George F. Brady, USN-- Part 2: Committed Suicide and Gravestone Didn't List His Medal of Honor

In addition to the Medal of Honor, he was promoted to the warrant officer rank of Gunner on June 27, 1898.  His first assignment at the new rank was on the armored cruiser USS New York (ACR-2).  Then, he was transferred to Naval Torpedo Station in Newport, Rhode Island, on 21 November 1900.

His old ship, the USS Winslow, on which he won his Medal of Honor, was stationed there from 1901 to 1904, so it is likely he was back on his old ship.

Sadly, he committed suicide while serving on the USS Monongahela at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine, on November 6, 1903.  He stated shortly before his suicide that "the pain was unbearable", but it is unclear if his pain was physical or emotional.

He was buried in the Island Cemetery in Newport, Rhode Island, where his wife and children lived.  As his tombstone did not indicate that he had received the Medal of Honor, this fact was not discovered until January 20 when Charles Mogayzel of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, was able to find Brady's gravesite.

Representatives of the U.S. Navy and local veterans  organizations dedicated a Medal of Honor grave marker on Brady's grave on Memorial Day later that year.

His name in records pertaining to the Medal of Honor list his name as "George F. Brady" and the name on his tombstone is "George P. Brady."  The reason for this discrepancy is probably that his name was mis-transcribed when his Medal of Honor citation was written.

--Cooter

USS Winslow (TB-5)-- Part 4: Post War Service

The Winslow was returned to full commission by 30 June 1901 and assigned to the Naval Torpedo Statopn at  Newport, spending then next  three years training naval officers and enlisted men the techniques of torpedo firing and helping them polish their skills in gunnery and shopboard engineering.

Most likely, she also participated in some work to improve the "automotive" torpedo.

Not much is known as to her activities between July 1904 and February 1906, but probably spent the majority of it in reserve or out of commission on New York.  The Winslow was recommissioned at New York Navy Yard on 16 February 1906 and steamed south to Norfolk where she was placed in the Reserve Torpedo Flotilla.

Sometime in 1909, she was transferred to Charleston, S.C., but remained in reserve.

On 1 June 1909, she was turned over to the Massachusetts Naval Militia at Charlestown and later moved north to Boston where she served as a school ship for volunteer seaman for a local  naval militia until the following  November.  

On 2 November 1909, the Massachusetts Naval Militia returned the Winslow to the Navy and she was in Boston Navy Yard in reserve until the summer of 1010.  She was then placed out of commission at Boston and sold  in 1911.

Sometime around October 1923, the Winslow, along  with other decommissioned vessels, was scuttled near Sagamore Hill, Oyster Bay, Long Island to form a breakwater.

--Cooter

USS Winslow (TB-5)

From Wikipedia.

The USS Winslow was noted for its participation in the 1st and 2nd Battles of Cardenas during the Spanish-American War.

It  and launched 8 May 1897.was laid down at Baltimore, Maryland, and commissioned 29 December of that year with Lieutenant John B. Bernadou in command.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

Length:  161 feet 

Beam:  16 feet

Speed:  25 knots

Complement:  20 officers and enlisted

Armament:  

three 1-pounder guns

three 18-inch torpedo tubes

--Cooter

Admiral David W. Bagley-- Part 3: World War I and the Sinking of the USS Jacob Jones

During the first month of 1917, Bagley  moved from the command of the USS Drayton (DD-23) to the USS Jacob Jones (DD-61).  By May 1917, his ship was conducting anti-submarine patols and convoy escort duties in the western approaches to the British Islands.  Later, his area of operations widened to include the Irish Sea and English Channel.

In December 6, 1917, the Jacob Jones left Brest Harbor, France,   At about 1621 that afternoon, the watch spotted a torpedo wake.  The destroyer tried to avoid it, but it struck the ship's starboard side and pierced the fuel oil tank.

Though Bagley and his crew worked frantically to save the ship, it went down within eight minutes, carrying 64 out of 99 crewmen with it.  Bagley and 37 others made it into the icy waters in boats and rafts. Thanks to the humanitarian effort by the German U-boat skipper Hans Rose, who radioed their location to Queenstown, they were picked up by December 8.

Bagley was given the Navy Distinguished Service Cross for his role.

