Wilmington, North Carolina's Revolutionary Anniversaries Upcoming in 2021: The American Revolution

From the December 21, 2020, Wilmington (NC) Star-News "Battleship North Carolina, Wilmington  Ten among major  2021 anniversaries" by Hunter Ingram.

Okay, 2020 has not been such a wonderful year, but there are some interesting and noteworthy  anniversaries that took place in Wilmington, N.C., coming up next year.

These are ones dealing with the American Revolution:

JANUARY:  

The 240th anniversary of the British capturing Wilmington during the American Revolution.  In April, one of the region's leading Patriots, Cornelius Harnett, would die on his birthday after being held in a roofless prison by the British in downtown Wilmington.

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FEBRUARY:

The 255th anniversary of the Stamp Act Rebellion at Brunswick Town:  One of the earliest acts of rebellion in the colonies against the British crown.  The rebellion, which started with protests the preceding fall, saw Patriots holding future Royal Governor William Tyron under house arrest until he met their demands to stop the Stamp Act, which was a new tax on the colonists.

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FEBRUARY:

The 245th anniversary of the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge on Feb. 27, 1776:  The swift battle  saw the clash between North Carolina Patriot and Loyalist militias.  The Loyalist militia was aided by the Scottish Highlanders.  This took place in present-day Pender County.

The Patriot victory kept the British from invading the South for three years.  Today, the site is today the Moore's Creek U.S. National Military Park.

--Cooter

Some More Famous U.S. Warships Built at Brooklyn Navy Yard

Yesterday, I wrote about some of the ships built at this famous navy yard.  Here are a few more:

Fulton--  Robert Fulton's steam frigate launched in 1815.

USS Ohio--  Launched 1820, ship-of-the-line

USS North Carolina--  battleship  (My favorite battleship).

USS Iowa--  battleship

USS California--  battleship at Pearl Harbor

--BattleCoot

About Those Model Battleships

From the April 25, 2017, Shorpy Photo site "Fireside Cats: 1955."

Columbus, Georgia, circa 1955.  A boy and girl are posing in front of the home's fireplace.  She is holding a car, but the boy is proudly holding a battleship model.

I couldn't tell what model battleship it was, but a comment said it was definitely an Iowa-class battleship and that these were very popular with American boys at the time.  He described these warships as the "last and best true battleships built by the U.S. Navy.  Everything about them is superlative."

I always remember seeing a picture of the hull of the Oklahoma after it was uprighted.  It was tied up next to the new USS Iowa, which dwarfed the older battleship.

As proud as the boy was, he had not done a perfect job putting it together.

I was just four at the time so would have been unable to build a battleship model, but model ships were my favorite things to build by far.  Other friends of mine liked to build model planes or cars, but my forte was ships.

I built models of the Arizona, North Carolina and several of the Missouri, including a huge one.

Give Me a Battleship Model Anytime.  --Cooter

Back Then In Wilmington, NC

From the November 2011 Wilmington (NC) Star-News Back Then column.

Always enjoyable to take these looks back at a time gone by.

NOV. 24, 1911

The new railroad line between Wilmington and Southport (downriver from Wilmington) opened.  Previously, other than a bad road, the best way to get between the two places was by steamer on the Cape Fear River.

NOV. 21, 1961

J.W. Grise, longtime educator in New Hanover County died. He was a veteran of World War I.

NOV. 28, 1961

When the battleship USS North Carolina arrived at Wilmington, it had 1.1 million gallons of bunker oil, diesel oil and lubricating oil aboard.  No one was sure why all that was left aboard as the ship had been towed from New York.  Some thought it might have been ballast.

The Battleship Commission was inviting bids to sell the oil with the proceeds going to help with the preservation and operation of the new museum ship.

Just a 'Lil Look Back.  --Cooter

Back Then: Getting Ready for the USS North Carolina

From the Wilmington (NC) Star-News Back Then column where they look at old stories.

JULY 7, 1961-- NC Governor Terry Sanford formally received the deed to 21 acres of land on Eagle Island after paying $30,000 to the Atlantic Coastline Railroad from the state's Battleship Fund (which, as a schoolchild, I contributed some dimes and quarters). This particular money, however came from a private donor.

This was to be where the battleship was to have its permanent berth.


