An Historical Record of Those Now in Service and of Their Predecessors of the Same Name, 1776-1915
DELAWARE
Delaware.—One of the original thirteen of the United States. It was first visited by Henry Hudson in 1609, and, in the year following, by Lord Delaware, Governor of Virginia, who entered the bay in 1610. The Dutch made the first attempt at settlement; then the Swedes, in 1638, founded New Sweden; but, in 1655, on the appearance of a Dutch fleet the New Netherlands colony was restored. In 1664, after the surrender of New Amsterdam, the Delaware settlements passed into the hands of the English. In 1774 and 1775 the colony was represented in the Continental Congress, and after its independence had been won, Delaware was the first of the states to ratify the Federal Constitution.
The battleship Delaware is one of the two capital ships authorized by the 59th Congress. She is an armored steel vessel of the first rate, of 20,000 tons displacement, with the following dimensions: length, 510 feet; breadth, 85 feet, 2 1/2 inches; mean draft, 26 feet, 11 inches. She is fitted with twin-screw vertical triple-expansion engines, of 29,529 h. p., which, on trial, gave her a speed of 21 knots. Steam is furnished by 14 Babcock and Wilcox boilers. In the Delaware, the idea of the all big-gun ship, so successfully inaugurated in our Michigan class, was continued, and ten 12-inch B. L. R.’s were mounted in pairs in five center-line turrets, two placed on the forecastle, the second firing over the first; two aft on the main deck on the same level; and one amidships, firing over the two after turrets. For defence against torpedo attack fourteen 5-inch R. F.’s are mounted in the central battery and forward and aft, while two 21-inch submerged torpedo tubes have been fitted for offensive action. Her complement is 52 officers and 886 men.
1976 The Ships of the United States Navy
The Delaware was built at the yards of the Newport News Shipbuilding Company at Newport News, Va. Her keel was laid on November 11, 1907, and she was launched on February 6, 1909. The contract price of her hull and machinery was $3,987,000.
The Delaware first went into commission at the Norfolk Navy Yard on April 4, 1910, under the command of Captain Charles A. Gove. After a month’s “ shaking-down,” she joined the Atlantic fleet at Hampton Roads, and shortly after participated in the fall target practice exercises. A voyage to Europe followed, after which Captain Gove received orders to proceed on a cruise to South American waters. This special service was ordered to test fully the reciprocating engines with which the Delaware had been fitted and thus compare their efficiency with that of the Curtis turbines which had been installed in her sister ship, the North Dakota. On April 26, immediately upon her return to Boston from the extended South American cruise, the Delaware was subjected to a surprise full-power run of 24 hours, and this was followed in about a month by another cruise to England to participate in the parade held at Portsmouth in connection with the coronation of King George V. And this complete round trip the Delaware completed without taking aboard any fuel during the trip and with 600 tons of coal left in her bunkers at the conclusion of her cruise. The old bull-dog of the navy, the Oregon, had found a worthy successor in the Delaware.
On November 20, 1911, Captain Gove was relieved by Captain John Hood. Leaving the navy yard, Brooklyn, N. Y., on January 4, 1912, after an extensive overhauling, the Delaware participated in the usual fleet exercises and maneuvers. On October 24, 1912, Captain Hugh Rodman assumed command, and he, in turn, was relieved, on December 22, 1913, by Captain William L. Rodgers. When naval occupation of Vera Cruz took place, the Delaware was undergoing repairs at the Norfolk Navy Yard, but by July 1 these were completed and she joined the fleet in Mexican waters on July 8, remaining there until early in October, when she left the Carribean and returned to American waters.
The wooden screw sloop Delaware, launched in 1863, was the fifth ship to bear the name of the Blue Hen State. She had originally been known as the Piscataqua, but on May 15, 1869, this was changed to Delaware. The Delaware was a ship of the first rate, of 3953 tons displacement and with a tonnage (old measurement) of 3177 tons. She was built by the government at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, at a cost of $1,177,895.04. Her principal dimensions were: length, 312 feet 6 inches, and breadth, 46 feet. Her engines were of the horizontal back-acting type, and she had four main and two superheating inclined boilers. In November, 1867, her battery consisted of one 60-pounder rifle, two bronze 20- pounders, two 100-pounder Parrotts, sixteen 9-inch smooth-bores, and three 12-pounder howitzers.
