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USS Connecticut (BB-18)

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For other ships with the same name, see USS Connecticut.
The USS Connecticut
The USS Connecticut
History
US
Laid down10 March 1903
Launched29 September 1904
Commissioned29 September 1906
Decommissioned1 March 1923
Fatesold for scrap
Notes1 July 1902
General characteristics
Displacement16,000 tons
Length456.3 feet (139.1 m)
Beam76.8 feet (23.4 m)
Draft24.5 feet (7.5 m)
Propulsion12 Babcock & Wilcox boilers[1]
Speed18 knots
Complement827 officers and men
Armamentlist error: <br /> list (help)
4 × 12 in (305 mm) guns (2 × 2)
8 × 8 in (203 mm) guns (4 × 2)
12 × 7 in (178 mm) guns

USS Connecticut (BB-18), the fourth United States Navy ship to be named after the fifth US state, was the lead ship of the six Connecticut-class battleships. Due to the Royal Navy's commissioning of HMS Dreadnought seven months earlier, Connecticut was obsolete before she was even commissioned; thus, she was the last lead ship of any class of pre-dreadnought battleship commissioned by the United States Navy.

Connecticut served as a flagship for the Jamestown Exposition commemorating the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Jamestown colony. She later sailed with the Great White Fleet on a circumnavigation of the Earth to showcase the United States Navy's growing fleet of blue-water-capable ships. After completing her service with the Great White Fleet, Connecticut participated in several flag-waving exercises intended to protect American citizens abroad until she was pressed into service as a troop transport at the end of World War I to expedite the return of American Expeditionary Forces from France.

For the remainder of her career, Connecticut served with the Pacific Fleet, operating out of California and cruising along the western coast of the United States. In accordance with the provisions of the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty, Connecticut was decommissioned in 1922 and scrapped in 1923.

Launch

Connecticut was laid down on 10 March 1903[2] and launched on 29 September 1904 by the Brooklyn Navy Yard. She was sponsored by Miss Alice B. Welles, granddaughter of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy during the American Civil War.[3] A crowd of over 30,000 people were present at the launch,[4] as were many of the Navy's fellow battleships; Texas, Massachusetts, Iowa, Kearsarge, Illinois, Alabama, Maine, and Missouri all attended, along with the protected cruisers Columbia and Minneapolis and the auxiliary cruiser Prairie.[5]

The launch was controversial, as three different attempts were made to sabotage the ship before and after the launching: on 31 March, rivets were found presumably bored through; on 14 September, a 1⅜-inch (3.5 cm) bolt was found driven into one of the timbers on the launching ways; and on 3 October, a third attempt was discovered.[6] On the last attempt, an unknown person drilled a hole 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter through a ⅝-inch (1.6 cm) steel keel plate; it was estimated that this would have taken 20 minutes. The hole was found shortly after the ship launched, but the watertight compartments on the ship and pumps prevented the ship from sinking. All damage was repaired, and all the water that entered the ship was pumped out by the 31st, two days after the launch. The incidents prompted the Navy to send a guard of marines who held a 24-hour watch near the ship and on a navy tug, and who all had orders to shoot to kill if any saboteur attempted to get near the ship.[7] As she was only 55% complete when she was launched, missing most of her upper works, protection, machinery and armament,[2] it was two years before Connecticut was commissioned, on 29 September 1906. Captain William Swift was the first captain of the new battleship.[3][8]

