT 81 (Lt. (jg.) Elbert S. Churchill, USNR), with PT 73 (Lt. (jg.) William R. McQuilkin); PT 76 (Lt. (jg.) Louis R. Fockele, USNR); PT 80 (Lt. (jg.) William G. Jens, USNR); and PT 84 (Lt. (ig.) Joseph A. Sheehan, USNR), left Bird Cape at 0330 on August 15 and entered Vega Bay ahead of the transports at 0715 to begin their demonstration. In a heavy haze, the boats closed within 100 yards of shore and intermittently strafed the beach until 1100. In the afternoon they made several strafing runs in Gertrude Cove, to the north. No matter how close to shore they went, they drew no return fire. That night the boats returned to Constantine Harbor. The landings at Kiska, to the surprise of everyone who took part in them, were entirely unopposed. The enemy had evacuated the island, secretly and completely.

This closed out the PTs’ work in the Far North. The boats ran under their own power to Seattle in early 1944– not an insignificant task– and were transhipped to the Southwest Pacific where it was thought they would be of more use.

Two PT boats were lost in Alaska, neither to combat: PT 28 was wrecked in a storm, at Dora Harbor on 12 Jan. 1943, and PT 219 was damaged beyond repair in a storm, then scrapped, off Attu, in Sep. 1943.

MTBRON 13 and 16  went on to see lots of action at Mios Woendi, Mindoro, and Brunei Bay. As part of Task Unit 70.1.4, they earned the Navy Unit Commendation for action at Mindoro from 15 – 19 December 1944.

Their remaining boats were burned at Samar in November 1945, no longer needed.

Vigilante at 65

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31 August 1958 saw the first flight, with North American Aviation test pilot Richard Wenzel at the stick, of the No.1 prototype North American XA3J-1, eventually to be known as the A-5 Vigilante.

The big American carrier-based supersonic bomber was powered by a pair of General Electric J79-GE-2 turbojet engines each rated at 15,150 lbs trust with afterburning, and the program sped along with the Vigilante going supersonic for the first time just a week later on 5 September.

Some 76 feet long and with a 50-foot wingspan, the big bird had a maximum takeoff load of some 32 tons– nearly twice that of the B-25s that Jimmy Doolittle had to shoehorn onto the deck of the USS Hornet just 16 years before. Likewise, they could carry a much more capable bomb load much further, being dedicated to the strategic nuclear strike role and capable of air-to-air refueling.

A3J-1 Vigilante pictured during an open house at an unidentified air station in 1961. Likely NAS Stanford where VAH-1 was set up

By 1960, the 6th Vigilante (4th production frame) completed carrier suitability tests by making 14 launches and landings on the USS Saratoga (CVA-60).

The 4th production North American A3J-1 Vigilante bomber (BuNo 146697) conducted the type’s initial carrier suitability tests aboard the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CVA-60) during the week of 25 July 1960. Piloted by NATC’s CDR Carl Cruse, LCDR Ed Decker, and LT Dick Wright, the Vigilante made 14 successful launches and arrested landings.

On December 13, 1960, an A3J-1 crewed by CDR Leroy Heath and LT Larry Monroe set a new altitude record of 91,450.8 feet– beating the previous record by over 4 miles. They did this with an operational 2,200-pound payload. The Vig was capable.

The first squadron, VAH-3, was set up in 1961 and the operational debut of the Vigilante was in August of 1962 when VAH-7 deployed aboard the USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) for a short cruise in the Mediterranean. 

Heavy Attack Squadron (VAH) 7 “Peacemakers” aircrew pictured in front of an A-5A Vigilante on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Enterprise (CVAN 65) on its first cruise, 1962, just four years after the type first flew– note the brown shoes

However, with the Navy wanting more nuclear eggs in one SSBN-shaped basket, they soon started converting the A-5 to the RA-5C recce bird, and 10 RAVH squadrons were ultimately established, with eight of those seeing service over Vietnam– and 18 Vigilante left there, numbers that qualified as decimation by the old Roman standard.

With air bosses wanting more room on their flight decks for sexy new F-14s, post Vietnam the Vigilante’s days were numbered.

The size difference between the A-5 Vigilante and A-4 Skyhawk. She was a big bird that took up lots of space. 

The last RA-5C squadron, RVAH-7, completed its final deployment to the Western Pacific aboard USS Ranger in late 1979 and the type was retired by the end of the year.

RA-5C BuN0 156608 of RVAH-7 Peacemakers of USS Ranger (CV61)– the last operational Vig

In all, just 170 Vigilantes of all variants would be produced, one of the shortest runs of U.S. carrier tactical aircraft in modern times. Compare this to 188 S-3 Vikings.

Warship Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023: Weaving the Falls

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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, Aug. 30, 2023: Weaving the Falls

Admiralty Official Collections of the Imperial War Museum, Catalog no. A 3295 by Harold William John Tomlin, a Royal Navy official photographer.

Above we see a circa 1941 image of a Royal Canadian Navy officer aboard the 4th group Town class destroyer HMCS Niagara (I57) making his bunk with a very interestingly camouflaged Mk I “battle bowler” style helmet at the ready. As for the U.S. Navy crest on a bunk cover?

There is a good reason for that, one that goes back 105 years ago this week.

The Wickes

Our ship was one of the iconic first flights of “Four Piper” destroyers that were designed in 1915-16 with input from no less an authority as Captain (later Admiral) W.S. Sims. Beamy ships with a flush deck and a quartet of boilers (with a smokestack for each) were coupled to a pair of Parsons geared turbines to provide 35.3 knots designed speed– which is still considered fast today, more than a century later.

The teeth of these 314-foot, 1,250-ton greyhounds were four 4-inch/50 cal MK 9 guns and a full dozen 21-inch torpedo tubes.

They reportedly had short legs and were very wet, which made long-range operations a problem, but they gave a good account of themselves. Originally a class of 50 was authorized in 1916, but once the U.S. entered WWI in April 1917, this was soon increased and increased again to some 111 ships built by 1920.

