USS Raleigh (C-8)
USS Raleigh was a United States Navy protected cruiser of the Cincinnati class, commissioned in 1894 and in periodic service until 1919. The second ship named Raleigh, was laid down on 19 December 1889 at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia; the ship was named after the City of the capital of North Carolina. Remaining in the yard for another five months, Raleigh shifted to Hampton Roads in early September conducted shakedown in Chesapeake Bay. In January 1895, she completed fitting out at the torpedo station at Newport, Rhode Island, on the 25th put to sea to join the North Atlantic Squadron for battle practice in the Caribbean. In June, she put into New York, whence she moved south again for a cruise around the Florida peninsula. For the next 10 months, she continued operations in the western Atlantic, ranging from New England to the Straits of Florida. During the summer of 1896, she trained Naval Militiamen from South Carolina and Louisiana returned to the east coast and North Atlantic Squadron exercises.
From late October 1896-early February 1897, she joined in a neutrality patrol off Florida, in April, after the completion of an overhaul at Norfolk, participated in ceremonies marking the dedication of Grant's Tomb. On 6 May, Raleigh steamed east, on 11 June reported for duty on the European Station at Smyrna on the Aegean Sea. In July, she participated in a good-will tour of Moroccan ports. In August, she cruised off Italy returned to the western Mediterranean. Into December, she operated off the Levant and, toward the end of the month transited the Suez Canal en route to the Asiatic Station. On 18 February 1898, she reached Hong Kong. On 26 April, the US Congress declared war against Spain. On the 27th the squadron got underway for Manila. At the end of the month, Raleigh was fired on by an enemy battery. With Concord and Boston, she returned the fire moved toward Cavite to engage the Spanish fleet. Raleigh is credited with firing the first shot of the Battle of Manila Bay from a 5-inch/40 caliber gun.
Steaming in column, the American squadron ran by firing at close range. Two hours five cross runs had been completed, the Spanish fleet had been destroyed. Shore batteries became the targets. Just before noon on 1 May, Raleigh joined Olympia and Petrel in silencing the navy yard and arsenal batteries. On 2 May, she sent officers ashore to demand the surrender of Corregidor and, on the 3rd, sent men to disable the batteries there and destroy the munitions. In the late afternoon, shore parties were sent to Palo Caballo for the same purpose. Raleigh took up picket and patrol duties, capturing the gunboat Callao on the 12th. In July, Raleigh shifted from Manila Bay to Subic Bay. On the 7th, she shelled Spanish positions on Grande Island. On the 10th, she returned to Manila, where she remained until after the Spanish surrendered the city in mid-August. On the 25th, Raleigh put to sea, bound for Hong Kong with mail. In early September, she returned to the Philippines where she operated until sailing for Suez and the United States on 15 December.
On 15 April 1899, she arrived at New York and the next day received honors from other ships and from officials of the city. 10 days after her arrival, Raleigh turned south. On the 26th, she entered the Delaware River and moved up to Philadelphia, where on the 28th, President William McKinley and Secretary of the Navy John Davis Long came on board to honor the ship and crew for a job well done. On 2 May, Raleigh got underway again, after visiting ports in the Carolinas, put into Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where she was decommissioned on 10 June. Recommissioned on 5 January 1903, Raleigh was fitted out at New York and in mid-March sailed for Honduras. There, she delivered stores to ships cruising off that coast headed east. Steaming via Gibraltar and Suez, she rejoined the Asiatic Fleet at China, on 26 August. For the next four years she cruised in Korean, Chinese and Philippine waters in support of diplomatic missions as well as showing the flag and conducting good-will tours. One of Raleigh's sailors, Chief Carpenter's Mate Robert Klein, received the Medal of Honor for his actions during a 25 January 1904 incident in which he rescued shipmates, overcome by turpentine fumes in a double bottom compartment.
