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Warship Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2018: Churchill’s best Boxing Day gift

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Here at LSOZI, we will take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1946 time period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2018: Churchill’s best Boxing Day gift

National Museum of the U.S. Navy. Lot-3478-38 (2407×1750)

Here we see the King George V-class dreadnought battleship HMS Duke of York (17) in heavy seas, often captioned as firing her 14-inch guns at the distant German battleship Scharnhorst during the Battle of the North Cape, some 75 years ago today– Boxing Day, 1943. Her broadside of 10 BL 14-inch Mk VII naval guns could throw almost eight tons of shells at once.

Part of a class of five mighty battleships whistled up as Hitler was girding a resurgent Germany, the Duke of York was ordered on 16 November 1936, just eight months after the Austrian corporal-turned-Fuhrer violated the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Pact by reoccupying the demilitarized Rhineland. Built at John Brown and Company, Clydebank (all five KGVs were constructed at different yards to speed up their delivery), she was commissioned on 19 August 1941– as Great Britain remained the only country in Western Europe still fighting the Blitzkrieg. What a difference a few years can make!

Some 42,000 tons, these 745-foot-long ships were bruisers. They were capable of breaking 28 knots and were faster than all but a handful of battleships on the drawing board while still sporting nearly 15 inches of armor plate at their thickest. Armed with 10 14-inch and 16 5.25-inch guns, they could slug it out with the biggest of the dreadnoughts of their day, possibly only outclassed by the American fast battleships (Washington, SoDak, Iowa-classes) with their 16-inch guns and the Japanese Yamatos, which carried 18-inchers.

HMS Duke of York, one of five King George V-class battleships

HMS Duke of York in drydock at Rosyth, Scotland.

HMS Duke of York (17), showing off her unusual quadruple turret as she departs Rosyth, 1942

Once she was commissioned, her first assignment was to carry Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill to the United States in mid-December 1941 to confer with London’s new ally, President Roosevelt.

HMS Duke of York visited America to transport Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill to the United States, in mid-December 1941. Note the Anti-Aircraft pom-pom guns in the drill. The photograph was released on January 27, 1942.

HMS Duke of York puffing a smoking “O” from her Y turret during exercises off Scapa Flow. This photo was taken aboard HMS Bedouin on 27 February 1942 and if you ask me is from the same set that the first image in this post is. The next day, the Duke of York would cut short her work upon a sighting by HMS Trident of the German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugene steering for Trondheim in Norway. Trident winged the latter, sending her running for Lofjorden. At 1830 hours on 28 Feb, Duke of York, the light cruiser Kenya, and destroyers Faulknor, Eskimo, Punjabi, and Eclipse sailed from Scapa for Hvalfjord, Iceland, to join the Home Fleet and carry out her first operational sortie. IWM A 7549

By March 1942, she was active in the Battle of the Atlantic, sailing from Hvalfjord northwards around Iceland to provide distant cover for convoy PQ 12 against the threat posed by German heavy cruisers (Hipper, Prinz Eugen, Scheer), and battleships (Tirpitz, Scharnhorst, and Gneisenau) possibly operating from Norway.

Battleship HMS Duke of York in heavy seas on a convoy escort operation to Russia, March 1942. In all, she would screen 16 convoys from March 1942 to December 1943, with breaks to cover landings in North Africa and Sicily and escort the Italian fleet to captivity.

Rear Admiral Robert C. Giffen, USN, Commander, Task Force 99 Visits with a British Vice Admiral on board HMS Duke of York, probably at Scapa Flow. The photo is dated 22 April 1942. USS Wasp (CV-7) is in the right background. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-21027

With the planned Torch landings in North Africa, in October 1942, the Duke of York was sent to Gibraltar as the new flagship of Force H, from where she would lend her might to the Allied effort in the Med.

Force H warships HMS Duke of York, Nelson, Renown, Formidable, and Argonaut underway off North Africa, November 1942.

From there, she was later involved in the Operation Husky landings in Sicily in July 1943, again as flagship. She would end up escorting the Italian fleet to Alexandria, Egypt after their surrender in September.

HMS Duke of York leading the Italian Fleet to Alexandria for surrender left to right Italia, Vittorio Veneto, Cadorna, Montecuccoli, Da Recco, Eugenio Di Savoia, and Duca d’Aosta – 14 September 1943

With no rest for the weary, Duke of York was then again off Norway, this time screening the carrier Ranger on her raids there— the only time American carrier aircraft would strike Europe during the War.

Royal Navy battleship, HMS Duke of York, underway astern of USS Ranger (CV 4), September 1943. Note the TBM Avengers on deck. #80-G-88048 (2048×1641)

Remaining on-call for convoy escort, Duke of York would be screening JW 55B on the Russian run past Norway when she would meet her biggest boogeyman.

The German battleship Scharnhorst at the time was the only serious naval asset the Kriegsmarine had at the time as Bismarck had been sunk in May 1941, the pocket battleship Graf Spee run to ground in 1939, Scharnhorst‘s sister Gneisenau crippled by a British air raid in 1942, the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer in Wilhelmshaven for major overhaul, Tirpitz left nearly condemned after a British X-Craft mini-submarine raid in Sept 1943, and the pocket battleship Lutzow in Kiel under repair until after the new year. The two remaining Hipper-class heavy cruisers were likewise deployed to the Baltic in support of operations against the Soviets.

With that, the epic 11-hour running fight that was the Battle of North Cape stretched out between the guardians of JW 55B (Duke of York along with heavy cruiser HMS Norfolk, light cruisers HMS Belfast, HMS Sheffield and HMS Jamaica, and the destroyers HMS Savage, Scorpion, Saumarez, Opportune, Virago, Musketeer, Matchless, and HNoMS Stord) and the unescorted Scharnhorst.

The 38,000-ton Scharnhorst, with her 13-inch armor belt and battery of nine 11-inch guns, was no match for Duke of York, however, she could make 31 knots, which gave her a slight advantage in speed during the running fight. Nevertheless, the British radar sets mounted on their ships meant she could never shake her pursuers. Almost her entire crew, including KAdm. Erich Bey would be lost in the cold sea off North Cape, Norway.

While the German battlewagon parted Duke of York‘s hair so to speak with her own 11-inch guns– passing shells through her masts, severing wireless aerials– the British battleship, in turn, used her own radar-controlled guns to get deadly serious with 52 salvos on her opponent, straddling her on 31 of them and inflicting terrific damage.

Sinking of the Scharnhorst, 26 December 1943 by Charles Pears via Greenwich RMS. The action began at 0900 and went to nearly 2000. Duke of York is seen to the left, Scharnhorst over the central horizon. Illum shells light the final scene. http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/12177.html

In the end, it was too much for any ship, and Scharnhorst, crippled, blind, burning, and outnumbered 13-to-1, was sunk by a brace of 19 torpedoes fired by the British destroyers Opportune, Virago, Musketeer, and Matchless at near point-blank range. Just 36 of her nearly 2,000-man crew was saved. As far as I can tell, it would be the last significant British surface action to involve battleships.

Cobb, Charles David; The Sinking of the ‘Scharnhorst’, 26 December 1943; absorbing torpedoes from British and Norwegian destroyers National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth. http://www.artuk.org/artworks/the-sinking-of-the-scharnhorst-26-december-1943-25967

“The last moments of the ‘Scharnhorst’ are recorded in this painting as fire takes hold of her and she is listing to starboard. Her guns are trained to port and her bridge tower glows in the light of the flames that rage through most of her length. In the right background are three destroyers and in the left background is a cruiser, probably the ‘Jamaica’. This painting was commissioned by the artist for publication in the ‘Illustrated London News’.” http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/13726.html Object ID BHC2250 from the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London. The artist is Charles Eddowes Turner

The Battle of the North Cape: HMS ‘Duke of York’ in Action against the ‘Scharnhorst’, 26 December 1943, by John Alan Hamilton (1919–1993) via the Imperial War Museum London. Painted in 1972, transferred from the Belfast Trust, in 1978.

Gun crews of HMS DUKE OF YORK under the ship’s 14-inch guns at Scapa Flow after the sinking of the German warship, the SCHARNHORST on 26 December 1943.

Admiral Fraser reportedly told his officers after the battle, “Gentlemen, the battle against Scharnhorst has ended in victory for us. I hope that if any of you are ever called upon to lead a ship into action against an opponent many times superior, you will command your ship as gallantly as Scharnhorst was commanded today.”

Moving on…

Given a refit for service in the Pacific, the Duke of York would sail in April 1945 for the Far East, arriving in Sydney on 29 July.

Forward turrets of Duke of York during a refit at Rosyth in 1945. Note the 2pdr on the “B” turret and the 20 mm Oerlikon guns at the left. This would be her configuration for the Pacific Theatre. IWM Photograph A20166.

Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser waved his telescope in greeting as HMS Duke of York entered Sydney Harbor. July 1945

She would move to Japanese Home waters for the final push and helped screen Allied carrier task forces in the weeks before VJ Day.

HMS Duke of York in Guam Harbor, August 1945. She was there to allow Adm. Sir Bruce Fraser, RN, C-in-C British Pacific Fleet, to present the order of Knights Grand Cross of the Bath (GCB) awarded by King George VI to Adm. Chester Nimitz.

Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser with Admiral Nimitz after the investiture on board the DUKE OF YORK at Guam. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205161320

In the end, she was one of 10 Allied battleships— eight American and her sister HMS King George V (41)— in Tokyo Bay during the Japanese surrender ceremony, on 2 September 1945.

HMS Duke of York and King George V silhouetted against Mount Fuji 1945 IWM

WITH THE BRITISH NAVY IN THE FAR EAST. AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER 1945, ON BOARD HMS EURYALUS AND HMS DUKE OF YORK, AND ASHORE WITH THE BRITISH NAVY IN THE FAR EAST. (A 30576) Naval air might be on parade when more than 1,000 Allied naval aircraft flew over HMS DUKE OF YORK as she proceeded on her way to Tokyo. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205161681

Warships of the U.S. Third Fleet and the British Pacific Fleet in Sagami Wan, 28 August 1945, preparing for the formal Japanese surrender a few days later. Mount Fujiyama is in the background. The nearest ship is the USS Missouri (BB-63), flying Admiral William F. Halsey’s four-star flag. British battleship Duke of York is just beyond her, with HMS King George V further in. USS Colorado (BB-45) is in the far center of the distance. Also, present are U.S. and British cruisers and U.S. destroyers. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, 80-G-339360, now in the collections of the National Archives.

The above photo was immortalised by maritime artist Charles David Cobb

Cobb, Charles David, 1921-2014; Japanese Surrender, Tokyo Bay

Japanese Surrender, Tokyo Bay USS Missouri HMS Duke of York HMS King George V Mount Fuji Tokyo Bay Charles David Cobb via National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth

Retiring to Hong Kong, she was present there for the reoccupation of the colony from Japanese forces.

View of Hong Kong harbor from Mount Victoria. The battleship at anchor is the HMS Duke of York.

 

The flagship of the British Pacific Fleet, HMS Duke of York. Pictured at Woolloomooloo Wharf November 23, 1945. At this point, she was just four years old and had fought the Italians, Japanese and Germans (2222×1700)

HMS Duke of York at Hobart, Tasmania, 1945

Returning to the UK, Duke of York deployed as Home Fleet Flagship until 1949 then became Flagship of the Reserve Fleet for two years until reduced to Reserve status in November 1951.

HMS DUKE OF YORK AT MADEIRA. APRIL 1947, MADEIRA, PORTUGAL. HMS DUKE OF YORK, FLAGSHIP OF THE HOME FLEET VISITED MADEIRA DURING THE SPRING CRUISE OF THE HOME FLEET. (A 31304) The Commander in Chief, Admiral Sir Neville Syfret, KCB, KBE, inspecting Portuguese troops at Madeira. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205162328

Laid up in the Gareloch, she was placed on the Disposal List and sold to BISCO for scrapping, arriving at Faslane on 18 February 1958, less than 22 years after she was ordered. Her three surviving sisters (sister Prince of Wales was sunk by the Japanese in December 1941 in the South China Sea) were likewise disposed of at the same time.