Service

Connecticut sailed out of New York and into the ocean for the first time on 15 December 1906, becoming the first ship in the U.S. Navy to ever go to sea without a sea trial.[9] She first journeyed south to the Virginia Capes, where she conducted a variety of training exercises; this was followed by shakedown training and battle practice off Cuba and Puerto Rico.[10] During the cruise, she participated in a search for the missing steamer Ponce.[11][12][A 1] On 13 January, Connecticut ran onto a reef while entering the harbor at Culebra Island. The Navy did not release any information about the grounding until press dispatches from San Juan carrying news of the incident reached the mainland on the 23rd. Even then, Navy authorities in San Juan claimed to be ignorant of the situation,[13] and, that same day, the Navy Department itself said that they only knew that Captain Swift thought she touched bottom and that an examination of the ship's bottom by divers revealed no damage.[14] The Navy amended this the next day, releasing a statement that Connecticut had been only slightly damaged and had returned to her shakedown cruise.[15] However, damage to the ship was much more serious than the Navy admitted; in contrast to an official statement saying that Connecticut only "touched" the rocks, she actually ran full upon the reef when traversing "a course well marked with buoys" in "broad daylight" and did enough damage to probably require a dry docking. This apparent attempt at a cover-up was enough for the United States Congress to consider an official inquiry into the matter.[16]

On 21 March, the Navy announced that Swift would be court-martialed for "through negligence, causing a vessel to run upon a rock" and "neglect of duty in regard to the above."[17] Along with the officer of the deck at the time of the accident, Lt. E. H. Yarnell, Swift faced a court martial of seven rear admirals, a captain, and a lieutenant.[18]

Connecticut steamed back to Hampton Roads after this, arriving 16 April 1907; when she arrived, Rear Admiral Robley D. Evans, commander of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, transferred his flag from Maine to Connecticut,[10] making Connecticut the flagship of the fleet.[19] President Theodore Roosevelt opened the Jamestown Exposition on 25 April, and Connecticut was named as the official host for vessels visiting from other nations. Sailors and marines from the ship took part in various events ashore, and foreign dignitaries, along with the governors of Virginia and Rhode Island, were hosted aboard the ship on 29 April. Evans closed the Exposition on 4 May on the quarterdeck of Connecticut. On 10 June, Connecticut joined in the Presidential Fleet Review; she left three days later for an overhaul in the New York Naval Yard.[20] After the overhaul, Connecticut conducted maneuvers off Hampton Roads and target practice off Cape Cod. She was ordered back to the New York Naval Yard once again on 6 September for a refit that would make her suitable for use as flagship of the Great White Fleet.[21]

Flagship of the Great White Fleet

Main article: Great White Fleet

Connecticut left the New York Naval Yard on 5 December 1907 and arrived the next day in Hampton Roads, where the Great White Fleet would assemble on her as their flagship. After an eight-day period known as "Navy Farewell Week" during which all sixteen battleships took on full loads of coal, stores, and ammunition, and festivities were held for the departing sailors, the ships were ready to depart.[21] After all the battleship captains had paid respects to the President on the presidential yacht Mayflower, all the ships weighed anchor and departed at 1000 hours, passing in review before the President on Mayflower.[22] Steaming south past Cape Hatteras, the fleet headed for the Caribbean.[23] They approached Puerto Rico on the 20th, caught sight of Venezuela on the 22nd, and later dropped anchor in Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad,[24] making it the first port visit of the Great White Fleet.[25] With a torpedo boat flotilla that had left Hampton Roads two week previously and five colliers to fill the bunkers of the fleet, Port-of-Spain had a total of 32 U.S. Navy ships in the harbor, making it "[resemble] a U.S. Navy base."[26]

USS Connecticut (BB-18) leads the way for the Great White Fleet in 1907

After spending Christmas in Trinidad, the ships departed for Rio de Janeiro on the 29th.[26] A ceremonial Brazilian escort of three cruisers met the task force 12 miles outside of Rio,[27] and thousands of "wildly cheering" Brazilians lined the shore; ten days of ceremonies, games, and festivities followed, and the turnout was so optimistic that the visit was a major boon to U.S.-Brazilian relations. The fleet left Rio on 22 January 1908, still heading south, this time bound for the coaling stop of Punta Arenas, Chile.[28]