On 12 August 1907, she departed Yokosuka for San Francisco. Arriving on 6 September, she proceeded to Mare Island to begin inactivation. Decommissioned on 12 October 1907, Raleigh was recommissioned on 21 February 1911. Assigned to the Pacific Reserve Squadron, she remained in San Francisco until December, she moved north to Bremerton and two more years of little activity. On 6 December 1913, she departed Puget Sound. Steaming south, she joined the active fleet and served as a station ship in Mexican ports Manzanillo, Mazatlán, La Paz, Guaymas for the next four years. During the time she interrupted her Mexican assignments twice: for duty at Ocos, Guatemala from 6–25 October 1915. Undergoing repairs at Mare Island when the United States entered World War I, Raleigh departed San Francisco in early May 1917, on 5 June joined the Patrol Force, Atlantic Fleet, at Newport, R. I. Assigned to Cruiser Force, 2nd Squadron, she patrolled from Boston to Norfolk until November when she was detached for duty in Brazilian wate
George Dewey
George Dewey was Admiral of the Navy, the only person in United States history to have attained the rank. He is best known for his victory at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish–American War. Born in Montpelier, Dewey entered the United States Naval Academy in 1854, he graduated from the academy in 1858 and was assigned as the executive lieutenant of the USS Mississippi at the beginning of the Civil War. He participated in the capture of New Orleans and the Siege of Port Hudson, helping the Union take control of the Mississippi River. By the end of the war, Dewey reached the rank of lieutenant commander. After the Civil War, Dewey undertook a variety of assignments, serving on multiple ships and as an instructor at the Naval Academy, he served on the United States Lighthouse Board and the Board of Inspection and Survey. He was assigned to the Asiatic Squadron the following year. After that appointment, he began preparations for a potential war with Spain, which broke out in April 1898. After the beginning of the war, Dewey led an attack on Manila Bay, sinking the entire Spanish Pacific fleet while suffering only minor casualties.
After the battle, his fleet assisted in the capture of Manila. Dewey's victory at Manila Bay was lauded in the United States, he was promoted to Admiral of the Navy in 1903. Dewey explored a run for the 1900 Democratic presidential nomination, but he withdrew from the race and endorsed President William McKinley, he served on the General Board of the United States Navy, an important policy-making body, from 1900 until his death in 1917. Dewey was born in Montpelier, Vermont on December 26, 1837, directly opposite the Vermont State House, to Julius Yemans Dewey and his first wife, Mary Perrin. Julius was a physician, he was among the founders of the National Life Insurance Company in 1848 and a member of the Episcopal Church and was among the founders of the Christ Episcopal Church in Montpelier. George attended Sunday school there. George had a younger sister. Dewey attended school in the nearby town of Johnson; when he was fifteen years old he went to the Norwich Military School. The school, better known as Norwich University, had been founded by Alden Partridge and aimed at giving cadets a well-rounded military education.
Dewey attended for two years. Dewey found a military role model. Dewey entered the Naval Academy in 1854; the conventional four-year course had just been introduced in 1851 and the cadet corps was quite small, averaging about one hundred Acting Midshipmen. Out of all that entered in his year, only fourteen stayed through the course, he stood fifth on the class roll at graduation. He graduated from the Academy on 18 June 1858; as a midshipman, Dewey first went to sea on a practice cruise in USS Saratoga. As a result, he was assigned to one of the best ships of the old Navy—the steam frigate USS Wabash. Wabash under Captain Samuel Barron was the new flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron. On 22 July 1858, the ship left Hampton Roads for Europe. Wabash reached her first port of call, Gibraltar, on 17 August 1858, she cruised in the Mediterranean, the cadet officers visited the cities of the Old World accessible to them taking trips inland. Dewey was assigned to keep the ship's log. Wabash returned to the New York Navy Yard on 16 December 1859 and decommissioned there on 20 December 1859.
Dewey served on two short-term cruises in 1860. At the beginning of the American Civil War, Dewey was executive lieutenant on USS Mississippi, a steam paddle frigate assigned to the Union West Gulf Blockading Squadron. At the beginning of 1862, Mississippi was attached to David Farragut's fleet for the capture of New Orleans. On the night of 24–25 April 1862, Farragut led his ships up the Mississippi River past the Confederate defenses at Fort St. Philip and Fort Jackson. Mississippi was the third in Farragut's first division, with Dewey at the helm; the first division kept near the west bank where the current was the water deeper. Dewey steered Mississippi through shallow water. There was a squadron of Confederate gunboats waiting above the forts; this included a small ironclad. Manassas tried to ram Mississippi. Manassas attacked Brooklyn and Hartford in the next division, turned back upriver. Farragut signaled Mississippi to run Manassas down. Dewey steered Mississippi into a ramming attack. Manassas dodged, but was abandoned.