Wickes class USS Yarnall (DD-143): Booklet of General Plans – Inboard Profile / Outboard Profile, June 10, 1918, NARA NAID: 158704871

Wickes class USS Yarnall (DD-143): Booklet of General Plans – Main Deck / 1st Platform Deck / S’ch L’t P’f’m, S’ch L’t Control P’f’m, Fire Control P’f’m Bridge, Galley Top, After Dk. House and 2nd Platform Deck. / June 10, 1918, Hold NARA NAID: 158704873

Wickes class. A close-up of her stern top-down view of plans shows the Wickes class’s primary armament– a dozen torpedo tubes in four turnstiles and stern depth charges.

Of the 111 Wickes completed, there were three subclasses besides the 38 standard-design vessels built at Bath Iron Works, Cramp, Mare Island, and Charleston. Then came the 52 Bethlehem-designed ships built at the company’s Fore River (26 ships) and Union Iron Works (26 ships) led by USS Little, the Newport News-built variants (11 ships) starting with USS Lamberton, and New York Shipbuilding-built variants (10 ships) led by USS Tattnall.

The subclasses were constructed to a slightly different set of plans modified by their respective builders, which made for some downright confusing modifications later. In addition, the Bethlehem-designed Little variants tended to have shorter legs and proved unable to cross the Atlantic in a single hop without stopping in the Azores for refueling or completing an underway replenishment.

Anyway…

Meet Thatcher

Our subject was the first warship commissioned to honor RADM Henry Knox Thatcher, USN. Born in 1806, this grandson of Maj. Gen. Henry Knox (George Washington’s artillery master) was first appointed to West Point in 1822 then, after being out sick and resigning, subsequently received an appointment as a midshipman with the Navy the following March at age 16, spending the next four years at sea aboard the frigate USS United States in the Pacific. Then came a string of seagoing assignments as a junior officer in the antebellum period (schooner Porpoise, sloops Erie and Jamestown, frigates Delaware and Brandywine, storeship Relief) before earning his first command, that of the sloop Decatur in 1857.

The Civil War saw him promoted to captain and later commodore, commanding the sloop Constellation in European waters, the screw frigate Colorado with the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and a division of Porter’s squadron against Fort Fisher. The war ended with him in command of the Western Gulf Squadron tasked with the reduction of Spanish Fort and Blakeley– the last two holdouts in Mobile Bay– then accepting the surrender of Sabine Pass and Galveston, the last rebel ports.

Promoted to rear admiral in 1866, he held command of the North Pacific Squadron and was placed on the retired list in 1868 after a 45-year career, Thatcher passed in 1880, aged 73.

Appropriately, USS Thatcher (Destroyer No. 162) was laid down on 8 June 1918 by Fore River at Quincy, Massachusetts; launched 105 years ago this week on 31 August 1918 sponsored by Miss Doris Bentley, the grandniece of RADM Thatcher; and, too late for the Great War, was commissioned on 14 January 1919, with LCDR Francis Warren Rockwell (USNA 1908)– a Navy Cross holder for his time on the destroyer USS Winslow (DD-53) during WWI and future VADM who later commanded the 16th Naval District in the Philippines at the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific— as her first seagoing skipper.

USS Thatcher (Destroyer # 162) At the Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts, 14 January 1919. Panoramic photograph by J. Crosby, Naval Photographer, # 11 Portland Street, Boston. NH 99264

In all, USS Thatcher’s construction only lasted just 220 days, a wonder of wartime shipbuilding.

Her active-duty U.S. Naval career was correspondingly short, spanning just 40 months but she was part of the support group for the pioneering NC-4 flying boat crossing of the Atlantic in May 1919.

USS Thatcher (DD-162). Leading other destroyers into a harbor, circa 1919-1921. The next ship astern is USS Crosby (DD-164). This was likely during the NC flying boat crossing as Thatcher operated on picket station number 9, one of 21 stations strung out from Newfoundland and Labrador to the Azores, between her sister ships Walker (Destroyer No. 163) and Crosby. Underway at sea, she provided visual and radio bearings for the flying boats as they passed overhead on their way toward Lisbon, Portugal. NH 41952

USS Cuyama (Oiler # 3) at Acapulco, Mexico, circa 1919, with several destroyers alongside. Destroyers off Cuyama’s starboard side are (from left to center: USS Walker (Destroyer # 163); USS Crosby (Destroyer # 164); and USS Thatcher (Destroyer # 162). USS Gamble (Destroyer # 123) is moored along Cuyama’s port side. Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1976. NH 85033

USS Thatcher (DD-162) underway, circa 1920. NH 41953

Transferred to the Pacific in the autumn of 1921, Thatcher operated out of San Diego, conducting exercises and training cruises off the West Coast with reduced manning (her last three skippers were ensigns and LTJGs) until decommissioned there on 7 June 1922.

Pacific Fleet Through Panama Canal US Destroyer “162”, Balboa Inner Harbor July 25, 1919. National Archives Identifier 100996438

Destroyers at the Mare Island Navy Yard, 1919 (from left to right): USS Tarbell (Destroyer # 142); USS Thatcher (Destroyer # 162); USS Rizal (Destroyer # 174); USS Hart (Destroyer # 110); USS Hogan (Destroyer # 178); USS Gamble (Destroyer # 123); USS Ramsay (Destroyer # 124); and USS Williams (Destroyer # 108). Donation of Rear Admiral Ammen Farenholt, NH 42537

Destroyers at the Mare Island Navy Yard, 1919, L to R: USS Tarbell (Destroyer # 142); USS Thatcher (Destroyer # 162); USS Rizal (Destroyer # 174); USS Hart (Destroyer # 110); USS Hogan (Destroyer # 178); USS Gamble (Destroyer # 123); USS Ramsay (Destroyer # 124); and USS Williams (Destroyer # 108). Donation of Rear Admiral Ammen Farenholt. NH 42538

She would sway quietly along with others of her kind in the California mothball fleet for another 17 years.

Brought back to life

With war coming again to Europe, Thatcher was recommissioned at San Diego on 18 December 1939, then transferred to the Atlantic the following spring after shakedowns and workups.

Transiting the Panama Canal on 1 April 1940, just before the German blitzkrieg against France and the Low Countries, Thatcher conducted Neutrality Patrols and training cruises off the east coast and in the Gulf of Mexico through the summer of 1940.