Four cruisers from Argentina, San Martin, Buenos Ayres, 9 De Julio, and Pueyrredon, all under the command of Admiral Hipolito Oliva, sailed 300 miles to salute the American ships on their way to Chile. They arrived at Punta Arenas on 1 February and spent five days in the town of 14,000.[29] Heading north, they followed the coastline of Chile, passing in review of Chilean President Pedro Montt on the 14th outside of Valparaíso, and they were escorted to Callao in Peru by the cruiser Bolognesi on the 19th and 20th.[30] Peru's president, Jose Pardo, came on board Connecticut during this time, as Rear Admiral Evans was quite ill and could not come ashore.[31] After taking on coal, the ships steamed for Mexico on the 29th, passing in review of the cruiser Almirante Grau, who had Pardo embarked, before leaving.[32]

Arriving in Mexico on the 20th, the fleet underwent three weeks of target practice. However, Rear Admiral Evans was relieved of command during this time, as he was completely bedridden and in constant pain, so on 30 March Connecticut set sail north at full speed. She was met two days later by the schooner Yankton, who took the admiral to a hospital. Connecticut traveled back south to rejoin the fleet, and Rear Admiral Charles M. Thomas took Evans's place on Connecticut as the commander of the fleet when she got back. The fleet then continued its journey north, bound for California.[33]

Postcard of the ship published in San Francisco

On 5 May, Evans returned to Connecticut in time for the fleet's sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge on 6 May,[34] although he was still in pain.[35] Over one million people watched the forty-two-ship fleet sail into the bay.[A 2] After a grand parade through San Francisco, a review of the fleet by Secretary of the Navy Victor H. Metcalf, a gala reception,[36] and a farewell address from Evans (who was retiring due to his illness and his age),[37] the fleet left San Francisco for Seattle, now with Rear Admiral Charles Stillman Sperry as commander.[38] The ships all underwent refits before the next leg of the voyage, and so the fleet left the West Coast again on 7 July, bound for Hawaii, which they reached on the 16th.[39]

Leaving Hawaii on the 22nd, the ships next stopped at Auckland, Sydney, and Melbourne. High seas and winds hampered the ships for part of the voyage to New Zealand, but they arrived on 9 August; festivities, parades, balls, and games were all staples of the visits to each city.[40] The highlight of the southbound visit was a parade of 12,000 U.S. Navy, Royal Navy, and Commonwealth naval and military personnel in front of 250,000 people.[41]

After stopping at Manila in the Philippines, the fleet set course for Yokohama, Japan. They encountered a typhoon on the way on 12 October, but no ships were lost; the fleet was only delayed 24 hours.[42] After three Japanese men-of-war and six merchantmen escorted the Americans in, festivities began. The celebrations culminated in the village of Uraga, where Commodore Matthew C. Perry had landed 50 years before.[43] The ships then departed on 25 October. After three weeks of exercises in the Philippines' Subic Bay, the ships sailed south on 1 December for Singapore; they did not stop there, however, passing outside the city on 6 December.[44] Continuing on, they stopped at Colombo for coal from 12–20 December before sailing on for the Suez Canal.[45] It took three days for all 16 battleships to traverse the canal, even though it was closed to all other traffic. They then headed for a coaling stop at Port Said, Egypt, after which the fleet split up into individual divisions to call on different ports in the Mediterranean.[46] The First Division, of which Connecticut was a part, originally planned to visit Italy before moving onto Villefranche, but Connecticut and Illinois were quickly dispatched to Southern Italy on a humanitarian mission when news of an earthquake reached the fleet.[47] Seamen from the ships helped clear debris and unload supplies from the U.S. Navy refrigerated supply ship Culgoa; Admiral Sperry received a personal thanks from King Victor Emmanuel III for their assistance.[48]

Roosevelt (on the 12" gun turret at right) addresses the crew of Connecticut.