She was set on fire by a boat from Mississippi, shelled. Farragut's fleet continued upriver and forced the surrender of the city; this was the first battle. For the remainder of 1862, Farragut's ships patrolled the lower river; this was dangerous, as the ships were fired on by Confederate sharpshooters on the banks, occasionally by light artillery. In spring 1863, Union forces moved to take the Confederate fortress at Port Hudson, where at that time the Red River joined the Mississippi. Farragut attempted to pass the fortress with his fleet and cut it off upriver, thereby completing the Siege of Port Hudson; the attempt was made on 14 March 1863. In this action, Dewey saw fiercer fighting than he was to see again. Mississippi ran aground and was the target of concentrated enemy fire for half an hour, until she had to be abandoned. Dewey was among the last to leave the wreck. Dewe
Collier (ship)
A collier is a bulk cargo ship designed to carry coal for naval use by coal-fired warships. Coaling at sea was critical to navies and speed of coal transfer was an important metric of naval efficiency. In 1883, forty tons an hour was considered fast and it would take over twelve hours to restock half the bunkers of a typical ship, HMS Collingwood. For many years, the Durham and Northumberland coalfields supplied a expanding London with vast tonnages of coal, a large fleet of coastal colliers travelled up and down the east coast of England loaded with "black diamonds". Sir Charles Palmer pioneered the construction of iron-hulled steam colliers at his Jarrow shipyard, which began to replace the earlier wooden ships; this inadvertently led to the eventual decline of the glassmaking industry on Tyneside and Wearside, as prior to this, they had had access to large supplies of sand, used as ballast in the wooden colliers returning from London. The iron colliers had ballast tanks which meant water could be pumped in reducing the turnaround time as the sand no longer needed to be loaded and unloaded.
Coal was exported to Europe, wooden colliers returned with goods such as roofing tiles in their holds. The first Palmer-built iron hulled steam collier was SS John Bowes of 1852. There had been an earlier iron hull screw propelled collier, the short-lived SS Bedlington of 1841 built in South Shields. A notable incident involving a collier occurred not long after the opening of the Victoria Tunnel in Newcastle; the hemp rope which controlled the speed of wagons descending the tunnel to the river from Spital Tongues Colliery snapped, the wagons landed in the Tyne. The wagons were recovered at low tide, the rope was repaired, the papers of the day treated the whole incident as something of a joke. Six months the rope snapped again, the wagons landed in the hold of a waiting collier and sank it. After this, it was decided; this is the only recorded incident of a train having sunk a ship. Loading the colliers was carried out by hand at first where coal was transferred from keels which had brought it downstream from parts of the river that the colliers were unable to navigate, but as the quantities handled increased, specialised jetties known as "staithes" began to be built.
These were of numerous designs. Some had spouts used for unscreened or small coal, others known as "drops" had steep inclines at the end, down which a wagon would be lowered directly into the hold, minimising the breakage of coal; some had both spouts. The drops and spouts could be lowered with the tide. Elevators began to be introduced, such as those at Bates Staithes in Blyth and Harton Low Staithes in South Shields; these staithes used spouts. The intact Dunston Staithes on the Tyne are a good example of this type. In Scotland, a system was common where wagons would be placed on a cradle and lifted into the hold of the ship, but this system was used elsewhere. Two large steam cranes were built for this purpose at the Harton Low Staithes, but it was found that despite their size and power they were too slow to handle the amount of coal, arriving at the staithes, were replaced by elevators; the men who worked at the staithes were known as trimmers. Teemers would open the doors on the bottom of the wagons to allow the coal to fall into hoppers under the rail deck on top of the staithes, or in the case of drops, directly into the hold of the collier.
The trimmers worked in the hold and levelling the coal with shovels and rakes so that its weight would be evenly distributed. Skilled trimmers could stand with their shovel under the stream of coal coming from a spout or the end of a conveyor and angle it so the coal would ricochet off into the part of the hold they wanted to fill; this was a dangerous job, as the holds could fill with firedamp given off by the coal, resulting in an explosion. More modern systems are designed to be able to evenly distribute the coal without the need for men working in the holds of the ships. Although, in years, the colliers faced competition from the railways in supplying coal for domestic use in the capital, large quantities of coal were used at the numerous power stations on the banks of the River Thames, wharves were constructed alongside them for unloading the colliers; these vessels known as "flat-irons" with a low-profile superstructures and fold-down funnels and masts to fit under bridges over the Thames above the Pool of London.