Specs:
Displacement:42,076 long tons (42,751 t) deep load
Length:
745 ft 1 in (overall) 740 ft 1 in (waterline), Beam: 103 ft 2 in
Draught: 34 ft 4 in
Installed power: 110,000 shp (82,000 kW)
Propulsion:
8 Admiralty 3-drum small-tube boilers
4 sets of Parsons geared turbines
Speed: 28.3 knots
Range: 15,600 nmi at 10 knots
Complement: 1,556 (1945)
Radars:
(1942)
1 x Type 273/M/P Surface search
1 x Type 281 Long-range air warning
6 x Type 282 Pom-pom directors
1 x Type 284/M/P Main armament director
4 x Type 285/M/P/Q HA directors
( Radars added between 1944–1945)
Type 281B
2 × Types 277, 282, and 293 radars added.
Armament:
10 × BL 14 in (360 mm) Mark VII guns
16 × QF 5.25 in (133 mm) Mk. I DP guns
48 × QF 2 pdr 40 mm (1.6 in) Mk.VIII AA guns
6 × 20 mm (0.8 in) Oerlikon AA guns
Armor:
Main Belt: 14.7 inches
Lower belt: 5.4 inches
Deck: 5–6 inches
Main turrets: 12.75 inches
Barbettes: 12.75 inches
Bulkheads: 10–12 inches
Conning tower: 3–4 inches
Aircraft carried: 4 × Supermarine Walrus seaplanes, 1 catapult

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Warship Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2018: Nimitz’s pogy boat

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Here at LSOZI, we are going to take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1946 time period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger

Photo by Harry Berns, Official photographer of the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co., Manitowoc, WI., courtesy of Robert E. Straub, RM2SS, Guavina SS-362 (August 1944 to August 1946). Photo i.d. courtesy of John Hummel, USN (Retired). Via Navsource

Here we see the Balao-class diesel-electric fleet submarine USS Menhaden (SS-377) underway during sea trials in Lake Michigan, January 1945. One of 28 “freshwater submarines” made by Manitowoc in Wisconsin during WWII, she cut her teeth in the depths of the Great Lakes but was soon enough sent off to war. Before her career was said and done she would participate in three of them and help aid the next generation of bubbleheads well into the Red October era.

A member of the 128-ship Balao class, she was one of the most mature U.S. Navy diesel designs of the World War Two era, constructed with knowledge gained from the earlier Gato-class. U.S. subs, unlike those of many navies of the day, were ‘fleet’ boats, capable of unsupported operations in deep water far from home.

Able to range 11,000 nautical miles on their reliable diesel engines, they could undertake 75-day patrols that could span the immensity of the Pacific. Carrying 24 (often unreliable) Mk14 Torpedoes, these subs often sank anything short of a 5000-ton Maru or warship by surfacing and using their 4-inch/50 caliber and 40mm/20mm AAA’s. They also served as the firetrucks of the fleet, rescuing downed naval aviators from right under the noses of Japanese warships.

We have covered a number of this class before, such as the rocket-mailing USS Barbero, the carrier-sinking USS Archerfish the long-serving USS Catfish, and the frogman Cadillac USS Perch —but don’t complain, they have lots of great stories

Like most pre-Rickover submarines, the subject of our tale today was named for a fish. Menhaden, commonly called pogy, is a small and greasy fish of the herring family found in the Lakes, as well as in the Atlantic and Gulf. Where I live in Pascagoula, we have a menhaden plant that processes boatloads of these nasty little boogers to mash for their oil, which is later used in cosmetics (remember that next time you see lipstick) and for fish oil supplements.

I give you, menhaden, in its most common form…I take it every day. Omegas and all that.

Her insignia, like almost all those on the WWII fish boats, is great.

Insignia: USS MENHADEN (SS-377) Caption: This emblem originated in 1944, before MENHADEN’s commissioning. It features a fish wearing an Indian war bonnet and carrying a tomahawk with a torpedo for ahead. The idea for this design developed because the Menhaden fish was a staple food of the Manitowoc Indians. The ship was built at Manitowoc, Wisconsin. This embroidered patch emblem was received from USS MENHADEN in 1969. Description: Catalog #: NH 69767-KN

Laid down by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co., Manitowoc, Wis., 21 June 1944, USS Menhaden was commissioned 366 days later 22 June 1945, Navy Cross recipient CDR David H. McClintock in command.

Menhaden, the last of the Manitowoc‑built boats to have commissioned service during World War II, trained in Lake Michigan until 15 July. Thence, she was floated down the Mississippi River to New Orleans where she departed for the Canal Zone on 27 July. She conducted extensive training out of Balboa during the closing days of the war against Japan, and between 1 and 16 September cruised to Pearl Harbor for duty with SubRon 19. Photo via Wisconsin Maritime Museum.

While she may have been commissioned (as it turns out) too late for the war, her crew was far from green.

USS Darter (SS-227), a Gato-class submarine commissioned in 1943, in her 13 months of existence won a Navy Unit Commendation and four battle stars across a similar number of war patrols, credited with having sunk a total of 19,429 long tons (19,741 t) of Japanese shipping. While a part of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Darter sank the massive 15,000-ton Japanese heavy cruiser Atago and seriously damaged her sister, the cruiser Takao, directly impacting the outcome of the fleet action. However, she paid a price and, hard aground in the Philippines, had to be abandoned.

USS DARTER (SS-227) Caption: Aground on Bombay Shoal, off southwest Palawan. Note damage caused by her crew’s attempts to scuttle her. DARTER had gone aground on 24 October 1944, after a successful attack on the Japanese fleet, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. From U.S. Submarine Losses, World War II, page 113. #: NH 63699

To retain their high esprit de corps, the entire Darter crew was ordered to Wisconsin to take over Menhaden, fleshed out by 20 new blue jackets.

As it turned out, this gave the new ship with her crack crew of salty veterans a unique rendezvous with destiny.

You see some four years prior, at Pearl Harbor just three weeks after the bloody attack that crippled the U.S. battleship force in the Pacific, Adm. Chester William Nimitz, Sr. (USNA 1905), who cut his teeth on cranky early submarines before the Great War and by 1939 was the chief of the Bureau of Navigation, assumed command of the U.S Pacific Fleet (CINCPACFLT) on the orders of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, replacing the outgoing Adm. (reduced to RADM) Husband Edward Kimmel. As a nod to his early days (and because no battleships were available), Nimitz hoisted his flag first on the Tambor-class submarine USS Grayling (SS-209).

USS Grayling (SS-209). The signed inscription reads, “At Pearl Harbor on 31 Dec. 1941 hoisted 4-star Admiral’s flag on U.S.S Grayling and took command of U.S. Pacific Fleet. C.W. Nimitz, Fleet Admiral, USN” NH 58089

Nimitz, of course, would be slightly better remembered than Kimmel and would hold his job until replaced at Thanksgiving 1945 by ADM Raymond A. Spruance. That’s where Menhaden comes in.

Arriving at Pearl on 16 Sept 1945 after their trip down the Mississippi River to New Orleans from the Great Lakes and a run through the Canal, Menhaden was chosen to host the change of command between Nimitz and Spruance.

As noted by the Navy,

Although untried in combat, she was one of the newest boats in the Submarine Service and incorporated the latest improvements in submarine design and equipment. Moreover, her “gallantly battle‑tested” crew epitomized the “valor, skill, and dedicated service of submariners” during the long Pacific war. Thus, on her deck that morning Fleet Admiral Nimitz read his orders assigning him to duty as Chief of Naval Operations, and his relief, Adm. Raymond A. Spruance, read orders making him CINCPAC and CINPOA.

In a change of command ceremony, Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, USN, is relieved as Commander-in-Chief Pacific-Pacific Ocean Area (CINCPAC-CINCPOA) by Admiral Raymond A. Spruance onboard USS MENHADEN (SS-377) moored at Submarine Base, Pearl Harbor, 24 November 1945. Shown here boarding the submarine is Fleet Admiral Nimitz followed by Admiral Spruance. the sub on the opposite side of the pier is USS DENTUDA (SS-335). Description: Catalog #: NH 62274

Admiral Raymond A. Spruance relieves Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, as Commander-in-Chief Pacific-Pacific Ocean Area (CINCPAC-CINCPOA)onboard USS MENHADEN (SS-377) moored at Submarine Base, Pearl Harbor, 24 November 1945. Standing in line, L To R, are Vice Admiral J.H. Newton, Vice Admiral C.H. McMorris, Rear Admiral D.C. Ramsey, Commander James Loo, and Lieutenant Sam L. Bernard. All USN. Here, Admiral Spruance reads his orders. Description: Catalog #: NH 62272

USS MENHADEN (SS-377) Caption: In Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 24 November 1945, Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, USN, hoisted his 5-star flag on MENHADEN and turned over command of U.S. Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean areas to Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, USN. The writing on the photo is Fleet Admiral Nimitz’s. Description: Catalog #: NH 58081

The brand-new submarine and her crew of vets operated out of Pearl Harbor for just four months then received orders for San Francisco where she was decommissioned on 31 May 1946 and mothballed in the Pacific Reserve Fleet after less than a year of active duty.

In 1951 the still “new-old-stock” fleet boat was taken back out of storage for use in Korea, recommissioning at Mare Island 7 August 1951, earning the Korean Service Medal and UN Service Medal.

However, as before, she didn’t get any licks in and remained on the West Coast for most of the conflict, converting the next year to a “Guppy IIA” modification, which she would carry the rest of her career. Nimitz attended the recommissioning ceremony as an honored guest, the second time the young boat would fly the flag of a five-star admiral.

USS MENHADEN (SS-377) Caption: Off the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Mare Island, California, 4 May 1953, after her “Guppy 11A” conversion. Note change in the sail, the addition of a snorkel, and removal of deck guns, etc. Description: Catalog #: NH 90862

After her first West Pac deployment starting in Sept. 1953– picking up the China Service Medal for services to the Chinese Nationalist Navy Vessels in Formosa– Menhaden would rotate back and forth between training operations off California and patrols in the troubled waters off Korea and Taiwan, keeping tabs on Chinese and Soviet assets in the region and just generally serving as “the powerful seagoing arm of freedom in the Far East,” as DANFS notes.

She completed four lengthy West Pac deployments by 1964.

Menhaden (SS-377) underway, c. 1961. Her sail would later be further streamlined. via Navsource

GUPPY’d USS Menhaden (SS 377) with streamlined sail late in her career

Then came two tours in the waters off Vietnam (Nov 1964-May 1965 and Aug 1966-Feb 1967), seeing her active shooting war for the first time, and was awarded the Vietnam Service Medal with two campaign stars.

As far as WWII diesel boats, the late 1960s and early 1970s were not kind to them. The last two Gato-class boats active in the US Navy were USS Rock and USS Bashaw, which were both decommissioned in Sept 1969. The last Balao-class submarine in United States service was USS Clamagore (SS-343), which was decommissioned in June 1973. The final submarine of the Tench class, as well as the last submarine which served during World War II, in fleet service with the U.S. Navy, was USS Tigrone (SS/AGSS-419) which decommissioned in June 1975.

That’s where Menhaden was given a reprieve of sorts, remaining in (sort of) service with the Fleet well past her sisters had gone to the breakers. Decommissioned on 13 August 1971, her name was taken off the Naval List two days later and she was again in mothballs.

By 1976, she was transferred to the Naval Undersea Warfare Engineering Station in Keyport, Washington who would use her as a surface and submerged target ship for another decade. In this role, she had her engines and batteries removed and she was painted bright yellow.

A literal Yellow Submarine.

Under tow to the Naval Torpedo Station, Keyport, Washington, 28 December 1976, where it will be used as a surface and submerged target to obtain data on torpedo effects. The sub is painted yellow to enable easier damage assessment. The tug is a torpedo retrieval boat. KN-25569

Ex-Menhaden (SS-377) at the Explosive Handling Wharf, Naval Submarine Base, Bangor, Washington, in the early 1980s. Text courtesy of Dave Carpenter. Photo courtesy of Les Guille. Via Navsource

By the late 1980s, even Menhaden, known around Keyport as “The Hulk” was no more, and she was scrapped by 1988. As far as I can tell, she was the last WWII-era diesel sub in use by the Navy in any form.

A port bow view of the U.S. Navy guided-missile cruiser USS Chicago (CG-11) laid up at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Washington (USA). To the left of Chicago is the submarine USS Menhaden (SS-377), another submarine, and the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany (CV-34). To the right is USS Hornet (CVS-12). National Archives and Records Administration cataloged under the National Archives Identifier (NAID) 6450775. DN-SC-90-03977

Lots of remnants and tributes to the ship endure.

The National Museum of the Pacific War, home of the Nimitz Museum in Texas, has some artifacts from the Menhaden. There is an extensive crew/reunion site for the vessel (here) and a historical marker on the north bank of the Milwaukee River, on The Manitowoc County 28 Boat Memorial Walk, adjacent to her sister, the USS Cobia, at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum.

At the USS Bowfin submarine museum and park in Honolulu (a sister ship of Menhaden), they have a war-bonnet-wearing pogy donated to the site by one of Menhaden’s skippers.

Via Bowfin Museum

From the Bowfin Museum:

The sub’s emblem displays the head of the fish Menhaden, decorated with a war bonnet that honors the Manitowoc Indians who used said fish for food and fertilizing their fields. Dale C. Johnson, who was one of USS Menhaden’s commanding officers (1964), was raised on the Yakima Indian Reservation, and when childhood friends learned of his occupation on such a boat, they arranged to have a war bonnet made and sent to Johnson and his crew. A pattern maker from USS Sperry carved the fish head, fin, and torpedo-tomahawk, which when added to the war bonnet, made the emblem three-dimensional and to be displayed on festive occasions. Commander Johnson has since donated his treasure to the USS Bowfin Museum and Park, where it is on display today

Although Menhaden is no longer afloat, eight Balao-class submarines are preserved (for now) as museum ships across the country.

