Tag Archives: battleship

Warship Wednesday, October 29th. The Ghost Ship St Christopher

Posted on by 7 comments

Here at LSOZI, we are going to take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 time period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all of their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.

– Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, October 29th. The Ghost Ship St Christopher

(This piece, originally published by Sea Classics in October 2012 as The Schooner St Christopher- Ghost of the Mary Walker Bayou, is one that is very personal to me as I spent two years researching it on two continents and talking to three of the former owners. As a good Halloween tale, I am running it here on the blog. )

Here we see the twin masted Delfzil-built schooner St Christopher of the Caymans, hard aground in the reeds along the Mississippi Sand hill Crane Refuge, where she has been since 1998.

Ghost of the Mary Walker by Christopher Eger. Click to big up

Ghost of the Mary Walker by Christopher Eger. Click to big up

Slipping down the builders ways in interwar Western Europe, the schooner St Christopher survived World War Two while flying a German flag, lost all her masts along with her original name and worked as a tramp steamer for decades, changed names again and sailed the Caribbean as a tall ship under a host of swashbuckling owners, and finally survived being grounded by hurricanes– twice. Now she only haunts a forgotten backwater in Mississippi.

Beginning life as the Heniz Brey

In 1932 at the Scheepswerven Gebr Niestern & Co in Delfzil Holland, Hamburg shipping company owner Johannes Brey ordered Niestern bow number 190 for use as a twin-masted coastal shallow-draught schooner. The ship was named Heinz Brey after Johannes’ father.

Builders Plate

Builders Plate

Curiously, she appears twice in the Lloyds’ Register for that time period and is in both the sailing and steamer listings for the year she was completed as entry LR5145984. The vessel is the same in each as she has the same signal code (RFJN), year of build (1932), Builder (Gebr.Niestern and Co.) at Delfzijl, Netherlands, listed as owned by J Brey and has Hamburg as Port of Registry. She was issued and maintained a Germanischer Lloyd certification until 1955.

Heinz Brey as built

Heinz Brey as built

In the steamer listing, she was described as a steel vessel with one deck, an auxiliary screw propeller and oil engine. She is also described as ‘Galleas’ (or galleon which means she was primarily propelled by sails) She was listed as 116 tons gross, 93 under deck and 67 tons net. Her dimensions in feet and tenths of a foot were length in the steamer listing is 88.5, breadth, 18.9 and depth 7.3 (but in the sailing list her dimensions are given as 85.6 x 19.1 x 7.3 and her tonnage as 121). Photos of her at the time show that she carried a minimum of nine sails when both her masts and her bowsprit were rigged.

Sister hulls under construction in Holland 1932. F

Sister hulls under construction in Holland 1932. From H. Beukema Koninklijke Niestern Sander (2001)

In the steamer listing, her engine details are given as a German DeutschWekeKeil 74kw Type M42 two cylinder, forced air, four-stroke, single-acting engine that generated 22 nominal horsepower and 100-shp. Under power of this engine, the ship would cut blistering 6-knots. Two sister ships, constructed alongside the Heinz Brey to the same general specifications (save for a smaller engine) and for Hamburg based ship-owners were the Allegro (Niestern bouwnr.188) and Franziska (Niestern bouwnr.189). All three ships carried general cargo during the Great Depression-era in the Baltic area.

Sistership Allegro

Sistership Allegro

Service in World War Two

The Heinz Brey’s service in World War II has been lost to history. It is know that the vessel was pressed into service with the Kriegsmarine  in September 1939 and remained in use with coastal forces during the war, shuttling supplies, troops and carg around the Baltic. Her original owner, Johannes Brey, recovered the ship in poor condition in Wilhemstaven in November 1945 and returned her to service.

Her sister ships the Allegro and Franziska served alongside her.

The Allegro, (Kriegsmarine  pennant number V.1010) was brought to France to support Operation Sealion, the aborted invasion of Great Britain in 1940. When that failed she remained as a U-boat tender and general coaster.  Allegro was sunk just off Dieppe harbor at 49.56 N/01.04 E in on Sept 11, 1944.

Franziska used her shallow draft to good advantage transporting supplies to German troops in Norwegian fjords and evacuating more than 100 refugees from Pillaw, East Prussia ahead of the Soviet Army before the end of the war.

sistership Allegro

Sistership Allegro. She would be sunk by Allied bombs off the French coast while Heinz Brey and Franziska would be used to supply Norway and evacuate East Prussia in the last weeks of the war.

Tales of the Heinz Brey being a ‘ghost ship’ during the war, found afloat crammed with bodies of German civilians and soldiers killed by the advancing Red Army in 1945, have circulated but have not been confirmed. What is known is that Johannes Brey soon rid himself of his once-proud vessel.

Post-war renaming, conversion and Tramp steaming

Following her wartime service, the Heinz Brey was quickly sold in 1950 to Dietrich Mangels, who renamed her Aeolus and removed her after mast and bowsprit. Within a half-dozen years, she was sold at least twice more before winding up with Heinrich Behrmann at Krautsand in 1956. Behrmann had decided to convert the then 24-year old now single-master schooner to a traditional coastal freighter.

Aeolus 1956

Aeolus 1956

She was lengthened to 116 feet at the waterline, her final mast and sailing equipment was removed, and her overall weight ballasted to 240 DWT. (Coincidentally her surviving sister, Franziska, was converted and lengthened at about the same time) Painted with a black hull and buff superstructure. The converted ship, now renamed the Heinz Heino, sailed from Hamburg under a German flag carrying general cargo all along the North Sea and Baltic Coasts until 1979. During this period, she carried a Bureau Veritas certification.

Heinz Heino in Europe

Heinz Heino in Europe

Being too small and impractical for continued profitable service, the owner intended to sell the small freighter with her 47-year old engine for scrap in 1979.

A tall-ship again- with a yet another name

Dutch shipping investor AP Bakker said in a 1980 interview to a local paper: “We more or less accidentally saw the ship in a harbor close to Hamburg. We were not really looking for a ship like that, but something must have been in the back of our minds. We travel all over Europe, and you keep your eyes open.”

At Welgelegen, Harlingen on the slope in beginning 1980

At Welgelegen, Harlingen on the slope in beginning 1980, fixing to emerge as the…

St Christopher under refit 1980

…St Christopher under refit 1980.Now with masts once more!

With that, Mr. Baaker bought the Heinz Heino for 60,000-marks in September 1979 and sailed her to Bolsward, Holland for conversion back to a tall ship. She was reworked in a yearlong 1-million guilder ($500,000) conversion at Vooruit Shipyard in Bolsward. To the hull a bowsprit was added lengthening her to 44.20 meters (145ft) overall. The three new masts were installed with the top mast being 27m from the deck. The masts held 510 square meters of sail, divided over five headsails, including the inner and outer flying jibs, inner and outer jibs and the foresail, two mainsails as well as the mizzen sail equipped with topsails. Her gross tonnage overall was increased to 149.11 tons.

ST.CHRISTOPHER Flyer 1981

ST.CHRISTOPHER Flyer 1981

Her holds, no longer to be used for cargo, were transformed into cabins for up to 24 passengers. A total of eight luxurious two-passenger and two four-passenger cabins were installed as well as a new galley and a full bar, and for the first time, air conditioning. The ship, after completing her transformation back into a sailing ship, was christened Sint Chrisstoffel (St Christopher) after the patron saint for seafarers.

Dr. Sicco Mansholt, former President of the European Commission (the executive branch of the European Union) himself christened the ship. It set sail for the Caribbean under the command of 24-year-old Dutch Captain Jan Fred van den Heuvel from Den Bosch and a five-man crew consisting of a helmsman, machinist, 2 cooks and a deckhand in November 1980.

Before sailing Bakker said in an interview when asked about his hopes for success with the ship in the Caribbean, “There is always plenty of wind, there is sunshine and it has a warm climate. Sun, beaches and palm trees, my love, what more do you want?”

Trouble in paradise

St Christopher at less than half rig

St Christopher at less than half rig

When the Sint Chrisstoffel found her way across the Atlantic to the warm Caribbean island of St Maartin and a busy schedule. The ship’s owner A.P. Baaker intended to sail her with up to 24 passengers for an average fee of $400 per berth on one-week cruises. The large ship, with a hand-cranked windlass and the original 1930’s power plant required a crew of a dozen experienced sailors to man her but with the small 6-man crew embarked it was instead planned to have the passengers sign on for “working cruises” where each would be expected to work so many hours per day while on their week-long sail to keep the vessel moving.

Within a year the ship, undermanned and with a less than ideal sailing rig, soon found herself in trouble. She grounded on Great Bay Beach off St Maartin’s southeast coast under unknown circumstances.

St Maartin Ministry of Shipping director Mike Staam remembers the incident well. “They couldn’t get the ship off and started selling beer to onlookers. It was so successful that they rented a cottage across from the ship and started a little bar called ‘Het Anker Bar’ (The Anchor Bar).”

By 1984, the ship had been pulled off the beach but was non-functional and was impounded at harbor for back slip fees. She was officially de-classsed by Bureau Veritas at about this time.

In December 1984, Oklahoma City jeweler Darold Lerch (incorporated as Caribbean Cruising Co.), purchased the unlucky St Christopher at public auction for $45,000 USD at the famous Bobby’s Marina on St Maartin. The ship was in, ‘floating condition but not much more.”

Lerch sailed her with a scratch crew to Venezuela where the ship’s hull was scraped for the first time since leaving Holland. From there he sailed the ship to Jamaica where a holding tank ruptured and the Caymans where the ship lost an anchor.

Lerch, interviewed in 2010 complained about her initial sea keeping abilities while rigged “She was always breaking anchor…She was beautiful but sailed horribly. You had to keep her 100-degrees off wind and for every mile you gained forward she would drift two sideways”.

In 1985, Lerch found out just how the St Christopher would sail in a hurricane.

Hurricane Elena

St Christopher hard aground 1985. Photo by Frank McBoom

St Christopher hard aground 1985. Photo by Frank McBoom

On Labor Day weekend, 1985, Hurricane Elena’s winds forced the St Christopher ashore on Ft Desoto’s North Beach near Tampa Florida in Pinellas County. The ship had been forced from her Bayboro Harbor moorings near the Salvador Dali museum in St Petersburg at the last moment before the storm. Her 24-yer old South African master, Michael J Matter, had unsuccessfully fought against 40-50 knot winds and flood surge tides more than six feet above normal to keep her at sea. For the next nine months, the white-hulled schooner sat impaled on a sandbar –and luckily just out of the jurisdiction of just about any state or local organization.

The ship’s owner, Darold Lerch, drained his bank accounts attempting to free the vessel before he was approached by a group of investors including Cliff Henderson and Jerry Cross to buy the vessel and turn her into a cruise ship in Cancun. The group of investors incorporated under the name “Tall Ship St Christopher” then later “Blue Water Cruising” and managed to finally free her in May 1986. This was not before one of the investors, ironically a German, drowned in an attempt to free the vessel during Tropical Storm Juan.

Signboard at the Schooner's site 1985

Signboard at the Schooner’s site 1985

She was taken to Pensacola and there refitted with both new sails and rigging and rewired. From there the schooner sailed to New Iberia Louisiana where her original 1932 DeutschWekeKeil engine (remarkably similar to the same model used by Nazi Seehund type midget submarines) was replaced by two new Detroit Diesel M671 engines. Remembering how badly the ship sailed when he first obtained her Lerch and his partners installed a new generator, bow thruster with a 14” bronze prop, new hydraulics and a new hydraulic windlass. For the first time since Roosevelt was president, the St Christopher could raise her sails without the manual labor of a dozen men.

She was reflagged with a British ensign and a Cayman port of registry, number 710614, call sign ZHEP8. Her name was Anglicized from the Dutch Sint Chrisstoffel to St. Christopher of the Caymans to reflect her new flag.

In an interview in 1989, Lerch said of the St Christopher’s time in Florida, “She’s a beautiful old ship. With 10 years ahead of it as a charter ship out of Cancun, it is unlikely the St. Christopher will return to the bay area anytime soon. We’ve had our ups and downs here. Now it’s time to move on.”

Cancun and more misadventures

After spending three months and some $150,000 to modernize and refit the St Christopher, the ship set sail for Cancun in November 1989. The original plan was for the ship to take up to 60 tourist passengers on short 2-3 hour cruises in local waters for $30 a head. With morning, afternoon and moonlight cruises envisioned, investors planned to run her on as many as three cruises per day. The main impediment to the plan was a number of complaints and lawsuits from local vendors who brought pressure on Mexican agencies that withheld granting permits and licenses. At one point, with all of the paperwork seemingly squared away and passengers accommodated for two months, Mexican officials threatened arrest of the crew and owners for flying the Mexican flag illegally and shut the operation down.

Indeed the 1991 edition of Lloyds Register lists the St Christopher (with no Caymans reference), Registry number 5145984, Call sign PGXY. Still flagged in Phillipsburg, Netherlands Antilles. In 1992, she was dropped from Lloyds Register altogether as “continued existence in doubt.” In newspaper articles of the time, she was referred to as registered in the Cayman Islands although the Caymans had deleted her from their registry in November 1988 as her holding company had struck.

With the ship costing some $3,000 per day between the expenses of her 13-man crew’s wages, dock fees, chandler costs et al to operate in the tourist hotspot and no income flowing back in, the program seemed doomed. Eventually the St Christopher was prevented by the local harbormaster from even leaving port due to the amount of dock fees assessed against the craft. Finally in 1993 one of the more colorful ship owners bribed a harbormaster with a pair of 50-peso gold pieces (worth about $2,000 in gold) to be able to leave port in the dead of night never to return. To this day, the ship owner in question is still known to wear a pirate hat to social events occasionally.

St Christopher of the Caymans at Fletchas shipyard before Hurricane Katrina

St Christopher of the Caymans at Fletchas shipyard before Hurricane Katrina

The Ghost of the Mary Walker Bayou

After plying Europe as a coaster, evading Allied bombers in World War 2, surviving hurricanes, carrying passengers in the Caribbean, and escaping from Mexican harbormasters, the St Christopher of the Caymans found herself at Fletchas shipyard in Pascagoula Mississippi during the summer of 1998. Her interior spaces were gutted in preparation for the installation of new living quarters. The plan was for her to be refitted for use as a high-end private yacht when Hurricane Georges struck the coastal community.

The eye of the storm passed over Belle Fountaine Beach on September 28 1998, less than ten miles from Pascagoula. The storm brought gusts of up to 125-mph winds, 16-inches of rain and a 12-foot storm surge into the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Breaking from her moorings, the ship drifted across the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge and came to rest 7-miles away deep inside the swamps of the Pascagoula River’s Mary Walker Bayou in Gautier, Mississippi.

St Christopher in the trees. USCH photo

St Christopher in the trees. USCG photo

The ship was high and, during low tide, dry, in the muddy snake-infested swamp grass but she was worse for wear above decks. She had lost most of her high rigging in the storm and water had entered the ship. Water-borne looters soon found her and her antique portholes and prop were removed. Uninsured and reluctant to salvage her, owners sold the ship to Bryan Leveritt, a 49-year old former chemist and insurance salesman from Creola Alabama for $10. Leveritt formed an LLC, St Christopher Services to salvage the vessel for use as a floating missionary ship.

St Christopher in the bayou after Katrina, Photo by Bryan Leverette

St Christopher in the bayou after Katrina, Photo by Bryan Leverette

In 1999, the St Christopher organization applied for a canal to be dug 530 feet long, 24 feet wide and 6 feet deep to accommodate the keel and remove the vessel. The permit expired July 26, 2002 but the organization, unable to raise enough funds for her salvage, asked for a series of extensions through 2005. The organizations, with volunteer labor had worked through tornadoes, looters, hordes of yellow flies, conspiratory clouds of mosquitoes, alligators, and coyotes to enable the ship to be recovered. They were literally within feet of completing the canal and removing the ship from the swamp when Hurricane Katrina swept into the Bayou.

Hurricane Katrina brought devastation and destruction on a near-biblical level to the Gulf Coast in August 2005. Storm surge in excess of twenty feet lifted the St Christopher from her muddy home in the swamp and pushed her another fifty yards deeper into the woods. Worst of all, when she was cast like a toy into the thick pine and oak forests, her hull was holed and crumpled in several places and her masts destroyed.

