Battleship that Never Died
Just outside Florida’s Pensacola Bay lie the 100-year-old remains of the USS Massachusetts (BB-2), America’s oldest battleship, now protected by the state. Launched in 1893 as part of America’s new “Steel Navy,” the Indiana (BB-l)-class Massachusetts was 350 feet long, with two 13-inch guns in each of two turrets, one forward and one aft, plus smaller ordnance. Her armor was up to 18 inches thick, her top speed 15 knots. The second U.S. battleship saw her first combat in the Spanish-American War in 1898, when she fought the Cristobal Colon and helped sink the Reina Mercedes. One of her crew from 1917, Charles Brems, is nearly 100 years old and lives in Chicago.
In 1921, the obsolete Massachusetts was towed to Pensacola and scuttled in 26 feet of water, to be used for target practice. Scarred and torn, she sat there peacefully until 1956, when the Navy agreed to release her to salvage companies for scrap. The people of Pensacola fought against that, and ultimately she came under Florida ownership. The shipwreck became the state’s fourth under water archaeological preserve, her two big turrets awash most of the time, a mecca for fish, fisherman, and more than 20,000 scuba divers each year.
A bronze commemorative plaque, featuring Nike, the winged goddess of victory, was recently placed on the ship. The winged victory design is based on a 6-foot carving mounted originally on the front of the forward turret. That 100- year-old carving can be seen today in Dahlgren Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy. For more information on the wreck, contact Connie Franklin, Friends of the USS Massachusetts (BB-2), 904- 474-8836, or Roger Smith, Underwater Archaeologist at Florida’s Bureau of Archaeological Research, 904-487-2299.
A Different War
Two new monographs commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Marine Corps in World War II. A Different War: Marines in Europe and North Africa, by Lieutenant Colonel Harry W. Edwards, USMC (Ret.), tells of Marines who parachuted into France to help the French underground, worked with British units in the desert war, and participated in Operation Overlord. Liberation: Marines in the Recapture of Guam, by Cyril J. O’Brien, details the fighting of the 3d Marine Division, the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, and the Army’s 77th Infantry Division that fought to regain U.S. territory that fell to the Japanese on 10 December 1941. Both publications include numerous photographs and maps. For more information, write: U.S. Government Printing Office, Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D.C. 20402-9328.
—A. Ferrante
Naval History Prize Winners
The Naval Historical Center and the Naval Historical Foundation have awarded the annual Ernest M. Eller Prize in Naval History to Professor Frederick S. Harrod of the Naval Academy History Department. His winning article, “New Technology in the Old Navy: The United States Navy During the 1870s,” appeared in The American Neptune, Vol. 53, Winter 1993. It examines the development of new naval technology during a period traditionally considered the “doldrums” of U.S. naval activity, but which actually laid the groundwork for the “New Navy” of the 1880s.
Gene A. Smith earned an Honorable Mention for his article “For the Purposes of Defense: Thomas Jefferson’s Naval Militia.” Thomas Wildenberg received an Honorable Mention for “Chester Nimitz and the Development of Fueling at Sea.” These articles were published in The American Neptune and the Naval War College Review, respectively.
The Eller Prize for research articles published in scholarly journals includes a $1,000 honorarium. For more information, or to nominate an article published in 1994, write: Senior Historian, Naval Historical Center, Building 57, 901 M Street SE, Washington, D.C. 20374- 5060, by 1 March 1995.
—W. Karppi
Black Panther Strikes Again
The Maryland Historical Trust and the U.S. Navy are creating Maryland’s first underwater park near the mouth of the Potomac River. The German submarine U-1105, nicknamed by her crew “Schwarzer Panther” (the “Black Panther") because of her black hull color, was confiscated as a prize of war at the end of World War II and sunk here in 1949 during explosive tests.
Recently rediscovered and still the property of the U.S. Navy, the U-1105 may be the best preserved U-Boat wreck in North American waters and is the only known surviving rubber-clad U- Boat constructed near the end of World War II. This “super weapon,” built to neutralize Allied sonar detection equipment, represents one of the earliest successful uses of modern “stealth” technology fielded in wartime.
Archaeologists are studying the wreck, which will become a site for supervised recreational divers to explore, probably in Fall 1994- The state plans to create a land-based visitors center to interpret and control the preserve. For more information, call Michael K. Day at 410-514-7617.
Historic Fleet Beats the Heat
Despite the long, hot summer, the historic fleet keeps busy.
Norfolk, Virginia, recently opened its new Nauticus National Maritime Center. Among its exhibitions, displays, and activities are: the superbly installed and relocated Hampton Roads Naval Museum; the bridge of the former USS Preble (DLG-15), a Coontz (DDG-40)-class guided missile frigate; a submarine periscope; and much more. From its exterior viewing decks visitors can observe the comings and goings of the most modern, active-duty navy in the world in its largest and busiest port. For more information, phone 804-664-1000. or 800-664-1080, or fax 804-623-9886.
The Liberty Ship Jeremiah O’Brien made it all the way from her homeport in San Francisco to England and to Normandy for the big commemorative celebrations on the 50th anniversary of D- Day. The Jeremiah O’Brien was the only U.S. veteran ship to make it, a real credit to the combined efforts of the Maritime Administration, the National Park Service, and to the great crew of volunteers who have faithfully maintained it and who steamed with it.
The Constellation in Baltimore has been designated one of the 11 most endangered historic places in the United States. The National Trust for Historic Preservation gave $5,000 to launch a renewed effort to save the ship. This of course is a drop in the proverbial bucket. Without massive support—the kind of civic effort that created the Pride of Baltimore—the Constellation is doomed (see “No Iron Sides,” page 59, of the July/Au- gust issue of Naval History).
It is almost certain now that the old escort carrier Cabot (CVL-28), returned from Spain for a museum at New Orleans, will go to the scrapyard, but efforts continue to preserve other ships for the historic fleet. New York City is considering a campaign to acquire the recently decommissioned amphibious assault ship Guadalcanal (LPH-7) as a helo-port and exhibit at the Intrepid Air-Sea-Space Museum at West 46th Street.
Jacksonville, Florida, is looking into preserving and showing the carrier Saratoga (CV-60), decommissioned in August. She is a veteran of the Cold War and Vietnam. The submarine Ling (SS-297) on exhibit in Hackensack,
New Jersey’s, waterfront, earned a $5,000 operating grant from the F.M. Kirby Foundation. The Tin Can Sailors Association has awarded more than $250,000 over the past two years to help keep six historic fleet destroyers in a visitors- ready state. The Battleship Alabama Commission, Mobile, Alabama, is planning a 36,000-square-foot building to house its historic aircraft collection.
The War of 1812 brig Niagara of Erie, Pennsylvania, received grants from the Small Businessmen’s Association and the state Forestry Bureau for its innovative educational program. The flagship of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry during the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813 is a fantastic tool for teaching history. The folks in Erie have expanded the educational potential of the vessel into 7th grade biology studies, focusing on the nine types of wood used in Niagara’s construction.
The Navy is sponsoring a conference from 12 to 14 September called “Technical Aspects of Maintaining, Repairing, and Preserving Historically Significant Ships,” hosted by the Boston National Historic Park in Charleston. The Navy will be showing off the work in progress on the USS Constitution and sharing the expertise gained from the thorough and most up-to-date technical examination of our most historic naval ship. As a reminder, the annual conference of the Historic Naval Ships Association will be held on 20 to 24 September, hosted by the Bremerton Historic Naval Ships Association, Bremerton, Washington. Call 804-499-6919 for details.
—J. Cheevers