8 JANUARY 1907

                                          THE ORIGIN OF “U.S.S.”

Prior to the 20th century there was no policy governing the titling of US warships in official correspondence.  Navy vessels were sometimes distinguished from merchant or research ships by writing out the words “United States Ship” in front of their name.  Alternatively, the type of vessel might be referenced (“Unites States Frigate CONSTELLATION”).  Occasionally the ship’s rigging (“United States Brig SOMERS”) or mission (“United States Flag-Ship CONGRESS”) formed the basis of her identification.  Following the Civil War a simple “U.S.S.” prefix fell into unofficial usage, however none of these practices was universal or mandatory. 

Then the last century dawned upon a worldwide upsurge in navalism.  Our nation’s success in the 1898 Spanish-American war was followed by Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency, in which the battleship, in particular, became his “big stick” of foreign policy.  Our Navy enjoyed a great expansion, in the year 1906 alone no less than six new battleships were commissioned.  In June of 1906, Congress made an extraordinary authorization in the case of DELAWARE (BB-28), unprecedented in that it included no limit on her tonnage!  By late 1906 planning was underway on the unrivaled endeavor of sending our Atlantic Battleship fleet (the so-called “Great White Fleet”) on a world cruise.  Elsewhere that same year Britain commissioned HMS DREADNOUGHT, the most powerful battleship to date.  Similar US designs had already been approved and on December 17^th and 18^th, respectively, the keels were laid for MICHIGAN (BB-27) and SOUTH CAROLINA (BB-26), our first Dreadnought-type, all-big-gun battlewagons.  It is understandable that amid this naval ascendancy Roosevelt would require that US warships be formally designated as official agents of our government.  On this date President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 549:

In order that there shall be uniformity in the manner of designating naval vessels, it is hereby directed that the official designation of vessels of war and other vessels of the Navy of the United States, shall be the name of such vessel preceded by the words, United States Ship, or the letters U.S.S., and by no other words or letters.

Unfortunately, we still had no convention for hull numbering, and the written-out identities of some ships remained cumbersome, for example, “UNITED STATES SHIP COAST TORPEDO BOAT NO. 6.”  This problem was resolved in 1920 with General Order 541 that created our present alpha-numeric system of hull numbering.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  15 JAN 25

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 1 “A-B”.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1959, pp. 193-94.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 4 “L-M”.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1969, pp. 608-09, 698-702.

Love, Robert W.  History of the US Navy, Vol 1  1775-1941.  Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1992, pp. 429-433.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  General Order 541 in 1920 shortened written-out designations and discriminated combatant from auxiliary Navy vessels by giving combatants a double-letter prefix–BB for battleship, FF for frigate, SS for submarine, etc.  Auxiliaries were assigned a leading “A” as in AS for submarine tender or AO for oiler.  Naval thinking of the 1920s emphasized gunnery–aircraft were thought useful largely for scouting and reconnaissance.  Therefore, purpose-built aircraft carriers were classed as auxiliaries with the prefix “ACV.”  Despite their changing role in modern times this convention has been continued, with the leading “A” often omitted.  (The double “CC” designation was reserved, of course, for combatant cruisers).

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                                               RADIO FAUX PAS

Communication between ships at sea had been line-of-sight visual to date, even in foul weather.  Experimentation had been in the works for years, indeed in 1888 a genius of naval invention, CAPT Bradley A. Fiske, ran current pulses through insulated wire wrapped around the steel hull of the cruiser ATLANTA and listened to sounds picked up on a nearby similarly enwrapped ship.  Fiske later experimented with “fleet telephony”–stringing telegraph wire between ships steaming in column.  By 1903, Guglielmo Marconi’s wireless telegraph had become practical, and shore wireless sets of 1906 were broadcasting weather information seaward.  As well, the Naval Observatory was transmitting wireless time signals to 75 radio-equipped US Navy warships.