On May 15, 1869, the date on which the ship received her new name, the Delaware was at Shanghai, in command of Captain E. English. She was the flagship of Rear Admiral Stephen C. Rowan, the commander-in-chief of the Asiatic fleet. This duty she continued to perform until her recall to the United States in 1870. When she reached the New York Navy Yard, on November 19, 1870, she was found to be greatly in need of repairs, but the cost of these repairs exceeding that of building a new vessel, she was offered for sale at auction. The sum offered by the highest bidder, however, was inadequate, so the vessel remained on the Navy Register, and was maintained at the navy yard in ordinary, until, one day in 1877 she foundered at her dock. She was thereupon sold, in February, 1877, to N. McKay for $5175.
The fourth Delaware was an iron side-wheel steamer bought at Wilmington, Del., on October 14, 1861, from the Harlan, Hollingsworth Company for $45,000. She was a schooner-rigged vessel of the fourth rate, launched in 1861, of 161 feet length, 27 feet breadth, 8 feet 3 inches depth of hold; and 6 feet draft. She had one beam engine of 6 feet stroke, which, under favorable conditions, enabled her to steam 13 knots. When the Delaware was first placed in commission, she carried four 32-pounders and one rifled 12-pounder. This armament, on January 19, 1862, was changed to one 9-inch smooth-bore, one 32-pounder of 57 cwt., and one rifled 12-pounder. On October 1, 1864, a heavy 12- pounder was added; but this was removed on the last day of the year. The Delaware carried 13 officers and 68 men.
The Delaware went into commission at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on December 7, 1861, and five days later she sailed on her first cruise in command of Lieutenant S. P. Quackenbush for duty with the North Atlantic blockading squadron, which she joined off Fort Monroe with her “ batteries ready for action.” But the blockade duty turned out to be uneventful and it was not until December 29 that the ship was called upon for special service. On that day the Confederates cut out a Union schooner. Lieutenant Quackenbush was ordered to go in chase, but the enemy retreated behind their batteries on Craney Island, leaving to the Delaware merely the satisfaction of expending a few “grape-shot and shell” on the works at Sewell’s Point.
The concentration of the Union land and naval forces in North Carolina waters early in 1862 brought the Delaware to Hatteras Inlet about the middle of January. She was thus in time to participate in the battle of Roanoke Island, on February 7, in the course of which she effectively shelled Fort Sullivan and covered the landing of a large Union force from the transports. Three days later, as flagship of Commander S. C. Rowan, the Delaware formed part of the flotilla which engaged and destroyed the Confederate naval force and batteries at Elizabeth City, N. C., and from February 18 to 20 she took part in the reconnaissance of the Chowan River, N. C., after which Lieutenant Quackenbush was ordered to Pamlico Sound, where on March 5 and 6 he made two prizes. In the capture of New Berne, N. C., on March 14, and in the expedition to Washington, N. C., on March 21, the Delaware took an active part. As her log records her work, the Delaware on March 31 ran down the river and seized two large schooners; on April 4, she sent a boat’s crew ashore and fired a fort and magazine on the embankment; on April 5, she entered the Neuse River, running up to Elizabeth City on the 20th; on April 23, she met a flag of truce ashore; on June 11, she ran to the mouth of the Appomattox River and shelled some Confederates; on June 17, a masked battery was silenced at City Point; on July 1, she ran down-stream and entered the James River where she continued her operations with the “ upper fleet ” at and above Harrison’s Bar; on August 4, she “ received Commodore Wilkes on board, started down the river, came to anchor in Hampton Roads at 11.30 p. m.”
In September, 1862, the Delaware was in the Potomac River, where, on September 14, 1862, off Blackstone Island, Lieutenant Quackenbush was relieved in command by Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Amos P. Foster. O11 September 26, she was ordered by Admiral Lee to the Nansemond River to intercept and capture the mails which were passing between Norfolk and Richmond. “The Delaware is precisely what we want” wrote General Dix from Fort Monroe on October 1. It was while engaged in this duty that the Delaware was chased and fired upon by the Union tug-boat Zouave, on October 29, but the log of the Delaware, curiously enough, does not mention this incident.
On November 6, Lieutenant Foster was ordered to proceed to New Berne, N. C., with ordnance stores for the fleet. On December 5, Commander Murray of the Hetzel was “fortunate enough to fall in with the Delaware, the only vessel that will suit our purpose.” So Lieutenant Foster took part in the naval reconnaissance held in the Neuse River in cooperation with the army expedition against Goldsborough, N. C., from December 12 to 16. But, says the log, on December 11, the ship “ran aground;” on the following day Commander Murray left the vessel and went aboard the Seymour; on December 13, “heard heavy firing in northerly direction. At 12.30 p. m., succeeded in getting our vessel afloat proceeded down the river, but at 1.30 ran on sunken stumps in the river and held fast” until the next day when assistance came and the ship could be towed to New Berne. Here the necessary repairs were quickly effected and the vessel was again ready for service, as shown by Commander Murray’s report of January 21, 1863, which states that “the Delaware is in good condition.”