After port calls were concluded, the ships headed for Gibraltar, where they found a conglomerate of warships from many different nations awaiting them "with decks manned and horns blaring": the battleships Albemarle and Albion with the cruiser Devonshire and the Second Cruiser Squadron represented Great Britain's Royal Navy, battleships Tsesarevich and Slava with cruisers Bogatyr and Oleg represented the Imperial Russian Navy, and various gunboats represented France and the Netherlands. After coaling for five days, the ships went underway and left for home on 6 February 1909.[49]

After weathering a few storms, the ships met four of their fellow battleships five days out of Hampton Roads. These ships included New Hampshire, the only sister of Connecticut to not make the cruise, two armored cruisers, and three scout cruisers.[50] Connecticut then led all of these warships around Tail-of-the-Horseshoe Lightship on 22 February to pass in review of President Roosevelt, then anchored off Old Point Comfort, ending a 46,729 mile-long trip. Roosevelt boarded the ship after she anchored and gave a short speech, saying "You've done the trick. Other nations may do as you have done, but they'll follow you."[51]

Prewar

Connecticut continued to serve as flagship of the Atlantic Fleet on her return to the U.S., even though she departed Hamton Roads on 8 March to undergo an overhaul at the New York Navy Yard.[52] After rejoining the fleet, she cruised the east coast from her base at Norfolk, Virginia, conducted training, and joined in ceremonial observances, such as the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, for the rest of 1909.[3][53] In early January, Connecticut left for Cuban waters and stayed there until 28 March; she then headed to New York for another refit.[54] After several months conducting maneuvers and battle practice off the New England coast, she left for Europe on 2 November to go on a midshipman cruise.[54] She arrived in Portland, England, on the 15th and was present during the celebration of queen mother Queen Alexandra of Denmark's birthday on 1 December; she then departed England for France, where she stayed for several weeks. During her stay, she hosted the commander-in-chief and various officers of the French Navy, along with residents of Cherbourg. Also, her crew engaged in a rowing race against a team from the French battleship Charles Martel; Connecticut won by twelve lengths. She departed France for Guantanamo Bay on the 30th,[55] and stayed there until 17 March, when she returned to Hampton Roads.[56]

On 2 November, Connecticut led the Presidential Review of the Fleet in New York. She stayed in New York waters until 12 January 1912, when she traveled back to Guantanamo Bay. Returning to the States on 21 March, she went into the Philadelphia Naval Yard for an overhaul; it was during this time that Connecticut relinquished the role of flagship of the Atlantic Fleet to the armored cruiser Washington. Connecticut spent the rest of 1912 practicing with torpedoes in Fort Pond Bay and conducting fleet maneuvers and battle practice off Block Island and the Virginia Capes.[57] After stopping in New York, Connecticut conducted training exercises in Guantanamo Bay from 13 February to 20 March, and once again became the Atlantic Fleet flagship for a short, and last, time when the commander of the fleet was transferring his flag from Wyoming to Utah.[58] After taking on stores in Philadelphia, she sailed for Mexico and arrived on 22 April; her mission was to patrol the waters near Tampico and Vera Cruz and protect American citizens and interests during disturbances there and in Haiti.[3][59]

On 22 June, Connecticut departed Mexican waters for Philadelphia, where she went into dry dock for three months. Once she left, Connecticut conducted gunnery practice off of the Virginia Capes. On 23 October, Connecticut became the flagship of the Fourth Battleship Division. After the division passed in review before the Secretary of the Navy, Connecticut left for Genoa, Italy, staying there until 30 November;[59] she then sailed for Vera Cruz once again and arrived on 23 December.[60] She shuttled refugees from Mexico to Galveston, and brought officers of the Army and representative from the Red Cross back the other way.[60]

On 29 May 1914, while still in Mexico, Connecticut relinquished the duty of flagship to Minnesota. She remained in Mexico until 2 July, when she traveled to Havana, Cuba, to pick up the American minister to Haiti. Getting there on the 8th, she brought him to Port-au-Prince, arriving on the 13th. She remained there for a month, as she left for Philadelphia on 8 August and arrived there on 14 August.[60]