Please visit one of these fine ships and keep the legacy alive:

-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. (Which is, sadly, set to sink as a reef in the next few months)
–USS Ling (SS-297) at New Jersey Naval Museum in Hackensack, New Jersey. (Which is also in poor shape)
–USS Lionfish (SS-298) at Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts.
-USS Pampanito (SS-383) at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park in San Francisco, California, (which played the part of the fictional USS Stingray in the movie Down Periscope).
–USS Razorback (SS-394) at Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum in North Little Rock, Arkansas.

The Navy List has not carried the name of another Menhaden, which is a shame.

Her first skipper, CPT. David Haywood McClintock (USNA 1935) retired from the Navy in 1965 and died in 2002 at the D.J. Jacobetti Home for Veterans in Michigan, aged 89.

Specs:

Balao-Class USS Menhaden shown in model re-fitted as a remotely-controlled, unmanned acoustic test vehicle, known as the ‘Yellow Submarine’ serving with the Naval Underwater Systems Center until she was scrapped in 1988 Via ARC Forums

Displacement:
1,848 tons (1,878 t) surfaced
2,440 tons (2,479 t) submerged
Length: 311 ft
Beam: 27 ft 4 in
Draft: 17 ft
Propulsion:
(1945)
4 × General Motors Model 16-278A V16 diesel engines driving electrical generators
2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries
4 × high-speed General Electric motors with reduction gears
two propellers
5,400 shp (4.0 MW) surfaced
2,740 shp (2.0 MW) submerged
(1953): Snorkel added, one diesel engine and generator removed, batteries upgraded
Speed:
(Designed)
20.25 knots surfaced
8.75 knots submerged
(Post-GUPPY)
Surfaced:
17.0 knots maximum
13.5 knots cruising
Submerged:
14.1 knots for ½ hour
8.0 knots snorkeling
3.0 knots cruising
Range: 11,000 nautical miles surfaced at 10 knots
Endurance:
48 hours at 2 knots submerged
75 days on patrol
Test depth: 400 ft (120 m)
Complement:10 officers, 70–71 enlisted
Armament:
10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes
6 forward, 4 aft
24 torpedoes
1 × 5-inch (127 mm) / 25 caliber deck gun
Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
(1953)
10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes, small arms

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/membership.htm

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.

With more than 50 years of scholarship, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

PRINT still has its place. If you LOVE warships you should belong.

Warship Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2018: 41 and his paddle-wheel flattop

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Here at LSOZI, we are going to take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1946 time period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2018: 41 and his paddle-wheel flattop

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-41715

Here we see the training aircraft carrier USS Sable (IX-81) moored in an icy Great Lakes harbor, probably Buffalo, New York, on 8 May 1943, the day she was placed in commission. Of note, she and a similar vessel– responsible for training thousands of budding Naval aviators in the fresh water of the Lakes– were the last paddle-wheel, coal-fired U.S. Navy ships on active duty.

Yes, paddle-wheeled.

Coal-fired.

Aircraft carriers.

In the 1920s, the Detroit and Cleveland Navigation Company (D&C) ordered a large side-wheel excursion steamship, Greater Buffalo, from the American Ship Building Company of Lorain, Ohio.

Built to a design by marine architect Frank E. Kirby, she was an impressive 518-feet overall with “26 parlors with bath; 130 staterooms with toilets; automobile capacity, 125; 650 staterooms; crew of 300 including officers.” Some 7,300 tons, she used 9 coal-fired boilers to power her inclined compound steam engine suite, which in turn drove 35-foot paddlewheels.

She was a gorgeous and well-appointed ship in Great Lakes service, often carrying as many as 1,500 paying passengers per excursion on the Lakes in the summer seasons between 1925 and 1942.

Her lounge

Hotel Buffalo wagon meets the Greater Buffalo as the liner arrives in Buffalo, N.Y., on the first trip of the 1942 season– the ship’s last (Detroit Free Press)

In late 1942, a plan to convert large Great Lakes steamers to training carriers in the 9th Naval District, far away from threatening U-boats and mines, was hatched and Greater Buffalo, along with fellow Kirby-designed Seeandbee, were acquired by the War Shipping Administration and fitted for flight.

S.S. Greater Buffalo arrives in Buffalo, N.Y., on Aug. 6, 1942, to be converted into aircraft carrier USS Sable (IX-81). Note the three funnels, you will see these again.

Seeandbee went on to become USS Wolverine (IX 64) while Greater Buffalo would be USS Sable (IX 81). While Wolverine picked up a 550-foot long Douglas-fir aircraft deck, Sable would be given a nice steel flight deck, as well as an island superstructure. The fact they did not have a hangar, elevators, or magazine did not matter too much, as they were just for the role of practicing traps and launches.

A great before and after. USS Wolverine (IX-64) at Buffalo, New York, in early 1942 just after completion. At left is the stern of SS Greater Buffalo, just beginning conversion to USS Sable (IX-81). Photo courtesy of C.C. Wright. Catalog #: NH 81059

The 518-foot deck, hundreds of feet shorter than those used on fleet carriers, was considered OK in an “if you can dodge a wrench” kind of way, and given eight arrestor wires as a bonus safety measure, which no doubt came in handy. As of note, even the old Langley‘s flight deck was 542 feet long. Still, for aviators headed to “jeep” carriers, it was spacious (e.g. the Bogue-class escort carriers had just a 439-foot-long flight deck.)

Converted at the Erie Plant of the American Shipbuilding Co., Buffalo, N. Y.; Sable was commissioned on 8 May 1943, CPT. Warren K. Berner (USNA 1922) was in command, and became one of only two coal-fired paddle-wheelers in Navy service. As such, she was a throwback to an early time.

Sidebar: The Navy exits coal

The first oil-burning American destroyer, USS Paulding (DD-22), was commissioned in 1910, at the same time the new USS Nevada-class battleships were planned for solely oil as fuel. In 1914, the last American battleship that was coal-fired, USS Texas (BB-35), was commissioned– the final large warship built for the U.S. Navy to rely on West Virginia’s finest and even she had a mix of 14 Babcock & Wilcox coal-fired boilers with 6 Bureau Express oil-fired boilers. In the mid-1920s, most of the battleships kept after the Washington Naval Treaty that did not burn oil was extensively converted to do so. Likewise, by the early 1930s, the old “peace cruisers” that smoked bricks were put to pasture. By 1940, the only purpose-built warships I can find on the Naval List still set up to burn coal were the old patrol gunboats Sacramento (PG-19) and Tulsa (PG-22), each of which, due to their 12-knot speed and light low-angle armament, were of marginal use outside of waving the flag in times of peace. Further, every single one of the Navy’s aircraft carriers burned oil. Yes, even the converted collier USS Langley (CV-1), was turbo-electric.

For reference, the iron paddlewheel gun-boat USS Wolverine, ex-USS Michigan, had been the last Navy paddle wheeler before Wolverine/Sable, and she left the fleet in 1923.

United States Navy sidewheel steamer USS Wolverine, ex-USS Michigan, in a Great Lakes port in the 1900s. Laid down in 1842, she spent her career– including the Civil War, in the Lakes. Wolverine was decommissioned on 6 May 1912, although the Navy kept her as an auxiliary until 1923.

Now back to our story.

For a sidewheeler, Sable was a deceptively good-looking aviation ship.

USS Sable (IX 81) formerly the Greater Buffalo, commissioned as a training ship on May 8, 1943, on the Great Lakes for carrier pilots. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, 80-G-41716, now in the collections of the National Archives.

80-G-354765: USS Sable (IX-81) underway on the Great Lakes, June 1945. See the funnels?

Similarly, Sable was made ready for bluejackets and aviation crews, picking up several experienced hands from the recently lost USS Lexington.

Crews’ Quarters scene, taken on 8 May 1943, the day the ship was placed in commission. Note the suspended pipe berths and bedding. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-41717

Sable’s Aviators’ Lecture Room, 3 June 1943. Officers present are Lieutenant Commander B.A. Bankert, Sable’s Air Officer (seated) and Lieutenant G.M. Cole, her Flight Deck Officer. Note the suspended pipe berths along the compartment’s bulkhead, and what appear to be dining room chairs used for student seating. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-41719

Sable departed Buffalo on 22 May 1943 and reached Chicago, Ill., her assigned home port, on 26 May 1943. Sable qualified her first two pilots just three days later– the first of many.

The training aircraft carrier USS Sable at the Navy Pier on Lake Michigan in Chicago

Importantly, the freshwater flattop served as a testbed for a revolutionary development in naval warfare for the age– an armed carrier-launched drone.

The Navy’s TDN-1 was a TV-guided remote-controlled assault drone developed by the Navy in 1942. Envisioned to operate from carriers under the control of a nearby TBM Avenger (or land-based with a PBY chase plane), the 37-foot-long twin-engine aircraft could carry either a 2,000-pound bomb or an aerial torpedo. The launches from Sable of the type are widely considered the first US drone to take off from an aircraft carrier– eat your heart out Stingray.

TDN-1 drones parked on the Sable’s flight deck, off Traverse City, Michigan, during flight tests on 10 August 1943. Note the inscriptions and cartoons on the aircraft noses, including Fatstuff and Coop’s and Roy on the nearer TDN, and Dilbert on the more distant one. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-387161

Sable (IX-81) Launching a TDN-1 drone while steaming off Traverse City, Michigan, during flight tests on 10 August 1943. Note this aircraft’s unoccupied cockpit. The TDN was intended for use as a television-guided attack drone. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-387174

In West Grand Traverse Bay, off Traverse City, Michigan, with two TDN-1 drones on her flight deck for tests, 10 August 1943. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-387151

When it came to training aircrews, accidents on Sable and Wolverine were to be expected.

As noted by the Navy:

Between 1942 and 1945, the years of the carriers’ operations, there were 128 losses and over 200 accidents. Although most losses resulted in only minor injuries, a total of eight pilots were killed. These numbers seem significant until it is considered that during that time over 120,000 successful landings took place, and an estimated 35,000 pilots qualified. The training program, in this light, was a huge success.

General Motors FM-2 Wildcat fighter Upended after a barrier crash onboard USS Sable (IX-81), during pilot training in the Great Lakes, May 1945. Another FM-2 is flying past in the top center. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Photo #: 80-G-354753

Additionally, Sable and her twin trained thousands of deck crews and landing signals officers in how to move, launch and recover aircraft in high-tempo operations. Without such men, the war in the Pacific would have been impossible.

USS Sable: Landing Signal Officer, LT Whitaker, in action during training operations on the Great Lakes, May 1945.

In just two years, Sable made an amazing 50,000 landings alone. By comparison, the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) only recently hit her 50,000th trap in 2012, 23 years after she joined the fleet.

SNJ Texan trainer makes the ship’s 50,000th landing on Sable, during training operations on the Great Lakes, May 1945. Catalog #: 80-G-354737

Among those trained on her decks was one TBM Avenger pilot, George H.W. Bush, who volunteered for flight training on his 18th birthday.

Flying from the light carrier USS San Jacinto (which was a “small” flattop but still had a longer deck, 552 feet, than Sable!), he completed 58 combat sorties, picking up the DFC and three air medals before VJ Day.

While Bush went on to a bright future, Sable would soon be forgotten in the victory.

Decommissioned on 7 November 1945, Sable was stricken from the list of ships on the Navy Register on 28 November 1945. Sold by the Maritime Commission to H. H. Buncher Co., Pittsburgh, Pa., on 7 July 1948, as a scrap hull, she was reported as “disposed of” on 27 July 1948. Likewise, the Navy decommissioned Wolverine on 7 November 1945 and she was sold for scrap in December 1947.

Other than her plans, which are in the National Archives, few relics of the ship exist today.

However, her legacy in aviation history may be more enduring.

It is estimated that well over 100 aircraft working from Sable and Wolverine were lost during the war due to accidents– as of course, they were slow, small, and unforgiving platforms filled with (by nature) fledging and unsure aviation hopefuls. By Navy records, at a minimum, the losses included: 41 TBM/TBF Avengers, one F4U Corsair, 38 SBD Dauntless dive bombers, four F6F Hellcats, 17 SNJ Texans, two SB2U Vindicators, 37 FM/F4F Wildcats and three experimental TDNs.

Many of these have been located over the years, providing fodder for aviation museums around the world as the airframes are in generally good condition due to freshwater immersion if the zebra mussels haven’t gotten to them. Many of the aircraft have been found in good condition with, for instance, “tires inflated, parachutes preserved, leather seats maintained, and engine crankcases full of oil. Often paint schemes are well preserved, allowing for easier identification.”

One such F4F-3 (BuNo 4039) lost from Wolverine and recovered in 1991 is on display in a “Sunken Treasures” scene in Pensacola as she would appear on the bottom of the Lakes.

