USS Newport News (CA-148)-- Part 7: Decommissioning and Scrapping

Operations by Vietnam resumed October 21 October and continued until December 1972, when the ship was recalled to homeport at Norfolk.  During 1973 and 1974 the ship undertook training cruises and visited many ports around the world before being recalled for decommissioning.

While there was some interest in retaining her for her "big gun" capability in the fleet, a survey to determine further service indicated the ship was beyond economical refitting.

The Newport News was decommissioned on 27 June 1975 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 31 July  1978.  

She spent her later years as part of the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard Mothball Fleet and was sold for scrap in New Orleans, Louisiana, , on 25 February1993.

The museum ship USS Quincy, in Quincy, Massachusetts, contains her bell and other items.

In the Hampton Roads Naval Museum's The Ten-Thousand Day War at Sea: The US Navy in Vietnam, 1970-1975 section, a large model of the USS Newport News.

--Cooter

He Fired When Ready-- Part 1: Who Was This Gridley Guy?

From the order of the Jackalope "He fired when ready" by #13 (David White).

Well, of course if you have been reading this blog, you know.  I didn't know much about this person before I started this series of posts which actually started in my Civil War Navy blog Running the Blockade.  This is a part of my RoadTripping Through History approach to these blogs.

I figured this Gridly guy, and I had to find out his first name, must have been an officer under the command of Dewey.

David White remembers a family trip when he was a child and they went to Independence  Seaport Museum in Philadelphia where one of the attractions was the USS Olympia.  Bolted to the deck by the wheelhouse were two brass footprints engraved with this text:

"From this spot Commodore Dewey directed the Asiatic Squadron to victory in the Spanish-American War, launching the United States onto the world stage. 'You may fire when you are ready, Gridley.' May 11898, Manila Bay, Luzon, Philippines."

They are some of the most famous words in naval history, right up there with "Don't give up the ship" and "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead."

I figured he was a Navy man, likely an officer, but under the command of Dewey.

This is where David White started doing his own research.

--Cooter

U.S. Warships: USS Bowfin (SS-287)-- Part 2

Picture of the museum ship USS Bowfin taken on the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.  The Bowfin was not there at the time, but was launched exactly one year after the attack, December 7, 1942.

The crew of the Virginia-class fast attack submarine USS Hawaii (SSN-776) man the rails aboard World War II museum ship USS Bowfin (SS-287) to shoot a spirit spot for FOX Sports to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

FOX Sports is returning to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam to telecast four college basketball games live on December 6 and December 7.

Participants include the University of Hawai'i, University of California, Princeton University and Seton Hall University.

--Cooter

U.S. Warships: USS Bowfin, Pearl Harbor Museum Ship

From the Paralyzed Veterans of America April 2021 calendar.

This is a museum ship located in Pearl Harbor by the USS Arizona Museum.

************************************

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

BUILDER:  Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth, New Hampshire

LAUNCHED:  December 7, 1942

HOMEPORT:  Honolulu, Hawaii

DISPLACEMENT:  Approximately 1,525 tons (surface), 2,412 tons (submerged)

LENGTH:  312 feet

CREW:  63 enlisted, 7 officers

ARMAMENT:  Ten 21" torpedo tubes (6 forward, 4 aft)

24 torpedoes

One 5" /.25 caliber deck gun, plus various combinations of antiaircraft guns.

--Cooter

USS Oregon (BB-3)-- Part 4: Service in the Pacific, the Boxer Rebellion, WW I, Pres. Wilson and the Washington Naval Treaty

 After the war, the Oregon had an overhaul and was assigned to the U.S. Asiatic Squadron and participated in the Philippine-American War (Philippines Insurrection).  It also sailed to Japan and reinforced the Eight-Nation Allied Force in China's Boxer Rebellion.  

In 1901, she returned to the U.S. for a refit before returning to her Asiatic Station before being decommissioned in 1906.  During the next several years, the Oregon was modernized and then recommissioned in 1911 and patrolled off the west coast of the United States.

During World War I, the ship saw no action but did  escort troop ships carrying soldiers bound for the Russian Civil War. Afterwards, she was decommissioned for a short time in 1919 before recommissioned for a short time the same year and hosted President Woodrow Wilson during a review of the Pacific Fleet in Seattle, Washington.

In 1920, she was assigned the hull number BB-3 and beginning a year later, a group of naval enthusiasts started a campaign to turn her into a naval museum to be based somewhere in her namesake state.  The Washington Naval Treaty in 1922 required the Oregon to be demilitarized which she was.

By 1924 she had become listed on the Naval register as an "Unclassified Relic."

In 1925, the Navy loaned the Oregon to that state and she was moored in Portland and restored as a museum vessel.

But, That Was Not Her End.  --Cooter

HMS Caroline to Become Floating Tourist Attraction in 2012

From the October 16, 2012, Mail Online.

The First World War warship is set to become a tourist attraction in Belfast, Northern Ireland.  It will be restored and reopened to celebrate its 1200th anniversary.  The hope is that it will become as popular as the World War II cruiser HMS Belfast in the Thames River, London.

The HMS Caroline is the second most important historical ship in the British Navy after the HMS Victory.  The 3,750 ton light cruiser is the last surviving ship of the important Battle of Jutland during World War I.

Lottery money will be used in the restoration.

The "C" Class cruiser has been moored at the Alexander Dock since 1924 and most recently was used as a training ship before being decommissioned last March.  Its weaponry and boilers were removed in 1924.

--Cooter

The Titanic's Second Officer, Charles Lightoller-- Part 2

Continued from Dec. 24, 2012.

After the war, Lightoller couldn't find a seagoing job because of the Titanic.  He wrote his autobiography "The Titanic and Other Ships."  It was selling well, but pulled because of a comment on the Marconi operator.

To fill his time, he purchased his own private yacht and named it the Sundowner on which he made lots of cruises on the 58-foot long and 12.6 beam ship. 

On May 31, 1940, the Sundowner was requisitioned by the Admiralty.   Lightoller , age 66, captained the ship to Dunkirk where he avoided enemy shells and rescued 130 soldiers.  He later recalled that the small boat's biggest threat was from the wakes of  destroyers.

Lightoller died in 1952 and the boat was turned over to Ramsgate Maritime Museum where it was turned into a museum ship.

His wife Sylvia was at the helm when the Sundowner led an armada of little ships on the 25th anniversary of Dunkirk.

Quite a Story and There Is More to Come.  --Cooter