From this time on, the Delaware remained in the Sounds of North Carolina, making occasional visits to New Berne, Bodie’s Island, and Washington, until December 11, 1863, when she left for Baltimore with the Henry Brinker in tow, both vessels being in need of repairs. At Baltimore, Acting Master J. H. Eldridge assumed command of the Delaware, and on March 27, 1864, he sailed for Newport News, Va., where, on April 13, he was ordered into the Nansemond River on special service. Returning to Newport News, the Delaware was stationed “on general guard of the ironclads and the Minnesota.”
When, on July 28, 1864, Captain Melancton Smith was assigned to duty as divisional officer in command in the James River, the Delaware was attached to the flotilla placed under his charge, and she consequently participated in the operations attending the advance of the Union forces at Dutch Gap and Deep Bottom on August 13 and 16. In January, 1865, Acting Master Eldridge paid a short visit to the navy yard for repairs, but in February the Delaware was again at her station “on picket.” Early in March, 1865, the ship was transferred to Commodore Foxhall Parker’s Potomac flotilla with which she took part in the combined army and navy expedition to Fredericksburg, Va., on March 6-8, 1865. This was the last important service rendered by the Delaware in the war. On July 27 she returned to the Washington Navy Yard and nine days later she was placed out of commission, to be purchased, on August 30, by the Treasury Department for $40,000.
The third Delaware was a 74-gun ship-of-the-line built by the government at the Norfolk Navy Yard. She was a wooden vessel of 2633 tons, with the following principal dimensions: length, 196 feet 3 inches; breadth, 53 feet; depth of hold, 22 feet 2 inches; draft, 26 feet 2 inches. Her armament in October, 1841, included eight 8-inch smooth-bores, 28 long 42-pounders, 30 long 32-pounders, and twenty-two 42 pounder carronades. This battery, in 1850, was changed to twelve 8-inch smooth-bores and 72 long 32-pounders. The Delaware was authorized by the act of Congress approved April 29, 1816; she was laid down in August, 1817, and launched in October, 1820. The cost of her construction amounted to $543,368. Her complement was 820 officers and men.
The Delaware made her maiden cruise in command of Captain John Downes (December 5, 1827), sailing from Norfolk on February 19, 1828, for the Mediterranean station, where she flew the broad pennant of Commodore Crane. This cruise lasted exactly two years, and at its expiration the Delaware returned to Norfolk, and was placed out of commission on February 10, 1830. Three years later, the ship was again placed in service and ordered to her old cruising ground in the Mediterranean. She left Norfolk on January 30, 1833, under Captain H. E. Ballard, as flagship of Commodore D. T. Patterson. At Port Mahon, on February 14, 1834, Captain J. B. Nicholson relieved Captain Ballard in command of the ship, and under him the Delaware remained on the station until her return to Norfolk (February 19, 1836), where she was placed out of commission on March 11, 1836.
In 1841, the Delaware was placed in commission and used temporarily as a receiving ship until her departure for the Brazil station, on June 4, 1841, where she was ordered as flagship of Commodore Charles Morris. Her commander, on this cruise was Captain Charles S. McCauley (March 6, 1841). Two years later, the Delaware left the coast of Brazil for the Mediterranean where Commodore Morris exchanged commands with Commodore Morgan. On March 10, 1844, the ship returned to Norfolk and 12 days later was placed out of commission. This was the last cruise made by the ship. From this time on she was maintained in ordinary and she was in this condition when, on April 20, 1861, the activities of the Confederates at Norfolk compelled her destruction to prevent her falling into their hands.
The second Delaware was a ship of 20 guns, bought at Philadelphia from Nicklin & Griffith in 1798, under the provisions of the act of April 27, 1798. She was a wooden ship-rigged vessel of 180 tons. Her cost was $59,653, and she was manned by a crew of 180 men.