St. Christopher 2012, Photo by Christopher Eger

St. Christopher 2012, Photo by Christopher Eger

Not likely going to spark up any time soon

Not likely going to spark up any time soon

Note the old school rivets showing pre-WWII construction methods. The ship has been beset over the past two decades by illegal scrappers.Photo by Chris Eger

Note the old school rivets showing pre-WWII construction methods. The ship has been beset over the past two decades by illegal scrappers.Photo by Chris Eger

In her 1932-era riveted hold. Photo by Christopher Eger

In her 1932-era riveted hold. Photo by Christopher Eger

Reluctant to let the ship go, Leveritt and his volunteer organization came up with a new plan to continue the canal, lift the battered St Christopher on a barge and float her to a shipyard in Bayou La Batre Alabama for repair. Again, the Mississippi Commission on Marine Resources (MCMR), who had allowed so many extensions in the past for the canal dredging permits, extended it once more due to the new problems. Again, the ship neared removal from her new home in the swamp. Again, events overtook her, as the Deep-water Horizon oil spill hit the Gulf Coast in April 2010.

Photo by Christopher Eger

Photo by Christopher Eger

The Deepwater Horizon spill, maintains Leveritt, pulled the barge he had lined up to carry the ship out of the bayou just days before the ship was ready to move and the resulting cleanup stripped the organization of volunteers and equipment. The MCMR, its patience worn thin from a dozen years of extensions, refused to extend the permits any longer. The MCMR turned the matter of the canal dug in the coastal wetlands to the State Attorney General who in July 2010 began fining Leveritt $500 per day until the canal is filled and the wetlands restored. Leveritt, now 63, remains determined to free the ship that has been landlocked for 16 years.

The St Christopher of the Caymans, a survivor of 81-years, a world war, three hurricanes and the largest oil spill in US History, still rests today near Gautier, Mississippi and is commonly referred to by local fishermen as the “Ghost of the Mary Walker Bayou.” Whether or not she ever stakes to sea again, is not certain by any means.

Through her missing port holes. Photo by Christopher Eger

Through her missing port holes. Photo by Christopher Eger

Fate of her sister ships

The St Christopher’s two sister ships who had been ordered at the same time and built in the same yard in Holland both had interesting post-war histories. The Allegro, sank by Allied bombers in a French harbor in 1944 was raised and used to some extent until 1970 when she was broken up by Captain Joachim Kaiser.

Undine at sea, St Christopher's sistership still afloat

Undine at sea, St Christopher’s sistership still afloat

Captain Kaiser also found himself with the other sister Franziska in 1980. The Franziska had been through no less than five owners, and like the St Christopher had been de-masted and used as a tramp steamer. Listed in Chapman’s , Kaiser shortened the vessel to nearly her original dimensions as a two-masted schooner and since 1999; the ship has sailed for the Gangway Foundation in Hamburg as a traditional sail training and cargo ship under the name Undine.

Specs:

riss

Displacement: 121 tons gross 240 full load
Length: 88.5 feet waterline, 145 feet oal in final scheme
Beam: 19.1 feet
Draft: 7.3 feet
Rig: Twin-masted schooner, 9 sails
Engine (as built) German DeutschWekeKeil 74kw Type M42 two cylinder, forced air, four stroke, single acting engine, 22 nominal horsepower and 100shp, one shaft, after 1986 Detroit Diesel M671.
Speed: 6-knots on diesel, faster likely under sail
Armament: machine guns and small arms during WWII German Naval service.
If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO), Publishers of Warship International

They are possibly one of the best sources of naval study, images, and fellowship you can find http://www.warship.org/

The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.

Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

I’m a member, so should you be!

Warship Wednesday October 22, 2014 the Overachieving Gresham

Posted on by 11 comments

Here at LSOZI, we are going to take out every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 time period and will profile a different ship each week.

– Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday October 22, 2014 the Overachieving Gresham

USRC Gresham;705. U.S.S. Gresham 1902; photo by A. Loeffler, Tompkinsville, N.Y.

USRC Gresham 1902; photo by A. Loeffler, Tompkinsville, N.Y.

Here we see the gunboat (err. Revenue Cutter) Walter Q. Gresham of the United States Revenue Cutter Service (USRCS) in 1902. This hearty little Great Lakes cutter had a life far removed from the one she was originally designed for.

The USRCS was a branch of the Treasury Department established by an act of Congress on 4 August 1790, (which predates the actual U.S. Navy’s official establishment date however that service uses the older date of the establishment of the Colonial Navy as its basis) and was tasked with counter-smuggling operations in peacetime and serving as a backup to the Navy in war. The USRCS merged with the Lighthouse Service and Lifesaving Service to become the USCG in 1915. But back to the ship.

The USRCS decided in the 1890s to build five near-sisterships that would be classified in peacetime as cutters, but would be capable modern naval auxiliary gunboats. These vessels, to the same overall but concept but each slightly different in design, were built to carry a bow mounted torpedo tube for 18-inch Bliss-Whitehead type torpedoes and as many as four modern quick-firing 3-inch guns (though they used just two 6-pounder 57mm popguns in peacetime). They would be the first modern cutters equipped with electric generators, triple-expansion steam engines (with auxiliary sail rigs), steel (well, mostly steel) hulls with a navy-style plow bow, and able to cut the very fast (for the time) speed of 18-ish knots. All were built 1896-98 at three different yards.

 

USRC McCulloch in full rig. Note that McCulloch is indicative of the five ship class she came from with the exception of having a three-masted barquentine rig where as the other ships, being about 15-feet shorter, had a two mast brigantine auxillary rig. Painting, Coast Guard Academy Museum Art Collection.

USRC McCulloch in full rig. Note that McCulloch is indicative of the five ship class she came from with the exception of having a three-masted barquentine rig where as the other ships, being about 15-feet shorter, had a two mast brigantine auxiliary rig. Painting, Coast Guard Academy Museum Art Collection.

These ships included:

–McCulloch, a barquentine-rigged, composite-hulled, 219-foot, 1,280-ton steamer built by William Cramp and Sons of Philadelphia for $196,000.
–Manning, a brigantine-rigged 205-foot, 1,150-ton steamer, was built by the Atlantic Works Company of East Boston, MA, for a cost of $159,951.
–Algonquin, brigantine-rigged 205.5-foot, 1,180-ton steel-hulled steamer built by the Globe Iron Works Company of Cleveland, OH for $193,000.
–Onondaga, brigantine-rigged 206-foot, 1,190-ton steel-hulled steamer built by the Globe Iron Works Company of Cleveland, OH for $193,800.

The fifth ship was the Gresham.

2086084

Launched on 12 September 1896, was a brigantine-rigged 206-foot, 1,090-ton steel-hulled steamer built by the Globe Iron Works Company of Cleveland, OH for $147,800. She carried the name of Walter Quinton Gresham, an epic overachiever.

Maj. Gen of Volunteers, the great and Honorable W.Q. Gresham (1832-1895)

Maj. Gen of Volunteers, the great and Honorable W.Q. Gresham (1832-1895)

Born in 1832 in Indiana, Gresham was a bar-certified attorney and elected state Representative by the time the Civil War broke out. He soon became the 29-year old colonel of the 53rd Indiana and fought at Corinth, Vicksburg, and Atlanta where he was invalided out with a shattered knee and the rank of (brevet) Maj.Gen. of Volunteers. This helped supercharge his political career and he soon became a federal judge appointed by Grant, then Chester Arthur’s Postmaster General and later his Secretary of the Treasury (for a month) before picking up a seat on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals while twice running for the Republican presidential nomination. At the time the gunboat, which carried his name, was ordered, he was serving as Secretary of State in President Grover Cleveland’s Cabinet and died in that office May 28, 1895, hence his name was used to christen the newest cutter. Again, back to the ship…

gresham loc

USRC Walter Q. Gresham commissioned on 30 May 1897 after being accepted by the government three months earlier. While two of these ships were intended for blue-water work on the East Coast (Manning) and West Coast (McCullough), Gresham and near-sisters Algonquin and Onondaga were ordered for Great Lakes service, hence their construction in Cleveland and their homeporting in Milwaukee and Chicago. Since the 200+ foot long cutters were too long to fit through the locks of the St. Lawrence Seaway, they would be landlocked into the lakes their whole life (more on that in a minute).

When commissioned she caused a diplomatic crisis. You see, since these three cutters had a new-fangled torpedo tube and modern guns, the Canadians and their British big brothers objected that the ships were in violation of the 1817 Rush-Bagot Convention and the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842. These two acts limited U.S./British-Canadian arms build-ups along the border region between the two countries and to this day regulate how heavily armed ships can be along the Great Lakes.

http://lighthouseantiques.net/Revenue%20Cutter%20Serv.htm Crew of the Gresham around 1900. Note the old school Donald Duck caps.

Crew of the Gresham around 1900. Note the old school Donald Duck caps.

Well, just 11-months after Gresham‘s commissioning, war broke out with Spain and, as her two blue water sisters were rushed to serve with the Navy, the USRCS decided to withdraw the three lake-bound ships and put them to good use elsewhere. To get them past the locks in the St. Lawrence, they sailed to Ogdensburg, NY, where they were cut in half, shipped through the canal, and rejoined on the Atlantic side. Gresham officially belonged to the Navy 24 March-17 Aug 1898, but she saw no service in that war.

Gresham cut cleanly in two and barged through the St. Lawrence locks. Her other two sisters were subjected to the same fate.

Gresham cut cleanly in two and barged through the St. Lawrence locks. Her other two sisters were subjected to the same fate.

However, the war ended in August 1898, before Gresham could be reassembled. Not wanting to get the Canadians riled up again, the USRCS left Gresham, Onondaga, and Algonquin on the East Coast where they served as any respectable white-hulled cutter of the time did. Algonquin set off for the West Indies and Onondaga moved to Philly while Gresham lived the life of a New England cutter, based in Boston.

She used her popguns to sink derelict vessels found at sea. She patrolled fisheries looking for interloping foreign trawlers and poachers. Nantucket Island was only able to get supplies and mail during especially harsh winters by the use of Gresham as an ersatz icebreaker.

U.S.R.C. Gresham, flagship of the patrol fleet, America's Cup races. Library of Congress photo.

U.S.R.C. Gresham, flagship of the patrol fleet, America’s Cup races. Library of Congress photo.

She served as the official government presence at a number of the fashionable sea races of the time. This led to a collision during a regatta with Sir Thomas Lipton’s beautiful steam yacht, the Erin, in which the Gresham‘s torpedo tube scraped alongside the hull of that fine ship. The fault was all on Lipton’s ship by the way.

Gresham saved mariners in distress, including famously the “palatial” steamship RMS Republic of the White Star Line (yes, the Titanic‘s company) when she collided with the Italian liner Florida near Nantucket and foundered in 1909. That incident was the first time a CQD distress call was issued on the new Marconi radio device. Standing alongside the stricken ship, Gresham along with other ships and the cutters Mohawk and Seneca helped save more than 1200 passengers and crew.

sinking_republic_03.sized

In 1915 she, along with the rest of the cutter service became part of the new U.S. Coast Guard and she was given pennant number CG-1, her name by that time just shortened to Gresham, without the Walter Q. part.

When war erupted, she was transferred to the Navy for the second time in 6 April 1917 and remained in the fleet until Aug. 1919. Her sail rig was removed as were her 57mm and 37mm popguns, her wartime armament was greatly increased and was depth charges were fitted, which added several hundred tons to her weight and several feet to her draught. During the war, she escorted coastal convoys, watched for U-boats and naval raiders, and helped train naval crews. Interestingly enough, her old collision-mate Erin, while serving as the armed yacht Aegusa in the Royal Navy, was lost to a German mine during the war.

Returning to her normal peacetime cutter activities in the Coast Guard, to which was added policing and chasing after rumrunners in the 1920s (for which some water-cooled Brownings were installed) Gresham entered a quiet chapter in her life. Her armament was greatly reduced and by 1922, her torpedo tube was deactivated as all of the Navy’s stocks of the aging Whitehead Mk3 torpedoes were withdrawn from service.

In 1933, Gresham was again assigned to the Navy and was sent to Cuban waters to monitor the situation there. As part of the Navy Special Service Squadron she was used to patrol the Florida Straits during a series of revolts that eventually put Fulgencio Batista in power in Cuba. In this she served with a number of other Coast Guard vessels sheep-dipped to the Navy to include the Unalga for two years, alternating between Key West, Gitmo, and San Juan.

She was decommissioned 19 January 1935 just before her 40th birthday, which is about right for a Coasty hull. She was then sold for her value in scrap metal on 22 April 1935, the last of her five-ship class to remain in the Coast Guard’s service. Cleveland-built sisters Algonquin and Onondaga had been sold in 1930 and 1924 respectively and disposed of. Cramp-built McCulloch, who served with Dewey at Manila Bay, was sunk in a collision 13 June 1917. Boston-built Manning likewise was sold for scrap in 1931. The Coast Guard just did not have use for a bunch of slow old tubs.

Until World War II came along, anyway.

In 1943, the Coast Guard found Gresham still afloat in some backwater somewhere in the Chesapeake and reacquired her, the sole remaining ship of her class. She was old, with 47 years on her hull. She was in exceptionally poor condition– still with her original cranky vertical, inverted cylinder, direct-acting triple expansion steam engine fired by four single-ended boilers fed by coal.

Nevertheless, she could hold a few guns and maybe scare off a U-boat or two so she was bought (sum unknown) on 21 January 1943 and renovated in Baltimore.

Gresham during WWII. Photo from Navsource

Gresham during WWII. Notice her sail rig is long gone and, for the first time, she has a visible hull number. Photo from Navsource.

Two months later she was relatively seaworthy and, armed with a sonar, radar, depth charge racks and guns, placed into commission as the USS Gresham (WPG-85) on 25 March 1943. Assigned to coastal convoy escort, moving from port to port up and down the East Coast, she was not liked very well. Since her best possible speed was just 8-knots, she slowed the convoys down and they often decided to leave Gresham in port rather instead. In these terms, she served as a guard ship in New York for most of her 13-month WWII service.

Decommissioned 7 April 1944 before the war even ended, she was sold for scrap for a second time.

However, she just wouldn’t die.

In 1946, she was being used by one Nicholas D. Allen of Teaneck, NJ, converted to a tug and renamed T. V. McAllister. He apparently wasn’t very successful with Gresham as in turn he sold her to the Weston Trading Co. of Honduras who renamed the elderly vessel, Trade Winds.

She became a coaster and banana boat along the Caribbean, flying a Panamanian flag. Then in February 1947 she quietly became one of the 12 vessels purchased in America by Ha’Mossad Le Aliya Bet to carry Jewish refugees from Europe, many only months out of concentration camps, to Palestine past the British blockade. Appropriately, Gresham was in good company, as at least three of the other vessels, Unalga (who she had served with in the old Navy Special Service Squadron), Northland, and Mayflower, had served in the Coast Guard at one time or another as well.

Her scant 27-man crew consisted mostly of young American Jewish volunteers with former naval and military service under their belt. She was prepared for its voyage to Palestine at Lisbon, Portugal and PortoVenere, Italy. Yehoshua Baharav Rabinowitz was in charge of the work in Portugal and Avraham akai was in charge in Italy. The vessel, under the Hebrew name “Hatikva” (The Hope) sailed from Bocca di Magra, Italy on May 8th 1947 carrying 1,414 Ma’apilim refugees. Israel Rotem was its commander and those accompanying him were Alex Shour and Meir Falik; the radio operator was Nachum Manor. Soon five Royal Navy destroyers, enforcing the blockade on Palestine, were tailing the old tub.

c. May 1947 Hatikva loaded with Jewish refugees Algerine Associates photo from Paul Silverstone's Aliyah Bet Project Aliyah Bet Project http://books.google.com/books?id=psggYctbdlQC&pg=PA105&lpg=PA105&dq=Hatikva+ship&source=bl&ots=SwRWx-nabd&sig=RH27Lu1ARpWj1UoEWq4FTtSzK08&hl=en&sa=X&ei=aBI2VMj-L5SryATovoK4Dg&ved=0CFUQ6AEwCw#v=onepage&q=Hatikva%20ship&f=false

c. May 1947 Hatikva loaded with Jewish refugees Algerine Associates photo from Paul Silverstone’s Aliyah Bet Project Aliyah Bet Project. Note that her mast has been stepped. 

One of these ships pulled alongside and called to the captain, “Your voyage is illegal, and your vessel is unseaworthy. In the name of humanity surrender.”

On May 17, 1947, the Hatikva was forcibly intercepted, rammed, and captured by the destroyers HMS Venus and HMS Brissenden. Upon boarding, RN sailors and Royal Marines used tear gas, rifle butts, and batons to enforce their directives and ordered the ship to Haifa to unload where it sat while the American crew was interned on a British prison ship. (For an excellent in-depth story of this action and the American’s fate, read Greenfield’s, The Jews’ Secret Fleet: Untold Story of North American Volunteers Who Smashed the British Blockade)

With Royal Marines coming aboard. Note her old pilot house, a relic from the 19th century.