The wharf at Battersea Power Station is still extant, the cranes used for unloading the coal can be seen on the riverfront. These are fitted with clamshell buckets and in operation loaded a hopper, which in turn fed a conveyor system leading to the power station's coal bunkers; the modern equivalent can be seen at the Tyne Coal Terminal. Gas Light and Coke Company had similar facilities at its large gasworks alongside the Thames, for handling the large quantity of bituminous coal, needed to supply the capital with town gas. In the late eighteenth century, a number of wooden-hulled sailing colliers gained fame after being adapted for use in voyages of exploration in the South Pacific, for which their flat-bottomed hulls and sturdy construction made them well-suited. USS Langley, the first aircraft carrier in the United States Navy, was a converted collier, it was fitted with a large elevated flat deck, used before the development of purpose-built aircraft carrier hulls. Coal hulks, coal-carrying vessels unpowered, that are restricted to harbor duties Flatirons, coastal trading vessels designed to pass under low bridges, many of which served as colliers Replenishment oiler, designed for reple
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps referred to as the United States Marines or U. S. Marines, is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations with the United States Navy as well as the Army and Air Force; the U. S. Marine Corps is one of the four armed service branches in the U. S. Department of Defense and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States; the Marine Corps has been a component of the U. S. Department of the Navy since 30 June 1834, working with naval forces; the USMC operates installations on land and aboard sea-going amphibious warfare ships around the world. Additionally, several of the Marines' tactical aviation squadrons Marine Fighter Attack squadrons, are embedded in Navy carrier air wings and operate from the aircraft carriers; the history of the Marine Corps began when two battalions of Continental Marines were formed on 10 November 1775 in Philadelphia as a service branch of infantry troops capable of fighting both at sea and on shore.
In the Pacific theater of World War II the Corps took the lead in a massive campaign of amphibious warfare, advancing from island to island. As of 2017, the USMC has around some 38,500 personnel in reserve, it is the smallest U. S. military service within the DoD. As outlined in 10 U. S. C. § 5063 and as introduced under the National Security Act of 1947, three primary areas of responsibility for the Marine Corps are: Seizure or defense of advanced naval bases and other land operations to support naval campaigns. This last clause derives from similar language in the Congressional acts "For the Better Organization of the Marine Corps" of 1834, "Establishing and Organizing a Marine Corps" of 1798. In 1951, the House of Representatives' Armed Services Committee called the clause "one of the most important statutory – and traditional – functions of the Marine Corps", it noted that the Corps has more than not performed actions of a non-naval nature, including its famous actions in Tripoli, the War of 1812, numerous counter-insurgency and occupational duties, World War I, the Korean War.
While these actions are not described as support of naval campaigns nor as amphibious warfare, their common thread is that they are of an expeditionary nature, using the mobility of the Navy to provide timely intervention in foreign affairs on behalf of American interests. The Marine Band, dubbed the "President's Own" by Thomas Jefferson, provides music for state functions at the White House. Marines from Ceremonial Companies A & B, quartered in Marine Barracks, Washington, D. C. guard presidential retreats, including Camp David, the Marines of the Executive Flight Detachment of HMX-1 provide helicopter transport to the President and Vice President, with the radio call signs "Marine One" and "Marine Two", respectively. The Executive Flight Detachment provides helicopter transport to Cabinet members and other VIPs. By authority of the 1946 Foreign Service Act, the Marine Security Guards of the Marine Embassy Security Command provide security for American embassies and consulates at more than 140 posts worldwide.
The relationship between the Department of State and the U. S. Marine Corps is nearly as old as the corps itself. For over 200 years, Marines have served at the request of various Secretaries of State. After World War II, an alert, disciplined force was needed to protect American embassies and legations throughout the world. In 1947, a proposal was made that the Department of Defense furnish Marine Corps personnel for Foreign Service guard duty under the provisions of the Foreign Service Act of 1946. A formal Memorandum of Agreement was signed between the Department of State and the Secretary of the Navy on 15 December 1948, 83 Marines were deployed to overseas missions. During the first year of the MSG program, 36 detachments were deployed worldwide; the Marine Corps was founded to serve as an infantry unit aboard naval vessels and was responsible for the security of the ship and its crew by conducting offensive and defensive combat during boarding actions and defending the ship's officers from mutiny.