The Delaware was one of the first American cruisers to get
to sea after the outbreak of hostilities with France. Her first commander was Captain Stephen Decatur, Sr., a former privateersman and the father of the afterwards famous Decatur. The Delaware sailed from Philadelphia on July 6, 1798, in company with the frigate Constellation, and before she had been at sea many hours four schooners were sighted. One of them gave chase, mistaking the Delaware for a merchant vessel, and thus fell an easy prey to the American cruiser. She proved to be the French privateer Le Croyable, of 12 guns, from Cape Frangois, having left that port on June 19 “ being ignorant of the existence of war.” But, as she had already captured several American vessels, she was brought into port and condemned, after which she was taken into the service and renamed the Retaliation. Shortly after, the Delaware again put to sea in company with the United States. It was on this cruise that the two American vessels, flying the French tricolor, almost came to blows with a large 50-gun ship, also showing French colors, before they could discover her true identity. The stranger proved to be a British ship-of-war, and it was surprising that no collision took place. This incident led to the adoption of a system of private signals whereby American and British vessels might recognize each other and thus avoid future mistakes.
After two months spent in fruitless search for French privateers among the West India Islands, the ships returned to New Castle on September 20. But, as the Secretary of the Navy well stated in his instructions dated December, 1798, “we have nothing to dread but inactivity; the French can have no force in the West Indies this winter equal to ours.” Consequently, the Delaware and two revenue cutters, with Captain Decatur as senior officer, were designated for the protection of American interests off the north coast of Cuba, between Havana and Matanzas. The schooner Marsuin was the only prize that rewarded their efforts.
In 1799, Captain Thomas Baker cruised with the Delaware on the Guadeloupe station under the orders of Commodore Truxtun and made prizes of two French vessels, the Renard and the Ocean. In January, 1800, we hear of her being at Curasao “in port, with many of her men sick.” But her cruise was only temporarily interrupted. In the course of the next month she was mentioned again as active on her station and later in the year, we find her still in service in command of Captain John A. Spottswood. In 1801, in pursuance with the provisions of the “Act providing for a naval peace establishment,” the Delaware was sold out of the navy.
The first Delaware was one of the 13 frigates authorized by the Continental Congress on December 13, 1775, to cost not more than $66,666.66. She was a wooden vessel of 563 tons, 121 feet length 32 feet, io£ inches breadth, and 9 feet, inches depth of hold. She was built at or near Philadelphia, on the Delaware River, and launched in 1776. “She mounts 24 Guns on the Upper Deck,” wrote Lord Howe on November 23, 1777, “And when furnished with proper artillery is capable of carrying 12-pounders with great facility.”
The occupation of Philadelphia by the British, in 1777, however, prevented the Delaware from rendering any sea service during the Revolutionary War. General Howe took possession of the city on September 26, and Admiral Howe, his brother, entered the mouth of the Delaware about the same time. The Americans had erected strong forts to prevent his ascent of the river. In these operations the Continental frigate was expected to play a leading part. But on the very first day of the engagement the Delaware got aground within 500 yards of the British works and became exposed to such a heavy fire that Captain Charles Alexander, her commander, was obliged to strike his flag. The Delaware thus fell into the enemy’s hands and the Americans lost thereby their strongest ship in those waters.
NORTH DAKOTA
North Dakota.—One of the United States, originally included in the Louisiana purchase. It was first explored by Lewis and Clark in 1804, and, in 1811, visited by the Astor Expedition. A settlement of its lands was, however, long delayed on account of the numerous Indian wars. On March 2, 1861, North Dakota became a territory, and, on November 2, 1889, a state of the Union.
The North Dakota is a first class battleship of 20,000 tons displacement. She was the only capital ship authorized by Congress in 1907. She was built at the yards of the Fore River Shipbuilding Company at Quincy, Mass., and was launched on November 10, 1908, one year after the laying of her keel. Her principal dimensions are: length, 510 feet, breadth, 85 feet 2$ inches; mean draft. 26 feet 11 inches. The North Dakota was the first battleship of our navy to be fitted with turbines. They are of the Curtis type, and on trial they developed 32,307 h. p., giving the ship a speed of .21.66 knots. The North Dakota’s armament, like that of her sister ship, the Delaware, comprises ten 12-inch 45-caliber B. L. R.’s mounted in pairs in turrets, all placed on a center line; while for torpedo defence a secondary armament of fourteen 5-inch rifles is mounted in battery and in casemates. There are also two submerged 21-inch torpedo tubes, and 10 smaller pieces of artillery for use in boats and on shore. The contract cost of the ship was $4,377,000. Her complement includes 55 officers and 872 men.
