The New Navy At Work: Worlds Work Magazine 1903

[338thRCT]

[338thRCT]

[Salvage Sailor]

From the Age of Sail to the Age of Steam.....

[gwb123]

The photos of the USS Maine threw me for a bit.  Apparently this was USS Maine BB-10, the second ship named for the state.

 

Apparently for WWI, additional structures were built raising the profile of the ship.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Maine_(BB-10)

[Salvage Sailor]

I always enjoy seeing the receiving ships and training ships alongside the 'new' armored steamers.  Most of the receiving ships scattered about the USN ports, docks & shipyards were survivors of the Civil War, now decommissioned and  converted to work and berthing spaces.  For example, the Union Navy gunboat USS NIPSIC posted above, the receiving ship for Bremerton, Puget Sound Washington.  She was commissioned in 1863 and I'll skip her early history, but here's the bit about her before she was rebuilt in Hawaii prior to her Bremerton duty.  This is what sailing was all about in the 'old' Navy.

 

1879–1889 Samoan Crisis

Rebuilt as a new, and substantially larger, Adams/Enterprise class gunboat, NIPSIC recommissioned on 11 October 1879.  She served again in the West Indies until March 1880 when she sailed for the European Station.

 

After three years service in the Mediterranean and along the north and west coasts of Africa, NIPSIC returned to the South Atlantic Squadron in June 1883. She served there until March 1886 when she sailed to the Washington Navy Yard for overhaul.  In January 1888 she sailed for Cape Horn and Callao, Peru, whence she departed on 23 September for duty as station ship in Apia Harbor, Samoa.

The wreck of USS NIPSIC, 1889, and her second rebuild

On 15 March 1889, NIPSIC rode at anchor in Apia Harbor with USS VANDALIA, USS TRENTON, HMS CALLIOPE, and three German naval vessels, SMS ADLER, SMS OLGA, and SMS EBER, along with six merchantmen. Gale-force winds arose, and preparations for leaving harbor were begun, but departure was delayed in the hope that conditions next morning would be more favorable for the sortie. However, by early morning on 16 March the harbor was a mass of foam and spray as hurricane-force winds battered the ships in the 1889 Apia cyclone.  Only HMS CALLIOPE, larger and more strongly powered than the others, was able to leave the harbor.  USS VANDALIA, USS TRENTON, SMS ADLER, SMS EBER, and all the merchantmen were all sunk;

 

 

Photo:  Wrecked ships in Apia Harbor, Upolu, Samoa, soon after the storm. The view looks about northward, with USS Trenton and the sunken USS Vandalia at left, the German corvette Olga beached in the center distance and USS Nipsic beached in the right center. Samoan Hurricane of 15-16 March 1889.
U.S. Navy photo NH 2150

 

USS NIPSIC's captain, Cmdr. D. W. Mullin, was able by superb seamanship to beach his ship. While severely damaged by the pounding she received on the beach, NIPSIC's hull was intact, although much of her topside structure was battered, all of her propeller blades damaged, two boilers spread and useless, and eight of her crew lost. Refloated and her engines repaired, NIPSIC cleared Apia on 9 May for Auckland, but was turned back by heavy seas. On 15 May she again sailed, for Pago Pago, Fanning Island, and Honolulu, arriving on 2 August.

 

 

Commander Dennis W. Mullan, USN
Photographed at Lima, Peru, in 1889, while he was serving as Commanding Officer of USS Nipsic.
Naval Historical Center photo NH 47631

 

 

Photo:  In the floating drydock at Honolulu, Hawaii, after arriving from Samoa for repair of damage received during the 15-16 March 1899 Apia hurricane. Not only was the propeller bent beyond repair, but the rudder and rudderpost were torn away, as were the keel and deadwood below the propeller. Of note are the sailors (including two Chief Petty Officers wearing enlisted "white hats"), sanitary chute running from the port quarter to the water, and rudder post bracket. The words "corn meal" are written on the lower right propeller blade
Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 63083

1890–1913

NIPSIC was completely rebuilt in Hawaii, her length and beam extended and her tonnage increased. From 3 January 1890 she cruised in the Hawaiian Islands guarding American interests. She arrived in San Francisco Bay on 30 September, and decommissioned at Mare Island Navy Yard on 2 October 1890. In 1892 she sailed to Puget Sound Navy Yard to serve as receiving ship and prison. On 13 February 1913 she was sold. NIPSIC was burned for her estimated salvage value of $15,000 on the shores of Lummi Island, Bellingham Bay, Washington, in late 1915.

 

R.I.P. USS NIPSIC 1862-1913