With Royal Marines coming aboard. Note her old pilot house, a relic from the 19th century.

Later the Israeli Navy was able to reclaim Hatikva in 1948 after independence, but after sea trials, the desperate organization realized they were not that desperate, and sold her for scrap in 1951.

ex-Gresham, then Hatikva of the Israeli Navy (אוניית_מעפילים_התקוה) around 1948. This is the last known picture in circulation of her.

ex-Gresham, then Hatikva of the Israeli Navy (אוניית_מעפילים_התקוה) around 1948. This is the last known picture in circulation of her.

However, Hatikva/Gresham beat the scrappers once more it seemed. She popped up in Greek ownership in the 1950s and found herself back on the other side of the Atlantic again as an unpowered barge, her superstructure, funnel, and mast removed. She was last semi-reliably seen in the Chesapeake Bay area as late as 1980.

Her ultimate fate is unknown, but she may in all actuality be afloat somewhere in Blue Crab country, hiding out as a houseboat in some back eddy or grounded on a mudflat somewhere. If only boats could talk, Gresham would have had much to say. The Spanish American War, both World Wars, a revenue cutter that was deconstructed then reassembled, gunboat, coast guard cutter, freighter, refugee ship…talk about an epic tale. After all, how many ships have been sold to the breakers and lived to tell the tale not once, or twice, but three times!

The Gresham/Hatikva is well remembered in Israel and in the European Jewish community as a whole. This summer a group of 800 French Jewish students announced plans to recreate the voyage of the historic ship.

As a final note on the ship, Israel’s national anthem is named Hatikva, of course it is about the movement overall, but still; there is a small hatttip to the tiny Gresham in there every time it is played.

And Walter Quintin Gresham himself? He was buried in Section 2 of Arlington National Cemetery a little to the right of the grave of Union cavalry master Phil Sheridan.

The former seaplane tender made cutter USCGC Gresham

The former seaplane tender made cutter USCGC Gresham

In 1947, the Coast Guard took possession of a 311-foot long gently used seaplane tender, USS Willoughby (AGP-9; AVP-57) and renamed her USCGC Gresham (WAVP/WHEC/WAGW-387) in honor of this long serving vessel and remained in service until 1973. However, if the reports of the original Gresham making it to 1980 are true, her namesake outlived her by almost a decade.

Specs

USRC Gresham as built. USCG Historians Office

USRC Gresham as built. USCG Historians Office

Displacement 1,090 t.
Length 205′ 6″
Beam 32′
Draft 12′ 6″
Speed 18 designed, 14.5 kts.by 1930, 8 by 1943
Complement:
1897: 9 officers, 63 men
1917: 103
1919: 71
1943: 125

Armament:
1896: Two 6-pounder 57mm, one 1-pounder 37mm, three .50 cal. machine guns, and one bow torpedo tube
1918: 3 x 4-inch guns; (1500 rounds of ammunition stored in two magazinesfore and aft); 16 x 300-lb depth charges; 4 x Colt machine guns; 2 x Lewis machine guns; 18 x .45 Colt pistols; 15 x Springfield rifles.)
1930: 2 x 6-pdrs RF, 3 x .50-cal watercooled for rumrunners, tube deactivated.
1943: 2x 3″/50 (singles) 4x20mm/80 (singles), 2 depth charge racks, 2 K-gun depth charge projectors, 2 mousetrap depth bomb projectors, QCL-8 sonar, SF-type surface search radar.

If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO), Publishers of Warship International

They are possibly one of the best sources of naval study, images, and fellowship you can find http://www.warship.org/

The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.

Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

I’m a member, so should you be!

Warship Wednesday October 15, 2014: The Devil Dog of the Seven Seas

Posted on by 3 comments

Here at LSOZI, we are going to take out every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 time period, and will profile a different ship each week. –Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, October 15, 2014: The Devil Dog of the Seven Seas

Here we see the Independence-class light aircraft carrier USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24), dark and in her war paint, near Hunters Point in 1945. She was a hard-working ship that had a hard war. She was a ship built to meet a very specific need, and she met it well under no less than two flags.

In 1942, the Navy had its ass in a bind. Starting the war with just six large-deck fleet carriers, within the first six months of combat, the number was down to just four, and by the end of the year, just a single one of these (Enterprise) was still afloat and operational. While the first huge and ultra-modern 34,000-ton Essex-class carriers were building as fast as the riveters could rivet and the welders could chip slag, they would not be able to arrive in numbers until 1944. This put the Big Blue behind the Japanese 8-ball in naval warfare.

FDR, himself always a Navy man (he won a naval warfare essay contest while a teenager and slept with Mahan’s The Influence of Sea Power upon History on his nightstand before being appointed Asst. Scty of the Navy during World War One came up with the idea to convert a bunch of cruisers that were already partially complete at the New York Navy Yard over to flat-tops. Although the Navy balked, FDR was the commander and chief, so guess who won?

USS Cleveland CL-55 1942. The Navy wanted between 40-50 of these hardy little cruisers. They settled for much less, and nine of those became aircraft carriers while still under construction

USS Cleveland CL-55 1942. The Navy wanted between 40 and 50 of these hardy little cruisers. They settled for much less, and nine of those became aircraft carriers while still under construction

The 14,000-ton Cleveland-class light cruisers were designed after the gloves came off in 1940 and the U.S. no longer had to abide by the Washington and London Naval treaties of the 1920s and 30s. As such, these were very large cruisers, at just a hair over 600-feet long, and very fast (33-knots). Designed to carry a dozen 6-inch and a supplemental dozen 5-inch guns, they were also heavily armed.

In all, the Navy wanted something on the order of 40 of these warships to lead destroyer groups, escort convoys, scout ahead of battle groups, and screen carriers and battleships. Well, FDR carved nine whose hulls were nearing completion but did not have decks, guns, or superstructures installed yet.

A scale model of the Independence-class light carriers and the Cleveland-class light cruiser. Note the hulls.

A scale model of the Independence-class light carriers and the Cleveland-class light cruiser. Note the hulls.

It was not that hard a concept. Many of the first carriers were auxiliaries, cruisers, and battleships that had their topside removed and covered with a flattop. Langley, the first U.S. carrier, was a collier. Lexington and Saratoga, the country’s second and third carriers respectively, were originally laid down as battlecruisers.

The first of the class of FDR’s “cruiser carriers,” laid down originally as the cruiser Amsterdam but commissioned instead as the USS Independence, was commissioned on 14 Jan 1943 and rushed to the fleet. Over the next nine months, eight sisters would join her, roughly one every 45 days on average. The third of the class, originally laid down as the light cruiser New Haven (CL-76) just four months before Pearl Harbor, was stripped of that name and hull number and commissioned instead as the USS Belleau Wood (CV-24) on 31 March 1943.

Sponsored by the wife of the Commandant of the Marine Corps at her christening, the ship was named after the epic Battle of Belleau Wood in June 1918 during the First World War. This battle, steeped in Corps lore, was fought by the 5th and 6th Marine Regiments (and rumor has it, a few Army units too) in a thickly wooded area of Northern France.

The Battle of Belleau Wood

The Battle of Belleau Wood by Georges Scott.

It produced the time-honored catchphrases, “Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?” from Gunnery Sergeant Dan Daly, and “Retreat? Hell, we just got here,” attributed to Capt. Lloyd Williams. It was in this pitched combat, where Marines fought so savagely that German troops opposing them referred to the sea soldiers as Teufelshunde (literally, “Devil Dog”), a name that has stuck for the past hundred years. After the war, the wooded area was renamed Bois de la Brigade de Marine in honor of the more than 1,000 Marines killed there in the summer of 1918.

With her name to live up to, and packed with 24 F6F Hellcats (of VF-24 “Fighting Renegades”) and 9 TBM Avengers (of VT-24 “Bobcats”), Belleau Wood arrived in the Pacific just three months after her commissioning and by September was dropping it like it was hot in raids on Tarawa, Wake Island, and the Gilberts, reminding the Japanese Navy that the Yanks were playing for keeps and all would soon be in order.

Underway 1943 Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center (photo # NH 97269). From Navsource

Underway 1943 Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center (photo # NH 97269). Note the center deck elevator. From Navsource

Assigned to the fast-moving Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher’s Task Force 58, she was the battered old USS Enterprise‘s wingman during the Roi-Namur Landings and remained with the group for the seizure of Kwajalein and Majuro Atoll, the Hailstone Raid on Truk, the occupation of Saipan and a number of other engagements.

Carrier Raids on the Marianas, February 1944. A Japanese bomber explodes as it crashes into the sea near USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24), during an attack on Task Group 58.2 off the Mariana Islands, 23 February 1944. Photographed from USS Essex (CV-9).Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. (Photo # 80-G-218422). From Navsource

Carrier Raids on the Marianas, February 1944. A Japanese bomber explodes as it crashes into the sea near USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24), during an attack on Task Group 58.2 off the Mariana Islands, 23 February 1944. Photographed from USS Essex (CV-9). Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. (Photo # 80-G-218422). From Navsource

In 1944, she found herself up to her radar masts in Japanese aircraft during the Battle of the Philippine Sea, where her air wing delivered the final torpedo to the Japanese Navy’s 25,000-ton aircraft carrier Hiyō, sending her to the bottom on 20 June 1944. The Japanese avenged the loss by sinking Belleau Wood’s sister ship USS Princeton (CV-23) at the Battle of Leyte Gulf just four months later.

On October 30, 1944, the same day that the USS Franklin survived her famous kamikaze attack, Belleau Wood almost succumbed to a hit from a Zeke kamikaze that killed no less than 92 of her crew and sent her to the shipyard for much-needed repair.

USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24) burning aft after she was hit by a Kamikaze, while operating off the Philippines on 30 October 1944. Flight deck crewmen are moving undamaged TBM torpedo planes away from the flames as others fight the fires. USS Franklin (CV-13), also hit during this Kamikaze attack, is afire in the distance. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. (Photo # 80-G-342020).FromNavsource.

USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24) burning aft after she was hit by a Kamikaze, while operating off the Philippines on 30 October 1944. Flight deck crewmen are moving undamaged TBM torpedo planes away from the flames as others fight the fires. USS Franklin (CV-13), also hit during this Kamikaze attack, is afire in the distance. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. (Photo # 80-G-342020).From Navsource.

Back in the war by 1945, Belleau Wood‘s new air wing shot down the very last enemy aircraft of the war, a Yokosuka D4Y3 “Judy” dive-bomber swatted out of the sky by Ensign Clarence Moore, an F6F-3 pilot of “The Flying Meat-Axe” VF-31.

By this time in the war, with opportunities to sink Japanese ships few and far between, most light carriers were switched to an air group that consisted of 34 x F6F fighters and 2 x F6F-3P recon aircraft, and one of the class (Independence) even operated a hybrid night fighter group late in the war.

Landing Signal Officer, Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Walter F. Wujcik, bringing in a plane on Belleau Wood , circa 1945.

Landing Signal Officer, Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Walter F. Wujcik, bringing in a plane on Belleau Wood, circa 1945.

Her airwing took place in the immense aviation armada over Tokyo harbor on Sept. 2, 1945, that blackened out the sky, and she helped bring U.S. troops home from overseas all through 1946. With the U.S. Navy flush with brand new Essex-class carriers, the days of the Independence class were numbered in a post-war environment. Soon, the eight remaining ships of the class were all in mothballs, with Belleau Wood, by then reclassified as a “light carrier” (CVL-24), being decommed 13 January 1947.

Class leader Independence was scuttled after being used as a target for the A-Bomb during Operation Crossroads in 1946, while a few (Monterrey, Bataan) were dusted off for Korea. However, most would be on the scrap heap by the early 1960s. A few, however, were loaned to friends.

USS Cabot, which served with Belleau Wood in TF58 during WWII and VF-31 also flew off of, was transferred to Spain while the Belleau Wood herself and sister ship Langley (CVL-27) were loaned to the French Navy as their fifth and sixth aircraft carriers, respectively.

107871_127c809717f91fab3df26908f6ba4601

While the French renamed Langley as Lafayette (pennant R96) when they acquired her in 1951, they aptly kept the Belleau Wood’s name intact, only correcting the spelling to Bois Belleau. She was accepted into the French Navy with pennant number R97 on 5 September 1953 and commissioned 23 Dec of that year with Captain Louis Mornu in command.

Sailing for French Indochina she had an airwing made up of surplus USN F6F-5 Hellcat (of 11° Flotille) aboard (see our entry here on that little neatness) SB2C Helldivers (of 3° Flotille) and a pair of Piasecki HUP-2 SAR helicopters. These neat little twin rotary craft could carry a half dozen crew and passengers up to 300 miles.

Carrier Bois Belleau, formerly USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24), at Saigon. Early 50's. [800 x 560]

French Carrier Bois Belleau, formerly USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24), at Saigon. Early 50’s. Note the Corsairs on her deck

French Navy Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat launched from French carrier Lafayette off Indochina, 1956

Her planes dropped it like it was hot on Charlie during the first part of 1954 when the French withdrew, helping to evacuate some 6000 French troops and citizens in December that year.

aircraft carrier Belleau Wood in Haiphong Bay, 1954, while in French service. Note he impressive air wing aboard of at least a dozen F6Fs and Helldivers plus two HUP-2's forward

Aircraft carrier Belleau Wood in Haiphong Bay, 1954, while in French service. Note the impressive air wing aboard of at least a dozen F6Fs and Helldivers plus two HUP-2’s forward

However, she soon found herself in the Med doing the same thing for Algerian rebels with an airwing of late model F4U-7 Corsairs (the last 93 Corsairs ever built and considered the most advanced) of 14° Flotille off and on between 1955-59.

Suez Crisis: ALLIED SHIPS AT TOULON. 7 OCTOBER 1956, AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS OF ALLIED SHIPS GATHERED AT TOULON. (A 33593) Bottom to top: the French aircraft carrier LAFAYETTE; RFA TIDERANGE; HMS EAGLE; the French cruiser GEORGES LEYGUES; the French aircraft carrier ARROMANCHES (ex-HMS COLOSSUS); and the French anti-aircraft cruiser COLBERT. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205016371

During this period, she also participated in the Suez Crisis in 1956 and attended an International Naval Review in Hampton Roads in 1957.

French carrier Bois Belleau seen at the Hampton Roads International Naval Review in 1957

French F4U-7 Corsairs lined up on Bois Belleau "somewhere in the Mediterranean"

French F4U-7 Corsairs lined up on Bois Belleau “somewhere in the Mediterranean”

corsair2

The bumblebee recognition stripes of the F4U-7s of 14 Flottille were added for the joint UK-French intervention in the Suez in 1956, recalling the same type of markings used over D-Day in 1944.

Her last commander, Captain Pierre Hurbin, retired her colors on 12 September 1960, and she was returned to U.S. Navy custody in Philadelphia, replaced by the newly built carrier Clemenceau.

Langley/Lafayette picked up her squadron for another two years until Bois Belleau was likewise returned to her place of birth, replaced by the newly built aircraft carrier Foch.

Vought F4U 7 Corsair French Navy Flottille 15F17 on the La Fayette (ex-USS Langley) 1956.

The French aircraft carrier LAFAYETTE (R 96) former USS LANGLEY (CVL-27) at Mers el Kebir, Algeria, North Africa, 1962. Note the F4U-7 Corsairs aft, TBM Avenger amidships, and Piasecki H-21 Shawnee tandem rotor chopper forward.

14° Flotille then hung up their Corsairs in 1963 and transitioned to the F8E (FN) Crusader.

The aircraft carrier Bois Belleau during an excessive off the French Naval base at Oran-Mers-el-Kebir (14 June 1959).

The aircraft carrier Bois Belleau during an excessive off the French Naval base at Oran-Mers-el-Kebir with two HUP-2’s on deck and her crew manning the rails. (14 June 1959). Picture by Marine Nationale

For Belleau Wood, the U.S. Navy held on to her for a couple of weeks, then struck her name from the Navy List on 1 Oct, and sold her on 21 November 1960 for her value in scrap metal. She had earned a Presidential Unit Citation and 12 battle stars for her WWII service.

USSBelleauWoodCVL-24

The last of her class, Cabot, was returned to the U.S. by Spain in 1989. Shamefully, she sat in New Orleans for a decade in disrepair as one group after another squandered money donated to turn her into a museum ship. I visited her on the Mandeville docks there in 1998 (after letting myself in through a poorly locked gate), and fought back an urge to open up the seacocks and sink the poor old gal myself. In the end, that ship was finally scrapped in 2002, but her small island is preserved at the U.S. Naval Air and Space Museum in Pensacola, along with a working Mk3 40mm mount that the Spaniards did not remove.