On this brilliant blue Monday morning of December 16^th, the steam yacht USS MAYFLOWER (PY-1), with President Theodore Roosevelt embarked, weighed anchor and proceeded out of Hampton Roads.  She led sixteen first-class battleships of the “Great White Fleet” in single file.  This was Roosevelt’s “big stick,” cruising around the world to demonstrate new-found US naval prowess.  MAYFLOWER paused at the mouth of the Chesapeake to wish the fleet a final farewell.  The battleships filed past the Commander-in-Chief at precise 400-yard intervals, CONNECTICUT (BB-18) in the van, each firing a gun salute, each with the rails manned.  No spectacle of this scale had ever before been accomplished.  These were the finest and best equipped ships in any Navy, but even among our own sailors there were doubts about the durability of turn-of-the-century naval technology.  In fact, against the possibility of embarrassing mechanical failures, Roosevelt and Navy officials announced only that the fleet intended to go as far as California.

After dinner on this first night at sea, fleet commander RADM Robley D. Evans addressed his fleet.  Despite official precautions about the itinerary, and despite Evan’s unfamiliarity with this new-fangled radio, he announced to the fleet their true intent to sail around the world.  Cheers echoed across the water.  Unknown to Evans however, his broadcast was picked up by wireless stations along the Atlantic coast.  The story headlined newspapers around the nation the next day, humiliating President Roosevelt.  An immediate walk-back claimed it was only Evans’ personal belief that a world cruise was planned.  Secretary of the Navy Victor H. Metcalf denied even this, stating that the ultimate destination of the fleet beyond San Francisco was as yet “undetermined.”  In fact, the political damage control proved prudent on December 20^th, when ILLINOIS (BB-7) and KENTUCKY (BB-6) did suffer brief mechanical issues.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  25 DEC 24

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Fiske, Bradley A.  “Fleet Telephony”.  Proceedings of the USNI, Vol 121, March 1907, pp. 239-42.

Love, Robert W.  History of the US Navy, Vol 1  1775-1941.  Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1992, p. 442.

Reckner, James R.  Teddy Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1988, pp. 23-27.

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, pp. 109-10.

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                      EARLY NAVAL AVIATION

As early as 1898 such forward thinkers as Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt urged that the “flying machines” then under development be investigated.  Indeed, in less than a decade civilian aircraft designers Glenn Curtiss and the Wright brothers were competing to sell aviation technology to the military.  On 29 September 1910, Secretary of the Navy George von Lengerke Myer appointed CAPT Washington Irving Chambers to coordinate naval policy on aviation.  Chambers, at the urging of Glenn Curtiss, ordered the construction of a wooden platform on the bow of the light cruiser BIRMINGHAM (CL-2).  On November 14^th, Eugene B. Ely, a civilian test pilot for Curtiss’ corporation, made the first successful launch from a ship while BIRMINGHAM lay at anchor in Hampton Roads.  His 50-hp. Curtiss pusher plane dipped off the ramp and splashed the water’s surface but managed to struggle into the air for a landing on Willoughby Spit.  A keen businessman, Curtiss next offered to train several Navy officers as pilots at his school at North Island, San Diego.  LT Theodore Gordon Ellyson was the first to be ordered to such training at the Glenn Curtiss Aviation Center in 23 December 1910.

But to sell the Navy completely, Curtiss still had to demonstrate that aircraft could land on ships.  Toward that end he had a wooden deck built over the after gun turret on the cruiser PENNSYLVANIA (ACR-4).  From the fantail it stretched 120 feet forward, ending with a solid vertical wall.  Twenty ropes were spread athwart the ramp, weighted at each end with a fifty-pound sandbag.  A hook mounted on the tail of the Curtiss pusher was to snag the lines sequentially.  Mr. Ely again piloted this historic landing.  At 1100 this day, while PENNSYLVANIA rested at anchor in San Francisco Bay, Ely brought his plane around for an approach.  In front of an army of news reporters and cameras the Curtiss pusher jerked to a picture-perfect landing.  Ely greeted Pennsylvania’s skipper, CAPT Charles F. Pond, then an hour later took off again for Selfridge Field.