In December 2012, a WWII aircraft, FM-2 Wildcat 57039 was discovered and salvaged in Lake Michigan. She had been lost by Ensign William Forbes on 28 December 1944 as he flew from Sable. She is being restored by the Air Zoo Museum in Kalamazoo, Michigan (Photo: Michigan Tech)

As for Bush’s tie-in with the Sable and his Great Lakes area flight training, the Naval Air & Space Museum also has a restored N2S Stearman Kaydet, BuNo 05369, that he logged flights on from NAS Minneapolis.

The name “Sable” has not graced another U.S. Navy ship.

Specs:
Displacement 6,584 t.
Length 535 ft.
Beam 58 ft.
Propulsion
two compound reciprocating engines
Scotch boilers
Ship’s Service Generators
two turbo-drive 75Kw 120V D.C.
three turbo-drive 100Kw 120V D.C.
two sidewheels
Complement: 300 crew when in civilian service
Armament: none

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/membership.htm

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.

With more than 50 years of scholarship, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

PRINT still has its place. If you LOVE warships you should belong.

I’m a member, so should you be!

Warship Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2018: The spaghetti boats of Mar del Plata

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Here at LSOZI, we are going to take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1946 time period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2018: The spaghetti boats of Mar del Plata

Colorized by my friend, Diego Mar, of Postales Navales

Here we see the fine Italian-made Santa Fe (Cavallini)-class submarine ARA Santa Fe (S1) of the Argentine Navy sailing past Castello Aragonese in Taranto in 1933. The Argentinians often referred to this class as the “Tarantinos‘ due to their place of birth.

With the recent tragic loss of ARA San Juan, it should be remembered that the blue and white banner of the Armada de la República Argentina has been waving proudly over submarines for almost a century, with the fleet’s Comando de la Fuerza de Submarinos being established some 85 years ago and Santa Fe and her twin sister ships, known in Argentina as the “Tarantinos” due to their origin, started it all.

The Italians had started building submarines as far back as 1892 when the Delfino took to the water. Although they don’t get a lot of press, the Regina Marina put to sea with a formidable submarine force in both World Wars and the Spanish Civil War, which was used to good effect. In WWII, for instance, domestically made Italian subs working briefly in the Atlantic claimed 109 Allied ships, amounting to almost 600,000 tons. Further, Buenos Ares and Rome had a prior relationship stretching back to the 19th Century when it came to ordering naval vessels, so the two were natural partners when the Latin American country wanted in on submersibles.

Contracted with Cantieri navali Tosi on 15 October 1927, the Argentine government arranged for three submarines to be constructed at Taranto to a design of the Cavallini type derived from the Italian Navy’s Settembrini-class boats. At just over 1,100 tons when submerged and some 227 feet long, these were not big boats by any means, but they had a modern and efficient design.

Argentina submarines Sumergibles Salta, Santa Fe y Santiago del Estero. Año under construction in 1929. Astillero Franco Tosti. Tarento. Italia.

Equipped with Tosi diesels and electric motors, they could make 17.5 knots surfaced and about half that while submerged, which was pretty good for a 1920s-era submarine. Using a saddle-tank hull design with five compartments, they could make an impressive 7,100 nm at 8 knots surfaced, allowing them to deploy from Italy to their new homeland non-stop when completed and complete 30-day patrols. With a crush depth of 300~ feet, they mounted a 4-inch gun on deck and eight 21-inch torpedo tubes, making them capable of sinking a battleship with a single salvo. The Italians later developed the design into their Archimedes-class submarines.

ARA Santa Fe (S1) was the class leader followed by ARA Santiago del Estero (S2) and then ARA Salta (S3), all completed by early 1933, all named after Argentine provinces, a tradition in the Armada. After shakedown in the Med with Italian-trained crews and a short work-up cruise to the Canary Islands, they were on their way to Argentina.

Buenos Aires Argentine Italian subs Santa Fe, Santiago del Estero and Salta 7 April 1933

Inspected by national leaders including President Agustín Pedro Justo upon their arrival at their new homeland, they were given their naval ensigns in October 1933, scarcely six years after they were ordered.

Argentine submarine ARA Santa Fé (S-1) alongside battleship ARA Rivadavia and two Almirante Brown-class heavy cruisers, Puerto Belgrano Naval Base, 1937

The submarines were tended by the old (Italian-made) protected cruiser ARA General Belgrano until the latter was stricken in 1947, and then her place was taken by the coastal battleship ARA Independencia.

Argentine Santa Fe class submarines, Mar del Plata, circa 1947. Submarinos Tarantinos with coastal battleship ARA Independencia

Argentinian Cavallini class Submarines S-1 ‘Santa-Fe’, S-3 ‘Salta’, and S-2 ‘Santiago del Estero’ are seen here moored together at Mara del Plata with the Mothership Belgrano in the background.

Argentine Tarantino (Sumergible) Salta ,sala de Torpedos

Argentine Tarantino-Type Submarine Salta, in Mar del Plata

Operating from their base at Mar del Plata, the class would train and exercise regularly, and stand to (uneventful) service in WWII to protect Argentina’s neutrality and later (on paper) join the effort against Germany after the country declared war on 27 March 1945.

Argentine submarine SANTA FE (S-1) underway. She was the class leader of the Tarantinos 1933-1956

Famously, the last two German U-boats to surrender, U-530 and U-977, did so to Argentine military forces on 10 July and 17 August 1945 at Mar del Plata, respectively, and were briefly in the custody of the country’s submarine flotilla until transferred to the U.S. Navy.

U-977 lies in Mar del Plata, Argentina; rusty and weather-beaten after 108 days at sea – Photograph courtesy of Carlos J. Mey – Administrator of the Historia y Arqueologia Marítima website http://www.histarmar.com.ar/ via U-boat Archive

Post-war service continued with more of the same and the Santa Fe-class subs, growing long in the teeth and being hard to repair due to their 1920s Italian parts, often made by companies no longer in business after 1945, meant their timeline was limited. Santa Fe was stricken in Sept. 1956, followed by Santiago del Estero in April 1959.

Salta would outlast them all, making her 1,000th dive in 1960 before striking on 3 August. The last of the Tarantinos was sold for scrap the following April. Salta‘s flag, as well as several artifacts from her days in the Armada, are on display at the Museo de la Fuerza de Submarinos in Mar del Plata but that is not the end of her legacy.

On 1 April 1960, the US and Argentine Navy signed an agreement to transfer two Balao-class submarines, USS Macabi (SS-375) and USS Lamprey (SS-372) who went on to be renamed ARA Santa Fe (S-11) and ARA Santiago del Estero (S-12), respectively, and were manned in large part by veteran submariners who cut their teeth on the Italian-built boats. Serving until 1971, they were in turn replaced by two other GUPPY-modified Balaos, USS Chivo (SS-341) and USS Catfish (SS-339) who served as (wait for it) ARA Santiago del Estero (S-22) and ARA Santa Fe (S-21). The latter, a Warship Wednesday Alumni, had somewhat spectacularly bad luck in the Falklands, becoming the first submarine taken out of service by a helicopter-fired missile.

Speaking of the Falklands, in 1971, Argentina ordered a pair of new Type 209/1200 submarines from Germany, named ARA Salta (S-31) and ARA San Luis (S-32), the latter was more or less active in the Falklands but faced the double-edged sword of not being sunk although an entire British task force (including modern SSNs) were looking for her but, in turn, not being able to make a hit with her malfunctioning torpedoes.

ARA Salta S31, a Type 209 SSK now some 45 years young and still on active duty

Salta is still on active duty although San Luis has since been decommissioned. With the recent loss of San Juan, Salta, and one remaining TR-1700 type U-boat, ARA Santa Cruz (S-41), are the only operational Argentine subs.

Argentine submarine classes in a nutshell from 1933 to the current. Between the 11 boats, only six names were used.

For more information on the boat and her class, see the dedicated memorial group for them at Los Tarantinos Argentina 1933 -1960 (Historia de submarinos) and the articles on the class at ElSnorkel (Spanish) and Histarmar.

Specs:

USN Submarine Sighting Guide ONI 31-2A June 1958 with Salta compared when she was likely one of the last 1920s-ordered submarines on active duty anywhere

Displacement: 755 tons (1155 submerged)
Length: 227 (oa) ft.
Beam: 21.91 ft.
Draft: 16.56 ft.
Diving depth: 80m operational
Engines: 2 Tosi diesels, 3,000hp. One electric motor, 1,043kW
Speed: 17.5 knots on the surface, 9 submerged
Range: 7,100nm at 8 knots surfaced on 90 tons of fuel oil, 80nm at 4kts submerged
Crew: 40
Armament:
1x 4″/40 Odero-Terni deck gun
2x machine guns
8x 21-inch torpedo tubes (4 forward, 4 aft)
1x 40mm/60cal Bofors single added in 1944 for WWII 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/membership.htm

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.

With more than 50 years of scholarship, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

PRINT still has its place. If you LOVE warships you should belong.

I’m a member, so should you be!

Warship Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018: The Quilt City Slugger

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Here at LSOZI, we are going to take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1946 time period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018: The Quilt City Slugger

Bain News Service Collection, Library of Congress photo LC-B2-11-14

Here we see the Dubuque-class gunboat USS Paducah (Gunboat No. 18) of the U.S. Navy on a sunny Spring day, 28 May 1912, while assigned to the Caribbean Squadron. This humble 200-feet of rock and roll served Uncle in both World Wars and kept on chugging post-1945.

Designed at the turn of the century as a slow (12 knot) but decently-armed (2 4-inch, 4 6-pounders, 2 1-pounders) steel-hulled gunboat capable of floating in two fathoms of brackish water, the Dubuque-class gunboats were both built at the Gas Engine and Power Co. and Charles L. Seabury Co., Morris Heights, N.Y.

Both class leader Dubuque and sister Paducah were the first U.S. Navy warships named after those mid-sized river cities, which seems appropriate as the ships themselves could be used in rivers, bays, and lakes otherwise off-limits to larger men-of-war of the day. Still, they were handsome ships with a pair of tall stacks, twin masts, and a raked bow, and fast enough for what they were intended for.

With their armament pumped up while under construction from a pair of 4″/40cals as designed to a full set of six of these guns (rivalling light cruisers of the day) and augmented by a Colt M1895 Potato-Digger machine gun for landing duties, they were well-suited to wave the flag in far-off climes on the cheap and patrol out-of-the-way backwater ports in Latin America, West Africa, the Pacific and the Caribbean.

Yes, they were the Littoral Combat Ships of 1905!

USS DUBUQUE (PG-17). NH 54576

Commissioned 2 September 1905, Paducah was soon dispatched to the Caribbean Squadron “to protect American lives and interests through patrols and port calls to the Caribbean and Central and South American cities.”

Patrolling Mexican waters in the aftermath of the Vera Cruz incident through the summer of 1914, she then returned to her Caribbean operations, performing surveys from time to time.

At the Portsmouth Navy Yard, New Hampshire, prior to World War I. NH 42990

Group portrait of ship’s baseball team, prior to World War I. Description: Courtesy of Mr. Jacoby. Catalog #: NH 42993

In dry dock at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, New Hampshire, prior to World War I. Description: Courtesy of Mr. Jacoby. Catalog #: NH 42991

In dry dock at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, New Hampshire, prior to World War I. Gunboat astern is either MARIETTA or WHEELING. Description: Courtesy of Mr. Jacoby. Catalog #: NH 42992

In dry dock at the Portsmouth Navy Yard New Hampshire, September 1916. On left is USS EAGLE, 1898-1920. Description: Courtesy of John G. Krieger, 1967 Catalog #: NH 43475

When the U.S. entered WWI in 1917, Paducah was tapped to perform overseas escort and coastal patrol duties in Europe, reaching Gibraltar 27 October. Based from there, the plucky gunboat escorted convoys to North Africa, Italy, the Azores, and Madeira.

She logged an attack on an unidentified U-boat 9 September 1918 after it had sunk one of her convoys, and was credited with possibly damaging the submarine, although this was not confirmed by post-war audits. Her sister Dubuque spent the Great War investigating isolated harbors and inlets in the Caribbean and on the coasts of Venezuela and Colombia to prevent their use by German submarines, an ideal tasking for such a vessel.

After post-WWI survey duty in the Caribbean, Paducah was re-engined with twin 623.5ihp vertical triple-expansion engines, and her armament reduced. She then transferred to Duluth, Minn in May 1922, to serve as a training ship for Naval Reserve forces in the 9th District. Sister Dubuque likewise pulled the same service, taking Reservists on cruises from her home port of Detroit into Lakes Superior and Michigan every summer, and icing in for the winter. Good duty if you can get it.

Photographed during the 1930s, while serving as a training ship for Naval Reserves on the Great Lakes. NH 76516

When WWII came, both Paducah and her sister returned to the East Coast in early 1941, and, based at Little Creek, Va. throughout the conflict, trained Armed Guard gunners in Chesapeake Bay for details on merchant vessels. Some 144,970 Armed Guards served during the war, trained at three bases, with over 1,800 killed or missing in the conflict. Witnessing a staggering 1,966 air attacks and 1,024 submarine attacks, 467 guard crews participated in destroying enemy planes in addition to engaging surface raiders and submarines.