USS Thatcher (DD 162) off Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York. Lot 5124-2

Headed to serve the King

With Europe again at war, on 2 September 1940, FDR signed the so-called Destroyers for Bases Agreement that saw a mix of 50 (mostly mothballed) Caldwell (3), Wickes (27), and Clemson (20)-class destroyers transferred to the Royal Navy in exchange for limited basing rights on nine British overseas possessions. Canada would receive seven of these ships including five Wickes, doubling the number of destroyers in the Canadian Navy in days. 

In respect of Canada’s naming tradition for destroyers, all seven RCN flush deckers were named for Canadian rivers, ideally, those that ran in conjunction with the U.S. border, a nice touch. Thatcher, therefore, became HCMS Niagra, so named after the river that becomes the Falls in New York.

Sailed by scratch USN crews from Philadelphia, Thatcher and five of her sisters arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 20 September 1940, the third group of the “flush deckers” transferred.  

Transfer of U.S. destroyers to the Royal Navy in Halifax, Sept 1940. Wickes-class destroyers USS Buchanan (DD-131), USS Crowninshield (DD-134), and USS Abel P. Upshur (DD-193) are in the background. The sailors are examining a 4-inch /50 cal deck gun. Twenty-three Wickes-class destroyers were transferred to the RN, along with four to the RCN, in 1940 under the Destroyers for Bases Agreement. (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3199286)

Decommissioned from the U.S. Navy on 24 September 1940, Thatcher was renamed HMCS Niagara (I57) and, headed for a refit for RN service by HM Dockyard Devonport, departed Halifax on 30 November; proceeded eastward via St. John’s, Newfoundland where she joined Convoy HX 080 as an escort on 10 December.

She wasn’t struck from the U.S. Navy List until 8 January 1941.

Besides HX 080, she would ride shotgun with no less than 13 Atlantic convoys in 1941 as part of the Newfoundland Escort Force (NEF), 17 in 1942, 16 in 1943, and one in 1944 for a total of 48 wartime convoy runs.

During this service, she was often a lifesaver, for instance escorting the battered Danish merchantman Triton into Belfast in January 1942, rescuing the survivors of the American merchantman SS Independence Hall two months later, then picking up 12 shaken survivors from the sunken steamer SS Rio Blanco, which had been torpedoed by U-160 in April; followed by 8 survivors from the Norwegian tanker Kollskegg that sent to the bottom by U-754.

Harold William John Tomlin, a Royal Navy official photographer, took a series of detailed shots of the (reserve) officers and crew of HMCS Niagara in action, likely in 1941, and they are preserved in the collections of the Imperial War Museum.

HMCS NIAGARA, TOWN CLASS DESTROYER, ONE OF THE FIFTY DESTROYERS HANDED OVER BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN EXCHANGE FOR THE USE OF THE BASES. 1941, ON BOARD THE DESTROYER, SHE HAS AN ENTIRELY CANADIAN CREW, SOME OF WHOM ARE EXPERIENCING THEIR FIRST TASTE OF NAVAL LIFE. AMONGST THEM ARE LUMBERJACKS, FARMERS, WAREHOUSEMEN, ETC., WHO UNTIL THEY BROUGHT THE NIAGARA ACROSS THE ATLANTIC HAD NEVER BEEN TO SEA. TYPES OF CANADIANS FORMING THE CREW OF HMCS NIAGARA SOME WEARING THEIR UNUSUAL HEADGEAR, ETC. (A 3289) HMCS NIAGARA. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137695

THE ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR (A 3277) Jack Farrell, a sailor in the Royal Canadian Navy, walks across the deck carrying a sack over his left shoulder aboard HMCS NIAGARA an ex-American Town class destroyer, 1941. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205119367

THE ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR (A 3273) Gerald Moore, a sailor in the Royal Canadian Navy, smokes a cigarette whilst sitting on the deck of HMCS NIAGARA an ex-American Town class destroyer, 1941. He is wearing a peaked hat with tied-up ear covers commonly worn by Canadian servicemen. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205119365

THE ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR (A 3275) Ski Doyle, a sailor in the Royal Canadian Navy, leans against the railings of HMCS NIAGARA an ex-American Town class destroyer, 1941. Rather than the standard bib, Doyle is dressed in a woolen roll-necked jumper. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205119366

THE ROYAL NAVY DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR (A 3293) Two Canadian sailors from HMCS NIAGARA hand washing from improvised lines strung across the deck of their ship. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205185254

THE ROYAL NAVY DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR (A 3284) The Navigating Officer of HMCS NIAGARA uses a sextant to get a bearing at sea. He is wearing a heavy coat to protect him from the cold of the open bridge. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205185253

THE ROYAL NAVY DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR (A 3297) The Blue watch has a sing-song on board HMCS NIAGARA, a Town class destroyer. An accordion, guitar, and mandolin are being played by some of the sailors. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205185255

THE ROYAL NAVY DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR (A 3299) The Engineer Officer of HMCS NIAGARA carries out an inspection of the boiler room to make sure that all is ready for sea. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205185256

HMCS NIAGARA, The First Lieutenant, a veteran of the last war makes the rounds of the ship. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137709

HMCS NIAGARA, Up on the signal deck, Signalmen receive a signal instructing the Commanding Officer to take his ship to sea. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137704

HMCS NIAGARA, Down on the mess deck members of the Red Watch play cards. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137701

HMCS NIAGARA, In the Wardroom, officers enjoy a quiet spell while awaiting orders to put to sea. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137698

HMCS NIAGARA The gun sight setter with his voice tube awaits orders. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137692

HMCS NIAGARA The Mate, (a rank not used in the British Navy) Sub Lieutenant G H Doty, who until he joined the Canadian Navy was a newsreel cameraman, works out the course on the chart. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137705

HMCS NIAGARA Petty Officer Ben Pearse was a lumberjack on Vancouver Island. The eye cover is the result of a slight accident. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137685

HMCS NIAGARA Gordon Charlebois, French Canadian, of Alexandria, Ontario, who before joining the NIAGARA had never been on board a ship. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137687

HMCS NIAGARA, Down in the engine room, the Telegraph rings ‘half speed ahead’. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137707

