Jump to content

What was the Armed Draft Detail, New York in WW1?


GITom1944
 Share

Recommended Posts

In researching WW1 service members I've come across references to sailors who were assigned to the "Armed Draft Detail." They all appear to have been assigned to the New York Navy Yard. Does anyone know what the Armed Draft Detail was & what it did? One reference I've seen gives me the sense the Armed Draft may have had something to do with the Naval Armed Guard but I was also thinking the Detail may have had something to do with looking for draft evaders. I really don't know what they did. Any ideas or reference options are welcome.

 

Tom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Here's one of the definitions of the wort Draft.

 

"select (a person or group of people) for a certain purpose"

 

Perhaps in this case Draft means the above, and had nothing to do with the Selective Service and the looking for draft dodgers in NYC, and it was a special unit, lets say a temporary Alarm/Reaction unit of the Naval Armed Guard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I believe that when the Selective Service Act was imposed on the US, there was an expectation that there might be a repeat of the US Civil War Draft Riots. The fear was that there would be trouble or wide spread disregard among the various immigrant groups and that it might take armed intervention to force everyone who was supposed to sign up for the Draft to do so. In the end, the Draft worked better than expected and there was little of no trouble realized.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Salvage Sailor

Aloha Members, Some US Naval History notes for you.....

 

In WWI the U.S. Naval Armed Draft Detail had their headquarters at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and a few other East Coast locations. In 1917 and 1918 these details were assigned to travel on merchant ships as needed to round up men who sought to evade the draft by leaving the US for neutral ports such as those in Ireland or Central and South America. They were tasked with confronting American men of military age and demanding to see their draft registration cards. They also would scour US ports, primarily on the Eastern seaboard, to determine if US merchant seamen of draft age were in compliance and had their draft cards. If not, they were detained and deemed eligible for evaluation for service in the US Navy.

 

One of their members, Chief Gunners Mate William B. Crist, commanding the four man detail aboard the S.S. ORLEANS was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for actions during her sinking by a German U Boat on July 3rd, 1917.

 

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEDAL CITATION - U S NAVAL ARMED DRAFT DETAIL
 
BY direction of the President, and with the approval of Congress, the Distinguished Service Medal of the Navy is awarded to Chief Gunners Mate William B. Crist, United States Navy for exceptionally meritorious service to the American government in positions of great trust and responsibility in the World War as described in the citation:
 
CHRIST, William B. ... C. G. M.
 
U. S. N. For exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service as commanding officer of the armed draft detail of the Orleans, he displayed heroic conduct when the Orleans was sunk by a German submarine on July 3, 1917, by entering the engine room of the sinking ship, attempting in stop the engines and remaining with the ship until all lifeboats and rafts had been launched, after which he left the ship with only a life preserver.

 

WilliamB.Christ.jpg.a6315168e36d26b289aca1ced10fb133.jpg

 

 

Another member of the U.S. Naval Armed Draft Detail recently had his service detailed in the Newark Advocate online edition, Licking County, Ohio

 

Plaine was grateful to Licking County residents for bronze medallion

Doug Stout Published 12:04 a.m. ET Dec. 17, 2016

 

Joseph Wellington Plaine was born Aug. 1, 1899, the third son of Louis and Rosa Plaine. Russian immigrants, Louis and Rosa Plaine were Jewish; they had come to Newark and opened the Plaines Clothing store on the corner of E. Main St and Cedar St.
 
Joseph would attend Newark High School and afterward take a course in college business, however at the age of 18 on Aug. 1, 1917, he would enlist in the Navy just two months after the United States entered World War 1. Plaine would attend the Naval Training Station in Newport, Rhode Island and then would be assigned to the U.S.S. Arizona.
 
On Oct. 3, 1917, the Newark Daily Advocate published a letter he had written to the paper. In the letter he addresses the medal he was sent. In May of 1917, the Advocate had started a campaign for monetary donations that would go to issuing each Licking County soldier and sailor a bronze medallion. The medal would be inscribed on the front with Licking County, Ohio, the year and on the back of the medal would be engraved the service members name.

 

The one fundraising push for the medal was, “remember how many of our boys lie in unmarked graves on Southern Soil,” referring to those that were unidentified during the Civil War since dog tags were not a standard issue. So when Joseph received his medal he sat down and wrote, “Editor of the Advocate: I wish to thank the people of Licking County for the medal which was presented to me a month back while at the Newport Training Station. I have been on this ship close on four weeks and have been to sea once, that being about two weeks ago. When we started out to sea we were wearing undress blues and the third day out we changed to whites on account of it being so warm. As yet I haven’t heard the big 14 inch guns burst forth with their cry for democracy, but the time is soon coming when I will, Yours Truly Joseph W. Plaine, USS Arizona.”
 
In November of 1917, Joseph would be assigned to travel on merchant ships as part of the Navy’s armed draft detail. These details were needed to round up those that thought to evade the draft. The first draft registration was June 6, 1917 and details like Josephs were sent to large cities such as New York City, Atlantic City and Cleveland, with the sole purpose to stop men of military age and demand to see their draft registration cards.
 
Joseph Plaine’s service to his country was just beginning.

 

post-2322-0-47985300-1533842840.jpg

 

Joseph Plaine was lost at sea
Doug Stout Published 12:06 a.m. ET Dec. 24, 2016
 
Joseph Plaine had been on armed draft detail three months, crossing the Atlantic to England on three different merchant vessels. His parents would receive a letter from him dated Jan. 20, 1918 from Brooklyn, N.Y. that would be published in the Advocate.
 
“I am dropping you a few lines to let you know I arrived all right. It took us twenty-two days to go over as we had bad weather. I am back on the U.S.M.S Philadelphia and got in this afternoon and will be leaving tomorrow or Tuesday afternoon perhaps so write me by special as soon as you receive this.”
 
“I just dropped a few lines to Beth Ghalem Auxiliary of Zanesville as it sent me a box of cakes candy and other things December 13th and I got them today so just imagine their condition. I thought I would get a chance to hike home this time but, oh no, the men are needed too badly as there seems to be a matter of single men, so there is no hope for me.”
 
That was the last his family would hear from him. They began to think he was on an extended cruise but after a few months his brother wrote the naval authorities in Washington. The reply from the navy was that Joseph was safe aboard ship. A month or so went by and still no word from Joseph and the family once again wrote to Washington and received the same reply.
 
This time the family was not willing to let the matter rest and on Sept. 11, 1918 sent letters to different agencies, within days they would receive a letter from the navy, stating in part, “the records show that Joseph Plaine was a seaman signalmen on board the S.S. Merton Hall which was sunk February 11, 1918 and the case has been taken up with the commander of the Naval forces operating in European Waters.”
 
The official report stated that at about 2:30 pm the S.S. Merton Hall was torpedoed. The explosion was so powerful that it seemed to lift the stern nearly out of the water. The ship went down in less than a minute and a half, 30 miles off the island of Ushant in the British Channel. Joseph was the only United States Sailor on the S.S. Merton.
 
After the war it was discovered that the German submarine U-boat 53 was the vessel that sank the Merton Hall. This was the same U-boat that sank the U.S.S. Jacob Jones that had killed Archie Leedy, the first Licking County death in World War I.
 
Plaine’s body was never recovered; his name is listed on the Tablets of the Missing at Brookwood Cemetery in England.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 years later...

A long-delayed thank you to Patches and Salvage Sailor for your valuable info! I asked the question but never noticed the answers til now.

 

Tom

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...