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USS Woodbury Sailor


hink441
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This is a neat picture of a young Sailor from the early 1920’s. His hat has “USS Woodbury” on the band. 
 

I do not know what his rate or rating is, but it appears he is wearing a bosun’s pipe. 
 

The Woodbury was part of the Honda point disaster and was never recovered. I wonder if this Sailor was onboard. There is a name on the back. “Howard Gray” is pencilled on the back. 
 

 

354CD53E-3678-44D4-A195-1FC1D77F9CAC.jpeg

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Salvage Sailor

Interesting photo as it looks like he has a gun pointer star but it's above his petty officer 'crow', and I don't see the gun pointer sight circle.  He also has a seaman branch shoulder cord along with the boatswains pipe lanyard as you noted.  If it were a master at arms star, I'd expect it to be point down, not point up.

 

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Thanks Salvage Sailor!  I am not familiar with the earlier rates. Who wore a star above the Eagle or Crow??

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Salvage Sailor

That's what I'm trying to figure out.  There was a 'ships Corporal' rate at one time, reporting to the Master at Arms, but this was well before the 1920's.

 

Relocating this topic to the Navy Ranks and Rates board for a look by the 'Crow' gurus

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If I didn't know the name of the vessel, I would guess that was a 1900-1910 photo, not WW1. The white thing is a knife lanyard , and was a required part of the uniform for seaman branch sailors before 1913. 


The rating badge is a mystery, not only because of the star but because he is still wearing the seaman branch mark. Locally authorized? Temporary? No idea.

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Salvage Sailor

Hink,

 

Just to add to our confusion, this may not be a sailor from (DD-309).  He may have served on the USRC WOODBURY, a revenue cutter that served briefly as the USS WOODBURY during the Spanish American War.

 

Revenue Cutter enlisted men circa 1890.jpg

 

USRC Levi Woodbury was a Pawtuxet-class screw steam revenue cutter built for the United States Revenue Cutter Service during the American Civil War. Built in 1863–64, she became one of the longest-serving revenue cutters in the Service's history, and was the oldest active-duty ship in U.S. government service by the end of her 51-year career.

 

Originally named Mahoning, the ship spent almost her entire career operating off the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts, where through the course of several decades she accumulated an outstanding record for aiding ships in distress. Other highlights of her career included the foiling of a filibuster raid on Cuba in 1869, and participation in the funeral pageant of renowned philanthropist George Peabody. She also briefly served as USS Woodbury in the Spanish–American War.

 

With the Spanish–American War on the horizon, Levi Woodbury was ordered to join the U.S. Navy's North Atlantic Fleet on 24 March. Two days later, she received orders to report to Norfolk, Virginia, arriving there 2 April. She subsequently participated in operations with the North Atlantic Fleet from 8 May to the end of hostilities in August, during which time she was referred to simply as Woodbury in naval records.

 

Though Woodbury may have participated in troop convoys to Cuba, her primary duty in this period consisted of blockading the port of Havana. She took no prizes during her brief naval career and appears to have been involved in no engagements. Control of the cutter was returned to the Treasury Department on 17 August 1898. She seems to have retained the name Woodbury in Revenue Service records following the transfer

 

Photo:  Underway off Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia, 30 April 1898. This image shows Woodbury outfitted for naval service during the Spanish-American War
Photo from Coast Guard History website

 

USS WOODBURY 1898.jpg

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Well this is an interesting twist. I just assumed it was the USS Woodbury DD-309. It could very well be from an earlier time and that could explain some of the discrepancies with this old portrait. 
 

Chris 

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It is USS Woodbury. He has USS on his cap ribbon. I believe he is a Seaman (Branch mark on his shoulder), attending a service school of some sort. Schools also used the recruit PO Badge, and he was assigned as a temporary PO at school. The lanyard was required of ALL Sailors below CPO. It WAS a knife lanyard, but the Sailors locker key was carried on it. 

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Which USS Woodbury was this Sailor assigned is where the confusion lies. The old re-commissioned Revenue Cutter, or the DD-309?

 

1904 old cutter or the 1920-23 DD-309. 

 

 

 

 

ECDD7FAB-E3C4-4DE0-8542-C927F7AB1E22.jpeg

7731A885-0FE3-4E21-9E95-9DE656C5EDC0.jpeg

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If it was the USRC Woodbury, it would have USRC on his cap ribbon, not USS. So, I think it’s safe to say, DD-309

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The sources posted say it was a USS ship during the Spanish American War. The picture I posted of the old cutter states “USS Woodbury” in 1904. 

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1 hour ago, hink441 said:

The sources posted say it was a USS ship during the Spanish American War. The picture I posted of the old cutter states “USS Woodbury” in 1904. 

Sorry, missed a step there!  Yes, the Span Am cutter. The lanyard is pre WW1. The long ends on his cap ribbon bow and how his neckerchief are tied all point to Span Am. This, again brings into question that rating badge. 

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I would say at least span am period. The insignia looks earlier from what you can see, like cw era and post cw era with the star above the eagle. Wish we could see more of the insignia.

    Wondering if the star is  for graduate of petty officer's school which was used during 1902-1905 but it was to be worn one inch below the rating chevron. The 1 ray pointing down. I guess they did not do everything by the regs. if this is the case.

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6 hours ago, navyman said:

I would say at least span am period. The insignia looks earlier from what you can see, like cw era and post cw era with the star above the eagle. Wish we could see more of the insignia.

    Wondering if the star is  for graduate of petty officer's school which was used during 1902-1905 but it was to be worn one inch below the rating chevron. The 1 ray pointing down. I guess they did not do everything by the regs. if this is the case.

The eagle is definitely post 1893. Prior to that , (1866-1893), the wings were straight out. From 1846-1865, the wings pointed down. 

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