The North Dakota was fitted out at the Boston Navy Yard by Commander Charles P. Plunkett and placed in commission on April 11, 1910. Captain Richard T. Mulligan assumed command on May 19, but he was detached (July 4, 1910) before the ship was able to get to sea. On August 1, the North Dakota finally left the yard, in command of Captain Albert Gleaves (July 21, 1910) on her shaking down cruise, and in September she joined the Atlantic fleet. During November and December she accompanied the fleet on the European cruise after which followed the usual winter maneuvers in the West Indies.
On November 16, 1911, Commander Reginald R. Belknap relieved Captain Gleaves, and a week later Captain Henry B. Wilson reported on board in obedience to orders from the department. The next two years were occupied with the regular fleet routine: fleet exercises, target practice, spotting practice, maneuvers, torpedo practice, and experimental firing. On November 23, 1913, Captain Wilson was detached from the ship. His successor was Captain Charles P. Plunkett, but as the latter did not reach the ship until December 22, Commander Orton P. Jackson took charge in the interim.
When the naval occupation of Vera Cruz occurred, the North Dakota was undergoing a five months’ overhaul at the New York Navy Yard. She was, therefore, unable to arrive in time to participate in the landing operations. She did, however, join the Atlantic fleet in Mexican waters on April 26, 1914, and remained for five months “watchfully waiting.” Then followed special service at Tuxpam and Lobos Island, a month on the Southern Drill Ground for target practice, and two weeks at New York for liberty, which followed more battle exercises off the Virginia capes before her return to the navy yard. At Norfolk, on January 5, 1915, Captain J. S. McKean relieved Captain Plunkett in command of the North Dakota and 11 days later the ship left the yard to rejoin the fleet.
MICHIGAN
Michigan.—One of the United States. It was first colonized by the French in 1620, but ceded to England in 1763. The scene of much fighting during the Revolutionary War, it became part of the United States at the peace of 1783, though Detroit was held by the British until 1796. Michigan became a state in 1837. The name is derived from the Chippewa words, “mitchi’’—great, and “sawgyegau”—lake.
The Michigan is a first class battleship of the dreadnought type. She was one of the two capital ships authorized by the act of Congress approved March 3, 1905, and the first “ all big-gun ” vessel to be added to our fleet. She made her appearance afloat some time after the British Dreadnought startled the maritime world. But the English admit that her plans were drawn before those of the Dreadnought and that she and the South Carolina are, therefore, the first “all big-gun” ships.
This arrangement of the battery, says an official report written in 1907, “was in no sense novel, but its desirability under modern conditions of ordnance and artillery fire had not been definitely established. Sketch designs of an all big-gun ship had been made the Bureau of Construction and Repair only a few years previously, but artillery fire had not then developed to such a degree as would have warranted further consideration of such a battery at that time.” After the lapse of a few years, however, the general features of the design was again taken up, and, the result was the construction of two vessels whose main battery was to consist of eight 12-inch guns mounted in four middle-line turrets, so arranged as to permit a broadside fire of eight guns and an ahead and astern fire of four guns.
The contracts for the construction of these vessels, which were named the Michigan and South Carolina, were awarded on July 21, 1906. The Michigan was built by the New York Shipbuilding Company at Camden, N. J., where she was launched on May 26, 1908. She is an armored steel vessel of 16,000 tons displacement, 450 feet length, 80 feet, 2^ inches breadth, and 24 feet, 6 inches draft. Her propelling machinery consists of two Vertical triple expansion engines of 16,517 h. p., for which steam is supplied by 12 Babcock and Wilcox boilers, enabling her to make 18.79 knots on her trial trip.
The battery and hull armor protection of the Michigan is of a “ most substantial character,” and the unusually complete watertight subdivision of her hull was designed with a view to ensure the stability and buoyancy of the vessel under damaged condition. There is a 310-foot-long steel belt, 8 feet wide, varying in thickness from 11 inches at the top to 9 inches at the bottom; on the turrets there is from 12 to 8 inches of steel; while the barbettes furnish 10 inches of protection to the turret machinery and ammunition hoists.
The Michigan was placed in commission at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on January 4, 1910, in command of Captain Nathaniel R. Usher. After completing her “shaking down” and final acceptance cruises, she joined the Atlantic fleet on March 28, off Cape Henry. Then followed the standardization runs and a short period for repairs at the navy yard, previous to a cruise to Bermuda with the naval militia, a season’s exercises with the Atlantic fleet, and a cruise to France and England with the first division of the fleet. On October 6, 1911, Captain Edward E. Capehart relieved Captain Usher. In November, 1912, the Michigan became part of a special service division, and in January, 1913, she visited the Panama Canal with the fleet, previous to engaging in the winter exercises in Guacanayabo Bay. With the outbreak of the disturbances in Mexico, the Michigan was ordered into the Gulf of Mexico, and during the summer and fall of 1913, she visited the Mexican ports of Vera Cruz, Tampico, and Progreso, giving such protection as possible to the refugees who flocked to the coast.
