This page features the Online Library's October, November and December 2004 "What's New?" entries.
For the more recent entries, and links to previous years'
entries, see:
For earlier entries from the year 2004, see:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the Online Library's digital images, see: How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions. |
This report wraps up "Ought-Four" with a fair number
of fresh subjects, considering the passage of a mere nine days
since our last missive. Major items include two destroyers, one
quite "old" and other not so elderly (at least from
the compiler's viewpoint). The former is USS Walke
(Destroyer # 34) of 1911, whose presentation includes a large
number of images of 1914 era torpedo flotilla life and activities.
The second is USS Walke
(DD-723), whose active service ran (with a brief break) from
1944 to 1970. Other multi-page postings cover the fleet collier
Orion, the submarine
tender Camden (ID
# 3143, later AS-6), and the World War I patrol ships (ex-yachts)
Cigarette (SP-1234)
and Corsair (SP-159).
Ships and craft with more modest coverage are all First World
War acquired vessels,
among them the transport Santa
Ana (ID # 2869), which in World War II was the Army transport
and hospital ship John
L. Clem. There were eight cargo ships, including Canibas (ID # 3401),
Cape Henry (ID
# 3056), Cape May
(ID # 3520), Carib
(ID # 1765), Carolinian
(ID # 1445), Carrillo
(ID # 1406), Casco
(ID # 1957) and Cauto
(ID # 1538). Additional patrol types are the yachts Corona
(SP-813) and Lyndonia
(SP-734) -- which was soon renamed Vega --; "decoy
ship" Robert H. McCurdy
(ID # 3157); and patrol boats Caprice
(SP-703) and Caroline
(SP-1105). There are also three barges and lighters: Carrie Clark (SP-1238),
Catherine (ID
# 3059) and Catherine
Johnson (SP-390).
New people are Commander George
F. Davis (1911-1945), who received a posthumous Medal of
Honor for his heroism as Commanding Officer of USS Walke
(DD-723), and three World War I Reserve officers (two of whose
collections are also heavily featured in recent postings): Commander
John H. Boesch, Ensign
Paul F.F. Wangerin,
and Boatswain Merrill
Greenleaf.
Finally, there are several non-U.S. Navy ships and craft, some
of which were considered for First World War service but not
taken over. These include the Coast Guard Cutter Onondaga
of 1934, motor boat Alameda
of 1917, coastal steamers Cambridge
(1890) and Rose Standish
(1912), harbor tug Caspian
(1912), and the Norwegian freighter Dagfin
of 1902.
31 December 2004
The past month has been dominated by "old stuff", even
by our usual standards, with two big presentations leading the
way.
One covers the 1877 steam sloop (or gunboat, if you will) Enterprise, which was
visited in 1890 by the noted New York photographer E.H. Hart
and is thus memorable for (among other things) a really fine
series of photographs of her crew and their activities during
the last years of the "Age of Sail". Our other major
subject is USS Isabel
(SP-521, later PY-10), a fast yacht the Navy converted to
a kind of
"destroyer"in 1917, and employed from the early '20s
until after World War II in Far Eastern and Australian waters,
mainly as flagship for the Yangtze River Patrol and the Asiatic
Fleet
Four submarines were also added, with K-8
(Submarine # 39) concluding our coverage of the pre-World
War I "K" class, S-1
(Submarine # 105) -- which was briefly fitted to carry an
aircraft -- and S-2
(Submarine # 106) marking a resumption of work on the Navy's
numerous "S-Boats", and Pollack
(SS-180) continuing efforts on World War II era submarines.
Also from the latter time is a page on the attack transport Medea (AKA-31).
Leading off new World War I subjects are four submarine chasers:
SC-180; SC-267; SC-330;
and SC-356.
Contemporary larger ships include the minelayer Saranac
(ID # 1702); the troopships Princess
Matoika (ID # 2290) and Calamares
(ID # 3662), the latter of which also served during World
War II as a storeship (AF-18); cargo ships Clio
(ID # 2578) and Californian
(lost on her maiden Navy voyage); the oiler Sara
Thompson (ID # 3148, later AO-8). New "Great War"
patrol vessels are the converted yachts Chilhowee
(SP-525) and Christabel
(SP-162); and section patrol boats Caliph
(SP-272), Chipper
(SP-256), Chipper
(SP-1049), Doris
B. III (SP-733), Doris
B. IV (SP-625), Idealia
(SP-125) and Sunbeam
III (SP-251). A related subject is Daniel
A.J. Sullivan (1884-1941), a Reserve officer who received
the Medal of Honor for heroism while serving in Christabel
in May 1918.
This period's listing concludes with the ocean liner Malolo
(renamed Matsonia in 1937 and used as a War Shipping Administration
troopship during World War II) and the Hudson River passenger
steamer Berkshire.
22 December 2004
Here it is almost Thanksgiving (though our resident Canadian
assures us that this is not universal), which naturally brings
to mind such things as turkeys. However, none of that has anything
to do with the latest Online Library additions.
Our two "big" new subjects, at least in terms of volume,
are two of the Navy's more interesting auxiliaries of the years
leading up to World War II: The destroyer tender Black
Hawk (AD-9), which began her long Navy career in World
War I as a mine force tender; and the surveying ship Hannibal
(AG-1), which started out as a collier, tended submarine
chasers during
World War I, and did much to chart the Caribbean at other times.
While doing the latter, we also added an album
kept by LeRoy R. Horstman, one of her crewmen during the
1920s.