AUGUST 3, 1961-- A large floating crane was removing debris and sand out of the USS North Carolina berthing site. The sand was being placed behind dikes as they were preparing a foundation for parking.

Plans called for the North Carolina to leave Bayonne, New Jersey September 6th and arrive at the Wilmington State Ports Authority docks September 13th and to its permanent berth Sept. 16th.

The "Showboat" Comes Home. --Cooter

Hugh Morton Helps Bring the USS North Carolina Home

From the September 20th Wilmington (NC) Star News.

Hugh Morton was born Feb. 19, 1921, in Wilmington, NC, and attended college at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

he was president of the North Carolina Azalea Festival in Wilmington in 1948 and was the first chairman of the Battleship Commission in 1961.

He inherited NC's Grandfather Mountain from his grandfather, Hugh McCrae, in 1952. he soon extended a road to the top of it and built the Mile-High Swinging Bridge. It was Mr. Morton who made Grandfather Mountain into a successful tourist attraction.

He died June 1, 2006.

According to the June 12, 2006, Wautauga (NC) Democrat, at the memorial service for Morton, Dr. William Friday said, "He knew the battleship North Carolina would be a major attraction. He knew that by involving thousands of children on that project...they would learn the struggles of World War II and the role that this great battleship played, being our most decorated combat ship in the Pacific."

Hugh Morton, A Man of Vision. --DaCoot

USS North Carolina: A Big Thanks to James S. Craig and Hugh Morton-- Part 3

Cyril Adams surveyed Southport and Morehead City. Both were large enough, but vulnerable to hurricanes. Wilmington would provide a more protected berth for the battleship.

In 1961, North Carolina had a new governor, terry Sanford, a former World War II paratrooper. He appointed Morton the head of a state commission to bring the North Carolina home. This began the Save the Battleship effort which was supported by Admiral Chester Nimitz, wartime commander of the US Pacific Fleet and Admiral Arleigh Burke, current Chief of Naval Operations. Said Nimitz, "her presence in a task force was enough to keep morale at a peak."

The estimate to tow the North Carolina from New York City was $250,000 and the Battleship Commission was to be self-supporting, so funds were needed.

Morton instituted a state-wide group of fleet admirals in each of the state's 100 counties to raise money.

President John F. Kennedy, a Navy man himself, had a commission bought for him and the state archives still has a letter from him thanking Morton for the honor.

More to Come. --DaCoot

USS North Carolina: A Big Thanks to James S. Craig and Hugh Morton-- Part 2

Continued from my Oct. 14th post.

Hugh Morton also helped start the North Carolina Azalea Festival in 1948. This project started as a way to help restore public morale in Wilmington after the "boomtown" years of World War II, when the population ballooned to over 100,000 because of war industry.

Then, in 1960, the city's biggest employer, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad moved its headquarters from the city to Jacksonville, Florida, taking hundreds of jobs.

Wilmington decided the time had come to develop a tourist industry and the USS North Carolina was to be a keystone of the effort.

In 1948, the state of Texas had acquired the USS Texas with similar intentions. Morton's group contacted Cyril Adams, a Houston-based marine engineer who had handled the problems of relocating the Texas.

Four possible state sites for the USS North Carolina: Morehead City, Swansboro, Southport and Carlina Beach (the last two by Wilmington). Swansboro and Carolina Beach quickly fell out of the running.

More to Come. --Cooter

USS North Carolina: A Big Thanks to James Craig and Hugh Morton

From the October 1st Wilmington (NC) Star-News.

The Battleship North Carolina might never have come to Wilmington had it not been for the untiring efforts of these two men.

In 1958, the US Navy proposed to dispose of the USS NC and USS Washington along with other World War II era ships. The North Carolina had been decommissioned in 1947 and had been at Bayonne, New Jersey in the Atlantic Reserve fleet ever since. Battleships had been made obsolete in the age of nuclear aircraft carriers and submarines.

Jimmy Craig, an advertising executive at Wilmington's WECT-TV, had been a World War II veteran and decided he wanted the ship to "retire" to Wilmington. He was also a member of the Wilmington American Legion Post 10, and on Jan. 9, 1959, they set up a battleship committee and began lobbying Governor Luther H. Hodges to appoint a state battleship committee, what eventually became the Battleship North Carolina Commission, which still runs the ship.