Continental Marines manned raiding parties, both at ashore. America's first amphibious assault landing occurred early in the Revolutionary War on 3 March 1776 as the Marines gained control of Fort Montague and Fort Nassau, a British ammunition depot and naval port in New Providence, the Bahamas; the role of the Marine Corps has expanded since then. The Advanced Base Doctrine of the early 20th century codified their combat duties ashore, outlining the use of Marines in the seizure of bases and other duties on land to support naval campaigns. Throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries, Marine detachments served aboard Navy cruisers and aircraft carriers. Marine detachments served in their traditional duties as a ship's landing force, manning the ship's weapons and providing shipboard security. Marine detachments were augmented by members of the ship's company for landing parties, such as in the First Sumatran Expedition of 1832, continuing in the Caribbean and Mexican campaigns of the early 20th centuries.
Mari
Admiral of the Navy (United States)
The Admiral of the Navy is the highest possible rank in the United States Navy. The rank is equated to that of a six-star admiral and is one of the two highest possible operational ranks in the United States Armed Forces; the rank is an admiralissimo-type position, senior to the rank of fleet admiral. The rank has only been awarded once, to George Dewey, in recognition of his victory at Manila Bay in 1898. On March 2, 1899, Congress approved the creation of the grade of Admiral of the Navy. On March 3, President McKinley transmitted to the Senate his nomination of Dewey for the new grade, approved the same day, but McKinley's nomination had used the term "Admiral in the Navy," while the act creating the new grade had used "Admiral of the Navy." On March 14, 1903, this discrepancy was addressed when President Roosevelt nominated and the Senate approved Dewey to the grade of "Admiral of the Navy," retroactive to March 2, 1899. The Navy Register of 1904 listed Dewey for the first time as "Admiral of the Navy" instead of "Admiral."Though this clarified the grade's unique title, the precedence of the new rank was still considered "four star", equivalent to general in the army, in the US Navy Regulations of 1909.
In the US Navy Regulations of 1913 in anticipation of legislation to authorize more admirals, the precedence of Admiral of the Navy had been set at the "five star" level, equivalent to a British field marshal or admiral of the fleet. More four-star officers were appointed after an act authorizing the temporary grade of admiral for three fleet commanders-in-chief was passed in 1915. In terms of insignia, Dewey appears in a photograph soon after his promotion wearing the sleeve stripes last worn by Admiral David Dixon Porter, which are the same as present-day admirals; when a new edition of US Navy Uniform Regulations was issued in May 1899, the sleeve insignia for admiral was specified as "two strips of 2-inch gold lace, with one 1-inch strip between, set one-quarter of an inch apart." In the 1905 Uniform Regulations, a similar description was used but with the title "Admiral of the Navy." The collar and shoulder insignia were four silver stars, with gold foul anchors under the two outermost stars.
The act to create the grade of Admiral of the Navy read as follows: Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President is hereby authorized to appoint, by selection and promotion, an Admiral of the Navy, who shall not be placed upon the retired list except upon his own application. In 1944, with the establishment of the rank of fleet admiral, the Department of the Navy specified in a Bureau of Navigation memo that "the rank of Fleet Admiral of the United States Navy shall be considered the senior most rank of the United States Navy"; as George Dewey had been deceased for nearly thirty years, no comparison between his rank and that of fleet admiral was made until 1945. At that time, during the preparations for the invasion of Japan, the possibility was raised of promoting one of the serving United States Fleet Admirals to "six-star rank" should the Army take a similar measure by promoting Douglas MacArthur to the rank of General of the Armies.
Nothing official was published by the Navy Department concerning a navy six-star rank, no comparison between the Admiral of the Navy, General of the Armies, fleet admiral rank was announced. In 1981, upon the death of Omar Bradley, the United States House Committee on Armed Services inquired of the Institute of Heraldry as to the procedure should a navy officer be awarded a six-star rank equivalent of General of the Armies; the response to Congress stated: Should an officer of the Air Force or Navy be promoted to six-star rank, that officer should be entitled to the six-star insignia with a service specific crest. While the Institute did not mention the rank of Admiral of the Navy, a prototype shoulder board for a "Navy six-star admiral" was designed in sketch; this image was made available through the Naval History and Heritage Command. The insignia did not address the sleeve stripe insignia for such a rank and only provided details for the shoulder boards worn on summer and full dress white uniforms
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most capable navy in the world and it has been estimated that in terms of tonnage of its active battle fleet alone, it is larger than the next 13 navies combined, which includes 11 U. S. allies or partner nations. With the highest combined battle fleet tonnage and the world's largest aircraft carrier fleet, with eleven in service, two new carriers under construction. With 319,421 personnel on active duty and 99,616 in the Ready Reserve, the Navy is the third largest of the service branches, it has 282 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of March 2018, making it the second-largest air force in the world, after the United States Air Force. The U. S. Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, established during the American Revolutionary War and was disbanded as a separate entity shortly thereafter.