Cabot's Island at the USNASM

Cabot’s Island at the USN-ASM

If Pensacola is too far of a drive, a closer memorial for the old USS Belleau Wood may be the ex-USS Little Rock (CL-92/CLG-4/CG-4). One of the ships of the Cleveland class that was actually completed as a cruiser, Little Rock, has been operated by the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park, Buffalo, New York, as a Museum Ship since 1977. She is the Belleau Wood‘s technical half-sister (at least from the 01 level down anyway)

On 23 September 1978, the U.S. Navy commissioned the Tarawa-class landing ship USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3) to honor the old light carrier (even though she was almost twice the size of her namesake!) in my hometown of Pascagoula. After a hard 27 years of service, that veteran was decommissioned and expended as a target in 2006. That ship’s coat of arms carried the twelve gold battle stars in a field of blue to honor her namesake’s accomplishments, while her island carried the Devil Dog insignia

USS Belleau Wood mascot as displayed on the island superstructure of LHA-3. Artwork by DM2 Artilles Faxas.

USS Belleau Wood mascot as displayed on the island superstructure of LHA-3. Artwork by DM2 Artilles Faxas.

Specs:

uss_cvl_24_belleau_wood-21067

Displacement: 11,000 long tons (11,000 t)
Length:     622 ft 6 in (189.74 m)
Beam:     109 ft 2 in (33.27 m)
Draft:     26 ft (7.9 m)
Speed:     31.6 kn (58.5 km/h; 36.4 mph)
Complement: 1,569 officers and men
Armament:     26 × Bofors 40 mm guns
Aircraft carried: 30-40

If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO), Publishers of Warship International

They are possibly one of the best sources of naval study, images, and fellowship you can find http://www.warship.org/

The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.

Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

I’m a member, so should you be!

Warship Wednesday October 8, 2014: The Lost Loot of the Nakhimov

Posted on by One comment

Here at LSOZI, we are going to take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 time period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all of their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places. – Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, October 8, 2014: The Lost Loot of Nakhimov

Admiral Nakhimov, NYC, 1893

Admiral Nakhimov, NYC, 1893. Click to big up.

Here we see the one-off armored cruiser Admiral Nakhimov of His Majesty the Tsar of Russia’s Imperial Navy as she looked with a black hull and buff stack during the 1893 Columbia Naval Review in New York City. She was a pretty odd duck who had a hard end and a weirder legacy.

In the early 1880s, European powers became fascinated with the “Armored Cruiser” concept. These large ships were to be (stop me if you heard this already) fast enough to outrun capital ships, but sufficiently armed and armored to fight it out successfully against anything smaller. One such class of these vessels was the Royal Navy’s HMS Imperieuse/Warsprite class of very chunky (315-foot, 8500-ton) cruisers.

Well, taking this design and giving it even larger guns and more armor, the Tsar’s naval architects came up with a ship that was 8600 tons and 338 feet long (take that!) while mounting an impressive battery of eight 203mm (8-inch) naval guns protected by up to 10-inches of armor belt.

The ship had an interesting 8-gun arrangement in four twin turrets, one aft, one forward, two amidships. This was actually extremely progressive and was not copied in the fleets of the world until twenty years later

The ship had an interesting 8-gun arrangement in four twin turrets, one aft, one forward, and two amidships. This was actually extremely progressive and was not copied in the fleets of the world until twenty years later.

Aft barbette mount of the Russian armored cruiser Admiral Nakhimov

Aft barbette mount of the Russian armored cruiser Admiral Nakhimov

That was actually pretty good for the time, especially when you consider this Leviathan could make 17 knots on a standard load with a fresh hull and everything lit with good coal (remember this later).

The new warship, named after Fleet Admiral Pavel Stepanovich Nakhimov, the commander of Sevastopol during its epic Crimean War siege and the man who annihilated the Ottoman fleet at Sinope in 1853, was ordered in 1881.

The namesake Admiral at Sevastopol. He was killed at the siege.

The namesake Admiral at Sevastopol. He was killed at the siege.

Finally laid down at the Baltic Works, Saint Petersburg, she was commissioned at the end of summer in 1888, just before the Baltic froze over.

Note the ship's 1890s scheme. This later changed to an all-white scheme with buff stack and black cap

Note the ship’s 1890s scheme. This later changed to an all-white scheme with a buff stack and black cap.

Skedaddling put Europe ahead of the coming annual freeze, Admiral Nakhimov set sail for her duty posting with the Russian Pacific Squadron at Vladivostok (and after 1895, Port Arthur). Waving the flag on her epic nine-month voyage, as the strongest Russian ship in that great blue ocean, she was appointed squadron flag.

Over the next fifteen years, she would retain this posting, returning to St. Petersburg every few years for refit and replacement of boiler tubes.

Ironically for how this story ends, she also visited Japan several times for drydock periods, such as an 1890 stint at Nagasaki detailed below:

This put a lot of mileage on the proud cruiser, but she was able to make stops everywhere from New York to Greece to Toulon on the way each time, waving the crap out of the Tsarist naval jack for all to see.

Admiral Nakhimov, NYC, 1893. Dig the misspelling on the news photo. The detail is exceedingly fine.

Admiral Nakhimov, NYC, 1893, doing that whole waving the Russian Naval Jack thing. Dig the misspelling on the news photo. The detail is exceedingly fine, including the numerous launches on the side of the cruiser– some of these could be equipped with spar torpedoes and conduct their own attacks if needed. Also, note the Torpedo nets deployed. She was the first Russian ship so-equipped. Click to big up.

She took part in some sharp combat a few times, supporting the Boxer Rebellion relief group among others. She then was used as the shuttle boat between Russia and Japan during the diplomatic tension leading to the coming war. In this period before the Russo-Japanese War, Admiral Nakhimov’s crew included no less a figure than the young naval officer better known as Grand Duke Cyril, grandson of Tsar Alexander II and cousin of Nicholas II.

Cyril would later shamefully tie a red armband on his uniform and lead his elite Guards Naval Infantry battalion to swear personal allegiance to the Revolutionary government in St. Petersburg during the Russian Revolution. This, of course, did not stop him from pretending to the throne in exile after the Reds later wiped out half of his family while simultaneously hanging out with the Mladorossi group– who were actually something of a pawn of the Soviet secret police. Anyway, back to the cruiser.

Armoured Cruiser Адмирал Нахимов ‘Admiral Nakhimov’ in Port-Arthur between 1900 and 1903

AdmiralNakhimov1900-1903

When war broke out with Japan, the well-used Admiral Nakhimov was back in the Baltic on her regular refit period. This was fortuitous, as she likely would have been sunk at Port Arthur like the rest of the Russian Pacific Squadron. However, let us not congratulate ourselves just yet, as the Russian glass is always half empty.

03

Attached to the doomed “2nd Pacific Squadron” of ADM Zinovy Rozhestvensky at the last minute (who didn’t want the aging, slow cruiser), Admiral Nakhimov set sail for her end fate.

voina_452

Sailing with the fleet on its epic ride to Valhalla, eight months later the ship, aged 16 but with years of hard use on her, her hull a forest of underwater vegetation, her boiler tubes leaking, her guns hopelessly obsolete and her armor considered quaint compared to modern Harvey and Krupp designs, rounded the straits of Tsushima on May 28, 1905.

Vladimir-Emyshev's rendering of the batttle cruiser Admiral Nakhimov at Tsushima.

Vladimir-Emyshev’s rendering of the battlecruiser Admiral Nakhimov at Tsushima.

It was an easy day for Admiral Togo’s fleet and soon Admiral Nakhimov had her turn in the barrel, being hit by no less than 30 massive large-caliber shells in short order. Somehow, she remained in the fight and even landed some hits on the IJN’s armored cruiser Iwate— some of the only Russian successes of that day. However, in the end, she was doomed.

According to the Japanese, they sank her with a torpedo that night.

According to the Russians, they scuttled her.

The fact that the majority of her crew (623 men out of 651) escaped in good order lends credence to the Russian version of events.

Gold!

Then, years later, something odd happened.

In 1980 Japanese businessman (and fascist Class A war criminal) Ryoichi Sasakawa financed an expedition to dive on the Nakhimov in her watery grave in some 314 ft. of water 5.5 miles off Tsushima Island. The goal of the mission? What was believed by some to be as much as $40 billion in 5,500 boxes of gold bullion, ingots, and British sovereigns, as well as precious jewels and crates of platinum ingots that the ship was carrying when she was sunk. Surely the Tsar was in the habit of loading billions of precious metals on doomed ships, right?

You see a group of Russian naval officers, including the Nakhimov‘s paymaster, told wild stories after 1905 that the ship had picked up on the way to the Pacific some 700 million francs and 800 million marks worth of metals following the sale by the Russian government of overseas bonds to help finance the war. These officers and their statements circulated enough that groups of enterprising Japanese as early as the 1930s began looking for the ship to salvage its treasure. This continued over the decades as a myriad of groups kept looking for the Pacific’s equivalent of the Spanish treasure galleon. The Japanese considered it spoils of war and even mounted an official government salvage attempt in 1944 during the darkest days of WWII, losing three divers but accomplishing nothing.

Well, Sasakawa found the ship, and even brought up some pictures of the ship and its contents, offering to swap the prize to the Soviets for a group of isolated Japanese islands that the Reds picked up as a boobie prize in 1945. Only, in the end, the Russians didn’t bite and the “ingots” pictured on the Nakhimov turned out to be of iron and lead used in ship repair.

Doh.

Russian in 2007 placed a monument on the ship, which is considered a war grave by the country.

12820.b

One of Admiral Nakhimov‘s original 8-inch guns, raised during salvage operations in 1980, is on display at the Japanese Museum of Maritime Science in Tokyo.

Does this gu nlook familar to the one above? It should.

Does this gun look familiar to the one above? It should.

The namesake admiral and cruiser have proved to be a popular name for later Russian cruisers. A 1920s Svetlana class cruiser carried the moniker as did a 1950s Sverdlov class cruiser and a 1960s Kresta II-class cruiser. The memory of the ship sunk at the Battle of Tsushima, 28 May 1905 is today preserved by the Kirov class battlecruiser of the same name. Currently, in refit (some things never change), she is projected to rejoin the Russian Navy in 2018.

Formerly the Kalinin, the 25,000-ton batttlecruiser was renamed after the Nakhimov once the Kresta class warship with the same name retired.

Formerly the Kalinin, the 25,000-ton battlecruiser was renamed after the Nakhimov once the Kresta class warship with the same name retired.

 

Specs:

49

Displacement: 7,781 long tons (7,906 t) standard
8,473 long tons (8,609 t) full load
Length:     103.3 m (338 ft 11 in)
Beam:     18.6 m (61 ft 0 in)
Draught:     7.7 m (25 ft 3 in)
Propulsion: 2-shaft reciprocating vertical triple expansion (VTE) engines
12 cylindrical coal-fired boilers
9,000 shp (6,700 kW)
Speed:     17 knots (20 mph; 31 km/h)
Range:     4,400 nmi (8,100 km)
Boats & landing
craft carried:     2 × torpedo boats
2 × spar torpedo boats
Complement:     572-650
Armament:     • 8 × 203 mm (8 in) guns
• 10 × 152 mm (6 in) guns
• 4 × 110 mm (4.3 in) guns
• 15 × 47 mm (1.9 in) 3-pounder guns
• 3 × 381 mm (15 in) torpedo tubes
• 40 × mines
Armor:     Compound armor
Belt: 254 mm (10 in)
Deck: 51–76 mm (2–3 in)
Barbettes: 203 mm (8 in)
Turrets: 51–63 mm (2.0–2.5 in)
Conning tower: 152 mm (6 in)

 

If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO), Publishers of Warship International.

They are possibly one of the best sources of naval study, images, and fellowship you can find http://www.warship.org/

The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.

Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

I’m a member, so should you be!

Warship Wednesday Oct 1, Of Wind, weather wars, and space junk

Posted on by One comment

Here at LSOZI, we are going to take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all of their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, Oct 1, Of Wind, weather wars, and space junk

U.S.S. Atka stands in McMurdo Sound to keep the channel open for Operation Deep Freeze supply ships and the evacuation of the last summer residents.

U.S.S. Atka stands in McMurdo Sound to keep the channel open for Operation Deep Freeze supply ships and the evacuation of the last summer residents.

With things starting to get colder, I figured we should go with an icebreaker. Here we see an amazing image of the Wind-class polar icebreaker USS Atka (AGB-3) holding the line at McMurdo Naval Station in Antarctica.

When World War II started, the Navy was up to the proverbial frozen creek as far as icebreaking went. While some foreign powers (the Soviets) really liked the specialized ships, Uncle Sam did not share the same opinion. However, this soon changed in 1941 when the U.S., even before Pearl Harbor, accepted Greenland and Iceland to their list of protected areas. Now, tasked with having to keep the Nazis out of the frozen extreme North Atlantic/Arctic and the Japanese out of the equally chilly North Pac/Arctic region (anyone heard of the Aleutians?), the Navy needed ice-capable ships yesterday.

The old (read= broken down) 6000-ton British-built Soviet icebreaker Krassin was studied in Bremerton Washington by the Navy and Coast Guard. Although dating back to the Tsar, she was still at the time the most powerful icebreaker in the world. After looking at this ship, the U.S. began work on the Wind-class, the first U.S. ships designed and built specifically as icebreakers.

Set up with an extremely thick (over an inch and a half) steel hull, these ships could endure repeated ramming against hard pack ice. Just in case the hull did break, there were 15-inches of cork behind it, followed by a second inner hull. Now that is serious business. At over 6000-tons, these ships were bulky for their short, 269-foot hulls. They were also bathtub-shaped, with a 63-foot beam. For those following along at home, that’s a 1:4 length to beam ratio. Power came from a half-dozen mammoth Fairbanks-Morse 10-cylinder diesel engines that both gave the ship a lot of power on demand, but also an almost unmatched 32,000-mile range (not a misprint, that is 32-thousand). For an idea of how much that is, a Wind-class icebreaker could sail at an economical 11-knots from New York to Antarctica, and back, on the same load of diesel…twice.

USCGC Southwind (WAGB-280) at anchor probably in the vicinity of San Pedro, CA., in July 1944 sometime before or after her commissioning on 15 July 1944. Photo by Navsource

USCGC Southwind (WAGB-280) at anchor probably in the vicinity of San Pedro, CA., in July 1944 sometime before or after her commissioning on 15 July 1944. Note how beamy these ships were. The twin 5″ guns make her seem extremely well-armed. Also, note the J2F Duck seaplane perched amidships. Photo by Navsource

To help them break the ice, the ship had a complicated system of water ballasting, capable of moving hundreds of tons of water from one side of the ship to the other in seconds, which could rock the vessel from side to side in addition to her thick hull and powerful engines. A bow-mounted propeller helped chew up loose ice and pull the ship along if needed.

With a war being on, they just weren’t about murdering ice, but being able to take the fight to polar-bound Axis ships and weather detachments as well. For this, they were given a pair of twin 5″/38 turrets, a dozen 40mm Bofors AAA guns, a half dozen 20mm Oerlikons, as well as depth charge racks and various projectors, plus the newfangled Hedgehog device to slay U-boats and His Imperial Japanese Majesty’s I-boats. Weight and space were also reserved for a catapult-launched and crane-recovered seaplane. Space for an extensive small arms locker, to equip landing parties engaged in searching remote frozen islands and fjords for radio stations and observation posts, rounded out the design.

In all, an impressive eight Wind-class ships were built. USS Atka, named appropriately enough for the largest island in the Andreanof Islands group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, was the third of these. Laid down at the Western Pipe and Steel Company shipyards in San Pedro, California, seven months after Pearl Harbor, she was actually commissioned as USCGC Southwind (WAG-280) in the service of the US Coast Guard on 15 July 1944. Her wartime service with the Coast Guard, though short, was memorable.

Assigned to the Greenland Patrol, she helped fight a little-known battle remembered as the Weather War. This campaign, though not very bloody, was an enduring cat and mouse game between U.S. maritime assets and those of the Germans, who set up weather stations along the remote coasts of Greenland, Canada, and Spitsbergen to get vital met data on pending fronts headed to Europe from the Arctic. Remember this was before the days of weather satellites. As such, one of the most knowledgeable oceanographers in the service, Commander Richard M. Hoyle, commanded Southwind.