Fellow World War II veteran Hugh Morton, who later became famous as the owner and developer of North Carolina's Grandfather Mountain and the first president of the NC Azalea Festival in Wilmington. Morton was a man who really knew the tourism industry.

And, this battleship was to be a key part of getting people to come to the Wilmington area.

"Show Boat's" Coming Home. --DaCoot

Some More USS North Carolina Information

From the Oct. 1st Wilmington (NC) Star-News.

** Participated in every major naval offensive in the Pacific Theater.

** Most decorated US battleship in the war.

** Struck by a Japanese torpedo September 15, 1942, killing 5.

** Purchased from the Navy by the State of North Carolina for $330,000 in 1961.

** Reached final mooring berth in Wilmington on Oct. 2, 1961.

** Dedication ceremony April 29, 1962, as a memorial to North Carolinians of all services killed in World War II.

** Became National Historic Landmark in 1986.

The "Show Boat!!" --DaCoot

The USS North Carolina Comes Home

From the Oct. 1st Wilmington (NC) Star-News "Fifty years ago, entire state rallied to bring battleship home" by Ben Steelman.


"It was the largest man made object ever to fit into the Cape Fear River--and, it almost didn't make it."

On October 2, 1961, prodded on by a flotilla of tug boats, the mighty warship, still in her postwar mothballs, was guided into its permanent berth opposite downtown Wilmington. It did not complete the journey that day, however.

Over 125,000 watched from the shore on a day featuring cold and miserable weather, including a large number of school children, despite it being a school day with no organized field trips (though there should have been for an event like this).

Since then, the ship has been a floating museum and World War II memorial. Admission back then was 50 cents for adults and 25 cents children.

The Showboat at Home Again. --DaCoot

USS North Carolina Sets All-Time Attendance Record

As might be expected, with a drop in ticket prices to their 1961 amounts, fifty cents adult and 25 cents child (from $12 and $6) and with all the hoopla about the 50th anniversary of the ship arriving in Wilmington, the USS North Carolina set an- all-time attendance record when 5,232 paid to board the ship Sunday.

Some more items of interest about the ship:

** Its sister ship, the USS Washington was the only US battleship ever to engage an enemy battleship in battle and sink it.

** The USS Washington was not saved by its state and ended up scrapped. Bet they wish they'd saved it now.

** The North Carolina was the first newly designed US battleship constructed in twenty years. (Washington Naval Treaty)

** First new construction US battleship to enter service during World War II.

More to Come. --Cooter

USS North Carolina Facts-- Part 2

STRUCK FROM NAVAL REGISTER: June 1, 1960
CLASS: North Carolina Class along with the USS Washington
DISPLACEMENT: 38,086 tons

LENGTH: 728.8 feet
BEAM: 108.3 feet
DRAFT: 33 feet

SPEED: 30 knots
COMPLEMENT: 2,339 (144 officers, 2,195 enlisted)

One Big Boat, Er, Ship. --DaCoot

USS North Carolina Facts-- Part 1

From the October 1st Wilmington (NC) Star-News.

BB55 Battleship #55, 55th made.

ORDERED: Aug. 1, 1937
BUILDER: New York Naval Shipyard
COST: $78,885,750
LAID DOWN: Oct. 27, 1937
LAUNCHED: June 13, 1940
SPONSORED BY: Isabel Hoey, daughter of NC Governor Clyde R. Hoey
COMMISSIONED: April 9, 1941
DECOMMISSIONED: June 27, 1947

How's That for Bang for Your Buck? --Cooter

Jimmy Craig and the USS North Carolina

In an earlier post, it was mentioned that WECT TV Account Executive Jimmy Craig was the man who initially got the ball rolling to save the battleship.

Just one week before the North Carolina arrived in Wilmington, Craig boarded a plane along with photographer John MacNeill during the WECT Civil Air Patrol air show at the New Hanover County Airport. The plane crashed.

Both men were severely burned and transferred to the Army;s burn center in San Antonio, Texas. Three others on the plane died immediately.

Jimmy Craig died October 14, 1961, the same day the North Carolina welcomed its first visitors MacNeill died a month later.

Mr. Craig was buried with full military honors in Wilmington's Oakdale Cemetery. He never lived to see his dream come true.

MacNeill was laid to rest in his hometown of Red Springs, North Carolina.

Sure Glad We Had Mr. Craig. --DaCoot

The "Showboat" Arrives 50 Years Ago-- Part 3

There was also a 30 minute video of the USS North Carolina attached to the article. Everything you ever wanted to know about the ship.

