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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Photo #  NH 105429:  USS Lebanon in 1898.

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Lebanon (1898-1922, later AG-2)
Previously S.S. Lebanon, later S.S. Taboga and Homestead.

USS Lebanon, a 1486 gross ton (3375 tons displacement) freighter, was built in 1894 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Co. as S.S. Lebanon. She was purchased by the Navy in April 1898 and placed in commission as USS Lebanon for service as a collier in the Spanish-American War. The ship arrived off the Cuban coast in early June 1898 and provided coal to U.S. naval forces there. After additional operations in the Caribbean and along the Atlantic coast Lebanon decommissioned at the Norfolk Navy Yard in April 1899. Placed back into commission at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in August 1905, Lebanon again operated as a collier along the East Coast and in the Caribbean until decommissioned at Norfolk in October 1909.

When Lebanon was recommissioned in July 1911 she was assigned a new role, supporting the Atlantic Fleet's gunnery training. After transporting ammunition between East Coast ports during 1911, she participated the Fleet's 1912 Caribbean winter maneuvers, towing gunnery targets during battle practices and repairing the targets between exercises. Lebanon's primary duty continued to be target towing and repair through and after World War I, although she was also occasionally used as an ammunition transport and as a tender. Designated a miscellaneous auxiliary, AG-2, in July 1920, the ship was decommissioned in February 1922 and sold in June 1922. She returned to merchant service as S.S. Taboga in 1922, was renamed Homestead in 1926, and foundered in Humber Arm, Newfoundland, in July 1932.

This page features all the views we have concerning USS Lebanon and S.S. Lebanon, Taboga, and Homestead.


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: NH 105429

USS Lebanon
(1898-1922, later AG-2))

At the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1898, probably while preparing for Spanish-American War service.

Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2007.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 64KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 105292

USS Lebanon
(1898-1922, later AG-2)

Shown "talking at sea" with signal flags off Cuba during the Spanish American war.
The contemporary handwritten caption explains that "As the vessels seldom come within speaking distance at sea, the flags tell the news, and pass the orders over the miles of intervening water." Lebanon served primarily as a collier during the 1898 war.

Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Washington, D.C.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 68KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 59450

USS Lebanon
(1898-1922, later AG-2)

Off New York City during the October 1912 naval review.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 68KB; 740 x 595 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 101080

U.S. Navy Gunnery Practice
, circa 1913

The target towing and repair ship USS Lebanon towing a target raft with panels erected for short-range gunnery practice. A tug is turning in the foreground. Photographed by Francis Sargent from a nearby battleship.

Collection of Francis Sargent. Courtesy of Commander John Condon, USN, 1986.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 50 KB; 740 x 370 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 100788

Mess Tent Scene


Sailors and Marines eating a noon-time meal, probably at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, circa the mid-"teens."
The ships in the distance are the minelayer (former cruiser) USS San Francisco, in the center, and the target towing and repair ship USS Lebanon, to the right.

Courtesy of Carter Rila, 1986.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 81 KB; 740 x 535 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 77275

USS Lebanon
(1898-1922)

In port with "R" type submarines alongside, circa 1919.
Among the boats present are:
USS R-3 (Submarine # 80) - 2nd from left; and
USS R-9 (Submarine # 86) - 2nd from right.

Courtesy of Mrs. C.R. DeSpain, 1973. From the scrapbooks of Fred M. Butler.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 59KB; 740 x 470 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 77281

USS Lebanon
(AG-2)

With a gunnery target alongside, circa 1920.
Horizontal slats will be fitted between the tall vertical poles on the target.
Lebanon served as a target towing and repair ship from 1912 to 1922.

Courtesy of Mrs. C.R. DeSpain, 1973. From the scrapbooks of Fred M. Butler.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 54KB; 740 x 410 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 77277

USS Lebanon
(AG-2)

A gunnery practice target undergoing repair or assembly alongside USS Lebanon, circa 1920.
Lebanon served as a target towing and repair ship from 1912 to 1922.

Courtesy of Mrs. C.R. DeSpain, 1973. From the scrapbooks of Fred M. Butler.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 94KB; 445 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 94774-KN (Color)

"Uncle Sam's Ships"

Cover for sheet music composed and written by Chief Yeoman Daisy May Pratt Erd, USNRF, during World War I. It features the names of 109 U.S. Navy ships, from battleships to tugs and patrol boats.

Donation of Miss G.H. Erd, 1973.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 136KB; 585 x 765 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 30 April 2008