USCG landing parties with captured Nassy battleflag

USCG landing parties with captured Nassy battle flag

While on the Greenland Patrol, Southwind, in conjunction with the USCGC Eastwind, one of her sisterships, trailed the German Naval Auxiliary ship Externsteine, an armed and converted trawler. After a short skirmish in the ice, in which Southwind illuminated the German ship with her searchlights, the trawler surrendered and was boarded by USCG landing parties. Christened the USS Eastbreeze, a salty prize crew made up of Eastbreeze and Southbreeze coasties took the captured ship in to Boston.

The "Eastbreeze"

The “Eastbreeze”

The Germans chased from the Arctic, and the war winding down, Southwind was decommissioned 23 March 1945, largely disarmed, and loaned to the Soviets two days later as the country was, ironically, short on modern icebreakers. She served them well under the name Kaptian Bouleve then later Admiral Makarov for almost five years, only being returned to U.S. service to be commissioned as the USS Atka (AGB-3) just in time for Korea.

From left to right, USS Burton Island (AGB-1), USS Atka (AGB-3) and USS Glacier (AGB-4) pushing an iceberg out of the channel near McMurdo Station, Antarctica, 29 December 1965. US Navy photo from DANFS.

From left to right, USS Burton Island (AGB-1), USS Atka (AGB-3), and USS Glacier (AGB-4) pushing an iceberg out of the channel near McMurdo Station, Antarctica, 29 December 1965. US Navy photo from DANFS.

As Atka, she sailed from Boston for 16 years as part of the Atlantic Fleet. During this time, she made at least three polar trips and was a frequent visitor to Thule Air Force Base, Greenland, breaking ice on the regular resupply runs there.

Then in the 1960s, the Navy decided it was getting out of the icebreaker business and transferred the Atka back to its original owners, the Coast Guard. Not one to rest on a Navy-issued name, the USCG returned to their original moniker for the ship, Southwind, when she was brought back into the fold on Halloween Day 1966. “Trick or Treat” indeed (and another reason for this to be an October Warship Wednesday!).

USCGC Southwind from the Southwind 280 Association

USCGC Southwind from the Southwind 280 Association

The “Polar Prowler,” now in her 20s with her last major refit back in 1951, continued to serve hard time in the frozen Polar Regions, as is the nature of her breed.

Now-USCGC Southwind (WAGB-280) transits the Panama Canal, 28 November 1967. US Coast Guard Historian's Office photo, copy sheet # 112867-13-16

Now-USCGC Southwind (WAGB-280) transits the Panama Canal, 28 November 1967. Note the single 5″ forward and the USN Sea Sprite ASW helicopter aft with the telescoping hangar. US Coast Guard Historian’s Office photo, copy sheet # 112867-13-16. (Click to bigup)

CGC Southwind in Palmer Station Antarctica Deepfreeze 1968 Photo by Ron Henderson

In the next decade, she made at least three Antarctic trips, and six Arctic ones, including a rare 1970 port-call in Murmansk, her old home while in Soviet service. While there, she picked up a NASA Apollo program unmanned training capsule (Boilerplate #-1227), that was lost at sea, found by a Hungarian trawler, then transferred to the Russians, and later collected by the Southwind.

While in Murmansk, from 4 to 7 September 1970, over 700 local citizens visited the ship. CAPT. Cassidy paid homage to Soviet and American dead at a local cemetery where American and other Allied sailors killed near Murmansk were buried. Also, the Soviets returned an Apollo training capsule (BP-1227) that they had recovered at sea. Apparently the U.S. Air Force Aerospace Rescue and Recovery personnel who were using the 9,500 pound capsule for training but lost it at sea near the Azores in February, 1969. It was recovered by a Soviet fishing trawler. Southwind, after first sustaining a “bump” by a Soviet icebreaker while departing Murmansk for home, carried the capsule back to the U.S. and deposited it at Norfolk before ending her cruise at Baltimore on 17 November 1970.

USCGC Southwind (WAGB-280) crew members chip away at ice while in Baffin Bay, November 1970. Note the Apollo capsule on the deck. USCG Photo scanned from Southwind's Arctic East 70 scrapbook.

USCGC Southwind (WAGB-280) crew members chip away at the ice while in Baffin Bay, November 1970. Note the Apollo capsule on the deck. USCG Photo scanned from Southwind’s Arctic East 70 scrapbook.

Finally, showing her age and being replaced by the new 399-foot Polar class cutters, she was decommissioned in 1974 and sold for scrap two years later. Today all that remains of her is the light that is kept burning by her veteran’s association.

In 2007, she was memorialized in an official USCG painting, “WAGB Southwind” by Thomas Carr, where she is depicted in the red-hull that she had only briefly towards the end of her career.

 

"A Coast Guard Icebreaker on patrol in the Antarctic, moves through the ice floe." WAGB Southwind by Thomas Carr (ID# 87112) USCG Image. (Click to bigup, very nice image)

“A Coast Guard Icebreaker on patrol in the Antarctic moves through the ice floe.” WAGB Southwind by Thomas Carr (ID# 87112) USCG Image. (Click to bigup, very nice image)

 

Her seven sister-ships have likewise all been retired and scrapped. However, her half-sister, the USCGC Mackinaw, which broke the ice on the Great Lakes for six decades, is a floating museum in Michigan, and her grandfather, the old now 98-year old Krassin, is preserved at Saint Petersburg.

Icebreaker Krassin survived all of the Wind-class breakers she helped inspire

Icebreaker Krassin survived all of the Wind-class breakers she helped inspire

Also, Apollo BP-1227 is on display at the Grand Rapids Public Museum, where it has been since 1976, courtesy of a cruise on the Southwind, although the capsule continues to be a subject of much discussion and conjecture in the NASA fanboy community.

BP1227 has been on public display and sealed since 1976 as a time capsule to be opened in 2076. Photo by Mark Wade http://www.astronautix.com/articles/sovpsule.htm

BP1227 has been on public display and sealed since 1976 as a time capsule to be opened in 2076. Photo by Mark Wade

Specs:

3cf55320bf75f02ca17b8d81dc65c3bfo

 

Displacement: 6,515 tons (1945)
Length:     269 ft (82 m) oa
Beam:     63 ft 6 in (19.35 m) mb
Draft:     25 ft 9 in (7.85 m) max
Installed power:
6 × Fairbanks-Morse model 8-1/8OP, 10-cylinder opposed-piston engines at 2,000 shp (1,500 kW), each driving a Westinghouse DC electric generator.
Propulsion:     2 × Westinghouse Electric DC electric motors driving the 2 aft propellers, 1 × 3,000 shp (2,200 kW) Westinghouse DC electric motor driving the detachable and seldom-used bow propeller.
Speed: Top speed: 13.4 knots (24.8 km/h) (1967)
Economic speed: 11.6 knots (21.5 km/h)
Range: 32,485 nautical miles (60,162 km)
Complement:
21 officers, 295 men (1944)
12 officers, 2 warrants, 205 men (1965 USN service)
13 officers, 2 warrants, 160 men (Post-1967 USCG service)
Sensors and processing systems:
Radar:
SA-2, SL-1 (1944, removed 1949)
SPS-10B; SPS-53A; SPS-6C (1967)
Sonar: QCJ-8 (1944-45)
Armament:     4 × 5″/38 (twin mounts)
12 × 40mm/60 (3 quad mounts)
6 × 20mm/80 (single mounts)
2 × depth charge tracks
6 × “K” guns
1 Hedgehog
M2 Browning machine guns and small arms (1944)
Aircraft carried: 1 Grumman J2F Seaplane, later helicopters in telescoping hangar

(1945-49, Russian Service)
4x 3″/30 single mounts (U.S. Army surplus),
8x 40mm/60 (2 quad mounts)
6 × 20mm/80 (single mounts)
2 × depth charge tracks

(1967)
1 x5″/38 single mount
20mm Mk 16 cannons (singles)

If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO), Publishers of Warship International

They are possibly one of the best sources of naval study, images, and fellowship you can find http://www.warship.org/

The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.

Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

I’m a member, so should you be!

Warship Wednesday September 24, 2014, the Kaiser’s Far Eastern leviathans

Posted on by 2 comments

Here at LSOZI, we are going to take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 time period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all of their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.

– Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday September 24, 2014, the Kaiser’s Far Eastern leviathans

Scharnhorst, 1907. Click to bigup.

Scharnhorst, 1907. Click to bigup.

Here we see the armored cruiser SMS Scharnhorst of the Kaiserliche Marine, the Imperial German Navy. The huge cruiser, along with her only sister ship, SMS Gneisenau, was Kaiser Wilhelm II’s muscle in the Pacific Ocean for their brief existence.

When old Willy picked up the concession (in a lease like the Brits did with Hong Kong) from the old Manchu Chinese government at Tsingtao (Qingdao, pronounced “Ching-dow”) in 1898, he added that Chinese port to a growing list of islands he bought from Spain after the Spanish American War (they weren’t using them anymore) as well as the new colony of German New Guinea. What’s a list of oddball far-flung colonies without a fleet to protect them though, right? This meant an upgrade to the small German East Asia Squadron (Ostasiengeschwader) from a handful of rusty gunboats and obsolete cruisers to something more dramatic.

With the Russians and Japanese mixing it up right on the German Far East’s door in 1904, the Kaiser pushed for a pair of very large, very well-equipped armored cruisers to be the core of a new Teutonic blue-water fleet in the Pacific. As the Grand Admiral of the Kaiserliche Marine was none other than Alfred von Tirpitz, former commander of the run-down East Asia Squadron, the Kaiser found easy support. This led to the Scharnhorst-class.

Scharnhorst and her sister were very distinctive with their four large funnels.

Scharnhorst and her sister were very distinctive in profile with their four large funnels and two masts fore and aft.

These ships were huge, comparable to pre-Dreadnought style battleships only with less armor (remember that later). At nearly 13,000-tons and over 474-feet long, they commanded respect when they sailed into a foreign port in the Pacific–, which was the point. Able to steam at 22-knots, they could outpace older battleships while upto 7-inches of armor protected them from smaller vessels. An impressive main battery of eight 8.3-inch (210mm) guns, backed up by a further two dozen 5.9 and 3.5-inch guns gave her both the firepower of a heavy cruiser and a light cruiser all in one hull. In short, these ships were built to tie down British and French battleships in the Pacific in the event of a coming war– keeping them away from the all-important Atlantic.

The two cruisers each had four double turrets with stout 210mm guns

The two cruisers each had tw0 double turrets and four single mounts, each with stout Krupp-made 8.3-inch/210mm guns

The crews of these ships were blessed with a fire control center and artillery pieces that worked better than hoped, as evidenced by the fact that between 1909 and 1914, these two cruisers consistently won the Kaiser’s Cup naval gunnery contests, often coming in first and second place when stacked up against the rest of the fleet.

The German Armored cruiser Gneisenau. Date unknown.

The German Armored cruiser Gneisenau. Date unknown.

Scharnhorst was laid down in 1905 at the Blohm and Voss shipyard in Hamburg, while her sister Gneisenau was simultaneously being built at AG Weser dockyard in Bremen. Germany, being short of naval heroes, named these two ships after a pair of Prussian generals during the Napoleonic Wars. Scharnhorst was completed first and sent to Tsingtao, where her 750+ crew made a big splash on the local scene. Gneisenau followed within a year.

g

The two white-hulled cruisers, among the largest warships of any nation in the world’s largest Ocean, were joined by an ever-increasing cast of small and fast light cruisers (SMS Dresden, SMS Emden, SMS Leipzig, and SMS Nurnberg) until the Kaiser had a half dozen new ships to protect his little slice of Germany in Asia. The commander of the force, Vice Admiral Maximilian, Reichsgraf von Spee, chose Scharnhorst for his flag. A wily veteran with over 30-years of colonial service under his feet, Von Spee was the perfect commander for what was coming next.

Scharnhorst

Scharnhorst

When World War One broke open in August 1914, the ships of the East Asia Squadron were spread around the Pacific at their pre-war stations. Von Spee wisely left Tsingtao, just ahead of a large Japanese force that would place the concession under siege with a preordained outcome.

Bringing his forces together in the Northern Marianas islands (then a German colony, now a U.S. territory, after capture from the Japanese in WWII, what a story!), Spee detached the fast ship Emden to meet her fate as an independent raider, while taking his five remaining cruisers to a place the British and French fleets that were hunting him never imagined– the South American coast

After just missing a British fleet at Samoa, and bombarding the French at Tahiti (where the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau sank the French gunboat Zélée and the captured freighter Walküre in a very one-sided battle that was more of a waste of ammunition than anything else was), Von Spee made for Chile in the hopes of catching British shipping headed to and from the Atlantic.

The German steamer "Walküre" sunk in the harbor of Papeete, Tahiti, when the German cruisers "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" shelled the town

The German steamer Walküre sunk in the harbor of Papeete, Tahiti, when the German cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau shelled the town

What he found was a force of four cruisers led by British Rear Adm. Sir Christopher Cradock.

On All Saints Day 1914, now coming up on its 100th anniversary, Craddock and Von Spee fought it out. While it would seem that four British cruisers, with a navy of long traditions in coming out on top in ship-to-ship engagements at sea, would best the five German cruisers, it would only seem that way.

By large matter of the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau‘s enormous advantage in gunnery skills and armor/armament, the Germans smashed Craddock’s fleet at what is now known as the Battle of Coronel off the coast of Chile. It was simply a case of who had more large guns. The Germans had sixteen 8.3-inch guns against just two British 9.2-inchers. The engagement ended with the deaths of some 1500 British sailors, and the cruisers HMS Good Hope and HMS Monmouth at the bottom of the ocean. The Germans sailed away largely unscathed.

Sinking of the HMS Good Hope. The 14,388-ton Drake-class armoured cruiser was formidible when designed in the 1890s, but she only had two breechloading 9.2-inch Mk 10 guns that could be used in the battle. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau gave her no chance.

Sinking of the HMS Good Hope. The 14,388-ton Drake-class armored cruiser was formidable when designed in the 1890s, but she only had two breech-loading 9.2-inch Mk 10 guns that could be used in the battle. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau gave her no chance.

Von Spee then rounded the bottom of South America and made for the British crown colony of the Falkland Islands, then an important coaling station and stop-over point for Cape-bound ships. His ships low on coal, low on ammunition, and starting their fourth month on the run, were surprised when they met Vice Adm. Doveton Sturdee’s strong force that consisted of two new 20,000-ton HMS Invincible class battle-cruisers, backed up by five smaller cruisers and the old battleship HMS Canopus on December 8, 1914. In a direct mirror image of the Battle of Coronel, Von Spee was doomed.

Chart of the engagement, showing Sturdee's chase of Von Spee's fleet. Click to make much larger. From Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/files/18213/18213-h/18213-h.htm

Chart of the engagement, showing Sturdee’s chase of Von Spee’s fleet. Click to make much larger. From Project Gutenberg

Again, it came down to who had more heavy guns. The British this time had 16 quick firing 12-inch guns against the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau’s sixteen 8.3-inchers. Engaging the now-fleeing Germans at extreme range, the Scharnhorst turned into the two British battlecruisers, taking Invincible and Inflexible on in turns while Von Spee ordered the rest of his squadron to try to escape. However, it was no match By 16:17, ablaze and listing, she capsized. In the end, Scharnhorst took every single man who was aboard her that day, including Von Spee, to the bottom of the Atlantic.

The British were so pleased in the destruction of Scharnhorst that not one but two pieces of martial art were soon produced to celebrate it.

 

Sinking of the Scharnhorst painted by Admiral Thomas Jacques Somerscales currently on display at the Royal Museums Greenwich

Sinking of the Scharnhorst painted by Admiral Thomas Jacques Somerscales currently on display at the Royal Museums Greenwich

 

 

Battle of the Falkland Islands, 1914 by British Artist William Lionel Wyllie, showing Scharnhorst slipping below the waves as Gneisenau battles on

Battle of the Falkland Islands, 1914 by British Artist William Lionel Wyllie, showing Scharnhorst slipping below the waves as Gneisenau battles on

Gneisenau’s life would only be scant minutes longer. Her engines barely able to break 16-knots against the Invincible and Inflexible’s 25, they soon caught up to her and at 17:50, out of ammunition and dead in the water, the mighty cruiser joined her sister in the depths. While a few of her crew were picked up by the British battlecruisers, over 600 perished.

HMS Inflexible picking up German sailors from Gneisenau after the battle

HMS Inflexible picking up German sailors from Gneisenau after the battle

Later the same day they Royal Navy caught up to Nurnberg and Leipzig, completing a near hat trick of destroying the German East Asia Squadron in a single day. Dresden, out of coal and ammunition, scuttled herself in Chilean waters in March 1915, while her intelligence officer, a young Lt. Canaris, later to lead the Abwher in WWII, managed to escape destruction with her.