USS Dubuque, 12 December 1941 Norfolk, VA Photo caption: “Looking down from the crow’s nest toward the bow of the U.S.S. Dubuque, which is now being used to train gun crews for U.S. Armed Merchant ships. In the foreground, is a rangefinder, while crews move about two slim, deadly looking guns similar to those being used on merchantmen.” International News Sound photo via Navsource http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/09017.htm

Decommissioning 7 September 1945, both transferred to the Maritime Commission 19 December 1946 and Paducah was sold the same day to one Maria Angelo, Miami, Fla. Then came a second career for Paducah as Dubuque was sent to the breakers.

Purchased for a song by the Israeli group Haganah and renamed Geulah (Hebrew: Redemption) a scratch crew of mostly-American volunteers sailed her first to France and then Bulgaria, taking aboard an amazing 2,644 Ma’apilim refugees for passage to Palestine through the British blockade.

Fitting out as a Palestine immigrant blockade runner, probably at a Florida port on 5 March 1947. She was renamed GEULAH for that role. Courtesy of Paul H. Silverstone, 1983 Catalog #: NH 94973

The British trailed her off Palestine and raided the vessel in Haifa harbor, impounding the ship among others used by the Israelis until the new government formed. (See fellow Warship Wednesday alumni Gresham).

SS GEULAH, ex-USS PADUCAH (PG-18) Arriving off Palestine with Jewish immigrants on 2 October 1947, being intercepted by HMS Mermaid. Courtesy of Paul H. Silverstone, 1983 Catalog #: NH 94972

Geulah being boarded by British troops after she had been towed into the port of Haifa, during the night of 2 October 1947. Photo from “The Jews’ Secret Fleet” by Murray S. Greenfield and Joseph M. Hochstein, Gefen Publishing House, Jerusalem, and New York Via Navsource http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/09018.htm

Later the Israeli Navy was able to reclaim Paducah/Geulah in 1948 after independence, but following inspection, the desperate organization realized they were not that desperate, and, after a brief stint as a tramp steamer, sold her for scrap in Naples in 1951.

The only other Paducah commissioned in the Navy was the 109-foot large harbor tug, YTB-758. Built at the Southern Shipbuilding Corp., Slidell, La., she joined the fleet in 1961 and was decommissioned 1970. Struck from the Naval Register, 25 June 1999, she is in commercial service today in Connecticut as Patricia Ann, berthed at New London.

The large harbor tug USS PADUCAH (YTB-758) nudges the attack carrier USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CVA-67) toward pier 12, Naval Operating Base, Norfolk, Virginia. Catalog #: K-61228 National Archive. Photo by JOI TOM Walton Wed, Oct 30, 1968

The silver punch bowl from the old gunboat Paducah, donated to the Quilt City in 1946 by the Navy, is on display at the city’s Market House Museum.

Specs:

USS DUBUQUE (PG-17) and USS PADUCAH (PG-18) Drawing by F. Muller, circa 1902 NH 54575

Displacement 1,237 t.
Length 200′ 5
Length between perpendiculars 174′
Beam 35′
Draft 12′ 3″
Propulsion: Two 235psi Babcock and Wilcox boilers, two 500ihp Gas Engine Power Co. vertical triple-expansion engines, two shafts, 200 tons coal
1921 – Two 630ihp vertical triple-expansion engines.
Speed 12 kts, as designed
1921 – 12.9 kts.
Complement 162, as designed
1914 – 172
1921 – 161
Armament:
(1905)
Six 4″ (102/40) Mk VII mounts (replaced by newer 4″/50s in 1911)
Four Driggs-Schroeder Mk II 57mm 6-pounders
Two 1-pounders
One .30-06 cal. Colt machine gun
(1921) Four 4″/50 rapid fire mounts and one 3″/23 mount
(1940)
One 5″/38 dual-purpose mount
Two 4″/50 gun mounts
One 3″/50 dual-purpose mount

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Warship Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2018: The first steamer-on-steamer scrap

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Here at LSOZI, we are going to take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1946 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, Nov. 7, 2018: The first steamer-on-steamer scrap

“Battle of the steam-frigate Vladimir with the Turkish steam frigate Pervaz-i Bahri on November 5, 1853, by Alexey Petrovich Bogolyubov. 1850s Canvas, oil. via wiki commons.

Here we see the British-built steam frigate Vladimir of the Russian Imperial Navy who, 165 years ago this week, won the first naval battle between two steamships.

While steam-powered warships started to appear in numbers on all sides during the Crimean War and then became standard in the U.S. Civil War, they had an earlier start when the floating steam-powered battery Demologos was built in the U.S. during the War of 1812 to defend New York City. The Royal Navy commissioned the early paddle sloop HMS Medea in 1833. Not to be outdone, the Tsar ordered the 28-gun paddle frigate Bogatyr in 1836 (predating the U.S. Navy’s own inaugural paddle gunboat USS Fulton by a year) and over the next 20 years Russia picked up almost two dozen more of these early steamships before moving on to screw-driven vessels.

Steam frigate Bogatyr by Russian maritime artist Vladimir Emyshev

Paddle frigate Gremyashchy built in 1849-1851 by Russian shipbuilder Ivan Afanasyevich Amosov at the Okhta shipyard

One of these was Vladimir, ordered from the private shipyard of Ditchburn & Mare’s, Blackwall, after a design of Mr. Burry & Co, Liverpool.

Some 179-feet long at the waterline, she was an iron-hulled paddle frigate capable of making 10.5-knots on her Rennie of London 1,200 ihp steam engine by design. She made a trials voyage from Plymouth covering 154 miles in just 13 hours, at a sustained rate of 11.75-knots, belching smoke from her twin stacks. It was all pretty impressive for the era.

Paddle frigate Vladimir by naval artist A.N. Ivanov

In fact, she was handier than some of the British Admiralty-built vessels in the RN, and at a cheaper price– a fact not lost on the Mechanic’s Magazine of 1848.

The 758-ton vessel mounted a 9.65-inch shell gun as well as four 24-pounder gunnades, although this was later upped to 13 guns including two 10-inch shell guns, three 68-pounders, six 24-pounders and a pair of 18-pound chase guns.

Sailing for the Russian Black Sea Fleet in 1848, the Vladimir became the flagship of VADM Vladimir Kornilov and, by 1853, the country was at war with their traditional enemy in the area, Turkey.

With LCDR Grigory Butakov in command of the Russian paddle frigate, she met the 10-gun Turko-Egyptian armed steamer Pervaz-i Bahri (Lord of the Seas) on 5 November. Spotting her around 8 in the morning at a distance, Butakov laid on the coal and closed by 10 a.m.

Butakov soon assessed that the Turk had no stern-firing guns and, after delivering an initial salvo broadside, moved to that exposed quarter. With her shell guns firing over the bowsprit, Vladimir soon disabled the steering of the enemy steamer, destroyed her observation deck, knocked away her stack, and then, closing with the wounded ship, started to rake her decks with canister.

The slaughter was kept up for two hours.

Her skipper killed along with 58 of her crew, Pervaz-i Bahri struck her colors by 1 p.m. and was taken as a prize by a Russian boarding party who renamed her Kornilov in honor of their admiral.

Butakov lost just two men in the action and was quickly promoted to Captain 2nd Rank, and knighted in the Order of St. George.

As for Vladimir, the Crimean War was her downfall, being trapped in the harbor at the siege of Sevastopol. Butakov did, however, according to Russian sources, try out a new tactic then of taking on ballast to one side, increasing the elevation of his guns to extend the range to hit British and French infantry outside of the besieged city.

As the Allies moved in, the steamer was scuttled 30 August 1855.

The destruction of Vladimir

Adm. Kornilov had already been killed on Malakhov Hill the previous October during the first bombardment of the city by Anglo-French troops.

Vladimir‘s cannons were later salvaged by divers and she was raised after the war in 1860 by an American firm, though found to be too damaged to repair and turned into a floating workshop for the naval base. In the end, she was sunk as a target ship for good in 1891.

As for Butakov, he later rose to admiral in 1878.

Butakov

A number of flags from the ship as well as caps and epaulets from Butakov and Kornilov’s telescope are maintained in the Central Naval Museum in St. Petersburg. It seems the Communists couldn’t bring themselves to get rid of them post-1917.

The battle, vessel, and her skipper have been commemorated in a series of models, stamps, and paintings.

Specs:

Displacement: 758-tons
Length: 200 ft oal, 179 wl
Beam: 35.9 ft.
Draft: 14.5 ft.
Machinery: Rennie, London four-boiler steam plant, 1,200 ihp, twin paddlewheels
Speed: 10.5 kts, 2,000-mile range at 8
Crew: 150
Armament:
(Designed)
9.65-inch shell gun
4x 24-pounder gunnades,
(1853)
2x 10-inch shell guns,
3x 68-pounders,
6x 24-pounders
2×18-pound chase guns.

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

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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.

With more than 50 years of scholarship, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

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Warship Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018: The surprisingly long-lasting ghosts of the fleet

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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, Oct. 31, 2018: The surprisingly long-lasting ghosts of the fleet

USS Specter’s hull number blotted out for wartime security via Navsource

With it being Halloween today, I couldn’t resist taking a stab at a spooktastic WW. While the tale of the USS Water Witch is a long and interesting one, I think I’ve done a lot of Civil War stuff lately and I have a big post (spoiler) coming up on the USS Cairo, so I skipped ahead to the 20th Century. Although the U.S. Navy has, by and large, stuck to names associated with naval heroes, states, cities, battles, and lawmakers, Interestingly enough, a pair of WWII minesweepers made it into service with the names USS Phantom and USS Specter, and both have interesting backstories.

So how could I resist?

In early 1941, the Navy set its sights on a hybrid class of new steel-hulled oceangoing sweepers built with lessons learned from their previous designs, that of a 180-foot, 750-ton vessel that could both clear mines and, by nature of their forward and aft 3″/50 guns, provide a modicum of escort support. Since they could float in 9’9″ of water, they were deemed coastal minesweepers at first.

Preliminary design plan, probably prepared during consideration of what became the Admirable (AM-136) class. This drawing, dated 2 May 1941, is for a 750-ton (full load displacement) vessel with a length of 180 feet. The scale of the original drawing is 1/8″ = 1′. The original plan is in the 1939-1944 “Spring Styles Book” held by the Naval Historical Center U.S. Navy photo S-511-34

First of the class of what would eventually turn into orders for 147 ships (of which 123 were completed) was USS Admirable laid down as AMc-113, 8 April 1942 in Tampa, Florida.

The twin subjects of our tale today: Phantom (AM-273) was laid down by the Gulf Shipbuilding Co., Chickasaw, Ala., and commissioned 17 May 1944; while Specter (AM-306)–which was ironically supposed to be named “Spector”– was laid down by Associated Shipbuilders, Seattle, Wash. and commissioned on 30 August 1944. Phantom spent the rest of 1944 doing coastal patrol off the East Coast while Specter soon set off for the Pacific as the war.

By 1945, both were active in the West Pac, with Phantom picking up three battle stars while Specter won four, seeing service off Okinawa, Iwo Jima, Saipan, and the Japanese Home Islands.

Both were busy clearing minefields, patrolling, and performing escort duty, looking for submarines, suicide boats and Japanese kamikaze (Specter shot down one off le Shima on 25 May). Specter notably swept mines post-war at Nagasaki, Sasebo, Bungo Suido, and Tsushima while Phantom did the same off Okinawa and the China coast, remaining hard at work into the next year.

USS NIMBLE (AM-266) Caption: End ship in a nest of nine minesweepers and LCIS, at San Diego, California, circa 1945-46. Other ships in nest include PIVOT (AM-276), PHANTOM (AM-273), LCI-633. Description: Courtesy of Ted Stone 1979. Catalog #: NH 89284

The mines thinning, Phantom was decommissioned 10 October 1946 at Subic Bay while Specter was sent stateside, joining the mothball fleet at Orange, Texas after decommissioning 26 February 1947.

In the interest of propping up Chiang Kai-shek and his flagging KMT– as well as drawing down surplus– Phantom was stricken and transferred to the Nationalist Chinese Navy 15 June 1948. There, she served briefly as ROCS Yung Ming until scrapped in 1951.

As for Specter, she remained at Orange where she was duly redesignated from AM-306 to Fleet Minesweeper (Steel Hull). MSF-306, on 7 February 1955 while in reserve.

On 1 July 1972, after 26 years gathering red rust in Texas, she was struck and transferred the next year to the Armada de México to join a gaggle of other sisters used as patrol boats in an effort to keep out the “red menace” from Cuba. She became first ARM DM-04 and was later renamed ARM General Manuel E. Rincón (C-52).

