USS Oregon (BB-3)-- Part 1: Fought in Spanish-American War, Served in Two World Wars

I came across an article in the Naval History blog  "Whatever happened to the USS Oregon" and there was also an article in the National Interest site "How the US Navy battleship Oregon traveled 12,00 miles to win a war" so decided this would be an interesting ship to write about.

From Wikipedia.

USS OREGON (BB-3)

The third and final member of the Indiana class of battleships (also the USS Massachusetts BB-3).  All three of these ships fought in the Spanish-American War.    Commissioned 1896, decommissioned 1906.  Recommissioned in 1911, decommissioned 1919.  Stricken from Navy list  1941.

Besides the Spanish-American War, the ship also saw service in WW I and WW II.

351.2 feet length, 69.3 foot beam.

15 knot speed, 473 crew

ARMAMENT

four 13-inch

eight 8-inch

four 6-inch

twelve 3-inch

twenty 6-pounder

six 1-pounder

five torpedo tubes

Am Interesting and Heavily-Armed Warship.  --Cooter

USS Indiana BB-58

After reading about the silver service of this vessel, I decided to do some reading about it. I'd never heard of this ship, despite having a distinct fondness for battleships, the most beautiful ships ever in the US Navy, or anybody's navy for that matter.

The USS Indiana BB-58 was the fourth US naval ship to bear that name. It was a South Dakota-class battleship and one of the last battleships ever constructed. It was launched 16 days before Pearl Harbor was attacked and commissioned on April 30, 1942.

It took part in action at the Solomon Islands, Tarawa, Battle of the Philippine Sea, Palau Island, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.

The ship was decommissioned September 11, 1947 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register June 1, 1962, when it was demolished for scrap.

Parts of the vessel are over, including the silver service now at the USS Indianapolis Museum (a very sad story about this ship). The mainmast is at the campus of Indiana University, anchor in Fort Wayne, and prow, for some reason, in a parking lot in Berkely, Ca., across from Springer's Restaurant on Fourth Street. That would be an interesting story to know how it got to be there.

The first USS Indiana BB-1 would be the very first US battleship and took part in the Spanish American War. The second USS Indiana served as a tender for the first one? This doesn't make any sense to me. The 3rd one, the USS Indiana BB-50 was canceled by the Washington Naval Treaty between the world wars.

It is too bad the state of Indiana didn't purchase it. Had they been able to get it through to Lake Michigan, it would have made a great WWII War Memorial.

And Now You Know the Rest of the Story. --Old Cooter

Tea, My Dear-- USS Indiana BB-58

The presentation silver from the USS Indiana BB-58, a WWII battleship, has been placed on indefinite loan to the USS Indianapolis Museum inside the Indiana War Memorial in Indianapolis.

It consists of 39 pieces, inclusing 22 main items. It was originally donated by the state of Indiana in 1896, to the original USS Indiana BB-1. It is currently valued at $1.5 million including two candelabria worth $450,000.

I did not know about the NAVSUP- the Naval Supply System Command, part of whose job is the caring and storing ofsilver sets of decommissioned or inactive ships. They will reissue them to newly commissioned ships of the same name.

Currently, NAVSUP has 8,500 pieces of silver valued at an estimated $17.8 million. Another 2000 pieces are on loan, and 3,777 are on board navy ships.

Let's hope the good Daniel Lorello doesn't get to be in charge of NAVSUP. His daughter could go on one fantastic buying spree.

Pass the Cookies. --Da Coot