The Royal Navy had avenged the shame of Coronel. However, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau would in turn be avenged at Jutland in 1916 when accurate large caliber shells of the German High Seas Fleet sent HMS Invincible to Valhalla while Inflexible, whose crew watched their sister ship vaporize, only narrowly avoided a salvo of torpedoes.

Scharnhorst’s battleflag was recovered; legend has it from a waterproof shell tube tied to the leg of a German bosun’s mate, and returned to Germany where it disappeared in 1945. Likely, it is hanging on a wall in Russia somewhere.

To the ships lost at Coronel, there is a memorial run by the British.

As far as a memorial to these, two armored cruisers, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were remembered in a pair of later German battlecruisers who, as fate would have it, were destroyed by the British in another World War. Von Spee himself, who not only lost his life at the Battle of the Falklands but those of his two sons, was memorialized in a pocket battleship that carried his name, before being the only German capital ship to be sunk in South America in another strange twist of fate.

As a side note, the Germans set up a brewery in Tsingtao, in part to provide good beer for the fleet still stands and is well known and even loved today as the best German beer in China. So if you ever run across one, pour out the first sip for Adm. Maximillian Von Spee and the 2200 sailors of the German East Asian Squadron that never saw their homeland again.

Tsingtao-Beer-Labels-Tsingtao-Brewery_57506-1

 

Specs:

scharnhorst

Displacement: 12,985 t (12,780 long tons; 14,314 short tons)
Length: 144.6 m (474 ft.)
Beam: 21.6 m (71 ft.)
Draft: 8.37 m (27.5 ft.)
Propulsion:
18 Schulz Thornycroft Boilers
3 shaft triple expansion engines
27,759 ihp (trials)
Speed: 23.6 knots (44 km/h)
Range:
5,000 nmi (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph)
2,200 nmi (4,100 km; 2,500 mi) at 20 kn (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Crew: 38 officers, 726 enlisted men
Armament:
8 × 8.2 in (21 cm) (2 × 2, 4 × 1)
6 × 5.9 in (15 cm) (6 × 1)
18 × 3.45 in (8.8 cm) (18 × 1)
4 × 17.7 in (45 cm) torpedo tubes
Armor:
Belt: 6 in (15 cm)
Turrets: 7 in (18 cm)
Deck: 1.5 in (3.8 cm)–2.5 in (6.4 cm)

 

If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO), Publishers of Warship International

They are possibly one of the best sources of naval study, images, and fellowship you can find http://www.warship.org/

The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.

Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

I’m a member, so should you be!

Warship Wednesday Sept 17, the slow gunboats of the Canal

Posted on by 6 comments

Here at LSOZI, we are going to take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 time period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all of their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places. – Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, Sept 17, the slow gunboats of the Canal

U.S.S. ERIE moored to her sister ship (U.S.S. CHARLESTON) at Balboa, CZ. (Colorized photo courtesy of Clive Fennessy, http://www.usserie.org/ )

USS ERIE moored to her sister ship USS CHARLESTON at Balboa, CZ. (Colorized photo courtesy of Clive Fennessy, http://www.usserie.org/ ) Click to bigup.

Here we see the two Erie-class gunboats USS Erie (PG-50) and USS Charleston (PG-51) at Balboa in the Panama Canal Zone in a photo courtesy of the Erie Memorial association.

These two ships were built under the specifications of the Washington and London Naval treaties on ‘slow gunboats.’ While carriers, battleships, cruisers, and submarines all had several very strict limits as to the maximum number of vessels of each type that could be produced by signatory powers, there was no limit how many small patrol-type combatants (such as gunboats, coast guard cutters, sloops, armed yachts, etc.) each navy contained on their list so long as the ships were generally built for what we would term littoral, convoy escort, and sovereignty type operations, not general fleet use.

To limit these ships to that spectrum of the naval diet, as described by Article 8 of the 1930 London Treaty:

Subject to any special agreements, which may submit them to limitation, the following vessels are exempt from limitation: Naval surface combatant vessels exceeding 600 tons (610 metric tons), but not exceeding 2,000 tons (2,032 metric tons) standard displacement, provided they have none of the following characteristics:
(1) Mount a gun above 6.1 inch (155 mm) calibre;
(2) Mount more than four guns above 3 inch (76 mm) calibre;
(3) Are designed or fitted to launch torpedoes;
(4) Are designed for a speed greater than twenty knots.

So there you had it, a ship, at 2000-tons or smaller, with no more than four large guns no bigger than 155mm, no torpedo tubes, and go no faster than 20-knots. This rough specification gave the U.S. Navy an outline for a pair of ships that they could use to patrol the Panama Canal Zone, freeing more flexible destroyers and cruisers for other missions. Naval architects Howard C. Fletcher and Mandell Rosenblatt crafted the design of these ships, which were budgeted at about $4-million apiece (in 1933 dollars, which is about $71 million today—a bargain when you consider an LCS, which is about the same size, is over $300 million).

Click to bigup. Newspaper write up from the day. These were handsome ships

Click to bigup. Newspaper write-up from the day. These were handsome ships

Erie, patrol gunboat #50, was laid down on 17 December 1934 at New York Naval Yard while Charleston, #51 was laid down about the same time, appropriately at the Charleston Navy Yard. It should be remembered that most other PGs of the day were “China” patrol boats that were much smaller, and much less heavily armed.

With their economical Parsons geared turbines coupled to a pair of Babcock and Wilcox boilers, these new patrol gunboats were rather beamy, with a 327-foot long hull and 41-foot beam giving them a length to beam ratio of 1:8. With everything lit they could just touch 20-knots, but running on one boiler they could churn up the seas at 12 knots for a pretty impressive 12,000nm, meaning they could go a long time between port calls if needed.

USS ERIE (PG-50) at the Canal Zone, Nov.1942.

A quartet of 6-inch/47 cal low-elevation guns in single mounts (150mm bores– just under the limit!) gave the boats enough punch to capture random enemy merchantmen and run off smuggler, pirates, and small warships. These MK 17 guns were a single-mount improvement over the guns carried in triple mounted turrets on U.S. light cruisers of the Brooklyn, Cleveland, classes et al. Only mounted on the two Erie-class ships, they were neat in the respect that they used 3.5hp motors for both powered elevation and training, which wasn’t very common for the time. They could fire the same 105-pound “Common Shell” used by the rest of the 6-inch guns of the fleet out to 19,000-yards, at a rate of up to 8 rounds per gun. They also used bagged charges, which were a pain compared to full-up once-piece shells. However, firing these big guns on a short boat led to some issues. According to reader Ed Foster, whose father served on Erie, they had to fill ballast tanks before firing a broadside.

I believe him.

Four quad 1.1-inch AAA mounts largely felt to be the worst AAA mount ever fielded by the U.S. Navy, gave the ships a modicum of protection against random air attack. Novel for the time, these 327-foot ships had accommodations for up to 44 Marines to put ashore (back then Marine detachments were just for cruisers, battleships, and come carriers). They could also carry an OS2U Kingfisher floatplane. Overall this ship type was designed as something of a force projection platform in low-threat areas. A mini, if somewhat slow, cruiser if you will.

Aerial starboard bow view of Erie underway in May 1940. Click to bigup

Aerial starboard bow view of Erie underway in May 1940. National Archives photo 80-G-466205. Click to bigup

Their plant was an experiment of sorts and helped advance naval engineering designs that followed them. According to the Naval History Command:

Although their propulsion powering requirements were far lower than those of a destroyer, Charleston, and Erie’s machinery plants incorporated numerous advancements in marine engineering that had been first introduced aboard the Farragut Class destroyers, which were designed in 1932 and entered service in 1934 and 1935. These advancements included the use of superheated steam at higher pressures, air encased boilers, semi enclosed feed water systems, an AC electrical distribution system, an emergency diesel generator, and a number of other improvements. The ship had a single rudder operated by an electro-hydraulic steering engine. Prior to 1930, steam steering gears had been standard aboard naval vessels. Although Charleston was not a destroyer, a number of these design features carried over to the design of surface combatant ships that were built up through and during World War II

If these boats look familiar, you should realize that the U.S. Coast Guard’s ‘Secretary‘ class of high endurance cutters (originally classified as gunboats), were based on the design of these two Navy ships. We profiled one of these, Spencer, here earlier this year. Instead of the 6”/47 MK17s, the Coast Guard went with 5”/51’s and saved money in other areas, building their cutters out at about 30 percent less cost than the Eries.

USCGC Duane(WHEC33, formerly WPG-33) returning from Vietnam 1968. She is a half-sister to the Erie and Charleston.

USCGC Duane (WHEC33, formerly WPG-33) returning from Vietnam in 1968. She is a half-sister to Erie and Charleston.

This produced the simultaneous phenomena of the Navy ships of the class being among the slowest and most poorly armed in the fleet, while the Coast Guard ships, which were even more lightly armed, were the fastest and best equipped in that service’s armada! Different strokes for different folks.

Erie rolled down the ways and was commissioned 1 July 1936 while sister Charleston followed just a week later. These ships proved popular with the U.S. Navy of the Great Depression-era due to their small crew size, just 180 officers, men and marines (fewer on a peacetime cruise), and an economical cruise speed. Even though they were designed originally as the Panama Canal’s guard force, this allowed the ships to deploy far and wide for several years, waving the flag on the cheap. Remember, we have “Hope and Change,”  the sailors of the 1930s had the “New Deal”,  but money had to be saved for both.

Erie in Atlantic Ocean off New York Navy Yard. October 19, 1936

Erie in the Atlantic Ocean off New York Navy Yard. October 19, 1936

Erie went to Spanish waters in 1936 to be an armed observer of American interests in the Spanish Civil War and then served as a midshipman trainer at Annapolis the next year. Charleston, meanwhile, did a Med cruise with stops that included Yugoslavia and Algiers and then spent a period poking around the coast of Canada’s Pacific shoreline and the Alaskan Territory.

Of course, they did still spend time in the Canal, as witnessed in the image at the top of this post. Ideally, one would be based at Balboa, on the Pacific end, while the other would be at Cristóbal, on the Atlantic. However, this did not go down as planned.

When World War II came to the Americas, Charleston was still in Alaskan waters and proceeded to spend most of her wartime service there.

Fore view of Gunboat USS Charleston at Ketchikan AK Harbour 1941.

Aft view of Gunboat USS Charleston at Ketchikan AK Harbour 1941.

She avoided Japanese torpedoes and bombs and bombarded shore positions in the Aleutians during the recapture of those islands from the Imperial Army– making her one of the only U.S. Navy ships in history to fire weapons into U.S. territory in wartime since the Civil War. Even when the Japanese were kicked out in 1943, Charleston spent the next two years on quiet anti-submarine patrol in Alaskan waters, after the addition of depth charge roll-off racks, while the rest of the fleet moved on. While assigned to the Aleutians the ship completed 130 escort missions involving a total of 253 convoyed ships. She performed a needed if unsung war, being decorated with but a single battle star.

Erie, however, had a much different wartime experience.

When the balloon went up on Dec. 7, 1941, Erie was in the Canal Zone where she was designed to be. Based at the Pacific end, she shuttled around in a mad dash for several weeks picking up interned Japanese citizens and directing questionable ships to authorities. Then, with Nazi U-boats haunting the U.S. East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico, Erie was called up to the majors and sent through the Canal and into the Caribbean.

German U-boats haunted the Dutch West Indies in 1942. The image above shows a torpedo that ran up on Eagle Beach in Aruba 16 Feb 1942. Fired from U-156, it missed the Texaco tanker Arkansas, berthed at Eagle Pier (although a second hit the ship). Shown being inspected by an unidentified Dutch Marine (Korps Mariniers) officer and U.S. Army Capt. Robert Bruskin, the steel fish was very much still a live war-shot round. It later killed four Dutch Marines who tried to disassemble it for study. Photo from LIFE March 2, 1942

German U-boats haunted the Dutch West Indies in 1942. The image above shows a torpedo that ran up on Eagle Beach in Aruba on 16 Feb 1942. Fired from U-156, it missed the Texaco tanker Arkansas, berthed at Eagle Pier (although a second hit the ship). Shown being inspected by an unidentified Dutch Marine (Korps Mariniers) officer and U.S. Army Capt. Robert Bruskin, the steel fish was very much still a live war-shot round. It later killed four Dutch Marines who tried to disassemble it for study. Photo from LIFE March 2, 1942

One of the small regional convoy routes established at the time was the Trinidad to Guantanamo Bay (Cuba) run. These “TAG” convoys shuttled across the Caribbean at low speed due to the nature of the small coasters and tankers that often made them up, which made them the perfect target for U-boats. On 12 Nov 1942, not even a year into her war, Erie was escorting TAG Convoy #20 when U-163 came across the little gunboat just out of Curacao. Being the most valuable ship in the convoy, KrvKpt. Kurt-Eduard Engelmann fired three torpedoes at her. In a testament to her sturdy design, she suffered just 18 casualties and was able to beach rather than sink.

USS Erie (PG-50) beached and burning after being torpedoed by U-163 off the coast of Curaçao, November 1942

Erie, stricken, port side three-quarter view. Fort Nassau is at top right of photo. Note dramatic list of port quarter. Photo http://www.usserie.org/

Erie, stricken, port side three-quarter view. Fort Nassau is at the top right of the photo. Note the dramatic list of port quarter. Photo http://www.usserie.org/

However, a resulting fire left Erie at a near-total loss. Towed to Willemstad harbor in the Dutch West Indies (now Curacao), she capsized three weeks later and settled in the harbor. Struck from the Naval List on 28 July 1943, she was salvaged in 1952, and her hulk sunk in deeper water. Today her memory is kept alive for posterity online by a most excellent association from which we used much information for this piece.

(Note: Erie‘s death was avenged. U-163 was sunk on 13 March 1943 just four months after Erie‘s attack. The boat was sent to Davy Jones in the North Atlantic northwest of Cape Finisterre by depth charges from the Canadian corvette HMCS Prescott with all hands, to include Engelmann, lost).

Erie‘s sister Charleston, after World War II, was largely unneeded. The Navy had hundreds of new ships and no naval limitations treaty requirements to adhere to anymore, which made the lone survivor of a two-ship class that carried a unique main gun and propulsion plant very much surplus.

The ships carried a very distinctive camouflage scheme during the war.

The ships carried a very distinctive camouflage scheme during the war.

Even the Coast Guard, who still operated six half-sisters (one, Hamilton, was torpedoed and sunk 10 miles off Iceland 29 January 1942), didn’t need the aging and in need of refit Charleston for their fleet since they had picked up 13 brand new Owasco-class cutters as a result of wartime spending that they were having a hard time finding crews for. The Owascos, and Secretary class cutters, augmented by a few WWII-built fleet tugs and seaplane tenders transferred from the Navy, carried the Coast Guard through the 1960s and 70s when two new-built classes took their place.

USTS Charleston in the late 1940′s at Buzzard’s Bay while a school ship for the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. NHHC image NH 77120.

USTS Charleston in the late 1940′s at Buzzard’s Bay while a school ship for the Massachusetts Maritime Academy. NHHC image NH 77120.

This led Charleston to be disarmed (except for a single aft 6-incher), her wartime camo removed, and transferred to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy on 25 March 1948, where she served as a training ship for a decade. Accordingly, this led to other modifications:

A number of changes had to be made in order to make the ship suitable for duty as a school ship. All of the ship’s wartime armament had been removed with the exception of one of the after 6” mounts. The removal of all of this topside weight resulted in an increased metacentric height, which, if anything, made the ship too stable. Naval architects refer to this as being “stiff.” During the first few days of the annual training cruises, the ship often encountered a seaway off Cape Hatteras and it would start violently rolling. The majority of the cadets and some of the instructors would become seasick. This condition would last until calmer waters were reached in the Caribbean. When it was originally commissioned, Charleston was fitted with portholes along the side. These had been sealed up in its wartime configuration but they had been reinstalled to provide at least some degree of ventilation as the ship had no air conditioning system. Invariably some would be found to be leaking under the conditions described above resulting in water with a very unpleasant odor sloshing around in the berthing compartments.

According to CAPT. George W. Stewart, USN Ret., 1956 MMA alumni who sailed on USTS Charleston as a start to his thirty-year (SW) Navy career, she was a good ship to learn on.

“Despite its limitations, Charleston was an excellent ship to learn the basics of marine engineering aboard during the 1950s. The lack of automation was actually an advantage because there were plenty of underway watch stations with things for the Midshipmen to do. The experience gained aboard Charleston would prove to be extremely valuable to me aboard both naval and commercial steam-powered ships during a seagoing career,” wrote Stewart.