HMCS NIAGARA In his cabin the Engineer Officer, Lieut E Surtees, enters up details of the work done by his staff. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137702

HMCS NIAGARA Members of the crew fix the fuse caps to projectiles for the ‘Twelve Pounder’ gun. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137690

HMCS NIAGARA On the Bridge, the Captain prepares to take the ship to sea. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137706

HMCS NIAGARA The boiler room receives instructions on the boiler room telegraph. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137708

HMCS NIAGARA In the Galley the cook prepares for the next meal, going to sea makes no difference to his routine. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137697

HMCS NIAGARA A member of the ship’s company having a haircut on deck by the ship’s barber. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137699

HMCS NIAGARA Jack Lawrence, age 21, of Newfoundland, had served in yachts and merchant ships. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137684

HMCS NIAGARA Lou Kiggins was a drugstore assistant on Prince Edward Island. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137688

HMCS NIAGARA Leading Seaman Les Porter, who was the Mate of a Lake Steamer. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137686

HMCS NIAGARA Replacing the oil fuel jets after ensuring the efficiency of these important sections of the motive power. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137703

HMCS NIAGARA Action Stations, loading the ‘Twelve Pounder’. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137691

HMCS NIAGARA When at sea the Captain can only leave the bridge for brief snatches of sleep. Here is the Commanding Officer of HMCS NIAGARA having a well-earned nap, but fully clothed ready for instant summons from the bridge. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137693

HMCS NIAGARA Tom Williamson was a cable maker at Niagara Falls. Now he is the ship’s rigger in HMCS NIAGARA. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137689

HMCS NIAGARA HMCS NIAGARA. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137696

U-570

Niagara’s most famous exploit was in the capture of U-570, a low-mileage German Type VIIC boat operating out of Trondheim, in August 1941.

After being damaged by depth charges from a British Hudson aircraft (269 Sqn RAF/S) in the North Atlantic south of Iceland and surfacing showing a white bed sheet on her tower, Niagara and the destroyer HMS Burwell (H 94)— another destroyer for bases vessel, formerly the Clemson-class four-piper USS Laub (DD-263)— together with a quartet of armed trawlers– HMT Kingston Agate, Northern Chief, Westwater and Windermere— were dispatched to the scene, arriving the next morning.

U-570, its German crew on the conning tower; evident to the left of the conning tower is the white sheet used to surrender to the RAF Lockheed Hudson of No. 269 Squadron.

A camouflaged Niagara stands by as a Royal Navy boarding party of four armed men from the HMS Kingston Agate has taken the U-570 under control, their Carley Float (rubber raft) can be seen tied alongside; photo taken from an Iceland-based PBY Catalina during a low pass — Morning, August 28, 1941.

Taking off 43 Germans under the bizarre Kptlt. Hans-Joachim Rahmlow, just seven days into his first war patrol, then installing a prize crew aboard, the trawlers took turns towing the damaged U-boat to Thorlakshafn, Iceland where she was beached, and very thoroughly inspected, detailed plans of her forwarded across all Allied channels.

The U-570 beached on the coast of Iceland at Þorlákshöfn, photo taken probably August 30, 1941.

General Plan of the U-570, U.S. Navy ONI Report Enclosure of the redrawn and translated plan of the submarine captured on board — prepared by the David W. Taylor, Model Basin, U.S. Navy (1941).

While Rahmlow had managed to jettison the boat’s the boat’s Enigma machine and codebooks, an officer from HMS Burwell retrieved documents with plain language and enciphered messages which helped the British to read Enigma messages.

Further, the boat was in fine shape with British inspectors noting, “Internally the damage was negligible and consisted mostly of a few broken gauges, gauge glasses, and light fittings probably caused by the depth charges and also by ignorantly conceived attempts to destroy various fittings.” Her motors, engines and pumps, compressors, auxiliaries, etc., appeared to be undamaged and battery compartments dry and sound.

The swashbuckling pistol-wearing skipper of Niagara, LT Thomas P (“Two-Gun”) Ryan, OBE, RCN, a Great War minesweeper veteran, one-time mercenary in South America, and a former police inspector in Ireland, conducted the initial interrogations of the captured German POWs, who were relieved to be (in their understanding) headed to a much quieter life in Canada.

“Two Gun” Ryan aged 51 at the time of U-570’s capture. A recipient of the Bronze Medal in WWI, he later went on to command HMCS Ingonish (J 69), HMCS Dawson (K 104), and HMCS Shediac (K 110) post-Niagara, then shipped out in 1946 to Manilla to distribute Red Cross supplies and write a memoir.

Formal RN interrogators cited U-570’s crews’ shocking lack of experienced hands, noting, “The chief petty officers, and to a lesser extent, some of the petty officers, expressed great concern at the inadequacy of the training and the lack of U-Boat experience, not only of the men but also of the officers and petty officers; no attempt was made to disguise the incompetence of the crew and the officers were severely criticized by all the men.”

U-570 became the British submarine HMS Graph on 5 October 1941 and, as the first operational German U-boat under Allied control– the more famous Type IXC U-505 wasn’t captured by the U.S. Navy until June 1944 — was key to understanding the tactics that would go on to win the Battle of the Atlantic.

German U-Boat U-570 entering the dock at Barrow-in-Furness after her capture by the Royal Navy. IWM Photo, FL 951

Importantly, the U-570/Graph was the only U-boat to see active service with both sides during the war, sent back out for her first Royal Navy war patrol on 8 October 1942.

Back to the war…

Niagara served and served hard, the unforgiving life of a tiny and aging greyhound in the North Atlantic. Suffering from structural weakness and with her boilers worn out, coupled with the fact that other, more modern escort ships were joining the fleet and needed crews, by March 1944 she was pulled from frontline service.

She continued to serve as Torpedo Branch training ship at Halifax throughout 1944 and, shifting to St. John, New Brunswick the following year, would endure in this important service.

Loading practice torpedoes on HMCS NIAGARA – Sep 1944

Niagara with the British Royal Navy Submarine HMS P553 (former USS S-21) alongside. This image was taken at Halifax circa 1943-44 as P553, transferred to the Royal Navy at New London on 14 September 1942, was then based at Halifax as an anti-submarine warfare training boat until returned to the USN at Philadelphia on 11 July 1944 and sunk as a target.