For reference, the first of a score of Admirables to go south of the border was ex-USS Jubilant (AM/MSF-255)

Photo caption: National Defense Reserve Fleet, Orange, Texas (6 Dec 1962) – The former Admirable-Class Minesweeper USS Jubilant (AM 255) is being transferred to the Mexican Navy as DM-01 (D 1). She is the first five out of twenty U.S. Navy minesweepers being sold to Mexico from the World War II “mothball fleet.” U.S. Navy Commander A.F. Holzapfel said the vessels are destined for Mexico’s Yucatan patrol area to guard against Cuban infiltration. She will be renamed and reclassified as the ARM Riva Palacio (C 50) United Press International photo

The 20 Mexican Admirables, if you are curious:

ARM DM-01 (ex USS Jubilant MSF 255) (renamed General Vicente Riva Palacio C -50)
ARM DM-02 (ex USS Hilarity MSF 241)
ARM DM-03 (ex USS Execute MSF-232) (renamed ARM General Juan N. Méndez C-51).
ARM DM-04 (ex USS Facility MSF 233).
ARM DM-04 (ex USS Specter MSF 306) (renamed ARM General Manuel E. Rincón C-52), transferred in 1973 and also first registered as ARM DM-04.
ARM DM-05 (ex USS Scuffle MSF 298) (renamed ARM General Felipe Xicotencatl C-53).
ARM DM-06 (ex USS Eager MSF 224).
ARM DM-07 (ex USS Recruit MSF 285).
ARM DM-08 (ex USS Success MSF 310).
ARM DM-09 (ex USS Scout MSF-296).
ARM DM-10 (ex USS Instill MSF 252).
ARM DM-11 (ex USS Device MSF 220) (renamed E-1) (renamed at the end ARM Cadet Agustín Melgar C-54).
ARM DM-12 (ex USS Ransom MSF 283) (renamed ARM Lieutenant Juan de la Barrera C-55).
ARM DM-13 (ex USS Knave MSF 256) (renamed ARM Cadet Juan Escutia C-56).
ARM DM-14 (ex USS Rebel MSF 284) (renamed ARM Cadet Fernando Montes de Oca (C-57)
ARM DM-15 (ex USS Crag MSF 214)
ARM DM-16 (ex USS Dour MSF 223) ) (apparently re-registered E-6)
ARM DM-17 (ex USS Diploma MSF 221) (renamed ARM Cadet Francisco Márquez (C-59)
ARM DM-18 (ex USS Invade MSF 254) (renamed ARM General Ignacio Zaragoza C-60)
ARM DM-19 (ex USS Intrigue MSF 253) (renamed ARM Vicente Suárez C-61)
ARM DM-20 (ex USS Harlequin MSF 365) (converted to ARM Oceanographic, research H-02, later renamed ARM General Pedro María Anaya A-08 and finally ARM Aldebaran BE-02)

ARM DM-17 (ex USS Diploma MSF 221) 20 November 1988, Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche, Mexico, via Navsource

Most of the class would be stricken in Mexican service by the mid-1980s, with the exception of the 11 above that were redesignated corvettes (hence the C-designation) and continued to serve as offshore patrol craft for another decade or more. Specter/DM-04/Rincón survived until 2001.

The last Admirable in Mexican service, ex-USS Harlequin (AM 365)/Oceanográfico/Anaya/Aldebaran was still operational until 2007 when she was sunk as a reef.

The 11 old C-designated Admirables would be replaced in their patrol role by Auk-class minesweepers converted in the 1990s to install a helicopter pad for a German-made MBB BO 105CB helicopter. They looked wacky. Almost like a minesweeper dressed up as a frigate for Halloween.

Former AUK class minesweeper in Mexican navy note helicopter pad for BO105. Photo by Armada de Mexico (SEMAR)

Former AUK class minesweeper in Mexican navy note helicopter pad for BO105. Photo by Armada de Mexico (SEMAR)

These, in turn, were all replaced in by the 2000s by the domestically-built Holzinger-, Durango-, and Oaxaca-class offshore patrol vessels, 1,500-ton ships of a much more modern design.

the Admirable-class sweepers have been a very popular model over the years:

lindberg-1-130-uss-sentry-am-299-admirable-class-wwii-us-navy-minesweeper

As for Phantom/Specter’s Admirable-class sisters, 24 were given to the Soviets in 1945 and never returned, others remained in use by the Navy through the Korean War era, and some, along with their PCE-gunboat sisters, were later passed on to the South Korea, the Republic of Vietnam, and the Dominican, Myanmar, and Philippine navies. The latter still uses a few, now with 80 years on their hulls.

Since 1993, the only Admirable-class vessel left above water in the U.S. is USS Hazard (AM-240).

Now a National Historic Landmark, she was retired in 1971 and, put up for sale on the cheap:

1971-newspaper-ad-for-the-disposal-of-uss-hazard-msf-240-an-admirable-class-minesweeper-of-the-wwii-us-navy

Hazard was installed on dry land at Freedom Park on the Missouri River waterfront in East Omaha where she is open to the public.

Please visit her, see if she has any treats.

hazard-buried-in-freedom-park

According to the NPS:

The ship was transferred to Omaha with all of her spare parts and equipment intact. The only equipment missing from USS Hazard is the minesweeping cable. All equipment (radio, engines, ovens, electrical systems, plumbing) is fully operational. USS Hazard still retains its original dishes, kitchen utensils, and stationery. USS Hazard is one of the best preserved and intact warships remaining from World War II. USS Hazard is a virtual time capsule dating from 1945.

Specs:

Image by shipbucket

Image by shipbucket

Displacement: 945 t (fl)
Length: 184 ft. 6 in (56.24 m)
Beam: 33 ft. (10 m)
Draft: 9 ft. 9 in (2.97 m)
Propulsion:
2 × Cooper Bessemer GSB-8 diesel engines
National Supply Co. single reduction gear
2 shafts
Speed: 14.8 knots
Complement: 104
Armament:
1 × 3″/50 caliber gun
1 × twin Bofors 40 mm guns
6 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannons
1 × Hedgehog anti-submarine mortar
4 × Depth charge projectors (K-guns)
2 × Depth charge tracks

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

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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.

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Warship Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2018: One of the most unsung Boxers in the ring

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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, Oct. 24, 2018: One of the most unsung Boxers in the ring

NH 85847

Here we see a 1908 postcard photo of brigantine-rigged training ship USS Boxer. At least the 4th in a long line of vessels in the U.S. Navy to carry the name and among the most under-recognized, which is odd because she had a very long and interesting career path that saw her on government service during both World Wars.

Constructed at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in 1904 at a time when the Navy had for a generation been busy constructing steel and steam warships with rifled modern breechloading naval guns, Boxer was something of a throwback to an earlier time. Some 125-feet long with a displacement of around 350-tons, she was steel-hulled but, in something not often seen in the fleet in a purpose-ordered navy ship since the 1840s, was sail-powered only as she was meant to provide a floating school for the instruction of landsmen and apprentices at Naval Training Station, Newport.

The first Boxer in the Navy was technically His Majesty’s Brig Boxer, of 14 guns, captured in a storied close-combat naval battle during the War of 1812 with the USS Enterprise (12 guns) off Portland, Maine, on 5 September 1813 that left the RN ship “a complete wreck, all of her braces and rigging shot away, her main topmast and topgallant mast hanging over the side, fore and main masts virtually gone, three feet of water in her hold and no surgeon to tend to her wounded.”

On 5 September 1813, the schooner Enterprise, commanded by Lieutenant William Burrows, captured the brig HMS Boxer off Portland, Maine in a twenty-minute action that saw both commanding officers die in battle. Enterprise’s second in command, Lieutenant Edward R. McCall then took Boxer to Portland, Maine. USS Enterprise versus HMS Boxer in action off the coast of Maine. Artist, Dwight Shepler. Enterprise was commanded by Lt William Burrows. NHHC Photograph Collection, NH 47013-KN (Color).

The prize was later sold in New England but the action was so fierce that a 14-gun brig constructed by C. and D. Churchill of Middletown, Conn. was commissioned as the USS Boxer in 1815. Finishing the war, she went to fight pirates in the Gulf of Mexico (Jean Lafitte, anyone) but was lost at sea off Belize in 1817. The 2nd and 3rd Boxers under the Navy Jack were a 10-gun schooner that served in the West Indies and African squadrons in the 1830s and 40s and a captured blockade runner flipped into federal service during the Civil War then disposed of in 1868.

A beautiful ship, the Boxer at the center of our tale was commissioned 11 May 1905 and sailed for Newport where she spent the next seven years on Narragansett Bay as relief for the old stationary training ship USS Constellation in her mission of schooling the bluejackets that the U.S. Navy would start the Great War with.

Naval Training Station, Newport, R. I. USS CONSTELLATION, USS BOXER and ferry boat INCA NH 116964

USS Boxer training brigantine, photo taken in May 1905. NHC 5918

Boxer Shown in May 1905. NH 2905

On 20 October 1912, she reported for duty at Annapolis, Md., to serve as a training vessel for Naval Academy midshipmen, a task she would complete in June 1914 that saw her take mids on a number of cruises in the West Indies that included at least one stop in the Panama Canal Zone.

Chopping back to Naval Training Station Newport, she would continue her duties in educating boots until she was declared surplus after just 15 years with the fleet.

On 14 May 1920, she was transferred to the Department of the Interior for use by the Bureau of Education in Alaska and would start a new chapter in her life. With a capacity of 500 tons, she would be used annually to carry supplies, equipment, teachers, and medical personnel to stations and distribution points along the coast of Alaska, to as far north as Point Barrow. During seasons when northern navigation was closed, Boxer served as a floating school to train local Alaskans in operating and maintaining the vessel and its equipment– what we would call STEM today.

U.S. Bureau of Education ship Boxer smothered in cargo

Equipped with an auxiliary 450 hp. diesel engine while keeping her sail rig, she was to make two (sometimes three) trips per season from Seattle to Alaska carrying supplies and educators to establish and maintain schools and hospitals in the growing but isolated land.

Put into service as the BIA Motor Vessel Boxer, she was often still just referred to as USS Boxer in correspondence.

While in Navy service her regular crew amounted to 64 but while working for Ed it was decreased to a dozen officers and men.


By 1924-25, she carried 18 crew, not counting passengers and medical staff, as noted by the book “Arctic Mood” by Eva Alvey Richards. Many of which were locally recruited.

S. T. L. Whitlam, Captain
O. J. Hansen, First Officer. (’24)
Arthur Friend, First Officer. (’25)
Elsworth Bush, Second Officer
Herman Selwick, Chief Engineer
Emil Holland, Second Engineer
Billy Woodruth (Eskimo), Asst. Engineer
Abraham McGamet (Eskimo), Asst. Engineer
Duff Barney, Steward (’24)
J. S. Clark, Steward (’25)
Alphonso Manuel, Asst. Steward
Carl Madsen (Eskimo), Asst. Steward
Harry Anakok (Eskimo), Asst. Steward

Eskimo Sailors and Deck Hands:
Ray Barster—from Barrow, Alaska.
George Porter—from Wainwright, Alaska.
Robert James—from Wainwright, Alaska.
Isaac Washington—from Kotzebue, Alaska.
Jack Jones—from Noatak, Alaska.
Dwight Tivick—from Wales, Alaska.
Roy Coppock—from Noatak, Alaska.
Sweeny Uluk—from St. Lawrence Island, Alaska.

During the summer months, doctors and nurses aboard Boxer held clinics wherever the ship anchored. In 1925, the staff treated 500 children in the region and noted the following issues:

Her schedule the first year in service shows how busy this work was:

By 1927, her efforts helped support 93 schools attended by 3,660 pupils.

As noted by the report of the Commissioner of Education to Congress:

“To may settlements, the annual visit of the Boxer furnishes their only means of communication with the rest of the world. Its passengers are the teachers, doctors, and nurses going to or returning from their voluntary exile. Its cargo includes lumber and hardware for use in constructing school buildings at places hitherto unreached by the bureau, the coal and food supplies required for a year and a year’s supply of books, furniture and equipment needed by the schools.”

Boxer, 1931

View of the USMS Boxer moored in a harbor in 1928.

Boxer had some issues in the poorly-charted territory and ran aground at least three times with the most serious of these being on White Cliff Island Reef in British Columbia, although she was no worse for wear. In turn, she rescued the crew of the lost schooner Arctic in August 1924 after that vessel was crushed in the ice just south of Point Barrow and later did the same that season for the crew of the smashed Canadian coaster Lady Kindersley.

Boxer high and dry near Ugashik Bay in 1935.

Boxer getting fresh water near Wainright 1931 UAA-hmc-0731-141

Remaining in active service with BIA through 1937, she also transported reindeer from one place to another (as well as reindeer meat and hides to market in Seattle obo small town vendors), and her crew installed a wireless station at the village of Savoonga on Saint Lawrence Island.

It was that year that her skipper reported something strange:

“The weather bureau here [Seattle] said today [November 3) it received a radiogram from the Bureau of Education ship Boxer describing a violent volcanic eruption on Yunaska Island in the Aleutian chain west of Unalaska. The Boxer said it passed 15 miles northwest of Yunaska and that the island was in flames from the eruption. The disturbance seemed to be the most violent in the center, diminishing on the east and west ends.”