On her return north, Captain Albert P. Niblack relieved Captain Capehart in command (December 13, 1913). The winter of 1914 was spent with the fleet, after which followed a short visit to the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Then, in less time than it takes to relate it, the Michigan was steaming south with every pound of pressure that her boilers could carry. On April 16 she passed out between the Delaware capes; on April 22, at 2 o’clock in the morning, she rushed into Vera Cruz harbor, having covered the intervening distance of 2033 miles in less than six days, and just in time to participate in the second day’s operations that completed our naval occupation of Mexico’s principal seaport.
The first Michigan, known since June 17, 1905, as the Wolverine, was built in 1842. She is an iron side-wheel steamer of 685 tons displacement; 163 feet, 3 inches length; 27 feet, 1 1/2 inches breadth; 12 feet, 9 inches depth of hold; and 7 feet, 10 inches draft. She was built by the government at Erie, Pa., under authority of the Act of September 9, 1841, her keel was laid in 1842, and she was launched in 1844. Her machinery was built by Stackhouse and Tomlinson at Pittsburgh, Pa., at a cost of $49,549, and consisted of two inclined direct acting condensing engines of 8 feet stroke, of 365 h. p., for which steam was supplied by two iron boilers with single return ascending flues. This enabled her to steam 10.4 knots. To-day, with more modern boilers, the ship is credited with a speed of 14 knots.
The battery of the Michigan, in the first 30 years of her commission, naturally underwent many changes. Her original armament (November, 1844) included two 8-inch smooth-bores and four 32-pounders. In October, 1845, this was reduced to a single 8-inch gun mounted on a pivot. After the war (February 22, 1865) this was replaced by one 30-pounder Parrott rifle, five 20- pounder Parrotts, six 24-pounder howitzers, and two light 12- pounders. In March, 1866, there were eight howitzers and one .45-caliber Gatling gun, and this armament was supplanted, in September, 1884, by four breech-loading rifles, three 3-inch guns and two light pieces.
The Michigan was built for service on the Northern Lakes, and since her first commission she has been constantly employed, except when the winter months compelled her to be laid up in common with all the vessels navigating those waters.
Her commanding officers have been: Captain William Inman (September 29, 1844), Captain Stephen Champlin (November 11, 1845), Captain James M. McIntosh (March 31, 1848), Captain Oscar Bullus (December 1, 1849), Commander Abraham Bigelow (December 1, 1851), Captain John S. Nicholas (February 27, 1854), Lieutenant G. H. Scott (September 28, 1855), Commander Charles H. McBlair (October 12, 1855), Commander Joseph Lan- man (April 1, 1858), Commander J. C. Carter (March 1, 1861), Lieutenant Commander F. A. Roe (November 19, 1864), Commander Andrew Bryson (April 16, 1866), Commander J. E. Jouett (April 7, 1868), Commander George Brown (September 26, 1870), Commander James H. Gillis (October 1, 1873), Lieutenant Commander A. H. Wright (May 30, 1876), Commander Charles H. Cushman (June 5, 1876), Lieutenant Commander A. H. Wright (December 13, 1876), Commander George W. Hayward (August 10, 1877), Commander Albert Kautz (August 12, 1880), Commander J. J. Read (August 15, 1883), Lieutenant Commander J. J. Hunker (April 30, 1887), Commander H. T. Picking (September 13, 1887), Commander George H. Wadleigh (November 16, 1889), Commander G. E. Wingate (December 1, 1891), Lieutenant Commander R. M. Berry (March 30, 1893), Lieutenant Commander B. S. Richards (December 5, 1894), Lieutenant Commander E. H. C. Leutze (April 30, 1896), Lieutenant Commander Richard Rush (April 5, 1897), Lieutenant Commander William H. Everett (March 1, 1898), Lieutenant Commander C. P. Perkins (March 25, 1899), Lieutenant Commander William Winder (January 2, 1900), Lieutenant Commander Charles Laird (February 3, 1904), and Commander Henry Morrell (February 2, 1905). Since June 17, 1905, the Michigan has been borne on the Navy Register as the Wolverine.