SAN DIEGO LOST

Almost as our ten Pennsylvania and Tennessee-class armored cruisers entered service at the turn of the 20^th century they were rendered obsolete by advances in technology and dreadnaught design.  By the entry of the US into WWI in 1917, our armored cruisers were no longer being detailed to front-line missions.  For example, USS CALIFORNIA (ACR-6), newly renamed SAN DIEGO to allow the former name to be given to the battleship BB-13, was shepherding merchant ships from eastern seaboard ports to the convoy assembly points in Nova Scotia.

This morning found SAN DIEGO steaming alone south of Long Island, headed for New York City.  She was zig-zagging in calm seas with good visibility.  But at 1123, the morning routine was interrupted when a violent explosion lifted her port quarter.  Seawater flooded through a large hole blown in her port side just aft of amidships.  Two secondary explosions signaled the bursting of her port boiler and the detonation of a magazine.  Sailors clamored to their GQ stations–all eyes searching the seas for a periscope.  Guns opened on anything even remotely resembling a feather wake.

CAPT Harley H. Christy ordered the starboard engine full ahead even as a list to port rapidly developed.  He turned in the direction Fire Island Beach in the hope that the settling cruiser could reach shallow water.  All her guns were in action, firing at any wisp upon the surface.  Assuming they had been torpedoed by a lurking German U-boat, her port gunners fired until their stations went awash.  On the starboard side the firing ended when the advancing list pointed the guns skyward.  Men stayed at their posts until the starboard engine flooded, and CAPT Christy became convinced the ship would founder.  Christy himself was the last to leave, working his way from the bridge to the boat deck, then over the side to the exposed docking keel.  He jumped the last eight feet to the water to the cheers of his crew in the boats, who broke out singing The Star Spangled Banner.  SAN DIEGO rolled and sank.  All but six of her crewmen were rescued.

SAN DIEGO was the only major US warship lost to combat in WWI.  A survey of her wreck by hardhat divers in the days that followed reported her capsized on the bottom with severe hull damage.  A salvage effort by the Navy was not attempted.  Though the men on the scene were convinced she had been torpedoed, the exact nature of her demise was never determined.  The controversy persists today, however German records indicate she was most likely the victim of a floating mine laid by U-156.  Her wreck remains a popular sport diving site today.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  25 JUL 25

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Albert, George J.  “The U.S.S. San Diego and the California Naval Militia.”  AT: http://www.militarymuseum.org/usssandiego.html, 7 June 2007.

Berg, Daniel.  “The USS San Diego Shipwreck.”  AT:  http://www.aquaexplorers.com/sandiego.com, 7 June 2007.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 2 “C-F”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1977.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  Though most of SAN DIEGO’s sailors were picked up by other ships in the area, four lifeboats full of sailors managed to row the 8 miles to shore, three landing at Bellport, and one at the Lone Hill Coast Guard Station.

          Though The Star Spangled Banner was often used for official occasions and ceremonies from as early as the 19^th century, it was not officially adopted by Congress as our National Anthem until 1931.

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                                        LTJG WEEDON OSBORNE

The US entry into World War I prompted Chicago dentist Weedon Osborne to seek a commission in the Navy Dental Corps, which he received 8 May 1917.  He reported for duty 26 March 1918 with the 2^nd Battalion, 6^th Marine Regiment, 96^th Company.  This day found the 2/6 Marines entrenched on the battlefields of France before Belleau Wood.

By noon, this day was already the bloodiest in USMC history.  Hundreds of leathernecks had stepped off that morning in the direction of the German high ground at Hill 142 and Belleau Wood.  Their advance across a mile of open field had been raked by machine guns, and units supporting their flanks had lagged.  CPT Donald F. Duncan’s 96^th Company gained the edge of Belleau Wood and there became a reserve behind a US Army unit.  But the collapse of the American right flank allowed the Germans to occupy the town of Bouresches.  The 2/6 Marines were ordered to take that town, the 96^th Company in the lead.

The 96^th advanced across Triangle Farm via a ravine, but the staccato reports from German guns would not be denied.  Casualties mounted.  On the left, LT Bowling’s platoon was soon leaderless.  LT Lockhart’s platoon on the right had an easier time of it and forged ahead of the line of advance.  At this, smartly mustachioed CPT Duncan, in his pressed uniform, swagger stick, and straight-stemmed pipe, walked calmly out across the battlefield in the direction of Lockhart’s platoon.  Accompanied by First Sergeant Sissler, the two seemed oblivious to the hailstorm of German bullets.  Issuing orders and smiling all the while, Duncan halted Lockhart’s men, then moved the rest of the company into an organized line just 600 yards from the Germans.   In an instant a Maxim round caught Duncan in the stomach.  SGT Al Sheridan called for medical, and LTJG Osborne and an unnamed Corpsman came running.  Osborne had made several trips to ferry wounded Marines that afternoon, but this potential loss of the charismatic company commander would be a blow to the unit.  Osborne, Sheridan, and the Corpsman carried the gasping Duncan to shelter in a small clump of trees.  Just as he was being made comfortable an 8-inch shell screamed in.  The deafening explosion, dust, and smoke settled to reveal Osborne, the Corpsman, and Duncan lying dead.

For “extraordinary heroism under fire” in attempting to rescue his company commander and others this bloody day, LTJG Osborne was awarded the Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Service Cross.  He is buried today in the Aisne-Marne American National Cemetery near the spot where he died.  Rue (street) Weedon Osborne in the town of Bouresches remembers his sacrifice, as does the US Navy Clemson-class destroyer OSBORNE (DD-295).

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  12 JUN 25

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Asprey, Robert B.  At Belleau Wood.  Denton, TX: Univ. North Texas Press, 1996, pp. 171-85.

Site visit.  Aisne-Marne American National Cemetery, Belleau, France, March 2002.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  When this battle started Osborne’s dental equipment had not yet arrived in France.  He had taken to assisting, nevertheless, adopting the role of a Hospital Corpsmen.

          CPT Donald F. Duncan was awarded the Navy Cross, Silver Star, and Distinguished Service Medal for his actions this day.

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