Two more early Naval officers joined the Online Library Ranks:
Lieutenant James R. Caldwell
(1778-1804), who was killed in action during the War with
Tripoli, and South Carolina Navy Lieutenant John
Mayrant (1762-1836), who served with John Paul Jones in the
Continental Ship Bonhomme Richard in 1779. They were the
name sources of four newly-added destroyers: Mayrant
(Destroyer # 31), Caldwell
(Destroyer # 69), Mayrant
(DD-402) and Caldwell
(DD-605). The other two recently posted DDs were named for
an officer who has been "on-line" for a couple of years:
Kimberly (Destroyer
# 80) and Kimberly
(DD-521).
The latest submarines are K-7
(Submarine # 38) and Pickerel
(SS-177). Among other fresh submissions are the minesweeper
(and later gunboat and submarine rescue ship) Pigeon
(AM-47, later ASR-6); the World War II era attack cargo ship
Scania (AKA-40);
and three World War I submarine chasers: SC-99,
SC-223 and SC-353.
The
continuing effort to do justice to the consellation of World
War I era acquired vessels begat coverage of another minelayer,
Housatonic (ID # 1697);
the transport Pretoria;
two cargo ships, Cacique
(ID # 2213) and Zuiderdijk
(ID # 2724); three converted yachts, Lydonia
(SP-700), Rambler
(SP-211) and Zoraya
(SP-235); three section patrol boats, Calabash
(SP-108), Zigzag
(SP-106) and Zumbrota
(SP-93); the harbor tug Nausett
(YT-35), which started out as Carl R. Gray (ID # 2671);
and the receiving ship C.W.
Morse (ID # 1966).
Completing this report's listings are a rather obscure airplane,
the Aeromarine 40; the berthing
barge YC-66; and
two Civil War western rivers gunboats, Diana
(1862-1863) and Kinsman
(1863-1863).
22 November 2004
Our last report got us into October with nearly two-dozen new
Online Library subjects. This one gets us out of the month with
another thirty-plus.
Among the freshly added people are three significant 19th Century
officers: Lieutenant John
Trippe (1785-1810), Commodore Daniel
Todd Patterson (1786-1839) and Commodore David
Conner (1792-1856). All our new destroyers and frigates (nee:
"escort ships") were named for these gentlemen: Trippe (Destroyer # 33),
Patterson (Destroyer
# 36), Conner (Destroyer
# 72), Trippe (DD-403),
Conner (DD-582),
Patterson (DE-1061,
later FF-1061) and Trippe
(DE-1075, later FF-1074). This reporting period's submarines
number three, one named for nothing in particular and two commemorating
fish, as such things used to be done before submarines got elevated
to the
ranks of "Capital Ships": K-6
(Submarine # 37), Perch
(SS-176) and Permit
(SS-178).
A rather large presentation was prepared on the transport Chaumont (AP-5), a favorite
conveyance of the '20s and '30s which ended her days as the hospital
ship Samaritan (AH-10).
We also did the World War I minelayer Canandaigua
(ID # 1694) and a fair number of her contemporaries. Among
these are the transports Panaman
(ID # 3299) and Patricia
(an ex-German that was not assigned an identification number),
and fuel tankers Chestnut
Hill (ID # 2526) and Robert
L. Barnes (ID # 3088, later AK-11, AO-14 and AG-27),
the latter a rather curious design that, if she had been rounder
in cross section, might have been the last of the famous Great
Lakes "whalebacks". While working on Chestnut Hill,
we made pages on a member of her crew who earned the Medal of
Honor, Chief Gunner's Mate Oscar
Schmidt (1896-1973), and USS SC-219,
whose loss was the occasion of his heroism.
Completing the list of newly-added World War I ships and craft
are five converted yachts and four smaller patrol craft. The
yachts are Cythera
(SP-575, later PY-26), Margaret
(SP-527) (a big presentation, including a page on an eventful
voyage to the Azores in
November and December 1917), Wenonah
(SP-165, later PY-11), Xarifa
(SP-581) and Yacona
(SP-617). The patrol boats include Margaret
O (SP-614), Yarrow
(SP-1010), Yo Ho
(SP-463) and Zenda
(SP-688).
In conclusion, there are a couple representatives of the 19th
Century, one middling early and one rather late: the frigate
Hudson of 1826
and the small Philippine gunboat Mindoro
of 1899.
31 October 2004
We enter October with almost two-dozen new Online Library subjects:
Freshly done torpedo boats and destroyers include Stockton
(Torpedo Boat # 32), Stockton
(Destroyer # 73), Hovey
(Destroyer # 208, later DMS-11) and Stockton
(DD-646. Two of these, the second Stockton and Hovey,
were among the few ships the Navy armed with twin-mounted four-inch
guns. New subs are K-5
(Submarine # 36) and Trout
(SS-202). We also added a page on Ensign Charles
E. Hovey, in whose honor USS Hovey was named.
Other recently-posted ships of the World War II era are: the
attack cargo ship Shoshone
(AKA-65) and tank landing ships LST-481
and LST-485.
Leading the ranks of our latest World War I acquired ships are
two minelayers: Aroostook
(ID # 1256, later CM-3 and AKA-44) and Canonicus
(ID # 1696). "Great War" cargo ships include Buenaventura (ID
# 1335), Buitenzorg
(ID # 2541), Bussum
(ID # 2468), and the ill-fated Ophir
(ID # 2800). The smaller acquired vessels are tug Winthrop
(ID # 3297), yachts Calumet
(SP-323) and Carola
IV (SP-812), motor boat Wistaria
(SP-259), which was ultimately rejected for service, and
ferry Willoughby
(SP-2129).
This period's Civil War era ships include the small converted
tugs General Putnam
and Satellite,
which share an image.
11 October 2004
This page features the Online Library's October, November and December 2004 "What's New?" entries.
For the more recent entries, and links to previous years'
entries, see:
For earlier entries from the year 2004, see:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the Online Library's digital images, see: How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions. |
Page made 31 December 2004