Events moved quickly from this point.  On April 12^th LT Ellyson completed his flight training, becoming Naval Aviator #1.  The first naval air station was designated in September, the Engineering Experiment Station at Annapolis, across the Severn River from the Academy.  And on 22 May the following year, USMC 2^nd LT Alfred A. Cunningham became the first Marine Corps aviator.

Today, hanging in the lobby of the San Diego Aerospace Museum in Balboa Park, is a mock-up of LT Ellyson flying a Curtiss biplane during his training.  It remembers the important contribution San Diego made to the development of Naval Aviation.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  25 JAN 23

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, pp. 1-6.

Downey, George.  “Eugene Ely:  He Gave the Navy Wings.”  Sea Classics, Vol 44 (4), April 2011, pp. 42-46, 64.

Love, Robert W.  History of the US Navy, Vol 1  1775-1941.  Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1992, pp. 451-52.

Site visit.  San Diego Aerospace Museum, Balboa Park, San Diego, California, 12 June 1998.

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. 112.

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                   SAMPSON-SCHLEY CONTROVERSY

The naval battle of Santiago on 3 July 1898 had been a pivotal victory in the Spanish-American war, despite some initial miscues.  The overall commander, Acting RADM William T. Sampson, had gone ashore hours before the battle to confer with Army commanders.  On-scene command fell to CAPT Winfield S. Schley in the cruiser BROOKLYN (ACR-3), who, when he observed the lead Spanish warship emerging from the harbor, ordered an inscrutable turn to port, away from the enemy cruiser.  BROOKLYN completed a 270^o loop to finally reach the proper heading, and in doing so crossed the path of the battleship TEXAS, who was forced to back all her engines.  Sampson heard the gunfire from ashore and returned in the cruiser NEW YORK (ACR-2) only to find he had missed most of the action.

Newspaper columns of the day sang the praises of CAPT Schley, to whom the lion’s share of the credit for the victory was given.  Out of respect for his commanding officer, Schley prepared a telegram laying credit for the victory at the feet of Sampson.  Sampson happily forwarded Schley’s telegram to SECNAV but appended it with a secret letter criticizing Schley’s dilatory conduct a month earlier in establishing the initial blockade of Santiago.  This secret letter came to light a few months later as Congress was considering the promotions of Schley, Sampson, and George Dewey to the permanent grade of RADM.  Schley was outraged, and his strong letter of protest sidelined plans to advance Sampson several slots above Schley on the seniority list.

The issue rested for two years until the respected historian Edgar Maclay published volume III of A History of the United States Navy, a text then in use at the Naval Academy.  In it, Maclay roundly criticized Schley’s actions before and during the battle, hinting even at Schley’s cowardice.  Again, Schley was outraged and requested a special Board of Inquiry into his conduct at the battle.  Secretary of the Navy John D. Long reluctantly convened the Board, which deliberated over 40 days.  Their majority opinion, released this day, sided with Sampson (though Board president RADM George Dewey authored the minority opinion supporting Schley).  This only incensed Schley the further, who appealed directly to President Theodore Roosevelt.

By now, the squabbling between otherwise respected naval officers had embarrassed the Navy substantially.  And after reviewing the entire case, Roosevelt approved the findings of the majority.  Schley continued his protestations until a frustrated Roosevelt arbitrarily declared the case closed.  The controversy split the senior Navy leadership between pro- and anti-Schley factions, a rift that remained until WWI intervened.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  20 DEC 22

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Beach, Edward L.  The United States Navy:  200 Years.  New York, NY: Henry Holt Co., 1986, pp. 362-65.

Langley, Harold D.  “Winfield S. Schley and Santiago:  A New Look at an Old Controversy.”  IN: James C. Bradford.  Crucible of Empire:  The Spanish American War & its Aftermath.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1993, pp. 69-98.

Maclay, Edgar Stanton.  A History of the United States Navy:  From 1775 to 1901, Vol III.  New York, NY: D. Appleton and Co., 1901, pp. 363-66.

