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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Online Library of Selected Images:
-- EVENTS -- The 1910s -- 1917
Stranding of USS Milwaukee, 13 January 1917
By the evening of 12 January 1917 preparations
were in place for the big cruiser Milwaukee's
attempt to pull the stranded submarine H-3
free of the grip of Samoa Beach. Unfortunately, in the fog and
darkness, things quickly went very wrong. One of the two restraining
lines, running from the monitor Cheyenne
to Milwaukee's starboard bow, parted. In the grip of the
powerful Pacific coast currents, the cruiser began to swing southwards.
Tug Iroquois,
not powerful enough by herself to resist the movement, had to
cut her self free of the other restraining line.
The cruiser's crew tried to cut the steel cable between her
stern and the H-3, but it was too heavy for the hacksaw
work required. It formed an inescapable leash, at the outer end
of which the current and waves moved Milwaukee inexorably
southwards and toward shore. Her engines, some twenty-one-thousand
horsepower, were helpless against the sideways force of the current
and the cable's backwards pull. Anchors dropped from her bow were
too close to the ship to have any meaningful effect. By about
4 a.m. on 13 January 1917 Milwaukee was hard aground, broadside
to the beach. The pounding surf rolled her hull, which gradually
opened, letting in the sea, extinguishing the fires under the
ship's boilers and dismounting some of her machinery. Milwaukee
was now beyond saving and seemingly in danger of breaking up.
Her endangered crew, some 450 men, had to be rescued . (This tale
continues on the following pages)
This page features, and provides links to, all the views
we have concerning the loss of USS Milwaukee (Cruiser #
21) at Samoa Beach, California, in January 1917.
For more pictures of, or related to, this event, see:
USS H-3 salvage attempts,
January 1917;
Stranding of USS Milwaukee,
13 January 1917 -- Rescue of the ship's crew; and
USS Milwaukee
(Cruiser # 21) -- Later views of the ship's wreck.
For other views concerning the loss of USS Milwaukee,
see:
Stranding of USS H-3 and USS
Milwaukee, and salvage of USS H-3, December 1916
- April 1917.
Click on the small photograph to prompt
a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: NH 60652
Loss of USS Milwaukee, January 1917
USS Milwaukee (Cruiser # 21) stranded at Samoa Beach,
near Eureka, California. She had gone aground on 13 January 1917
while attempting to salvage the grounded submarine H-3.
This photograph was taken soon after her crew had been brought
ashore. Note that her flag is still flying from her mainmast.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 109KB; 740 x 565 pixels |
 |
Photo #: NH 46150
Stranding of USS Milwaukee, 13 January 1917
A Navy officer walking on the beach, with the abandoned wreck
of USS Milwaukee (Cruiser # 21) in the background. Photographed
on or shortly after 13 January 1917, when the cruiser went aground
at Samoa Beach, near Eureka, California.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 122KB; 740 x 595 pixels |
 |
Photo #: NH 46151
Stranding of USS Milwaukee, 13 January 1917
USS Milwaukee (Cruiser # 21) stranded at Samoa Beach,
near Eureka, California, soon after she went aground on 13 January
1917. A whaleboat is alongside her port quarter, and a few men
are visible on her main deck above the boat.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 88KB; 740 x 560 pixels |
 |
Photo #: NH 46152
Stranding of USS Milwaukee, 13 January 1917
USS Milwaukee (Cruiser # 21) stranded at Samoa Beach,
near Eureka, California, on 13 January 1917, probably just after
all of her crew had been brought ashore.
Photographed by Emma B. Freeman, Eureka, California.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 82KB; 740 x 595 pixels |
 |
Photo #: NH 46153
Stranding of USS Milwaukee, 13 January 1917
USS Milwaukee (Cruiser # 21) stranded at Samoa Beach,
near Eureka, California, on 13 January 1917, probably just after
all of her crew had been brought ashore.
Photographed from the dunes behind the beach by Emma B. Freeman,
Eureka, California.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 68KB; 740 x 590 pixels |
 |
For more pictures of, or related to, this event, see:
USS H-3 salvage attempts,
January 1917;
Stranding of USS Milwaukee,
13 January 1917 -- Rescue of the ship's crew; and
USS Milwaukee
(Cruiser # 21) -- Later views of the ship's wreck.
For other views concerning the loss of USS Milwaukee,
see:
Stranding of USS H-3 and USS
Milwaukee, and salvage of USS H-3, December 1916
- April 1917.
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Historical Center home page.
Page made 31 May 2004
Text added 13 June 2004