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The USS Ticonderoga had been the German-flag merchant steamer Kamilla Rickmers before she was seized by the U.S. government in 1917, when this rare photo was taken. A 5,130-gross-ton cargo ship and animal transport, she had made three Atlantic transits before a German U-boat attacked her in 1918. Her skipper received the Medal of Honor for bravery in trying to save the ship.
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‘Exceptionally Heroic Service’

By Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, U.S. Navy (Retired)
October 2013
Proceedings
Lest We Forget
View Issue
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James Jonas Madison had been a merchant mariner for most of his life, having first gone to sea in his mid-teens. Soon after the United States entered World War I, he joined the Naval Reserve, and by January 1918 he was commanding officer of the USS Ticonderoga as a lieutenant commander.

The Ticonderoga was the former German steamer Kamilla Rickmers, which had been interned in Manila in 1914 and was later seized by the U.S. government in 1917. She was a single-screw vessel with a top speed of 11 knots, a crew of 124, and two deck weapons—a 3-inch gun forward and a 6-inch gun aft.

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Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, U.S. Navy (Retired)

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