On October 2, 1961, Captain B.M. Burns of Southport brought the North Carolina up the Cape Fear River. A floating restaurant called The Ark was supposed to have been moved, but hadn't. Despite the many tugs trying to push the ship, the North carolina became stuck in the mud. The outgoing tide swung the stern into the side of the Ark, but, it didn't sink.

Night came and work was called off until the next day. Two weeks later, the North Carolina welcomed the first visitors.

The following year, the ship was dedicated to the 10,000 North Carolinians killed in the war.

Where It Belongs. --Cooter

The "Showboat" Arrives Fifty Years Ago-- Part 2

Wilmingtonian Hugh Morton got involved and the goal was to raise the $250,000 it would cost to acquire the ship. In 1961, new Governor Terry Sanford and Hugh Morton came up with a plan to raise the funds. The North Carolina Navy was formed and a campaign devised to have school children donate their nickels and dimes for the effort.

An ad from the time showed a boy holding a model of the Nor tn Carolina saying "Let's Bring the Real USS North Carolina home."

Enough money was raised and in September 1961, the Navy turned the ship over to the state. The plan was to have the battleship off the mouth of the Cape Fear River in October 1st and then tow it to the newly-dredged out berth opposite downtown Wilmington, but bad weather forced a one day delay.

More to Come. --DaCoot

The "Showboat" Arrives Fifty years Ago-- Part 1

From the September 29th Channel 6 WECT, Wilmington, NC, "Happy 50th Birthday Battleship North Carolina" by Bob Townsend.

The USS North Carolina arrived in Wilmington fifty years ago tomorrow, October 2, 1961. This weekend, you can tour the ship at the 1961 prices which were 50 cents adult, 25 cents child.

Congress authorized the funds to build the battleship in 1937 and it was commissioned April 9, 1941, shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Fortunately, it was not there when the attack came.

The North Carolina participated in every major Pacific offensive, earning fifteen battle stars in the process. At the end of the war, it was decommissioned and for 14 years remained in the US Navy mothball fleet in New Jersey.

When it was announced that the Navy was going to sell the state's namesake for scrap, WECT Account executive Jimmy Craig found out and immediately began a campaign to raise the money to buy the ship. Wilmington's American Legion Post 10 formed a committee with Craig as chairman.

More to Come. --Cooter

USS North Carolina

Happy homecoming anniversary to the USS North Carolina (BB-55).

According to Wikipedia, there have been five ships in the US Navy by the name North Carolina.

FIRST USS NORTH CAROLINA was one of none ships-of-the-line authorized by Congress. A ship-of-the-line was the battleship of its day. Launched 1824 and served through to the end of the Civil War.

The ONLY CSS NORTH CAROLINA, Confederate, served in the Cape Fear River protecting Wilmington, NC. Not seaworthy and hull eaten by torpedo worms and sank at Southport, NC, 1964.

The SECOND USS NORTH CAROLINA was an armored Tennessee-class cruiser launched in 1908 and served in World War I.

The THIRD USS NORTH CAROLINA was started, but never finished. Scrapped because of the Washington Naval Treaty.

The FOURTH USS NORTH CAROLINA was the BB-55.

The FIFTH USS NORTH CAROLINA is the recently launched Virginia-class nuclear submarine.

A Quick History of USS North Carolinas. --DaCoot

Arrival of USS North Carolina at Wilmington

From the Aug. 30th Wilmington (NC) Star-News Back Then column by Scott Dunn.

From the Aug. 24, 1961, newspaper.

The official arrival of the USS North Carolina at Wilmington was to be delayed two days according to Battleship Commission Chairman Hugh Morton. The decision to delay was based on the towing and tidal schedule.

In addition, the warship would no longer make a stop at the Wilmington State Port dock as planned, but would instead proceed straight to her berthing area on September 18th.

The North Carolina was to cross the sandbar at the mouth of the Cape Fear River near dawn and then continue up the river and be in the new berth by 4:30 pm.

The entire 25 mile cruise on the river was to be on a rising tide and nine commercial tugs would be maneuvering the 729-foot long ship, the largest ever to enter a North Carolina harbor.

Coast Guard and Army tugs would be on hand for extra help if needed.

Save Our Ship, 1961. --DaCoot