1ST OPERATIONAL SORTIE

Though the Navy and Marine Corps had been experimenting with the new-fangled flying machines of the early 20^th century, their operational role was still being defined.  Aerial reconnaissance seemed a logical task, as such technology in 1914 was limited to tethered balloons and dirigibles.  Then in Veracruz, Mexico, tempers flared over an affront to the American flag.  President Woodrow Wilson sent a naval response that included, on 20 April, an aviation detachment embarked aboard USS BIRMINGHAM (CL-2).  Three aircraft from the Navy’s aeronautical station at Pensacola were supported by three pilots and 12 enlisted under the command of LT John H. Towers.  The following day a second detachment of one pilot, three student pilots, and two aircraft under the command of LTJG Patrick N.L. Bellinger arrived on MISSISSIPPI (BB-23).  The airplanes were the Curtiss AB-3 and Curtiss AH-3.

The AB-3 was a flying boat, a biplane whose boat-shaped fuselage glided on and off the surface of the water.  The AB-3 was powered by a single 100-horsepower Curtiss OXX pusher engine attached to the upper wing.  An extra “canard” wing trailed the bi-wing structure, with a cut-out over the second seat.  Airplane markings were not yet developed, and the AB-3 hung two cloth American flags from the outer struts between the wings.  In contrast, the AH-3 was a “hydroaeroplane,” a standard fuselage biplane with floats in the place of landing gear.

By 24 April, BIRMINGHAM was positioned off Tampico, and MISSISSIPPI stood off Veracruz.  Seven hundred and eighty-seven sailors and Marines had landed three days earlier at Veracruz to protect Americans within the city.  Shots had been fired.  Out in the harbor, MISSISSIPPI’s skipper worried that mines might have been laid in the harbor as well.  He turned to his “air wing” this day, ordering that an AB-3 flying boat hoisted over the side.  LTJG Bellinger crawled aboard and took off in the direction of the city.  He scouted Veracruz and made passes over the harbor searching for mines.  It was our Navy’s first use of an aircraft in support of combat operations.

Though overshadowed by the outbreak of World War I in Europe, several other US Naval aviation “firsts” are recorded from this deployment off Veracruz.  On 28 April, Bellinger and ENS W.D. LaMont made the first photo-reconnaissance flight.  On 2 May, Bellinger and LaMont again flew on the first mission in support of ground troops, near Tejar, Mexico.  And four days after that, the AH-3 of Bellinger and LTJG Richard C. Saufley was hit by rifle fire from the ground–the first combat damage sustained by a Navy aircraft.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  30 APR 24

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Department of the Navy, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Air Warfare).  United States Naval Aviation 1910-1980.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1981, p. 10.

Goodspeed, M. Hill.  U.S. Navy:  A Complete History. Washington, DC: Naval Historical Foundation, 2003, p. 319.

Larkins, William T.  U.S. Navy Aircraft 1921-1941, U.S. Marine Corps Aircraft 1914-1959.  Atglen, PA: Schiffer Pub. Ltd., 1995, p. 1.

“Pictorial History of Naval Aviation.”  AT: www.history.navy.mil/download/pict-m2.pdf, retrieved 20 May 2006.

Taylor, Michael J.H.  Jane’s American Fighting Aircraft of the 20^th Century.  New York, NY: Mallard Press, 1991, p. 98.

Sweetman, Jack.  American Naval History:  An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 3^rd ed.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 2002, p. 116, 117.

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                                      ENS ALBERT STURTEVANT

In the early months of 1917 the United States was still officially neutral in the three-year-old World War that gripped most of Europe.  But attacks by German U-boats on American merchant ships were continuing.  All over our nation, patriotic young Americans signed up for military service in the war whose inevitability could be foretold.  Albert D. Sturtevant proved no exception when he and 28 of his Philips Academy alumni enlisted as the 1^st Yale Unit.  Sturtevant was sent to the Naval Aeronautical School in Pensacola, and while there the US entered WWI on April 6^th.  Three weeks later, on 1 May 1917, Sturtevant earned his wings as a naval aviator.