--Cooter

USS Jacob Jones (DD-61)-- Part 4: The Sinking

In early December, the Jacob Jones helped escort a convoy to Brest, France, with five other Queenstown-based destroyers.  The last to depart from Brest and return to Ireland was the Jones and was steaming alone along a zig-zag pattern when she was spotted by  the German submarine U-53.  At 16:20 on December 6, 1917,  lookouts on the American ship spotted a torpedo 800 yards distant headed for the ship's starboard side.

Despite having her rudder put hard left and emergency speed rung up, the Jones was unable to move out of the way and the torpedo struck her rudder.  Even though the depth charges did not explode, the ship went adrift.  The jolt had knocked out the power, so the destroyer was unable to  send a distress signal since she was steaming alone.

No other ship was present that would know of the Jacob Jones' predicament.

--Cooter

USS Jacob Jones (DD-61)-- Part 3: Rescuing Survivors

On 8 July 1917, the Jones rescued 44 survivors from the Valetta, torpedoed by the U- 87.  While escorting the British steamship Dafila two weeks later, lookouts on the USS  Jacob Jones spotted a periscope, but before it could attack, the U-45 torpedoed and sank the steamship.  The Jones rescued 26 of the 29 crew members before it sank.

On 19 October the British armed merchant cruiser Orama and ten destroyers, including the Jacob Jones were escorting an eastbound convoy of twenty steamers, when the U-62 surfaced in the midst of the group.  The submarine launched its only remaining torpedo and sank the Orama.  The Jones then rescued 309 survivors.

--Cooter

USS Gridley (DDG-101)-- Part 2: 'Fire When Ready' (Who Said That?)

 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

Well, anybody who has been reading my Running the Blockade: Civil War Navy blog and this blog can probably guess the motto of this ship.

MOTTO:  Go ahead and guess.   Answer below.

COMMISSIONED:  10 February 2007

SPEED:  30+ knots

CREW:  320 to 380

ARMAMENT:

One 5-inch

Two 25mm autocannons

Four .50 caliber  machine guns

One 20 mm Phalanx CIWS

Two Mk 32 triple torpedo tubes for Mk 46 torpedoes

96 cell Mk 41 VLS for:

RIM-66 Standard Missile 2

BGM-109 Tomahawk

RUM-139 VL-ASROC missiles

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

AIRCRAFT:   Two SH-60  Seahawk helicopters

Don't Think I'd Mess With This Ship.  --Cooter

In case you're wondering about the ship's motto, it is "Fire When Ready."  Who'd have figured that?

Charles V. Gridley-- Part 5: Service in Europe, Rhode Island, Training Ships and Lighthouses

Charles Gridley's next duty was one of the naval service's  epitomes.  He was assigned to duty with the European Squadron aboard the USS Trenton.  Basically the duty involved  sailing from port to port, showing the U.S. flag and attending dinners and ceremonies.  Unfortunately, the U.S. Navy by then was at its lowest ebb, with its vessels considered to be antiques by most nations.

(The USS Trenton, however, was a very new ship, having been commissioned in 1877.  It was wrecked in a huge storm at Apia, Samoa, in 1889.)

After a wait of 14 years,  Charles "Steve" Gridley finally received his next promotion.  On March  10, 1882, he was appointed commander, and was immediately sent to Newport, Rhode Island, to study at the torpedo school for three months.  Torpedoes were one of the  highly-vaunted new weapons of the age, and though the United States did not yet have a torpedo boat, the advance in technology was noted.

After this stint, Gridley was assigned as navigation officer at  the Boston Navy Yard, and then to Cruising Training Squadron.  He was the commanding officer of  the USTS (United States Training Ship) Jamestown and the USTS Portsmouth.  This duty was extended from  1884 to 1886.

Beginning in 1887, Commander Gridley began serving as Inspector of the 10th Lighthouse District, which included the 114 miles of the St. Lawrence River as well as Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and the Niagara River.  He held this post until 1891.  This duty brought him close to his family, a luxury for a naval officer.  Luckily for him, his in-laws had  political connections that would allow him to again gain this position later in life.