Connecticut then departed for Maine and the Virginia Capes for battle practice, after which she went into the Philadelpiha Naval Yard for an overhaul. After more than three months (1 October to 15 January 1915), Connecticut emerged and steamed south to Cuba, where she conducted training exercises before returning to Philadelphia. She remained there until 31 July, she took 433 men from the Second Regiment, First Brigade of the United States Marine Corps and brought them to Port-au-Prince, where they were put ashore on 5 August as part of the United States' occupation of Haiti. She delivered supplies to amphibious troops in Cap-Haïtien on 5 September, and remained near Haiti for the next few months, supporting landing parties ashore like detachments of Marines and sailors from Connecticut under the command of Major Smedley Butler. After departing Haiti, Connecticut arrived in Philadelphia on 15 December and was placed into the Atlantic reserve fleet.[61]

World War I

Connecticut operated along the East Coast and in the Caribbean until the United States entered World War I. Based in the York River, Virginia, during the war, she exercised in Chesapeake Bay and trained both midshipmen and gun crews for merchant ships. At the close of the war, she was fitted out for transport duty and between 6 January and 22 June 1919 made four voyages to return troops from France. On 23 June 1919, she was reassigned, becoming flagship of Battleship Squadron 2, Atlantic Fleet.

Postcard of the ship being used for troop transport in 1919

In the summer of 1920, Connecticut sailed to the Caribbean and the West Coast on a midshipman and Naval Reserve training cruise. The next summer found her in European ports on similar duty, and upon her return to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 21 August 1921, was assigned as flagship Pacific Fleet. She arrived at San Pedro, California, 28 October, and during the following year cruised along the West Coast, taking part in exercises and commemorations. After entering Puget Sound Navy Yard on 16 December 1922, Connecticut was decommissioned there on 1 March 1923 and sold for scrapping 1 November 1923, in accordance with the Washington Naval Treaty for the limitation of naval armaments.

Notes

  1. ^ Ponce was eventually found and towed back to port by a German freighter; the seven passengers were taken off by the Quebec liner Bermudian. See: "Ponce's Passengers Return; They Enjoyed Drifting Helplessly at Sea and Printed a Paper" (PDF). The New York Times. 20 January 1907. p. 12.
  2. ^ The Great White Fleet was joined by various Pacific Fleet warships and a torpedo boat flotilla for their entrance into the harbor, making the conglomerate of ships the "most powerful concentration of naval might yet gathered in the Western Hemisphere." See Albertson (2007), p. 47.