By 1958, however, she had become too expensive to operate and was turned back over to Uncle. Disposed of by MARAD in 1959 just past her twentieth birthday. Rumor is that she was sold to an Italian developer for use as a floating casino, but I cannot find anything on her past 1960 (so if you know what happened to PG-51, share please!).

Although Erie and Charleston are no longer with us, and five of their Coast Guard sisters have likewise vanished, two of that class are preserved as floating museums.

Erie‘s Kingfisher knocked off the ship by U-163‘s torpedoes in 1942, is a popular dive site off Curacao today as is her final resting place offshore for deepwater ‘bounce’ dives.

The USCGC Taney is currently a museum ship at the Baltimore Maritime Museum, in Baltimore, Maryland and the USCGC Ingham is part of the Key West Maritime Museum in Key West, Florida. Please visit them if you have a chance and when you go, give a moment’s respect to the noble Erie and Charleston as well.

Specs:

KlpdHSh

Via Shipbucket

Length overall: 328 feet, 6 inches
Length on waterline: 308 feet (at standard displacement)
Extreme beam at/below the waterline: 41 feet, 3 inches (at standard displacement)
Mean draft: 11 feet, 4 inches (at standard displacement)
Maximum draft in service: 14 feet, 6 inches
Design displacement: 2,000 tons
Displacement in service: 2,830 tons
Maximum speed: 20 knots
Range: 8,000 nautical miles at 12 knots
Engines: 2, Parsons geared turbine
Boilers: 2, Babcock and Wilcox
Generator sets: 3 (2 turbos, 1 diesel), all A.C.
Armament:
6-in., 47 caliber, Mark 17 guns: 4, with Mark 35 battery director
1.1 in., quadruple anti-aircraft guns: 4
20 mm, single anti-aircraft guns: 4
Depth charge roll-off racks: 2, Mark 6 (each holding 15 depth charges)
Smoke pipes: 1
Masts: 2
Armor: 3½ inch side belts (over vital spaces)
Armor: 1 inch on six-inch gun shields
Armor: 1¼ inch on main deck
Armor: 4 inches on conning tower
Radar: 1, Mark 3 (mounted atop battery director)
Sonar: 1, ASDIC
Scout plane: 1, OS2U “Kingfisher”
Captain’s cabin: 1
Admiral’s cabin: 1
Guest cabin with 2 staterooms: 1
Officers’ wardrooms: 15
Chief Petty Officers’ quarters: 18
Enlisted men’s berths (inc. 44 Marines): 213
Boats:
36-ft motor launch (70 men): 1
35-ft motorboat (27 men): 1
30-ft motor launches (40 men each): 2
26-ft motor whaleboats (24 men each): 2
Balsa life floats (25 men each): 2
10-ft punt: 1
If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO), Publishers of Warship International

They are possibly one of the best sources of naval study, images, and fellowship you can find http://www.warship.org/

The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.

Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

I’m a member, so should you be!

Warship Wednesday Sept 10. 2014, Australia’s Most Silent Sub

Posted on by 3 comments

Here at LSOZI, we are going to take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 time period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all of their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places. – Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, Sept 10. 2014, Australia’s Most Silent Sub

AE2-Painting

Here we see the E-Class submarine AE2 of the Royal Australian Navy Presenting the Submarine Threat in the Sea of Marmara, April 1915 by Charles Bryant. The ship, just 181-feet long, sailed into history and proved her mettle.

One of the 58 British-built E-class submersibles constructed between 1912-1916, these ships were considered the first really successful Royal Navy submarines. Built from experience with earlier D-class boats, these 780-ton (submerged) ships could make a decent 15-knots on their twin 800hp Vickers diesels when surfaced on an attack run, or a more sedate 10-knots while submerged and on a set of 313kW electric motors. Although very small and cramped ships, they had a respectable 3,000-nm range and were capable of spending two weeks or more at sea before hiding places for food to stoke their 30-man crew ran out. Four 18-inch tubes (arranged bow, stern, port, and starboard– talk about variety!) and four torpedo racks allowed the boats to carry as many as eight war shots with a fish in every spot. Cheap (about 100,000-pounds) and able to both conduct ops in blue and brown water due to their shallow 12-foot draft, they were the perfect steel shark for the Royal Navy.

AE-2-1914_055_0

Therefore, the infant Royal Australian Navy ordered up two of their own designated HMAS AE1 and HMAS AE2 from Vickers Armstrong at Barrow-in-Furness, England, in 1912. Commissioned in the spring of 1914, they were the first subs to carry the Australian flag. Therefore, to spin up the Aussie crew, they carried a mixed complement of RN/RNAS personnel. For instance, it is known that of the 37 crewmembers who served on the ship in 1915 only 14 were born in Australia. Twenty-one crew members were born in Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland), one in New Zealand, and another in Brazil.

Sailing for the Pacific, these ships covered an epic 13,000-nm route in 83 days, impressive for the time.

 

HMAS AE2 passing through Suez Canal

HMAS AE2 passing through Suez Canal

When the war broke out, the subs, a rarity on the West Pac, were dispatched as part of the Australian force to capture the German colony of Rabal, Deutsch-Neuguinea (Kaiserwilhelmsland).

An Australian soldier of the AN&MEF and his mother in Sydney, 1914, prior to departing for Rabaul

An Australian soldier of the AN&MEF and his mother in Sydney, 1914, prior to departing for Rabaul

With no German ships to oppose the landing of some 2000 Australians, a force of about a tenth that size of German reservists and local police lost the sharp but bloody Battle of Bita Paka. However, HMAS AE1 vanished while on patrol during the operation, never to be seen again. This was Australia’s first major loss of World War I.

H11559

With the German colony’s surrender, and the destruction of Adm. Von Spee’s Asiatic Squadron leaving the Pacific free of the Hun, AE2, Australia’s only remaining sub, left for Europe where she could be put to good use. Leaving in December 1914, she was the sole escort for a convoy of 17 ships carrying Australian troops to Africa, being towed most of the way to be able to keep up. Since AE2 had no deck guns, her value as an escort was questionable at best, but nonetheless, her charges arrived at the Suez Canal at the end of Jan. 1915 without a scratch on them.

On route to take part in the Dardanelles campaign, the AE2 is making her own way into Aden after being towed across the Indian Ocean by the transport HMAS Berrima (background). Australian War archive P02029.027

On route to take part in the Dardanelles campaign, the AE2 is making her own way into Aden after being towed across the Indian Ocean by the transport HMAS Berrima (background). Australian War archive P02029.027

Once in the Med, the Royal Navy soon detailed the Australian sub to penetrate the Dardanelles, work its way through thick Turkish minefields that had foiled the combined fleets of Great Britain and France, and then run amok in the Sea of Marma. With traditional pluck, the ship set off and did just that on April 25, 1915.

From the Australian Navy’s website of the event as told from the report of Lieutenant Commander H H G D Stoker, commander:

‘Having proceeded from the anchorage off Tenedos, I lay at the entrance off the Dardanelles until moonset and at about 2:30 am on 25th April entered the straits at 8 knots. Weather calm and clear. As the order to run amok in the Narrows precluded all possibility of passing through unseen, I decided to travel on the surface as far as possible.’

Searchlights continually swept the Strait but AE2 continued unmolested until 4:30 am when batteries opened fire from the northern shore. The submarine dived and began her passage through the minefield. Wires, from which the mines were moored, continually scraped AE2’s sides for the next half hour. Twice she surfaced in the minefield to make observations. At 6:00 am she was within two miles of the Narrows submerged at periscope depth. The sea was flat calm. Forts on both sides of the Narrows sighted her and immediately opened heavy fire. Stoker, watching through his periscope, observed a number of ships and decided to attack a small cruiser of the PEIK-E-SHETHEK type. His report continued:

‘At a range of three hundred yards I fired the bow tube at her. One of the destroyers was now very close, attempting to ram us on the port side, so at the moment of firing I ordered 70 feet. A last glance, as the periscope dipped, showed the destroyer apparently right on top of us, and then, amidst the noise of her propeller whizzing overhead, was heard the big explosion as the torpedo struck’.

After a brief interval underwater Stoker decided to risk a look around.

‘As the vessel was rising, she hit bottom and slid up on to the bank to a depth of ten feet, at which depth a considerable portion of the conning tower was above water. Through the periscope I saw that the position was immediately under Fort Anatoli Medjidieh.’

The fort opened fire and for some minutes shells fell on all sides until efforts to refloat her succeeded. AE2 then slid into the safety of deep water. The relief on board the submarine proved brief and it was not long before AE2 was again stranded.

‘Through the periscope I judged the position to be immediately under Serina Burnu, and I further observed two destroyers, a gunboat, and several small craft standing close off in the Straits firing heavily and a cluster of small boats which I judged to be picking up survivors of the cruiser.’

‘As my vessel was lying with inclination down by the bows I went full speed ahead. Shortly afterwards she began to move down the bank, bumped, gathered way and then bumped very heavily. She, however, continued to descend and at 80 feet I dived off the bank. The last bump was calculated to considerably injure the vessel, but as I considered my chief duty was to prove the passage through the Straits possible, I decided to continue.’

Shortly afterwards AE2 again rose to periscope depth. She was seen to be approaching Nagara Point. On all sides she was surrounded by pursuit craft. Each time she showed her periscope the destroyers tried to ram her and each time she eluded them. At last in an attempt to shake the enemy off Stoker decided to lie on the bottom on the Asiatic shore to await developments.

2202AE2panel

All day, 25 April, AE2 lay in 80 feet of water while the searching enemy ships passed and repassed overhead. Once she was hit by a heavy object being trailed along the bottom. At 9:00 pm she rose to the surface to charge batteries. All signs of shipping had vanished.

At 4:00 pm on 26 April, AE2 proceeded on the surface up the Straits. Stoker commented:

‘As soon as light permitted, I observed through periscope, two ships approaching – both men-o-war. Sea was glassy calm and I approached with periscope down. On hoisting periscope I observed ship on line of sight of port tube. I immediately fired but ship altered course and the torpedo missed. I discovered I had fired at the leading ship and found it impossible to bring another tube to bear on second ship (a battleship Barbarossa class) with any chance of success. I therefore did not fire.’

‘I continued on course through the Straits, examined the Gallipoli anchorage, found no ship worthy of attack and so proceeded in the Sea of Marmora, which was entered about 9:00 am.’

About 9:30 am AE2 sighted several ships, but since only six of her eight torpedoes remained Stoker decided not to fire until he was certain his target was a troop transport.

‘With this intention I dived close to the foremost ship – a tramp of about 2,000 tons. Passing about 200 yards abeam of her I could see no sign of troops; but as I passed under her stern she ran up colours and opened rifle fire at the periscope. I dived over to the next ship and attacked at 400 yards with starboard beam torpedo. The torpedo failed to hit.’

Half an hour later AE2 surfaced and spent the rest of the day on the surface, charging batteries and making good defects. Shortly after dark she was attacked by a small anti-submarine vessel and throughout the night of 26/27 April she was attacked on several occasions shortly after surfacing.

At dawn on 27 April she sighted a ship escorted by two destroyers. Evading the escort, she manoeuvred into position at 300 yards but this time the torpedo refused to leave the tube. A destroyer tried to ram, forcing a hurried dive. Nothing else was sighted that day. The following night Stoker rested his crew on the bottom of Artaki Bay. Twice on 28 April she made attacks only to see the torpedoes narrowly miss the target.

‘At dawn on 29 April I dived towards Gallipoli and observed a gunboat patrolling ahead of Strait off Eski Farnar Point. Dived under gunboat down Strait, and returned up Strait showing periscope to give the impression that another submarine had come through. Destroyers and torpedo boats came out in pursuit; having led them all up towards Sea of Marmora, I dived back and examined Gallipoli anchorage but found nothing to attack.’

AE2 then proceeded out into the Sea of Marmora pursued by anti-submarine units. She surfaced half an hour later, spotted the gunboat, fired and missed by one yard.

On the same day, off Kara Burnu Point, she met HMS E14, the second British submarine to successfully pass through the Dardanelles. A new rendezvous was arranged for 10:00 am the following day.

Untitled

On the night of 29/30 April, AE2 lay on the bottom north of Marmora Island. Arriving at the rendezvous at 10:00 am she sighted a torpedo boat approaching at high speed. Stoker commented on subsequent events:

‘Dived to avoid torpedo boat; whilst diving sighted smoke in Artaki Bay, so steered south to investigate. About 10:30 the boat’s nose suddenly rose and she broke surface about a mile from the torpedo boat. Blew water forward but boat would not dive. Torpedo boat firing very close and ship from Artaki bay, a gunboat was also firing; flooded a forward tank and boat suddenly assumed big inclination down by the bows and dived very rapidly. AE2 was only fitted with 100 foot depth gauges. This depth was quickly reached and passed. After a considerable descent the boat rose rapidly, passed the 100 foot mark and in spite of efforts to check her broke the surface stern first. Within seconds the engine room was hit and holed in three places. Owing to the inclination down by the bow, it was impossible to see torpedo boat through the periscope and I considered any attempt to ram would be useless. I therefore blew main ballast and ordered all hands on deck. Assisted by LEUT Haggard, I then opened all tanks to flood the sub and went on deck. The boat sank in a few minutes in about 55 fathoms, in approximate position 4 degrees north of Kara Burnu Point at 10:45 am. All hands were picked up by the torpedo boat and no lives lost.’

Stoker and his crew, although saved, spent the next four years in a series of Turkish prisons, only freed by the end of the war.

The AE2 herself lay forgotten for 83 years until a joint Turkish-Australian effort found the stricken sub in some 236-feet of seawater. She is not set to be salvaged but instead saved as a war wreck, marked and protected. In 2010 the RAN awarded the sub the two official honors, “Rabaul 1914” and “Dardanelles 1915”.

nla.pic-vn4771109-v

A very active society is in place to celebrate the legacy of Australia’s sacred submarine.

 

 

Specs:

 

Click to embiggen

Click to embiggen

Cost:    £115,000
Built:   Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, England
Launched:       18 June 1913
Commissioned: 28 February 1914
Complement: 35
Length:            181 feet [55.17m]
Beam: 22 feet 6 inches [6.86m]
Draught:          12 feet, 6 inches [3.81m]
Displacement: 660 tonnes surfaced, 800 tonnes submerged
Speed:             15 knots surfaced, 10 knots submerged
Armaments: Four 18-inch Whitehead torpedo tubes – single bow tube: two tubes in the beam port and starboard, stern tube. AE2 carried 8 torpedoes: two at each of the 4 firing positions
Periscopes: Two: the main a fixed lens and another with moveable optics to view the sky
Crew: 32 (three officers and 29 seamen)

If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO), Publishers of Warship International

They are possibly one of the best sources of naval study, images, and fellowship you can find http://www.warship.org/

The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.

Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

I’m a member, so should you be!

Warship Wednesday Sept 3: Four Italian sisters in Argentine service

Posted on by One comment

Here at LSOZI, we are going to take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 time period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all of their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.

– Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday Sept 3: Four Italian sisters in Argentine service.

click to bigup

click to bigup

Here we see the Giuseppe Garibaldi-class armored cruiser Armada de la República Argentina (ARA) General Giuseppe Garibaldi of the Argentine Navy as she appeared around the turn of the century in her gleaming white and buff scheme. She was a ship representative of her time, and her class outlived most of their contemporaries.

Ordered from Gio. Ansaldo & C shipbuilders, Genoa, Italy, in 1894 the General Giuseppe Garibaldi was designed by Italian naval architect Edoardo Masdea to provide a ship, smaller than a 1st-rate battleship, yet larger and stronger than any cruiser that could oppose it.

One large 10-inch gun fore and another aft gave these ships some punch.

One large 10-inch gun fore and another aft gave these ships some punch.

The concept predated battle cruisers by a decade or two and had its apex at the Battle of Tsushima, where so-called ‘armored cruisers’ gave a poor showing of themselves. The final nail in the coffin of the armored cruiser design was the Battle of the Falklands in 1914 in which a German force of armored and light cruisers under Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee was annihilated by a group of larger and faster RN battle cruisers of Vice-Admiral Doveton Sturdee.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves…

The Garibaldi class was innovative for 1894, with a 344-foot long, 7200-ton hull capable of making 20-knots and sustaining a range of more than 7,000 nm at 12. Although made in Italy, she was almost all-British from her Armstrong batteries to her Bellville boilers to her Whitehead torpedoes and Harvey armor.

Armored with a belt that ran up-to 5.9-inches thick, she could take hits from faster cruisers and gunboats while being able to dish out punishment from a pair of Armstrong 10-inch guns that no ship smaller than her could absorb. Capable of outrunning larger ships, she also had a quartet of torpedo tubes and extensive rapid fire secondary batteries to make life hard on the enemy’s small ships and merchantmen.