The U. S. Navy played a major role in the American Civil War by blockading the Confederacy and seizing control of its rivers, it played the central role in the World War II defeat of Imperial Japan. The US Navy emerged from World War II as the most powerful navy in the world; the 21st century U. S. Navy maintains a sizable global presence, deploying in strength in such areas as the Western Pacific, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, it is a blue-water navy with the ability to project force onto the littoral regions of the world, engage in forward deployments during peacetime and respond to regional crises, making it a frequent actor in U. S. foreign and military policy. The Navy is administratively managed by the Department of the Navy, headed by the civilian Secretary of the Navy; the Department of the Navy is itself a division of the Department of Defense, headed by the Secretary of Defense. The Chief of Naval Operations is the most senior naval officer serving in the Department of the Navy.
The mission of the Navy is to maintain and equip combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression and maintaining freedom of the seas. The U. S. Navy is a seaborne branch of the military of the United States; the Navy's three primary areas of responsibility: The preparation of naval forces necessary for the effective prosecution of war. The maintenance of naval aviation, including land-based naval aviation, air transport essential for naval operations, all air weapons and air techniques involved in the operations and activities of the Navy; the development of aircraft, tactics, technique and equipment of naval combat and service elements. U. S. Navy training manuals state that the mission of the U. S. Armed Forces is "to be prepared to conduct prompt and sustained combat operations in support of the national interest." As part of that establishment, the U. S. Navy's functions comprise sea control, power projection and nuclear deterrence, in addition to "sealift" duties, it follows as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, with it, everything honorable and glorious.
Naval power... is the natural defense of the United States The Navy was rooted in the colonial seafaring tradition, which produced a large community of sailors and shipbuilders. In the early stages of the American Revolutionary War, Massachusetts had its own Massachusetts Naval Militia; the rationale for establishing a national navy was debated in the Second Continental Congress. Supporters argued that a navy would protect shipping, defend the coast, make it easier to seek out support from foreign countries. Detractors countered that challenging the British Royal Navy the world's preeminent naval power, was a foolish undertaking. Commander in Chief George Washington resolved the debate when he commissioned the ocean-going schooner USS Hannah to interdict British merchant ships and reported the captures to the Congress. On 13 October 1775, the Continental Congress authorized the purchase of two vessels to be armed for a cruise against British merchant ships. S. Navy; the Continental Navy achieved mixed results.
In August 1785, after the Revolutionary War had drawn to a close, Congress had sold Alliance, the last ship remaining in the Continental Navy due to a lack of funds to maintain the ship or support a navy. In 1972, the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, authorized the Navy to celebrate its birthday on 13 October to honor the establishment of the Continental Navy in 1775; the United States was without a navy for nearly a decade, a state of affairs that exposed U. S. maritime merchant ships to a series of attacks by the Barbary pirates. The sole armed maritime presence between 1790 and the launching of the U. S. Navy's first warships in 1797 was the U. S. Revenue-Marine, the primary predecessor of the U. S. Coast Guard. Although the USRCS conducted operations against the pirates, their depredations far outstripped its abilities and Congress passed the Naval Act of 1794 that established a permanent standing navy on 27 March 1794; the Naval Act ordered the construction and manning of six frigates and, by October 1797, the first three were brought into service: USS United States, USS Constellation, USS Constitution.