A UP article published in the Nevada State Journal states that Isak Lystad, captain of the Boxer, reported the eruption sighted on November 2, and that “explosions could be heard from hundreds of miles” and that “smoke, fire, and ashes were ballooned thousands of feet into the air.”

Largely sidelined by 1938, (replaced by the purpose-built and much larger wooden-hulled North Star) Boxer was snatched up along with 16 other vessels in 1941 by the Army for use in the World War II Alaska Supply Service, shipping supplies up from the lower 48 to the territory that was then under threat from the Japanese.

Ex-USS Boxer in Army service as a barge at Seattle, WA. Boxer apparently lost her mainmast and spars before the Army acquired her, leaving little evidence of the handsome brigantine she once was. Photo Corps of Engineers, Seattle District.
Photos and text from “U.S. Army Ships and Watercraft of World War II” by David H. Grover via Navsource

All 16 of these vessels were liquidated by the Army after the war, leaving Boxer‘s ultimate fate unknown.

Little remains of the vessel today other than her log books (both Navy 1905-1920 and BIA 1922-1937) in the National Archives

Boxer, of course, has been remembered in two much more high-profile follow-on vessels, the Essex-class fleet carrier USS Boxer (CV-21), which joined the fleet in 1945 and remained in service until 1969:

NH 97282. USS Boxer (CV-21) steams past the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco Bay as she returned from her first Korean War deployment, November 1950 flew 59,000 sorties in Korea

And the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD-4), which has been on active service since 1995 and is going strong.

Specs:
Displacement (tons): 346
Length: 125.3 feet oa, 108.0 feet, wl
Beam: 29.75-feet
Draft: 9.2-feet mean, 16.7-feet full load
Rig: Sail, hermaphrodite brig rig as constructed
Propulsion (HP): 450 hp., diesel after 1922
Complement: 4 officers, 64 men. Could carry as many as 100 cadets
Armament: none designed, later mounted 4-6pdrs after 1910 (removed 1920)

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/membership.htm

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.

With more than 50 years of scholarship, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

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Warship Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018: The lost Governor and the 142

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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, Oct. 17, 2018: The lost Governor and the 142

Note: Normally, on WSW we cover more legit steel “warships,” and, while today’s entry is a wooden commercial vessel that only ever picked up an engine late in life, she did play an important part in WWII, and her current story is timely, so bear with me.

(Photo: Chris Eger)

Here we see 66-foot (over the bowsprit) wooden-hulled Gulf Coast-style schooner Governor Stone as I saw her in Ft. Walton in 2011. In another life, she helped train young men to brave German U-Boats and Japanese kamikazes and last week faced off one of the most powerful hurricanes to hit the United States in generations.

The two-masted centerboard schooner was built in 1877 in my hometown of Pascagoula, Mississippi. This sleepy coastal city later produced Ingalls shipyard, which still cranks out vessels of all kinds today. Some 39 feet at the waterline with just a 3.9-foot draft, she was built to fly along the shallows of the Mississippi Sound– which has an average depth of just six feet– as a cargo hauler.

Your typical “Biloxi schooner.”

Her keel was of yellow pine with cypress frames and planks, while her decks and bulwarks were of white pine and juniper.

(Chris Eger)

(Chris Eger)

With a gaff-rigged topmast sail plan, her longleaf yellow pine main towered 52 feet from waterline to topmast truck. Her steering gear, windlass, and other working pieces were and remain cast iron.

Her original 1877 steering gear was still intact into the 2010s, although in a new box (Chris Eger)

Ordered by Pascagoula merchant Charles Anthorn Greiner to haul materials to and from his sawmill on the Pascagoula River to deep water vessels offshore, the vessel was named for his personal friend, Gov. John Marshall Stone. A Civil War colonel, Stone served longer as Governor of the Magnolia State than anyone else- from 1876 to 1882 and again from 1890 to 1896.

However, Greiner soon sold the schooner for $425 to Mulford “Mul” Dorlorn of nearby Dauphin Island, Alabama at the mouth of nearby Mobile Bay who used her to carry freight and as a “buy boat” purchasing oysters from “tongers” in the beds along the Rigolet Islands, the latter a job she held under a series of owners for the next 30 years.

During her “oyster days” (Chris Eger)

In September 1906, she was caught in Bayou Heron, now part of the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, during a fierce hurricane that capsized the schooner and rolled her 300 yards into the marshy estuary.

Recovered and repaired, she went back to work. Picking up a small 16-hp gasoline engine and a small screw in 1923, she was powered for the first time in her then-46 year career, then pressed into service by her owner Thomas Burns as a bootlegger during Prohibition, reportedly making two trips a month for $500 a run bringing in good Cuban rum to a hungry market in Mobile, Biloxi and New Orleans.

By the 1930s, during the Depression, at a time when cheaper catboats and luggers had cornered the local market and the deep port at Gulfport had eliminated the need for offshore lightering, she became a derelict vessel. In 1939, she sank in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

In 1940, she was raised and refitted with a new 50-hp Gray engine and was extensively overhauled by local innkeeper Isaac T. Rhe, who named her Queen of the Fleet and used her as a day tripper for guests at his famous Inn By The Sea beachside resort in Pass Christian. As such, she was given a large deck structure.

(Chris Eger)

Then the war came.

On 15 September 1942, she was purchased for $1 by the US War Shipping Administration and was converted for use as a training vessel by the Merchant Marine Academy, which, the same week, founded two cadet basic schools to educate merchant marine officers in the ongoing conflict. One of the schools was at San Mateo, and he second was at Henderson Point (Rhea’s Inn By The Sea, which had been purchased lock, stock, and barrel by the government) in Pass Christian.

The Inn by the Sea in Pass Christian

She became the training vessel Joshua Humphreys during the war, named after the famous naval architect and constructor of the original “six frigates” of the United States Navy.

(Via the USMM Alumni Association)

According to local historian Dan Ellis:

Cadet training consisted of basic seamanship, ship nomenclature, elementary ship construction and identification of friendly and enemy vessels and aircraft. They were also taught first-aid and safety, abandoning ship procedures, ship handling and navigation maneuvers, and the use of, and marksmanship of, 20mm and .50 caliber guns.

After spending nine months at their academies, the cadets went to sea on merchant ships to finish their education afloat in very real on-the-job-training.

As noted by USMM.org :

Cadets went to sea with their books and were required to write reports upon return, describing enemy craft seen, damage, lifeboat voyages, acts of heroism, etc. In 450 reports filed, cadets described attacks on 250 different ships, of which 220 were sunk.

By the end of the war, the Academy’s three campuses had graduated an impressive 6,634 officers.

In all, some 142 documented U.S. Merchant Marine Cadets were killed during World War II, a fact that makes the current U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at King’s Point the only Federal Academy authorized to carry a Battle Standard.

The Battle Standard bears the number “142” on its field of red, white, and blue. In its center is the eagle of the Academy’s seal in blue and gray, the school colors, and the anchor of the merchant marine in gold. From its top hang the ribbons which represent the various combat zones in which the Academy’s cadet/midshipmen served.

With the end of the war, the cadets at San Mateo were soon transferred to Kings Point in September 1947, and the school closed. Pass Christian, although devastated by a hurricane in September 1947, remained open until 1950 when the government closed it down and the school was closed, sold to the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board as a retreat.

The site is now a condo that borrows Rhea’s resort’s original name.

The USMMA-AA, with support from Seabee Base, Gulfport, established a memorial to the Pass Christian USMM Cadet Corps Basic School in 1979 on what was then still the campus of the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board. Destroyed in 2005, the memorial and an old ketch sailing anchor salvaged in the area by the Seabees were reconstituted 0.6 miles north of the location in 2013.

(Chris Eger)

(Chris Eger)

The bronze plaque, which I touch up from time to time, reads:

These Grounds, From September 16, 1942 to March 21, 1950, Were the Site of the Pass Christian United States Merchant Marine Cadet Corps Basic School. From Here and the Sister School at San Mateo, California, Over 6000 Undergraduates of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York, Went to Sea in War and Peace. To Those Cadets, Who in the Course of Their Training or Subsequent Service, Gave Their Lives for Our Country, This Monument Is Respectfully Dedicated.

Back to the Stone

By the time the USMM Academy left Mississippi, Governor Stone/Queen of the Fleet had been returned to Mr. Rhea in 1947 with a brand-new 110 HP Chrysler Marine engine installed, a bonus!

When he died in 1953, the schooner was subsequently sold to a series of six different owners over the next 15 years and named, in turn, The Pirate Queen, Sea Bob, C’est la Vie, and Sovereign, before ending up with one Mr. John Curry who restored her through the 1970s and 80s and planned to base her in Pascagoula as a floating museum ship with her original name. In the end, she was deeded to the Apalachicola Maritime Institute in 1989, “where she served as a sail trainer for at-risk youth and a charter vessel in conjunction with the museum for 11 years.”

Her National Park Service application to place her on the National Register of Historic Places (#85508) was penned in 1990 by noted maritime historian James P. Delgado of all people, which makes her noteworthy in and of itself. As noted in a 2004 article in The Nautical Archeology Society by Kathryn Sikes:

Only five 2-masted coasting schooners remain within the United States. Of these, only two, Lewis R. French and Stephen Taber (both built in 1871), predate Governor Stone. In addition, Governor Stone is the only surviving 2-masted schooner indigenous to the Gulf of Mexico, and represents Southern contributions to coastwise trade.

In 2010, Governor Stone was acquired by the non-profit Friends of the Governor Stone group who at first displayed her at Ft. Walton, Florida and then, following an extensive restoration in 2013-14 (in Pascagoula!) moved her to Panama City.

At Pascagoula’s Beach Blvd “Point” in 2014 after she was overhauled note Ingalls shipbuilding in the distance (Photo via Mississippi Maritime Museum)

That’s where our current story picks up.

In St. Andrews Marina for Hurricane Michael, she capsized and turned turtle but is still above water to a degree, and the group hopes to salvage her.

Via Friends of Governor Stone

Specs:
Weight:: 14GRT, 12NRT
Length: 63′; 39′ at waterline
Beam: 13’2″
Draft: 3’; loaded 5’; with the centerboard down 9’

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/membership.htm

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.

With more than 50 years of scholarship, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO, has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

PRINT still has its place. If you LOVE warships, you should belong.

I’m a member, so you should be!

Warship Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018: Father goose and his guard fish

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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 their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018: Father goose and his guard fish

National Archives 80-G-13551

Here we see a Japanese merchant steamer wallowing in the Pacific off the Home Islands in September 1942 after taking a torpedo from the subject of our tale today, the Gato-class submarine USS Guardfish (SS-217), whose periscope the image was snapped through. One of the most successful submarines of WWII, she earned 11 battle stars and two Presidential Unit Citations across a full dozen war patrols— and saved a small village worth of Coastwatchers.

One of the 77 Gatos cranked out by four shipyards from 1940 to 1944 for the U.S. Navy, they were impressive 311-foot long fleet boats, diesel-electric submarines capable of extended operations in the far reaches of the Pacific. Able to swim an impressive 11,000 nautical miles on their economical power plant while still having room for 24 (often cranky) torpedoes. A 3-inch deck gun served for surface action in poking holes in vessels deemed not worth a torpedo while a few .50 and .30-cal machine guns provided the illusion of an anti-aircraft armament. A development of the Tambor-class submarines, they were the first fleet boats able to plumb to 300 feet test depth, then the deepest that U.S. Navy submersibles were rated.

Our hero, Guardfish, was the first U.S. Navy ship to carry the name of the “voracious green and silvery fish with elongated pike-like body and long narrow jaws,” as noted by DANFS.

USS Guardfish (SS 217), ship’s insignia probably dates from WWII. NHHC Photograph Collection, NH 67779-KN (Color).

Built by Electric Boat Co. of Groton, Conn., she commissioned 8 May 1942, five months and a day after Pearl Harbor, EB’s 144th submarine for Uncle.

Bow view at rest of the Guardfish (SS-217) at the Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT., 19 April 1942, three weeks before commissioning.

She was the first of the so-called “Mod 1A” Gatos, as described by Floating Dry Dock.

Starting with Guardfish, EB shortened the forward to aft length of the covered navigation bridge on their boats. This change was incorporated into production several months prior to the war starting so it may have been economically driven, rather than by operational feedback from the fleet. Compare the photo below of Guardfish with that of Growler above and the difference becomes readily apparent. Shortening the navigation bridge also eliminated several of the round portholes that were used by the helmsman. Manitowoc incorporated this change in their very first boat, with construction of Peto starting ten weeks after that of Guardfish.