References

  1. ^ Forged Steel Water-tube Marine Boilers, 203.
  2. ^ a b Albertson (2007), p. 35
  3. ^ a b c d "Connecticut". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessdaymonth= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ "Battleship Connecticut takes Birthday Plunge; Cheered by Multitude on Shore and River Craft" (PDF). The New York Times. 30 September 1904. p. 6.
  5. ^ "Navy's Big Fighters Here After Hard Work; Thousands Go Down Bay to See Admiral Barker's Ships" (PDF). The New York Times. 19 September 1904. p. 1.
  6. ^ "First Tried to Wreck Ship Six Months Ago; Constructor Baxter's Report of Vandalism on the Connecticut" (PDF). The New York Times. 4 October 1904. p. 9.
  7. ^ "Armed Tug Last Night Guarded New Warship; Result of Three Attempts to Destroy the Connecticut" (PDF). The New York Times. 3 October 1904. p. 1.
  8. ^ Albertson (2007), pp. 35–36
  9. ^ "The Connecticut Sails On Her Maiden Trip; Big Battleship Goes Into Service Without a Trial" (PDF). The New York Times. 16 December 1906. p. 13.
  10. ^ a b Albertson (2007), p. 36
  11. ^ "(No Title)" (PDF). The New York Times. 9 February 1907. p. 16.
  12. ^ "Hope For Ponce Grows With Maracas Delay; Shippers Confident Trinidad Vessel Has Her in Tow" (PDF). The New York Times. 11 January 1907. p. 16.
  13. ^ "Connecticut On A Reef?; Report from San Juan Discredited at Navy Department" (PDF). The New York Times. 24 January 1907. p. 1.
  14. ^ "(No Title)" (PDF). The New York Times. 24 January 1907. p. 1.
  15. ^ "The Connecticut All Right; Battleship Only Slightly Damaged by Striking Ground at Culebra" (PDF). The New York Times. 25 January 1907. p. 1.
  16. ^ "Connecticut's Plates Driven Upward By Reef; Naval Officers Say She May Have to Go Into Dry Dock" (PDF). The New York Times. 6 February 1907. p. 5.
  17. ^ "Court-martial For Swift; Connecticut's Captain to be Tried on March 26" (PDF). The New York Times. 21 March 1907. p. 5.
  18. ^ "Capt. Swift On Trial; Must Answer for the Grounding of the Battleship Connecticut" (PDF). The New York Times. 27 March 1907. p. 4.
  19. ^ Albertson (2007), pp. 36–37
  20. ^ Albertson (2007), p. 37
  21. ^ a b Albertson (2007), p. 38
  22. ^ Albertson (2007), p. 39
  23. ^ Albertson (2007), p. 40
  24. ^ Albertson (2007), p. 41
  25. ^ "The cruise of the Great White Fleet". Navy Historical Center. United States Navy.
  26. ^ a b Albertson (2007), p. 42
  27. ^ Albertson (2007), pp. 42–43
  28. ^ Albertson (2007), p. 43
  29. ^ Albertson (2007), p. 44
  30. ^ Albertson (2007), pp. 44–45
  31. ^ Albertson (2007), p. 45
  32. ^ Albertson (2007), p. 46
  33. ^ Albertson (2007), pp. 46–47
  34. ^ Albertson (2007), p. 47
  35. ^ Albertson (2007), p. 48
  36. ^ Albertson (2007), p. 48
  37. ^ Albertson (2007), pp. 48–49
  38. ^ Albertson (2007), p. 49
  39. ^ Albertson (2007), pp. 49–50
  40. ^ Albertson (2007), pp. 52–56
  41. ^ Albertson (2007), p. 54
  42. ^ Albertson (2007), p. 57
  43. ^ Albertson (2007), pp. 58–59
  44. ^ Albertson (2007), p. 60
  45. ^ Albertson (2007), pp. 61–62
  46. ^ Albertson (2007), p. 62
  47. ^ Albertson (2007), pp. 62–63
  48. ^ Albertson (2007), p. 63
  49. ^ Albertson (2007), pp. 63–64
  50. ^ Albertson (2007), pp. 64–65
  51. ^ Albertson (2007), pp. 65–66
  52. ^ Albertson (2007), p. 66
  53. ^ Albertson (2007), pp. 66–67
  54. ^ a b Albertson (2007), p. 67
  55. ^ Albertson (2007), p. 68
  56. ^ Albertson (2007), pp. 68–69
  57. ^ Albertson (2007), p. 69
  58. ^ Albertson (2007), pp. 69–70
  59. ^ a b Albertson (2007), p. 70
  60. ^ a b c Albertson (2007), p. 71
  61. ^ Albertson (2007), p. 72

Bibliography

  • Albertson, Mark (2007). USS Connecticut: Constitution State Battleship. Tate Publishing. ISBN 1598867393. (Google Books link)
  • Alden, John D. American Steel Navy: A Photographic History of the U.S. Navy from the Introduction of the Steel Hull in 1883 to the Cruise of the Great White Fleet. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989. ISBN 0870212486
  • Forged Steel Water-tube Marine Boilers (Second ed.). New York and London: Babcock & Wilcox. 1914. (Google Books link)
  • Friedman, Norman. U.S. Battleships: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985. ISBN 0870217151
  • Reilly, John C. and Robert L. Scheina. American Battleships 1996-1923: Predreadnought Design and Construction. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1980. ISBN 0870215248
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