Paid off and placed on the Disposal List on 15 September 1945, Niagara was sold to International Iron and Steel for demolition on 27 May 1946 then taken in tow to Hamilton where she arrived at the Breaker’s Yard on 12 December 1947.

Epilogue

The old HMCS Niagara is well remembered by the Royal Canadian Navy Historical Project, For Posterity’s Sake.

Her wartime replacement bell (the original USS Thatcher bell was retained by the U.S. Navy, disposition unknown) has for some time been in the Niagara Falls Museum.

As for the U.S. Navy, a second USS Thatcher, a Fletcher-class destroyer (DD-514), was built at Bath in Maine– just miles from where RADM Thatcher was born– and commissioned on 10 February 1943. She was rushed to the Pacific– helping to sink the Japanese destroyer Hatsukaze during the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay in November 1943– and earned 12 battle stars for World War II service.

The newly commissioned USS Thatcher (DD 514) in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts, on 28 February 1943. Note 20mm guns amidships and forward using the photographing aircraft as an opportunity for tracking practice. Worn out from her WWII service which included surviving two kamikaze hits off Okinawa, a post-war survey board decided that the ship should be scrapped, and she was decommissioned on 23 November 1945 and then sold for scrap. National Archives photograph, 80-G-36537

There has not been a third USS Thatcher.

As for the name HMCS Niagara, the Royal Canadian Navy’s liaison base as part of the Canadian Embassy in Washington D.C. was known as the shore establishment HMCS Niagara from 1951 to 1965.

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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Batfish evicted?

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The Balao-class submarine USS Batfish (SS/AGSS-310), is a famed “sub-buster,” credited with sinking no less than three Imperial Japanese Navy submarines– RO 55, RO 112, and RO 113— in only four days while on a single war patrol. The secret was radar warning receivers picking up on Japanese emissions– the classic trace buster-buster, so to speak.

Navy photographers were waiting for her return to port to record the mighty Batfish’s sixth war patrol.

USS Batfish (SS 310). Battle flags fly from the boat’s superstructure as she heads for her base at the end of a war patrol, in May 1945. Note radars, periscope, and battle flag at the top of the scope. 80-G-468626

Batfish was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation and earned six battle stars for her World War II service.

She claimed 14 ships sunk (7 warships and 7 merchantmen) and three others damaged during her seven war patrols. Over a period of four days in February 1945, she sank three Japanese submarines. For this feat, the “sub killer” was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. Her other WW II exploits included blasting a grounded destroyer, bombarding a Japanese village, and rescuing downed aviators.

Postwar, she was never Guppy’fied like most of her sisters, and instead largely kept her WWII layout, continuing to serve in USNRF training operations in the Caribbean and along the Gulf and East Coast until 1960 when she was laid up in Orange Texas. 

Beating the scrappers, the Navy agreed to allow her to be epically towed up the Arkansas River system in 1972 for installation at Muskogee, Oklahoma for use as a museum.

Since then, she has been largely safe and sound on dry ground (except for a historic 2019 flood that left her afloat for the first time in 47 years), and it looked like she would endure as the last preserved Balao save for the USS Drum, which is likewise ashore in Mobile.

However, that may not be the case.

As reported by local news in Muskogee, the boat may be homeless at the end of the month:

The Muskogee Memorial Park, popular for its World War II submarine the USS Batfish, is being forced to move.

“To have a museum like this is just a reminder to the rest of the population what history is,” said James Erb, the museum’s curator.

For the last 50 years. the park has leased its property from the Port of Muskogee.

This year, the port didn’t renew their lease and is asking them to move. This has lead to rumors of the Batfish being scrapped. Erb says that isn’t true.

The park plans on moving everything to Three Forks Harbor.

“The land is confirmed, we just have to make financial arrangements to do it,” said Erb.

More here.

LTJG Bob Barker, Corsair Jock

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The late Robert William “Bob” Barker, who was the brightest part of staying home sick as a kid, also did his bit as part of the Greatest Generation.

Bob enlisted in the Navy Reserve Aviation Cadet (AvCad) program in November 1942 at age 18 while attending Drury College in Springfield, Missouri on a basketball scholarship. 

He trained at 11 locations including eight Navy air bases on six different types over the next three years:

  • William Jewell College – Liberty, Missouri: 6th Battalion Cadet ground school and athletic training.
  • Ames, Iowa—Iowa State University: Taylorcraft L-2 Grasshopper flight training.
  • University of Georgia: Preflight School and Navy Basketball Team.
  • Millington Naval Air Station- Memphis, Tennessee: Stearman NS2 Biplane Training.
  • Corpus Christi, Texas Naval Air Station: Completed flight training and received Commission as a Navy Ensign.
  • Cabaniss Field Texas: Vultee BT-13 Valiant Training.
  • Beeville, Texas: SNJ Texan flight training.
  • DeLand Naval Air Station—DeLand, Florida: FM2 Wildcat flight training (during his honeymoon)
  • Great Lakes Naval Air Station—Lake Michigan: Carrier landing qualifications on USS Wolverine (IX-64)— the infamous paddlewheel “Covered wagon of the Great Lakes.”
  • Banana River Naval Air Station: Gunnery runs on U.S. Navy Mariner aircraft to train their crews.
  • Goose Island Michigan: F4U Corsair training with VF-97 and advancement to Lieutenant Junior Grade (LTJG).

He was in line to be deployed to the Pacific to fight the Empire in August 1945 when the whistle was blown.

As Barker summed up:

“I was a Naval Aviator, a Fighter Pilot. I completed all facets of my training, including my qualifying landings on a carrier. I was all ready to go, and when the enemy heard that I was headed for the Pacific, they surrendered. That was the end of World War II.”

Demobilized in November 1945, he remained in the inactive Naval Reserve until 1960.

You will be missed, sir.

And, with that, I’ll leave you with one of his greatest three minutes, which he filmed at a spry 73.

USS High Point hits her lowest point

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NHHC L45-125.04.01

A few years ago, we covered the story of the experimental 115-foot “hydrofoil sub chaser” USS High Point (PCH-1) being up for sale in poor condition in Astoria, Oregon.

