Skip to main content
USNI Logo USNI Logo USNI Logo
Donate
  • Cart
  • Join or Log In
  • Search

Main navigation

  • About Us
  • Membership
  • Books & Press
  • USNI News
  • Proceedings
  • Naval History
  • Archives
  • Events
  • Donate
USNI Logo USNI Logo USNI Logo
Donate
  • Cart
  • Join or Log In
  • Search

Main navigation (Sticky)

  • About Us
  • Membership
  • Books & Press
  • USNI News
  • Proceedings
  • Naval History
  • Archives
  • Events
  • Donate

Sub Menu

  • Essay Contests
    • About Essay Contests
  • Current Issue
  • Subscribe to Naval History
    • Naval History Digital Subscription
    • Renew Your Subscription
  • Submisison Guidelines
  • Contact Naval History
    • Media Inquiries
  • All Issues
Union Square
Surrounded by a cordon of sidewalk superintendents, the landship Recruit was under construction in New York City’s Union Square when this photograph was taken in April 1917.
Library of Congress

Sub Menu

  • Essay Contests
    • About Essay Contests
  • Current Issue
  • Subscribe to Naval History
    • Naval History Digital Subscription
    • Renew Your Subscription
  • Submisison Guidelines
  • Contact Naval History
    • Media Inquiries
  • All Issues

Manhattan’s Battleship

By J. M. Caiella
June 2022
Naval History
Historic Ships
View Issue
Comments
Body

“This big ship is advertising propaganda, pure and simple,” is how Blain Ewing, chairman of New York City Mayor John P. Mitchel’s Defence [sic] League in May 1917 described the “USS Recruit,” under construction in the city’s Union Square. A month after the United States entered World War I, the city was behind in providing its quota of men to the Navy. The Army had the draft to fill its rolls, but the Navy and Marine Corps had to rely on recruitment. The Recruit was to serve not only as a recruiting vehicle, but also as a training “ship” and a hands-on interface between the Navy and general public.

The Defence League believed it “pays to advertise” and proceeded to do so in New York fashion, if not style.

info box

The Recruit was paid for by conscription through the league office; no taxpayer or Navy money was used in her construction. Nevertheless, some questioned a great expenditure of money during wartime on a ship that would not—and could not—sail. Ewing would say only that she cost in excess of $10,000. Materials were sold to the league at or below cost, the construction company donated its services and supervisors, and other companies donated much of the Recruit’s equipment.

When completed, the structure somewhat resembled a battleship. The completely wooden recruiting station mounted three twin-gun main battery turrets with 14-inch guns and ten secondary battery 5-inch guns in hull-mounted barbettes. All weapons were also wooden. She had a single stack standing 18 feet above the superstructure, a conning tower, and 50-foot-tall cage masts at the fore and main. 

Union Square
Surrounded by a cordon of sidewalk superintendents, the landship Recruit was under construction in New York City’s Union Square when this photograph was taken in April 1917. Credit: Library of Congress

The Recruit was christened by the mayor’s wife on 30 May 1917 “in the presence of one of the largest crowds ever assembled” in the square. The mayor presented the ship to the Navy, and she was accepted by Rear Admiral Nathaniel R. Usher, commandant of the New York (Brooklyn) Navy Yard. Command was turned over to Commander Charles A. Adams, a veteran of the Civil and Spanish-American wars.

Recruiting offices for both the Navy and Marine Corps were within the landship. Also inside were a large waiting room for recruits and applicants, showers, toilet facilities, offices for doctors, and examination rooms both fore and aft. Popular Science Monthly noted there was a “ventilating device, which changes the temperature ten times every sixty minutes.” Above the recruiting spaces, the structure was made to appear as ship-shape as possible. Bluejackets from the Brooklyn Navy Yard installed “various nautical apparatus, mystifying to a landlubber” for a fully equipped bridge. Two smaller weapons, variously described as machine guns or two models of one-pounder breech-loading rifles, also were mounted. Crewmen manning them gave gunnery demonstrations.

The Recruit
For a time during its nearly three-year service life, the Recruit sported dazzle camouflage, courtesy of the Woman’s Reserve Camouflage Corps of the National League for Woman’s Service. Credit: Library of Congress

Life on board the Recruit was “ordinary Navy routine.” The crew had reveille at 0600, ate mess, scrubbed decks, laundered clothing, attended classes and trained, stood guard, and answered visitors’ questions. Watches were stood to 2300, and from sundown searchlight projectors on board the facility illuminated the skyline around the square.

In addition to her recruitment and public-relations duties, the landship was a focal point for Liberty Bond drives, dances, boxing matches, and as a set for the 1917 movie Over There. She struck a bit of a fashion note for a time during her nearly three-year commission when she received a dazzle camouflage pattern of green, blue, mauve, white, and black geometric shapes.

By most accounts, the Recruit was successful, with 25,000 Navy recruits to her credit.

After the war, plans were made to move the landship to Coney Island, where she was intended to remain as a recruiting depot at Luna Park. On 17 March 1920, The New York Times reported that “[a]fter riding at anchor” for nearly three years in Union Square, the Recruit “yesterday began a voyage” to Coney Island. After ceremonies at the 1000 “sailing time,” the crew stood at attention on the quarterdeck as the colors were lowered and the “commissioned pennant” was hauled down. It was estimated to take two weeks to dismantle and reconstruct the landship, but the project was abandoned when the cost of moving her exceeded her value. The materials likely were repurposed. 

J. M. Caiella

Mr. Caiella is a journalist of more than 45 years with experience as a photographer, editor, writer, designer, and graphic artist. He has worked as lead editor of scholarly publications for the Naval History and Heritage Command, senior editor of Proceedings and Naval History magazines, and writer-editor for the U.S. Marine Corps’ History Division.

More Stories From This Author View Biography

Related Articles

Buchanan
NH Historic Ships

Little-Remembered Heroine

By J. M. Caiella
April 2022
Of the 273 iconic four-stack destroyers of three World War I–era classes, several gained fame during the later global conflict.
Adirondack illustration
NH Historic Ships

A Very Short Life

By J. M. Caiella
February 2022
With a service life of just 54 days, the screw sloop Adirondack had little time to make an impact on history.
painting of ship
NH Historic Ships

The Yankee Racehorse

By J M. Caiella
December 2021
The 36-gun ship Constellation was one of the first six frigates of the new U.S. Navy, which was created in 1797.

Quicklinks

Footer menu

  • About the Naval Institute
  • Books & Press
  • Naval History
  • USNI News
  • Proceedings
  • Oral Histories
  • Events
  • Naval Institute Foundation
  • Photos & Historical Prints
  • Advertise With Us
  • Naval Institute Archives

Receive the Newsletter

Sign up to get updates about new releases and event invitations.

Sign Up Now
Example NewsletterPrivacy Policy
USNI Logo White
Copyright © 2025 U.S. Naval Institute Privacy PolicyTerms of UseContact UsAdvertise With UsFAQContent LicenseMedia Inquiries
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
×

You've read 1 out of 5 free articles of Naval History this month.

Non-subscribers can read five free Naval History articles per month. Subscribe now and never hit a limit.