By 22 August, she was in the Pacific and on her first war patrol, the inaugural U.S. submarine to poke around off Honshu in the Japanese Home Islands. In a two-week period, she made 77 contacts, scratched an armed trawlers and at least five Japanese freighters– including three in a single day. Evading escort vessels, Guardfish sank 5,253-ton Kaimei Maru and 1,118-ton Tenyu Maru. The Chita Maru, a 2,376-ton freighter, retreated and anchored in Kinkasan Harbor. In one of the war’s longest torpedo shots, Guardfish sank the Chita Maru from over three nautical miles (7,500 yards) out, which is pretty good for unguided torps. This was the year after serious depth flaws in U.S. torpedoes had finally been proven and properly fixed. Returning to Midway to complete her first war patrol, the exploit earned her first Presidental Unit Citation.

80-G-13547

80-G-13550

80-G-13552

80-G-13553

Her second patrol only yielded one merchant ship while her third, switching to the Bismarck Archipelago on her way to Australia, netted the 1,390-ton Japanese Patrol Boat No.1 and the 1,600-ton destroyer Hakaze in January 1943.

She took a licking on her 3rd patrol when she unsuccessfully attacked a large convoy near Simpson Harbor on the surface but was driven off by concentrated shore fire and escort attacks. Over a two day period from 11-12 February 1943, the Japanese destroyers Makigumo, Hayashio, and Oyashio plastered her with literally every depth charge they had, only stopping their combined attack once they were out of ASW weapons. When Guardfish made Brisbane on the 15th for repairs it was determined she suffered at least 8 direct hits.

It was while operating out of Australia that Guardfish, in the summer of 1943, came to the aid of the Coastwatcher program.

Coastwatchers

A local wireless telegraphist operator operating an AWA 3BZ teleradio at Segi Coastwatchers station, British Solomon Islands. [AWM 306814]

Established to monitor the operations on Australia’s far-flung outer territories as well as in the British-controlled Solomons chain (itself seized from the Germans in WWI), the Royal Australian Navy’s Coastwatcher program proved a godsend to the Allies when these remote atolls and green archipelagos became prime real estate in 1942. In all, some 600 Coastwatchers and their native police and tribal allies provided yeomen work spotting Japanese planes and vessels. Arguably, had it not been for their intelligence gathering ability behind the Japanese lines, the Guadalcanal Campaign would have been a lot harder if not impossible.

As Halsey said later, “The Coastwatchers saved Guadalcanal and Guadalcanal saved the Pacific.”

Bougainville, Solomon Islands. c. 1944-02. Group portrait of Coastwatchers and native police, some of whom are armed with rifles. Fourth back row, left to right: two native policemen; Flight Lieutenant J. A. Corrigan, RAAF; Lieutenant (Lt) J. R. Keenan, RAN; Lt J. H. Mackie, AIF; Captain R. C. Cambridge, AIF; Sergeant (Sgt) G. McPhee, AIF; Corporal (Cpl) N. D. Thompson, AIF; Sgt T. R. Aitkin, AIF; Corporal (Cpl) E. D. Otton, AIF. (Naval Historical Collection) (Formerly Y007) AWM

The best-known Coastwatcher reference in the U.S. is Father Goose, the tale of Walter Ecklund, a boozy American beachcomber played by Cary Grant who is shanghaied into the program and later inherits a group of female students and their French schoolmarm. [Spoiler] Threatened by encroaching Japanese patrols, they are all saved at the last minute by an American submarine (we are getting to that later).

Besides operating the teleradio “tip line” that allowed the Cactus Air Force and Halsey’s South Pacific command to repeatedly jump incoming waves of Japanese aircraft and tin cans of The Tokyo Express coming down The Slot, the Coastwatchers shepherded downed Allied aircrews and shipwreck survivors.

Amazingly, some 165 crew of the St. Louis-class light cruiser USS Helena (CL-50) lost at the Battle of Kula Gulf, 6 July 1943, were rescued and cared for by Coastwatchers Henry Josselyn and Robert Firth along with Methodist Missionary Rev. A.W.E. Silvester and the natives of Vella LaVella until they could be picked up by a fast destroyer convoy under the cover of night.

Lt. (JG) John F. Kennedy, and the survivors of PT-109, sliced in half by a Japanese destroyer, were saved by native Coastwatchers Biaku Gasa, Eroni Kumana and Reginald Evans.

The Coastwatchers also actively fought on occasion, disappearing Japanese patrols that stumbled across them, vowing to kill every man lest they be betrayed, always making sure to bring the captured guns and munitions back.

New Georgia, Solomon Islands. 1943-03. Part of the Coastwatchers arsenal of the United States and captured Japanese weapons held by Captain D.G. Kennedy, British Solomon Islands Protectorate Defence Force at his Segi (Zgj5) Station. The weapons include a quantity of Springfield M1903 Rifles, leaning against the wall, two Japanese Type 92 heavy machine guns (Woodpeckers) on stands, a Browning M1919A4 .30 caliber air-cooled medium machine gun on its tripod and two Browning M1917A1 .30 caliber water-cooled medium machine guns leaning against the wall. (Naval Historical Collection) (Formerly Y082) AWM

A few Japanese were taken alive and, with captured airmen of the Emperor, guarded and shipped out to Australia.

An armed guard of native scouts trained and commanded by Captain D.G. Kennedy escorts a captured Japanese pilot into captivity at the Segi coastwatchers station on New Georgia in March 1943

That’s where PBYs and submarines came in, frequently landing new coast watching teams, as well as evacuating recovered Allied sailors and airmen, and EPOWs.

The ill-fated team of Coastwatchers on the U.S. Submarine DACE, about to be landed at night on the beach near Hollandia, New Guinea. They were ambushed, and all killed shortly after landing. Back Row: Private (Pte) Phil Jeune, Lieutenant (Lt) Ray Webber, Captain G.C. (Blue) Harris, Pte Jack Bunning, Gregory Shortis, Sergeant (Sgt) Launcelot (NEI Interpreter), Sgt Ron (Percy) Cream (Developed Malaria and Stayed on Board); Front Row: Private Mariba, Sgt Yali, Able Seaman Julius McNicol,DSM, Sgt Buka, Sgt Mas. (Donor J. Shortis) (Another Copy, From the Naval Historical Collection, Formerly at Y014/02/02)

One such Coastwatcher was the ‘overage, undersized, slightly deaf, a bit shortsighted’ Sub. Lieut Paul Mason, RANVR:

This guy. The long-running joke is that the reserves used wavy lines for sleeve rank as the upstanding men who served on the list did not want anyone to make the dreadful mistake that the Navy was their full-time job! As for Mason, he originally was enlisted as a petty officer and later elevated to sub-lieutenant.

Based on Malaita Hill near the southern coast of Bougainville, Mason had been in the Solomons most of his life. Described by Walter Lord in his book on the Coastwatchers entitled Lonely Vigil: Coastwatchers of the Solomons, the author wrote that “At first glance, Paul Mason looked like a bank clerk who had somehow strayed into the jungle. He was small; his mild blue eyes seemed to abhor violence, and he had a self-effacing diffidence that would seem far more appropriate in an office than in the bush.”

However, Mason was famous for his exploits on Bougainville, spending 17 months calling in Japanese bomber raids headed towards the Allies– at times giving them as much as two hours’ warning– while remaining one step ahead of the Japanese. Dealing with the double-crosses and betrayal, he narrowly avoided Japanese troops hunting for him, becoming a pied piper for still-loyal Solomans native police, Chinese refugees, Australian commandos in the area, and even other Coastwatchers– Jack Keenan, Eric Robinson, and Jack McPhee– chased out of their areas.

Needing emergency evac, Guardfish was sent in to collect Mason’s group at Atsinima Bay on the evening of 24 July 1943. Inching close into the bay with pre-1914 German charts, Guardfish surfaced at dark and inflated eight rubber boats, sending the rescue craft ashore.

From Lonely Vigil:

On the beach, the evacuees watched with mounting excitement as the little flotilla shot the breakers and spun ashore. In half an hour the first boats were loaded and, on their way, out again. Now they were even harder to row and one capsized in the surf. Righting it the men clamored back in, grunting and cursing but with no loss except an officer’s cap that floated away in the night.

On the Guardfish, [Lt.Cdr. Norvell Gardner] “Bub” Ward watched incredulously as the motley collection of Australians, Chinese, natives, men, women, and children swarmed aboard. “We gathered a bit more of a crowd than we’d anticipated,” Paul Mason explained, adding apologetically, “There are still some more on the beach.” When the submarine finally headed to sea, a total of 62 evacuees were jammed aboard.

On 28 July, Guardfish swooped in and picked up another 22 Coastwatchers, natives, police and scouts from a coastal plantation at Kuuna.

Later, squeezing in a couple more war patrols, Guardfish found time to sink the Japanese transport ships Suzuya Maru and Kashu Maru before 1943 was up.

Then, on 27 October, in the conclusion of the Coastwatchers’ war she landed two U.S. Marine officers, six Coastwatchers– including three that she had picked up in July– and 40 Bougainville native scouts near the mouth of the Laruma River close to Cape Torokina, returning them to the same island they had been chased from so they could again work against the Japanese, providing crucial intelligence for the landing at Empress Augusta Bay in November.

As for Mason, according to the Australian Dictionary of Biography:

Mason’s unexpected return in November 1944 impressed locals, wavering in their opposition to the Japanese, with his possible indestructibility. He recruited a small partisan band which terrorized the enemy and was credited with a record body count of 2,288. Always he put his scouts’ welfare before his own. His daring rescues were notable for the care taken of former prisoners, especially missionaries, and the lack of vindictiveness towards collaborators. His continued wrangling with headquarters over supplies and the deficiencies of regular soldiers probably led to his transfer home in May 1945 before final victory.

Mason received a DSC for his efforts. He later died in 1972.

Back to Guardfish.

Her role with the Coastwatchers over, she continued her war, sinking the Japanese destroyer Umikaze off the southern entrance to Truk Atoll in 1944, and at least five other Japanese merchant ships, earning her second nod from the President for her 8th Patrol.

Sadly, she also claimed the Anchor-class salvage ship USS Extractor (ARS-15) in January 1945 in a case of mistaken identity while on her 10th patrol, though DANFS points out that “Guardfish succeeded in rescuing all but 6 of her crew of 79 from the sea.”

Guardfish finished the war on lifeguard duties, picking up two downed aviators off Saipan in March 1945.

Guardfish at the close of the war. Photo courtesy of David “Hutch” Hutchinson, MOMM 1st Class, SS 217 via Paul S. Hobbs, Submarine Veteran ET1 (SS), Thomas Jefferson SBN 618. Via Navsource

Decommissioned at New London on 25 May 1946, two years later Guardfish was one of 28 Gatos preserved as pierside trainers (sans propellers) for Naval Reserve personnel to hold their weekend drills, the last service of this great class. She continued in this role until struck from the Navy List 1 June 1960.

USS GUARDFISH (SS-217) Serving as naval reserve training submarine at New London, Connecticut, circa the 1950s. Courtesy of D. M. McPherson, 1974 Catalog #: NH 81356

USS Dogfish (SS-350) and USS Blenny (SS-324) sank her with the newly-developed Mk-45 torpedoes off New London 10 October 1961.

She was commemorated in an episode of The Silent Service, with her Presidential Unit Citation-winning Honshu patrol the subject of the dramatized short, that includes a horse story.

Other Gatos lived on, although an amazing 20 were lost in the Pacific during WWII. The last two Gato-class boats active in the US Navy were USS Rock (SS-274) and Bashaw (SS-241), which were both decommissioned on 13 September 1969 and sold for scrap. Nine went to overseas allies with the last, USS Guitarro (SS-363) serving the Turkish Navy as TCG Preveze (S 340) in one form or another until 1983.

A full half-dozen Gatos are preserved in the U.S. so please visit them when you can:

USS Cavalla is at Seawolf Park near Galveston, Texas
USS Cobia is at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc, Wisconsin
USS Cod is on display in Cleveland
USS Croaker is on display in Buffalo, New York
USS Drum is on display on shore at Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile, Alabama
USS Silversides is on display in Muskegon, Michigan

In 1965, the Navy launched a second Guardfish, SSN-612, a Thresher-class nuclear submarine commissioned the next year that remained in service until 1992. A crew reunion group exists for this boat, the last to carry the name.

Specs:


Displacement:
1,525 long tons (1,549 t) surfaced
2,424 long tons (2,463 t) submerged
Length: 311 ft 9 in
Beam: 27 ft 3 in
Draft: 17 ft maximum
Propulsion:
4 × General Motors Model 16-248 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:
21 knots (39 km/h) surfaced
9 kn (17 km/h) submerged
Range: 11,000 nautical miles surfaced at 10 kn
Endurance:
48 hours at 2 kn submerged
75 days on patrol
Test depth: 300 ft
Complement: 6 officers, 54 enlisted (plus up to 62 evacuees!)
Armament:
10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes, 6 forward, 4 aft
24 torpedoes
1 × 3-inch (76 mm) / 50 caliber deck gun
Two each, .50-caliber and .30-caliber machine guns

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/membership.htm

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.

With more than 50 years of scholarship, Warship International, the written tome of the INRO has published hundreds of articles, most of which are unique in their sweep and subject.

PRINT still has its place. If you LOVE warships you should belong.

I’m a member, so should you be!

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