Built by Boeing in 1962, she was the first of a series of hydrofoil craft designed to evaluate the performance of this kind of propulsion in the modern Navy, one that ultimately led to the design (by Boeing) of the Pegasus-class patrol combatant missile hydrofoils, or PHMs.

Decommissioned by the Navy in March 1975 after a decade of testing, High Point was used briefly by the Coast Guard until her main turbine exploded, then was stricken in 1980.

428-GX-K108129 Patrol Craft, Hydrofoil, USS High Point (PCH-1) underway during a search and rescue exercise off San Francisco by JOC(AC) Warren Grass, 25 April 1975

428-GX-K108129 Patrol Craft, Hydrofoil, USS High Point (PCH-1) underway during a search and rescue exercise off San Francisco by JOC(AC) Warren Grass, 25 April 1975

Powered just by her auxiliary Detriot Diesel, she was retained as a non-commissioned experimental hulk until finally disposed of by MARAD in 1991. She passed through a series of private owners until she came up for sale once again for $70,000– with no takers.

Now, as detailed by Scotty Sam Silverman over at the Museumships group, she met her end earlier this month.

Silverman’s photos: 

All is not totally lost as a number of relics from the vessel were apparently passed on to a local, free cannery museum on the condition they set up and display the foil propeller.

A Requiem for a Ship that Could Fly;
A Ship of local notoriety,
USS HIGH POINT PCH-1

There were no flags flying, no bands playing on the pier, no dress uniforms with gold braids waiting to congratulate the captain and crew for a successful mission. No, there was none of that. Only an excavator with a hydraulic crusher awaited. And over a period of four days, in the middle of August, this once proud foilborne warrior was reduced to a heap of scrap and hauled away.

She deserved better, but you can’t save them all.

The only American “fighting foil” left afloat is the ex-USS Aries (PHM-5) museum in Gasconade, Missouri. Please pay them a visit or at least throw them a few dollars.

Death of a U-boat, Williams vs Maus

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Some 80 years ago this week, in the North Atlantic west of the Canary Islands, the German Type IXC/40 U-boat, U-185 (Kptlt. August Maus), with 31 waterlogged survivors of the lost U-604 aboard, met her end at the hand of depth charges dropped from Willie 9, a TBF Avenger aircraft of VC-13 from the deck of the Bouge-class escort carrier USS Core (CVE-13).

The event was chronicled by Core’s airwing.

The explosion caused by Lt. Williams’ two exploding depth charges dropped on a German submarine, U-185. The bow of the submarine protrudes from the bottom of the explosion. Incident #4082. Released August 24, 1943. Official U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-77195

German submarine, U-185, sinking after the combined attack of several aircraft from USS Core (CVE 13), principally from two depth charges from an Avenger piloted by Lieutenant R.P. Williams, USNR. Incident #4082. Released August 24, 1943. Official U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-77196

In all, U-185 went down with 29 dead (including 14 men from U-604) while 22 survivors were rescued and eventually became POWs.

German survivors from the German submarine, U-185, in the water after being sunk by aircraft from USS Core (CVE-13), piloted by Lieutenant R.P. Williams, USNR, August 24, 1943 They were in the water for six hours before being picked up by destroyer. Incident #4082. Official U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-77198

Submarine survivors of U 185 and U 604 resting on the flight deck of USS Core (CVE 13). Released August 24, 1943. Official U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-77202

From Core’s war diary, a very matter-of-fact entry for that Tuesday morning: 

Core had a particularly effective “hunter-killer patrol” in the late summer of 1943.

Per DANFS:

Core’s second hunter-killer patrol, from 16 August to 2 September 1943 netted her planes U-86 on 24 August in 27-09′ N., 37-03′ W., and U-185 the same day in 27-00′ N., 37-06′ W. Putting to sea again 5 October in TG 21.15, Core’s planes sank U-378 on 20 October in 47-40′ N,, 28-27′ W. She returned to Norfolk 19 November.

USS Core (CVE-13) underway in the Atlantic, probably on 10 October 1943. The wing of the plane from which the photograph was taken is in the foreground. Note also that the planes of her air group are painted white and gull grey to make it difficult for U-boats to see against the sky. Core would continue to serve after the war as an aircraft transport, taking helicopters to Vietnam. She was scrapped in 1971. NH 106565

As for the good Kapitänleutnant August Wilhelm Hugo Maus, he had claimed some 70,000 GRT in tonnage while he was active and earned a Knights Cross while in American custody. Speaking of which, he and five other U-boat officers were able to escape from the lightly guarded POW camp at Papago Park, Arizona on 12 February 1944 but was soon after recaptured in Tucson. Maus later helped dig a tunnel that allowed 25 POWs to escape on the night of 23-24 December 1944, but he elected to remain behind due to an injury. He was eventually repatriated and died in Hamburg in 1986, aged 81.

The splasher of Maus’s boat, LT Robert Pershing Williams, then a 26-year-old Naval pilot hailing from Snoqualmie, Washington who formerly had flown an SBD dive bomber with Bombing Two from USS Lexington (earning a Navy Cross) during the Battle of Coral Sea, flew against U-185 with Morris C. Grinstead, Aviation Radioman, First Class, U.S.N., 21, of Letts, Iowa and turret gunner Melvin H. Paden, Aviation Machinist’s Mate, Second Class, U.S.N., 19, Route 4, Box 17, Salinas, California. The action earned Williams a second Navy Cross.

Acclaimed cartoonist, Wood Cowan used his story to help sell War Bonds.

Williams outlived Maus, and passed in 1997, aged 79.

Warship Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023: The Last Violet

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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, Aug. 23, 2023: The Last Violet

USCG Historian’s Photo 220211-G-G0000-010

Above we see the Department of Commerce’s United States Lighthouse Service’s Violet-class coast-wise tender Lilac standing by the wreck of a derelict sailing ship in New York harbor, circa 1930s, with Lady Liberty in the background, likely during one of the vessel’s regular trips to the Service’s St. George Depot on Staten Island. If you look closely, you’ll note the USLHS’s brass lighthouse emblem bolted to her bow.