--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

Another Titanic, Britannic Survivor, Archie Jewel-- Part 2: Not So Lucky On the Donegal

In 1916, Jewel left the White Star Line and was hired onto the SS Donegal, a passenger  ship put into service in 1904.

It was converted into a hospital ship during World War I which transported wounded soldiers between France and England.

On 1 March 1917, one of these voyage encountered a German U-boat and the Donegal was torpedoed.  Badly damaged, the Donegal was able to get away, but was not repaired.  On 17 April 1917, another German submarine torpedoed the Donegal without warning and the ship sank 19 nautical miles  south of Dean.

Twelve crew members and  29 British soldiers died.  Archie Jewel was one of the dead crew members.  he was only 28 years old.  His body was never recovered.  

John Priest was also on board the Donegal, but survived.

--Cooter

James Harvey Tomb-- Part 1: U.S. Navy and U.S. Merchant Marine

In my Running the Blockade:  Civil War Navy blog I have been writing about a Confederate naval officer by the name of James Hamilton Tomb, who had quite a career in submersibles and torpedoes as well as the Brazilian Navy.  While looking for information on him, I came across the names of two more U.S. naval officers with the last name of Tomb who I thought perhaps were the sons of him.

It turns out that they were.  But since their service was not in the Civil War, I will write about them in this blog.

From Wikipedia.

JAMES HARVEY TOMB  (September 2, 1876 - September 23, 1946)

Served as Superintendent of the New York of the New York State Merchant Marine Academy and was appointed the first Superintendent of the United States Merchant Marine Academy in 1942.  He was also a U.S. Navy officer for 27 years.

He was a USNA graduate and an excellent marksman.  During World War I, he commanded the destroyer USS Hull in 1907 and USS Chauncey from 1908 to 1909.  Of interest to my War of 1812 readers, both of these destroyers were named after War of 1812 naval heroes, Isaac Hull and Isaac Chauncey.

During World War I, he commanded the former coastal liner Aroostook during the laying of the North Sea Mine Barrage that bottled up the German fleet.

--Cooter

USCG Cutter Tampa-- Part 5: Its Sinking With All Hands Lost

During the late afternoon of  26 September 1918, the Tampa parted company with Convoy HG-107 which she had just escorted into the Irish Sea from Gibraltar.  The ship was ordered to Wales and proceeded independently there.

At 1930 that evening, in the Bristol Channel she was spotted by bu UB-91.  The U-boat dove and maneuvered into attack position. and fired one torpedo out of its stern at 2015 at a range of about 550 meters.

Minutes later, it hit the Tampa portside amidships, throwing up a huge column of water.  The cutter sank with all hands.:  111 Coast Guard, 4 U.S. navy and  16 passengers, consisting of  11 British navy personnel and 5 civilians.

A search and rescue operation soon commenced and lasted three days turning up just some wreckage and a single, unidentified body.  Three bodies were later recovered.

USS San Diego-- Part 3: Still the Question: Mine or Torpedo

The USS San Diego was the only major warship lost by the United States in World War I.

The Navy Department was informed that a German submarine was operating off the  east coast of the U.S. and the U.S. Naval Air Service was put on alert.  Aircraft of the 1st Yale Unit, based at Bay Shore, Long Island, attacked what they thought was a submerged submarine, but it turned out to be the San Diego.

Captain Christy believed his ship had been sunk by a torpedo, but there was no evidence of a submarine operating in the area at the time, not did his lookouts see the wake of a torpedo.  It had been reported that dive or six mines had been found in the area.

But the thought was that had it been a mine, the explosion would have taken place at the San Diego's bow or forward part of the ship.  Experienced merchant ship captains believed a mine was probable because of the force of the explosion and how rapidly the ship sank.

--Cooter

USS San Diego Hits Mine-- Part 2: Off the U.S. Coast

The USS San Diego was recommissioned April 7 for use in World War I.  At first it operated in the Pacific before being ordered to the Atlantic.  Once there, the main job of the ship was to escort convoys across the North Atlantic to Europe.Ir was based out of Tompkinsville, New York, (Staten island) and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

An 18 July 1918, the San Diego was going to escort a convoy to France and its commander, Captain Harley H. Christy, ordered a zig-zag course with everyone on full alert for a submarine attack.  At 11:05 the next day, the ship was off Fire Island Lightship, N/Y/, when there was an explosion on the port side , well below the waterline.