ARA San Martin
She was designed for power projection on a budget and the Argentine Navy, facing a quiet arms race between Brazil and Chile on each side, needed modern ships.

They therefore scooped up not only the Garibaldi (commissioned in 1895) but also the follow-on sister-ships General Belgrano and General San Martín ( built by Orlando of Livorno in 1896) and Genoa-made Pueyrredón (1898) to make a quartet of powerful cruisers. These ships, coupled with the Rivadavia-class battleships ordered later in the U.S., helped make the Argentine navy for a period of about two decades the eighth most powerful in the world (after the big five European powers, Japan, and the United States), and the largest in Latin America.

Belgrao making steam with a bone in her mouth. These chunky cruisers could make 20-knots, which was fast for 1894 when they were designed

Belgrano making steam with a bone in her mouth. These chunky cruisers could make 20-knots, which was fast for 1894 when they were designed

The gunboat diplomacy of these ships soon paid off, with Belgrano being used as the signing platform for the 1899 peace treaty between Argentina and Chile to settle the Puna de Atacama dispute.

These ships proved so popular when built, in fact, that Spain quickly ordered a pair (one of which, Cristóbal Colón, was soon sunk in the Spanish-American War), Italy picked up three more (including confusingly enough, one also named Giuseppe Garibaldi-– he was an Italian hero after all!) and Japan acquired two of their own in the 1900s.

ARA Pueyrredon. Note deck awnings in use.

ARA Pueyrredon. Note deck awnings in use and extensive view of broadside secondary casemated guns

The four Argentine ships long outlived their foreign sisters.

Although the country had built a huge naval armada, they remained on the sidelines during a number of crisis in their time. The country remained more or less (some would contend less) neutral in both World Wars as well as in regional conflicts. They did, however, often sail the world and show the flag. Garibaldi for instance, was often seen in Caribbean ports while Belgrano made an extensive European tour in 1927, spending most of that year overseas.

Argentine Garibaldi class cruiser San Martin

Argentine Garibaldi class cruiser San Martin

One of the more popular assignments for theses ships over their lifetimes were yearly midshipmen cruises. Typically from August to December, they would alternate between circumnavigating the continent to trips to Europe and Africa.

El ARA Pueyrredónn

For example, in 1941, with the world at war, ARA Pueyrredon still had time to travel some 14,964 miles from Puerto Belgrano to New Orleans and back, stopping for lengthy port stays at such popular destinations as Havana, Rio, and Aruba.

San Martin warping into harbor

San Martin warping into harbor. Photo by City of Art

By 1920 Garibaldi— the Argentine one– was in poor condition and relegated to duty as a training ship while her three sisters were modernized, disarmed a good bit, and overhauled. By 20 March 1934, with the world in a global recession, Garibaldi was stricken, cannibalized so that her classmates could live longer lives, and sold for scrap at the end of 1936.

ara_belgrano_chococard

ARA San Martin was stricken 8 December 1935 but retained for twelve years as a dockside depot ship and scrapped in 1947.

El ARA San Martín, fue un crucero acorazado perteneciente a la Clase italiana Giuseppe Garibaldi, via Postales Navales

ARA Gen. Belgrano, who was used after 1933 as a submarine tender, was stricken May 8, 1947 and sold in 1953.

ARA Pueyrredon in Dublin in 1951. At this point this pre-SpanAm War vet was pushing her sixth decade at sea.

ARA Pueyrredon in Dublin in 1951. At this point this pre-SpanAm War vet was pushing her sixth decade at sea. Her white and buff scheme long since replaced by haze gray with black caps. Note, she still has her 10-inch Armstrong guns, although by the 1950s 254mm blackpowder bagged naval shells were very out of style to say the least. Photo by Historymar

Finally, ARA Pueyrredon, as far as I can tell, was the last ‘operational’ armored cruiser in naval service in the world. As late as 1951 the veteran was making cruises to Europe to show the blue and white banner of the Argentine navy while training naval officers. That summer she moved more than 20,000 miles underway on a round trip from Buenos Aires, Pernambuco, Liverpool, Dublin, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Le Havre, Naples, Genoa, Villefranche, Barcelona, Casa-blanca, Dakar, Santos, back to Buenos Aires.

She was stricken on 2 August 1954 after nearly six decades in commission, spending half of that as a training ship assigned to the Naval Academy, and towed in 1954 to Japan to be scrapped.

ex-Pueyrredon being towed, 1954

ex-Pueyrredon being towed, 1954. Photo by Historymar

Thus she outlived by two years what is considered by many to be the last armored cruiser afloat, the Greek Navy’s Georgios Averof (c.1911) which was decommissioned in 1952.

Sadly, the only monument to these beautiful and hard-serving Argentine ships is the bow coat of arms from ARA Pueyrredon, preserved on the grounds of Argentine Naval Academy.

The Argentine Sun of May (Spanish: Sol de Mayo) national emblem on the bowcrest of ARA Pueyrredon

The Argentine Sun of May (Spanish: Sol de Mayo) national emblem on the bowcrest of ARA Pueyrredon

Specs:

Planta-GiuseppeGaribaldi

Displacement: 7,069 long tons (7,182 t)
Length:     344 ft 2 in (104.9 m)
Beam:     50 ft 8 in (15.4 m)
Draught:     23 ft 4 in (7.1 m)
Installed power:     13,000 ihp (9,700 kW)
Propulsion:     2 shafts, vertical triple-expansion steam engines
8 cylindrical Bellville boilers (replaced 1920s)
Speed:     20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) as designed. Later 15-knots after 1925.
Range: 7000 nm at 12 knots on 1,000 tons coal. Later 4200 nm at 9kts after 1925 refits.
Complement: 520 as designed (typical Argentine service, 25 officers, 300 crew or 28 officers; 60-95 cadets; 275 crew)

Armament:     (As commissioned, greatly reduced after 1925)
2×1 – Armstrong 10-inch (254 mm) guns
10×1 – 152mm Armstrong rapid fire (120mm in Garibaldi)
10×1 – 57mm 6-pounder Nordenfeldt guns
8×1 37mm Hotchkiss guns
2×1 8mm Maxim water cooled machine guns
4×1 – 18-inch (457 mm) torpedo tubes with Whitehead fish (Five tubes in ARA Pueyrredon)
+ 2×1 – 3-inch (75 mm) guns landing guns (cañones de desembarcode)

Armour:  (All Harvey-type armor)
Belt: 3.1–5.9 in (79–150 mm)
Barbettes: 5.9 in (150 mm)
Gun turrets: 5.9 in (150 mm)
Conning tower: 5.9 in (150 mm)

If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO), Publishers of Warship International

They are possibly one of the best sources of naval study, images, and fellowship you can find http://www.warship.org/

The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.

Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

I’m a member, so should you be!

Warship Wednesday August 27, the plucky Perch, hardy frogman steed

Posted on by 17 comments

Here at LSOZI, we will take off every Wednesday to look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1859-1946 time period and profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all of their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places. – Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, August 27, the plucky Perch

0831314

Here we see the Balao-class submarine USS Perch (SS-313) as she appeared in the late 1960s off Pearl Harbor with her crew in summer whites. This hardy vessel made seven war patrols during WWII then remained one of the last operational smoke boats in the U.S. Navy, seeing hot service in both Korea and Vietnam.

The 128-ship Balao class were classic 311-foot, 2500-ton ‘fleet boats’ designed to roam the Pacific on patrols that could last some 75 days due to their 11,000-nm range. Capable of making over 20-knots in a surface attack, they carried a staggering 10 torpedo tubes for which they stocked two dozen steel fish, as well as a reasonably well-armed battery of deck and AAA guns to sink smaller vessels like sampans and defend themselves against aircraft. We have covered ships of this class in the past here at LSOZI but don’t complain, they have lots of great stories.

Laid down on 5 January 1943 at Electric Boat in Groton, she was commissioned 367 days later and departed for Key West for training. Needed for service in the Pacific, she arrived in Pearl Harbor at the beginning of April 1944. Just three weeks later she left on her first war patrol. For the next year, she conducted a total of 7 patrols in enemy waters, often working as part of a small U.S. submarine wolf-pack, chasing down the few Japanese merchant and warships that remained afloat. She lurked in the South China sea, trading an attack on an oilier for a counter-attack by a Japanese sub buster. Perch managed to send a few small trawlers and coasters to the bottom in surface gunfire actions while plucking Navy Corsair pilots and USAAF B-29 crews from the Pacific.

In a sign of things to come, she was used to land a 12-man Australian commando force of the famous Z Special Unit on a reconnaissance mission to Balikpapan Bay, Borneo, Indonesia (then in the Japanese-occupied Dutch East Indies). The ill-fated force under the renowned Aussie commando leader Major John Stott was lost through no fault of the Perch.

Ending the war off the coast of Imperial Japan, Perch was decommed and placed in reserve in 1947. However, unlike many of her class, she was soon dusted off and in May 1948 she was converted to a Submarine, Transport (SSP-313, later ASSP-313, then APSS-313, then LPSS–313, all with basically the same meaning) then recommissioned.

Aft view of the Perch (SS-313) off Mare Island after completion of conversion to a troop transport. Note the large dry deck shelter for equipment and small boats. US Navy photo

Aft view of the Perch (SS-313) off Mare Island after completion of conversion to a troop transport. Note the sizeable dry deck shelter for equipment and small boats. US Navy photo

Soon after the balloon went up on the Korean peninsula, Perch was used for landing British Commandos on raids behind North Korean lines. These were so successful not to mention hazardous, that Perch’s CO was made the recipient of a Bronze Star, the only such sub commander to win one in action during the Korean conflict.  The sub added a fifth battle star to her record to go with the four she earned during WWII.

Broadside view of Perch (ASSP-313) off Mare Island on 6 May 1954. She was under going repairs at Mare Island from 8 December 1953 to 13 May 1954. US Navy photo # 21035-5-54, courtesy of Darryl L. Baker.

Broadside view of Perch (ASSP-313) off Mare Island on 6 May 1954. She was undergoing repairs at Mare Island from 8 December 1953 to 13 May 1954. US Navy photo # 21035-5-54, courtesy of Darryl L. Baker.

Except for 20 months when she was laid up (1960-61), Perch spent the next 15 years shuttling around the Pacific from the Aleutians to the Gulf of Siam landing groups of Navy UDT teams, Army Green Berets, and Allied troops up to company-sized on exercise beaches under all conditions. While the equipment was stored in an external dry deck shelter bolted to the outside of the hull aft of the conning tower, the embarked commandos had to hot bunk with the crew. Since there were some 70 enlisted berths, this meant an additional 70 foot soldiers could be taken aboard, if uncomfortably.

Perch (ASSP-313),during exercises with reconnaissance troops from the 1st Marine Division off the coast of California. In addition to many internal changes, the Perch's conning tower structure had been extended and additional masts and shears added by January 1957, when this photo was taken.USN photo and text from The American Submarine by Norman Polmar, courtesy of Robert Hurst via Navsource

Perch (ASSP-313), during exercises with reconnaissance troops from the 1st Marine Division off the coast of California. In addition to many internal changes, the Perch’s conning tower structure had been extended and additional masts and shears were added by January 1957, when this photo was taken.USN photo and text from The American Submarine by Norman Polmar, courtesy of Robert Hurst via Navsource

Yes, this IS a submarine with an Amtrac aboard. Perch (ASSP-313) preparing to launch an LVT amphibious tractor during a 1949 exercise. The vehicle could be carried in the cargo hangar and launched by flooding down the submarine. USN photo and text from The American Submarine by Norman Polmar, courtesy of Robert Hurst.

Yes, this IS a submarine with an Amtrac aboard. Perch (ASSP-313) preparing to launch an LVT amphibious tractor during a 1949 exercise. The vehicle could be carried in the cargo hangar and launched by flooding down the submarine. USN photo and text from The American Submarine by Norman Polmar, courtesy of Robert Hurst.

While many of her class had been upgraded or decommissioned, Perch remained largely in her WWII configuration, even retaining some of her deck guns in an era when most submarines in the fleet had removed theirs.

Then came Vietnam. From August 1965-October 1966 she landed UDT troops as well as South Vietnamese commandos up and down the coastline, performing classified “Deck House” beach reconnaissance missions and “Dagger Thrust” amphibious landings. You see these old smokers could come much closer to shore than many other warships, capable of floating in 17 feet of seawater when surfaced. This made them popular for these littoral missions conducted in the dark of night, especially in areas without much enemy ASW capability.

 

Perch was more or less a dedicated frogman ride from 1948-1967.

Perch was more or less a dedicated frogman ride from 1948-1967.

Sailors from the USS Perch (APSS 313) help prepare South Vietnamese marines for special operations ashore, circa 1966. U.S. Navy Museum

It was during this Indochina service that Perch became the last U.S. submarine to conduct a surface gunfire action while engaged in Operation Deckhouse III.

The last gun-armed US Submarine in commission was USS Perch APSS-313. She was armed with a wet mount 40MM cannon on a sponson forward of the bridge and a 40MM cannon on the cigarette deck. Her last battle stations gun-action took place on August 20, 21, 1966 near Qui Nhon viet Nam. Perch opened fire with both 40MM’s and .50 Cal machine guns to assist extraction of a UDT team that was receiving Viet Cong fire from the beach. On the night of August 21, 1966 lying to on the surface 500 yards from shore she again opened fire with her deck guns and machine guns on enemy troops moving into position around a small ARVN force on the beach. Several secondary explosions of VC ordnance was observed. The ARVN force was extracted. USS Perch was relieved by USS Tunny APSS-282 the following month. Perch returned stateside for decommissioning. Tunny had several members of her crew trained for rigging topside to allow UDT teams to concentrate on the mission, and a portion of the crew trained as a “reaction force” to assist UDT extraction, or repel an enemy vessel. Tunny carried .50 Cal Machine Guns as did many smoke boats that operated in that area. Source–SEALS, UDT/SEAL Ops in Viet Nam, T.L. Bosiljevac, Ivy books New York, 1990.

USS Perch (SS-313) Balao class submarine in 1965 as transport submarine APSS-313, note the 40mm Bofors, forward.

Her third war over, Perch was sent back home and used as a training and auxiliary vessel, rarely getting underway after 1968. On 1 December 1971, she was decommissioned and, at age 27, stricken. She was sold for scrap in 1973.

The Homecoming, original painting of a Balao class sub by artist John Meeks

The Homecomingan , original painting of a Balao class sub by artist John Meeks

While Perch no longer exists, of her 121 other Balao-class sisters, one (Tusk) is still in some sort of service with the Taiwanese Navy while at least eight are preserved in the U.S.

Please visit one near you if you can and remember the old Perch.

USS Batfish (SS-310) at War Memorial Park in Muskogee, Oklahoma.
USS Becuna (SS-319) at Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
USS Bowfin (SS-287) at USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park in Honolulu, Hawaii
USS Clamagore (SS-343) at Patriot’s Point in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
USS Ling (SS-297) at New Jersey Naval Museum in Hackensack, New Jersey.
USS Lionfish (SS-298) at Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts.
USS Pampanito (SS-383) at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.
USS Razorback (SS-394) at Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum in North Little Rock, Arkansas.

Specs:

Balao Class Submarine
(As-built)
Displacement: 1,526 tons (1,550 t) surfaced
2,424 tons (2,463 t) submerged
Length:     311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)
Beam:     27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)
Draft:     16 ft 10 in (5.13 m) maximum
Propulsion:
4 × General Motors Model 16-278A V16 diesel engines driving electrical generators
2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries
4 × high-speed General Electric electric motors with reduction gears
two propellers
5,400 shp (4.0 MW) surfaced
2,740 shp (2.0 MW) submerged
Speed:     20.25 knots (38 km/h) surfaced
8.75 knots (16 km/h) submerged
Range:     11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h)
Endurance:     48 hours at 2 knots (3.7 km/h) submerged
75 days on patrol
Test depth:     400 ft (120 m)
Complement: 10 officers, 70–71 enlisted. After 1948, 75 commandos for short periods.
Armament:     10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes
(six forward, four aft) 24 torpedoes
1 × 5-inch (127 mm) / 25 caliber deck gun, Oerlikon 20 mm cannon (Removed 1948)
Bofors 40 mm

If you liked this column, please consider joining the International Naval Research Organization (INRO), Publishers of Warship International

They are possibly one of the best sources of naval study, images, and fellowship you can find http://www.warship.org/

The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to encouraging the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.

Nearing their 50th Anniversary, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

I’m a member, so should you be!

« Older Entries Recent Entries »