ENS Sturtevant reported to Felixstowe, England, in October.  American pilots were augmenting British squadrons flying escort across the North Sea for Holland-bound supply ships.  The Ensign flew the H-12 flying boat, one of our early operational seaplanes.  The H-12 was a Glenn Curtiss design, a large, twin-engine biplane with a boat-shaped hull suspended from the lower wing.  The hull projected forward as an open cockpit in which the pilot, navigator, and forward gunner sat.  A second open seat behind the wing accommodated the rear gunner.  Thirty caliber Lewis machine guns, both on Scarff swivel rings, protected the aircraft as she scouted for U-boats ahead of merchant ships.  By 1918, Felixstowe’s pilots were flying the more powerful “B” version of the H-12, nicknamed the “Large America.”

On this day, Sturtevant and a second H-12 took off on an escort mission.  His three enlisted gunners and spotters were C.C. Purdy, A.H. Stephenson, and S.J. Hollidge.  But today’s mission proved different than all the others to date.  Today the H-12s were jumped by five Hansa-Brandenburg W.29 mono-wing floatplane fighters.  Sturtevant’s wingman recognized the unfavorable odds and dove to escape, allowing the nimble fighters to concentrate on Sturtevant’s lumbering H-12.  The Lewis guns sprang to life; .30 caliber bullets ripped the air.  One, then a second attacking enemy spun away trailing smoke.  Though outgunned, the H-12 initially held her own.  But as the running fight approached the Belgian coast, a flight of German land-based fighters joined the attack.  Now outnumbered 16:1, enemy bullets began to take their toll.  When last seen by American eyes, Sturtevant’s crippled H-12 was spiraling toward the North Sea.  There were no survivors.

For his service on behalf of his nation, Sturtevant was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.  The WWII Clemson-class destroyer STURTEVANT (DD-240) and the Edsall-class destroyer escort of the same name, DE-239, both remember this naval aviation hero.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  22 FEB 24

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

“Aircraft of the AEF, Curtiss H-12 Flying Boat.”  AT: www.worldwar1.com/dbc/curth12.htm, 19 January 2007.

“Albert D. Sturtevant.”  AT: www.sturtevant.org.uk/aviator1.html, 19 January 2007.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 6 “R-S”.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1976, pp. 662.

Sterner, Doug.  “Full Text Citations for Award of the Navy Cross to Members of the U.S. Navy, World War I.”  AT: http:// www.homeofheros.com/valor/1_citations/01_wwi-nc/ nc_02_ww1_navy-avn.html, 22 January 2007.

Taylor, Michael J.H.  Jane’s American Fighting Aircraft of the 20th Century.  New York, NY: Mallard Press, 1991, p. 104.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  The US supplied a series of biplane flying boats to the British during the war.  The initial version, the Curtiss H-4, was nicknamed the “America” boat.  With the advent of the improved H-12, the British took to calling the H-4 the “Small America” and the H-12 “Large America,” in deference to the latter’s 96-foot wingspan (roughly 2/3 the width of a football field).  The British further modified the H-4 and the H-12, producing their own versions, the F.1 and F.2A, respectively, both nicknamed “Felixstowe.”

During WWI the Navy Cross was our third highest award behind the Medal of Honor and the Navy Distinguished Service Medal.  Congressional action in 1942 reversed the order of precedence of the Navy Cross and Distinguished Service Medal to bring Navy awards in line with the Army’s.  Sturtevant is one of 120 US Naval Aviators to be awarded the Navy Cross in WWI.  The full citation for Sturtevant’s award reads:

“The Navy Cross is awarded to Ensign Albert D. Sturtevant, U.S. Navy, for distinguished and heroic service as an aviator attached to the Royal Air Force station at Felixstowe, England, making a great many offensive patrol flights over the North Sea and was shot down when engaged gallantly in combat with a number of enemy planes.”

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