Lilac would later go on to serve, including a spell in haze gray, for another 40 years, and continues to clock in today.

The last tenders of the USLHS

The U.S Lighthouse Establishment was founded in 1789 and morphed across several iterations until, as the U.S Lighthouse Board in the 1890s, developed a basic design for its largest steam tenders that would remain little changed for a century. Between 1892 and 1939, no less than 33 such large coast-wise tenders were built, typically ranging in length from 164 to 174 feet and outfitted to carry about two dozen crew to work a series of large steam-powered booms to service a growing array of federally maintained aids to navigation– 11,713 in 1910 when the USLHS was formed swelling to 30,420 by 1939. These included lighted aids (lighthouses, lightships, and buoys), fog signals, radio beacons, unlighted buoys, and daymarks.

The trio of Violet class tenders (joined by the near-sister Arbutus) was led by the Manitowoc-built USLHT Violet, contracted in September 1929, followed by our Pusey & Jones Co. built Lilac and Mistletoe. Modern vessels, they were built almost entirely of riveted steel, including hulls, decks, deckhouses, and masts, edged with wood as a protective against heavy buoys, chains, and cement anchors. They had electric lights throughout and refrigerated storerooms.

Some 173 feet in length (163 feet six inches on the waterline) the class had a molded breadth of 32 feet, and the minimum depth of hull at the side, from the top of the main deck to the top of the keel, of 14 feet 6 inches. At a displacement of approximately 770 tons (799 is full load), the draft is 10 feet seven inches in salt water, essential to being able to tread in hazardous shoals.

Early plans of near-sister Arbutus, which was of the same overall type although slightly deeper of hold and with Foster-Wheeler boilers rather than Babcock & Wilcox as used by the Violets.

Arbutus out of the water before launch at Pusey & Jones. Note the wooden strakes to protect her hull while working buoys and the USLHS lighthouse insignia on her bow. (USCG photo)

The fuel capacity of the class was 29,000 gallons of fuel oil for their pair of Babcock & Wilcox boilers, each driving a triple expansion engine. The designed top speed of the class was approximately 13.7 knots at 1,000 hp– although later maximum speed was in the typically 11.5 knot range. They were not built as racehorses. The range, at 10 knots, was 1,734 nm which allowed them to range along the coast and keep station for weeks if needed.

Lilac, seen here ready for launch at Wilmington Delaware in 1933. She was moved through the water by twin four-bladed propellers 7 feet 5 inches in diameter. Each propeller was driven by a triple expansion, reciprocating steam engine developing 500 indicated horsepower at 160 revolutions per minute. The engines were built by the ship’s builders, Pusey & Jones of Wilmington, Delaware, and had high, intermediate, and low-pressure cylinders 11 1/2, 19, and 32 inches in diameter respectively with a 24-inch stroke. Steam to operate the engines and booms was supplied at 200 pounds per square inch by two Babcock & Wilcox oil-fired watertube boilers. (Hagley Library)

The deck gear included a 20-ton capacity boom with a steam-powered hoist, here seen in action aboard Lilac in 1948. (Philadelphia Inquirer archives)

Besides normal crew berthing of about six officers and 20 crew while on USHLS orders, the class also had spare accommodations to allow ferrying rotating crew members to lightships and keepers to lighthouses as well as providing space for district and national officials on periodic inspection tours.

Meet Lilac

Our subject had been planned to be named Azalea, contracted on 13 April 1931 to Hampton Roads Shipbuilding of Portsmouth, Virginia. However, Pusey & Jones subsequently underbid Hampton Roads, and the former was awarded the contract, after which the USLHS changed the new tender’s name to Lilac.

The name “Lilac” was the second in the USLHS, with the first being a 155-foot tender built in 1892 that served in the Navy during the Great War on patrol off the East Coast and in the Caribbean.

Ordered for $334,900 from Pusey & Jones on 16 August 1932, she was launched on 26 May 1933 and entered service with the service later that same year under the command of Capt. Andrew J. Davidson, a man who began his long career 42 years prior as a ship’s carpenter aboard the lighthouse tender Zizania and would be her skipper for five years.

USLHS Lighthouse Tender Lilac, NARA Identifier 26-LG-69-64

Lilac was assigned to the Fourth Lighthouse District, which covered the Delaware River, from Trenton, New Jersey south to the mouth of the Delaware Bay. She replaced the old (c. 1899) tender Iris and was based in Edgemoor, Delaware, just north of the mouth of the Christina River, where she would spend the next 15 years. Among her more famous charges was the Breakwater Lighthouse, founded in 1885 and now part of the Cape Henlopen State Park.

The Delaware Breakwater Lighthouse. LOC.

Joining the Coast Guard

On 1 July 1939, with the world edging towards war, the USLHS merged with the U.S. Coast Guard, which is still in charge of the maintenance and operation of all U.S. lighthouses, lightships, and aids to navigation. Lilac and her sisters were among 63 existing and building tenders of all sorts transferred to the USCG. With that, the triangular pennant of the Lighthouse Service was lowered for the last time on 7 July and the Coast Guard pennant ran up.

Upon commissioning into the Coast Guard, the vessels were given the WAGL designation meaning “auxiliary vessel, lighthouse tender” with the “W” being the USCG’s service differentiator. Lilac’s pennant number, therefore, became WAGL-227.

Other changes included repainting the all-black stacks to the standard Coast Guard buff with a black cap and removing the brass USHLS lighthouse emblems from the bows. Internally, the complement switched to two officers, two warrant officers, and 34 enlisted. Room for a small arms locker was set aside and plans were made to mount a topside armament drawn up.

When the Coast Guard was transferred to the Navy under Executive Order 8929 of 1 November 1941, out came the guns and thick haze grey paint. The Violets would pick up a single 3″/50 DP mount on the foc’sle, a pair of 20mm/80 Oerlikon single mount amidships behind the wheelhouse, and a pair of depth charge tracks over the stern. They would also, late in the war, pick up an SO-1 (Violet, Lilac, and Arbutus) or SO-8 (Mistletoe) detection radar on the top of their masts and WEA-2 sonars.

Mistletoe seen in 1943 during WWII before she had her SO-8 radar fit.