Captain Christy thought his ship had been struck by a torpedo.  The San Diego began sinking rapidly and went below the water in 28 minutes.  Six men were killed.

--Cooter

--

The USS President Lincoln-- Part 3: Sunk By the U-90, Largest U.S. Ship Lost in WW I

Just before 9 a.m. on May 31, 1918, the U-90, which had been following the President Lincoln fired two torpedoes which hit the ship on the portside near the bridge and killed seven men below the deck.  Shortly afterwards, a third torpedo slammed into the Lincoln.

The order was given for all to abandon the ship except for the crews of the four 6-inch guns who stayed at their stations in case the German submarine surfaced to view what it had done.  They left just a short time before the President Lincoln sank in about 30 minutes.

Losses were not as high as might be expected because of the crew's training.  Three officers and sixteen crew died.

The survivors were now adrift and the U-90 did surface looking for officers.  The other three ships proceeded ahead as was standard procedure in this situation, but they did alert authorities as to what had happened.

The USS President was the largest ship the United States lost in World War I.

--Dacoot

Sinking of USS President Lincoln-- Part 4: Just When They Thought They Were Safe

On May 31st, the USS President Lincoln was 500 miles from France and the general feeling aboard was that she was safe.  However, at 9 a.m., there was a huge explosion.  The ship had been hit by three torpedoes.

The German submarine U-90 had been following the wakes of the ships since midnight.  The defenders aboard the President Lincoln prepared to open fire, but the submarine had only used its periscope instead of surfacing.  It had fired and then immediately dove to a lower depth.

The Ryndam had tried to ram the sub, but the submarine dived even deeper.

All four ships had been steaming in a line.  The President Lincoln was chosen to receive the torpedoes because it was the largest ship.

--Cooter

The Sinking of the USS President Lincoln in WW I-- Part 1: Former German Ship

From the June 12, 2018, Naval History Blog "The Sinking of the USS President Lincoln, 31, May 1918" by Jon Hoppe.

The chronology post I did earlier this month (June 1) placed the sinking of the ship as June 1.  It actually was sunk May 31, 1918.

This month marks the 100th anniversary of this ship's sinking.  The USS President Lincoln was a troop transport ship used during World War I.  It was formerly a German ocean liner of the Hamburg-America Line.  The Navy commissioned it as the USS President Lincoln in 1917 to carry American troops and equipment to Europe.

It was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine SM U-90 on May 31, 1918.

--Cooter

100th Aero Squadron of World War I

From Wikipedia.

Part of the U.S. Army in World War I.  Ordered to the Western Front and boarded the SS Tuscania 23 January 1918.  Torpedoed 5 February and ship sunk but most of the 100th rescued.

Reformed in England as assigned as Day Bombardment Squadron for long-range bombing attacks on roads, railroads and massed troop formations.

However, just before its first scheduled combat mission the war ended with the 1918 Armistice.  Returned to the States in June 1919 and demobilized.  The group was never reactivated.

--DaCoot

SS Marina Sunk By U-55 in 1916

From the wrecksite site.

The SS Marina was built in 1900 and owned at the time of its loss by Donaldson Line out of Glasgow.  5204 tons.

On October 28, 1916, on a voyage from Glasgow to Baltimore, it was sunk by the U-55 30 miles from Fastnet.(southern coast of Ireland)  Eighteen persons lost their lives.

The Marina was a defensively armed British merchant ship and the torpedo was fired without warning.

A list of the eighteen who died accompanied the article and none of the men from Roanoke, Virginia, were on it.

You Hear A Lot About the Lusitania, But I Had Never Heard of This Ship Being Sunk By a German Submarine.  --DaCoot

First U.S. Serviceman to Die in World War I

During the course of the next two years I will be writing down some of the events happening during the United States' participation in World War I.  I will be getting the information from the April issue of the VFW magazine.

APRIL 1, 1917

Navy Armed Guard Chief Boatswain's Mate John Eopolucci perishes in a lifeboat after the steamer Aztec is torpedoed off France.

This was five days before the U.S. Declaration of War against Germany, which took place on April 6.

--Cooter