Potter, E.B.  Sea Power: A Naval History, 2^nd ed.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1981, p. 185.

Sweetman, Jack.  American Naval History: An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 2^nd ed.  Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1991, p. 116.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  The Sampson-Schley controversy ranks with Tailhook as one of the greatest public image debacles in our Navy’s history.  The squabbling over an essentially vainglorious issue–who deserved credit for the one-sided victory at Santiago–tarnished the image of the Naval officer in favor of that of the Army officer.  The pro-Schley lobby was led by the respected George Dewey with the anti-Schley side voiced by War College pillars Alfred T. Mahan and Stephen B. Luce.  Ironically, Edward Beach points out that in truth, neither Sampson nor Schley had planned for the unexpected daylight breakout of the Spanish.  Neither was Schley “in command” of the fleet that morning.  The record shows he gave commands only to his flagship BROOKLYN.  In reality, every ship captain present had acted on his own in tackling the obvious situation that presented.

As a result of the controversy, Maclay’s test was withdrawn from the curriculum at the Naval Academy.  Few copies of volume III were printed and even fewer survive today.

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                                               10 OCTOBER 1913

                                           THE PANAMA CANAL

At 1401 this afternoon, in a media event, President Woodrow Wilson pressed a button in the Executive Building of downtown Washington DC.  Two thousand miles to the south, dynamite charges blasted the last construction dike in the Culebra Cut, the final section of the Panama Canal joining the Atlantic and Pacific.  The largest single Federal expenditure to that day, $352 million, had resulted in the removal of 262 million cubic yards of earth, three times the volume of the Suez Canal.  Ten more months of finishing work was necessary before the first grand crossing by the civilian steamer SS Ancon on 15 August 1914.

Between 1883-89, the French tried and failed in an ambitious attempt at a sea-level canal.  Though the route across Panama was only some 40 miles in distance, the terrain featured a central mountain range, the lowest point of which, the Culebra Pass, reached 275 feet above sea level.  There was the raging Chagres River with which to contend, and the jungles were plagued with dreaded diseases.  Unlike the French experience with the Suez Canal, there was no native labor force nor infrastructure in Panama to tap.  Unanticipated costs, both in francs and in human life, ran the French Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interoceanique into bankruptcy.  Ironically, they might have succeeded had they listened to Baron Godin de Lepinay of the French Department of Bridges and Highways.  He proposed a plan the Americans would later pursue–the damming of the central highlands to create an artificial lake, with locks ascending from each coast.

In the US previously, Theodore Roosevelt had seen an inter-ocean canal as key to US leadership in the Western Hemisphere.  He endorsed RADM Alfred T. Mahan’s call for a strong Navy with easy mobility from Atlantic to Pacific.  Roosevelt too, had winced in 1898, when the Pacific based battleship OREGON (BB-3) was delayed in reaching the Caribbean during the Spanish American war by having to cruise 67 days ’round the Horn.  In 1902, Roosevelt’s drive led to our purchase the rights to the French excavations.  And, once the political roadblocks had been removed, the able engineer John Stevens was sent south with orders to “make the dirt fly!”

San Diego, the first American port north of the canal, stood as a major benefactor and staged the gala Exposition of 1914-15 to coincide with the canal’s opening.  (Many of the buildings constructed for this exposition still stand in Balboa Park today).  Plans to inaugurate the canal justly with a transit by the aging OREGON complete with retired RADM Charles E. Clark at the helm, fell through.  The first Navy ship to cross was the collier USS JUPITER (AC-3), on 10-12 October 1914.

Watch the POD for more “Today in Naval History”  16 OCT 22

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

McCullough, David.  The Path Between the Seas:  The Creation of the Panama Canal – 1870-1914.  Simon and Schuster, New York, NY, pp. 589-615, 1977.

Minter, John Easter.  The Chagres:  River of Westward Passage.  New York, NY: Rinehart & Co. 1948.

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, p. 117, 2002.

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