Lilac seen in late Sept. 1945, with her armament apparently landed but still wearing her “war paint.” 4th Naval District Photographer WC Dendal

Lilac would spend her war in the 5th Naval District on orders in the Delaware River system and would be fitted with a degaussing system for protection against magnetic mines laid off the mouth of the Delaware Bay by German U-boats. She would stand by when they brought in the surrendered U-858 in May 1945 and docked her at Fort Mills.

Mistletoe and Violet, also under 5th District Orders based in Norfolk and Baltimore, respectively, would work in Chesapeake Bay during the war.

Arbutus, assigned to the 1st Naval District, was used as a net tender at Newport RI. Her armament would be much the same with the exception of a smaller 3″/23 rather than a 3″/50 and a BK series radar initially fitted as early as 1943.

The men who tended the lights and buoys were in the war as well, and it should be remembered the USLHS lightship LV-71 was sunk in the Great War by the German submarine U-104 near Diamond Shoals, North Carolina while the unarmed USCG Speedwell-class buoy tender Acacia (which had joined the old USLHS in 1927) was sent to the bottom by gunfire from U-161 in 1942 during WWII. Another tender, the former 173-foot circa 1904 USLHT Magnolia, was lost in USCG/Navy service in 1945 when the American Mail Line freighter SS Marguerite Leland in Mobile Bay ran her down.

Postwar

Postwar, Lilac and her sisters would return to a more typical life, reverting to their peacetime livery. At first this would be a black hull with a white superstructure and bow eyebrow and buff stack with a black cap. 

Tender Lilac 5 Sept 1946 near Burlington NJ Photographer McKisky

Tender Lilac 5 Sept 1946 at Harbor of Refuge. Note the radar fit on her mast top. Photographer McKisky

Mistletoe, 1947, note her SO-8 radar on her top mast. USLHS Digital Archive

Then this would change to an all-black hull, losing the eyebrow, and wearing large white hull numbers.

Tender Lilac 5 W227 1950s

Lilac underway circa 1940s (U.S. Coast Guard)

Lilac with unidentified light

In 1948, Lilac was transferred to Gloucester City, New Jersey, where, in addition to her ATON work, would be remarkably busy in a series of SAR cases.

As detailed by the Coast Guard Historian’s Office, here is just a two year-run down:

  • On 15 to 17 May 1952, she assisted following the collision between the motor vessels Barbara Lykes and F. L. Hayes in the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. 
  • On 22 May 1952, she assisted the tug Pateo and the Atlantic Dealer in the Delaware River. 
  • On 26 May 1952, she assisted following the collision between the tanker Michael and the motor barge A. C. Dodge near Ready Island. 
  • On 30 January 1953, she assisted the fishing vessel Benjamin Brothers in the Delaware River. 
  • From 6 to 12 June 1953, she assisted following the collision between the tankers Pan Massachusetts and the Phoenix in the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. 
  • On 24 and 25 June 1953 she fought the fire on board the tanker Pan Georgia and searched for survivors in the Christina River. 
  • On 30 December 1953, she assisted the motor vessels Atlantic Dealer and Atlantic Engineer in the Delaware River. 
  • On 13 July 1955, she assisted the yacht Nip and Tuck in the Delaware River. 

LILAC underway circa 1950s (U.S. Coast Guard)

Taking buoy on board Lilac (Philadelphia Enquirer)

Bridge, buoy tender LILAC 220211-G-G0000-011

Wheelhouse of Lilac (Philadelphia Enquirer)

In a 1961 refit for a further decade of service, she would be equipped with an SPN-11 radar and UNQ-1 sonar.

By 1965, the USCG switched the WAGL designation to WLM for “‘medium or coastal buoy tender” and Lilac became WLM-227.

She would pick up the now-classic Coast Guard racing stripe after 1967.

With the service having the much-improved all-welded diesel-powered 180-foot buoy tenders on hand in serious numbers, by 1972 the riveted-hulled steam-powered Lilac was seen as incredibly old-fashioned.

She was decommissioned on 3 February 1972, capping just under 40 years with the USLHS/Navy/USCG.

Tender Lilac decommissioning

Her sisters Arbutus, Mistletoe, and Violet had been taken out of service already, decommissioned and disposed of between 1963 and 1969. None are afloat.

Arbutus met her end in Florida in the 1980s after serving as one of treasure hunter Mel Fisher’s “sentry” vessels over the Atocha wreck site.

The Arbutus wreck was celebrated, and she was later used by Jimmy Buffett for a back cover shot for his 1985 album ‘Songs You Should Know By Heart’.”

Switching careers

Just a few months after she was decommissioned, ex-USCGC Lilac was donated to the Harry Lundeberg Seafarers International Union seamanship school in Maryland, where she was used as a stationary pier side training vessel until 1984. In this role, she provided accommodation and class space to mariners upgrading their ratings across both bridge, deck, and engine room departments.

After 1984, she passed hands a few times and was used as a salvage company’s office for a spell, grounded in a dredged berth along the James River outside of Richmond, before she was listed in 1999 for scrap value, still relatively intact but showing her age.

Preservation

The non-profit NYC-based Tug Pegasus Preservation Project became involved in the prospect of saving Lilac and she was refloated on 25 February 2003, then towed to a shipyard in Norfolk where, after a favorable report on the condition of the ship’s hull– she had spent most of her life in freshwater– she was purchased on 11 March 2003, with the intent to return her to operation as a steam vessel based in New York harbor.

After berthing at the Hudson River Park’s Pier 40 and transfered to the newly created non-profit LILAC Preservation Project, she was eventually moved to the newly built Pier 25 in Tribeca in 2011 and has since opened as a museum ship.

The last unaltered American steam-propelled and steam-hoisting lighthouse tender designed for work on the open sea and connecting bays and sounds, Lilac is special and, other than the diesel-powered tender Fir (which was still under construction when the service was absorbed by the USCG was preserved at the Liberty Maritime Museum in Sacramento for a half-decade and is now apparently looking for a new owner) is the only USLHS tender still around– and the only one on display.

She is the oldest Coast Guard “black hull” afloat.

If you have a chance to visit her, please do.

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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