Due to his strong posture on having a strong standing Navy during this period, John Adams is "often called the father of the American Navy". In 1798–99 the Navy was involved in an undeclared Quasi-War with France. From 18
USS Olympia (C-6)
USS Olympia is a protected cruiser that saw service in the United States Navy from her commissioning in 1895 until 1922. This vessel became famous as the flagship of Commodore George Dewey at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish–American War in 1898; the ship was decommissioned after returning to the U. S. in 1899, but was returned to active service in 1902. She served until World War I as a training ship for naval cadets and as a floating barracks in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1917, she was mobilized again for war service, patrolling the American coast and escorting transport ships. After World War I, Olympia participated in the 1919 Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War and conducted cruises in the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas to promote peace in the unstable Balkan countries. In 1921, the ship carried the remains of World War I's Unknown Soldier from France to Washington, D. C. where his body was interred in Arlington National Cemetery. Olympia was placed in reserve. In 1957, the U.
S. Navy ceded title to the Cruiser Olympia Association, which restored the ship to her 1898 configuration. Since Olympia has been a museum ship in Philadelphia, where it is now part of the Independence Seaport Museum. Olympia was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966; the Olympia is the oldest steel American warship still afloat. Repairs, estimated at $10– 20 million, were needed to keep the Olympia afloat, in 2010 the Independence Seaport Museum considered finding a new steward for the Ship. By 2014, the museum reversed its plan to find a new steward and soon obtained funding from private donors as well as federal and state agencies to begin work on repairing the ship; the museum invested in extensive stabilization measures including reinforcing the most deteriorated areas of the hull, expanding the alarm system, installing a network of bilge pumping stand pipes, extensive deck patching and extensive repair and recoating of the ship's rigging. This work was made possible by donations from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, The U.
S. Cruiser Sailors Association and many individual donors. By 2017, the museum completed the first phase of repairs to the ship and has embarked on an ambitious national campaign to raise the $20 million needed to dry-dock the Olympia and address waterline deterioration of the hull; when the first Cleveland Administration took office in 1885, United States Secretary of the Navy William Collins Whitney continued the naval modernization program started during the preceding Arthur Administration. U. S. naval policy at the time was focused on commerce raiding, which implied a defensive posture on the part of the United States. In 1887, Whitney authorized the construction of two coastal defense battleships, that were to become Texas and Maine; the emphasis was still on large and fast commerce-raiding cruisers, capable of destroying an attacking fleet's supply line. President Grover Cleveland was defeated in the election of 1888, but before he left office, Whitney managed to have Congress authorize two additional cruisers, one of, the large, 5,300 long tons protected cruiser, to become Olympia.
Starting in 1887, the new Secretary of the Navy, Benjamin Tracy, began to rethink naval policy. Although Tracy allowed the design and construction of Olympia to continue, he was a follower of Alfred Thayer Mahan; as such, Tracy advocated a battle fleet capable of engaging enemy fleets in their home waters. This meant a shift away from large, commerce-raiding cruisers; as a result, which would have been the first in a class of ships, was the only one of her type built. The newly formed Board on the Design of Ships began the design process for Cruiser Number 6 in 1889. For main armament, the board chose 8-inch guns, though the number and arrangement of these weapons, as well as the armor scheme, was debated. On 8 April 1890, the navy solicited bids but found only one bidder, the Union Iron Works in San Francisco, California; the contract specified a cost of $1,796,000, completion by 1 April 1893, offered a bonus for early completion. During the contract negotiations, Union Iron Works was granted permission to lengthen the vessel by 10 ft, at no extra cost, to accommodate the propulsion system.
The contract was signed on 10 July 1890, the keel laid on 17 June 1891, the ship was launched on 5 November 1892. However, delays in the delivery of components, including the new Harvey steel armor, slowed completion; the last 1-pounder gun wasn't delivered until December 1894. Union Iron Works conducted the first round of trials on 3 November 1893. Upon return to harbor, however, it was discovered that the keel had been fouled by sea grass, which required dry-docking to fix. By 11 December, the work had been completed and she was dispatched from San Francisco to Santa Barbara for an official speed trial. Once in the harbor, heavy fog delayed the ship for four days. On the 15th, Olympia sailed into the Santa Barbara Channel, the "chosen race-track for California-built cruisers," and began a four-hour time trial. According to the navy, she had sustained an average speed of 21.67 kn, though she reached up to 22.2 kn —both well above the contract requirement of 20 kn. While returning to San Francisco, Olympia participated in eight experiments that tested various combinations of steering a ship by rudder and propellers.
The new cruiser was commissioned on 5 February 1895. For several months afterwards, she was the largest ship built
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