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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:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --
USS Graf Waldersee (ID # 4040), 1919-1919
-- Collision with S.S. Redondo, 11 June 1919
In the early evening of 11 June 1919 the U.S. Navy transport
Graf Waldersee sailed from Hoboken,
New Jersey, en route to France to pick up her third contingent
of homeward bound World War I veterans. Encountering heavy fog
as she steamed south of Long Island, speed was reduced and the
fog horn sounded regularly. When another horn was heard ahead,
the ship slowed even more and her course was altered to starboard,
but shortly before midnight the commercial freighter Redondo
loomed out of the fog and rammed Graf Waldersee amidships
on the port side. The force of the impact threw sleeping men from
their bunks, and the transport's machinery spaces soon flooded,
leaving her dead in the water with a list to port. Commander Charles
S. Kerrick, her Commanding Officer, ordered life rafts launched
in preparation for abandoning the ship.
Early in the morning of June 12 the transport Patricia,
summoned by radio distress signals, arrived on the scene and,
in almost total darkness, began removing Graf Waldersee's
few passengers and her non-essential crew members. The leaking
Redondo then steamed to New York as Patricia took
the disabled ship in tow. Graf Waldersee was run aground
off Long Beach, where divers began rigging a temporary tarpaulin
and planking patch to allow her to be pumped out. This work continued
until the afternoon of 14 June, when the ship was refloated. Towed
to New York by four tugs, she was repaired in time to make a final
round-trip voyage in August, bringing more than 1600 troops and
passengers home from Brest, France.
This page features all the views we have related to the
collision between USS Graf Waldersee (ID # 4040) and the
steamship Redondo, off New York on the night of 11 June
1919.
For other images concerning this ship, see:
USS Graf Waldersee (ID # 4040),
1919-1919.
Click on the small photograph to prompt
a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: NH 105017
USS Graf Waldersee (ID # 4040)
Under tow by USS Patricia off Long Island on 12 June 1919,
after she had been disabled in collision with S.S. Redondo.
Graf Waldersee was towed to shallow water, where collision
damage was sufficiently patched to allow her return to New York
for permanent repairs.
Photographed from on board Patricia. Two tugs are also
present.
Photograph from the album of Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Edward
D. Porges. Donated by his daughter, Gail Porges Guggenheim, 2007.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 77KB; 740 x 490 pixels |
 |
Photo #: NH 105016
USS Graf Waldersee (ID # 4040)
Under tow by USS Patricia off Long Island on 12 June 1919,
after she had been disabled in collision with S.S. Redondo.
Graf Waldersee was towed to shallow water, where collision
damage was sufficiently patched to allow her return to New York
for permanent repairs.
Photographed from on board Patricia. Two tugs are also
present.
Photograph from the album of Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Edward
D. Porges. Donated by his daughter, Gail Porges Guggenheim, 2007.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 55KB; 740 x 460 pixels |
 |
Photo #: NH 105015
USS Patricia (1919-1919)
Ship's life boats under tow on 12 June 1919, while Patricia
was removing men from USS Graf Waldersee (ID # 4040).
The latter was disabled in collision with S.S. Redondo
a few hours after departing New York on a voyage to France.
Edward D. Porges, then an officer on Patricia, inscribed
this photograph: "My life boat # 11 was sent to disabled
Graf Waldersee".
Photograph from the album of Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Edward
D. Porges. Donated by his daughter, Gail Porges Guggenheim, 2007.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 88KB; 440 x 765 pixels |
 |
Photo #: NH 105018
USS Patricia (1919-1919)
One of the ship's life boats alongside, with its crew suffering
from sea sickness, 12 June 1919. Patricia was then removing
men from USS Graf Waldersee (ID # 4040), which had been
disabled in collision with S.S. Redondo a few hours after
departing New York on a voyage to France.
Edward D. Porges, then an officer on Patricia, inscribed
this photograph: "My men all laying sea sick".
Photograph from the album of Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Edward
D. Porges. Donated by his daughter, Gail Porges Guggenheim, 2007.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 59KB; 740 x 550 pixels |
 |
For other images concerning this ship, see:
USS Graf Waldersee (ID # 4040),
1919-1919.
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Page made 12 September 2007