Naval History Blog

On 1 October 1990 the carrier INDEPENDENCE (CV 62) transited the Strait of Hormuz en route to the Arabian Gulf. The following day she conducted flight operations in the Gulf, becoming the first carrier to do so since CONSTELLATION (CV 64) had operated there in 1974.

INDEPENDENCE (CV 62) left the Gulf on 4 October, following three days of sailing in its confined and shallow waters. A Pentagon spokesman said that the aircraft carrier had successfully completed her mission, which was “to demonstrate to our friends and allies in the region that it is possible to put a carrier in the Gulf and carry out operations.”

On 26 September 1931 Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., Newport News, Va., laid the keel for the first U.S. Navy ship to be designed and built from the keel up as an aircraft carrier. Ranger (CV 4) was commissioned on 4 June 1934 at the Norfolk Navy Yard, with Capt. Arthur L. Bristol in command. She made a shakedown cruise to South America prior to transferring to the Pacific in early 1935. For nearly four years she participated in fleet problems reaching to Hawaii, and in western seaboard operations that took her as far south as Callao, Peru, and as far north as Seattle, Wash. Ranger returned to the Atlantic in 1939, where she remained for most of the rest of her service. Ranger took part in Neutrality Patrols after war broke out in Europe in September 1939, with these operations becoming increasingly intense during 1941.

The early months of 1942 saw Ranger engaged in war operations in the South Atlantic, followed by service carrying U.S. Army fighter planes to West African bases in April and July. In November 1942 she was an important element in Operation Torch, providing air cover for the invasion of Morocco. Ranger was assigned to work with the British Home Fleet in the northeastern Atlantic from August to November 1943, during which time she launched strikes on German shipping along the Norwegian coast.

Following training and aircraft transportation duty in early 1944, Ranger was overhauled and sent to the Pacific, where she arrived in July. She spent the rest of World War II preparing air groups for combat operations. The carrier returned to the Atlantic after Japan’s surrender and remained there until she was decommissioned in October 1946. Ranger was sold for scrapping in January 1947.

1861 Hurricane Season

The East Coast is stilling the effects of Hurricane Irene’s grasp. The CAT 1 storm cut a swath up the East Coast, causing widespread damage from North Carolina to Vermont.  We sincerely hope everyone was safe during this past weekend’s storm. 

Looking through the records, it seems that a similar hurricane to Irene occurred 150 years ago. On the heels of the Port Royal Expedition, Hurricane Eight, better known as the “Expedition Hurricane,” severely impacted the timeline for the Union thrust into the vital Confederate stronghold. 

According to the National Hurricane Center, the three day storm was the last of the season.  “Hurricane Eight” began on the southwestern tip of Florida and climbed up the east coast.  Not unlike Irene, the storm made landfall along the Outer Banks of North Carolina as a CAT 1, slowly diminishing speed up the coast before downgrading to a tropical storm by nightfall on 2 November.  At its height, the hurricane reached winds approaching 80 mph.

The storm caused many problems for the United States Navy preparing for the expedition to capture the Confederate center along the Port Royal Sound.  Although the earliest storm warning occurred in late October while the fleet assembled, the most devastating impact came on the 2nd.

Most of the ships involved in the storm were spared, many having to unload precious cargo to stay afloat.  One ship which did not fair well, the transport Governor, lost seven Marines during a fateful rescue by the USS Sabine‘s crew.  Writing to Blockade commander Samuel F. Du Pont, Southern Division Marine Corps Commander JNO. George Reynolds communicated the harrowing wind, waves, and rescue:

Despite the loss of ship and life, the fleet of 77 ships went on to capture the sound at the Battle of Port Royal.  Stay tuned in November to the Civil War Navy Sesquicentennial Blog for more information on that specific battle.

1 August, 2011 - 

This begins the final week of excavation on the 2011 USS Scorpion Project! The team will work together this week to continue to investigate the wreck, map the site and recover artifacts. The team was pleased to welcome 7 staff members on site from NHHC Commemorations  and gave them a tour of the barges and explained the details of the archaeological operation.    

A diver recovers the starboard cathead.

2 August, 2011-

Today, the archaeology team recovered two important pieces of the ship’s architecture which they believe to be ”catheads.” Wooden vessels commonly had a pair of these thick, L-shaped beams incorporated into either side of the bow (one portside, one starboardside). One arm of the “L” projected out over the water and allowed sailors to raise and lower the anchor without causing damage to the side of the ship; the catheads were also strong enough to carry the heavy anchors suspended over the water while the ship was underway. The starboard cathead recovered from the site is in quite good condition and still has the iron components intact…a rare find and an important discovery! 

Archaeologists examine the iron block recovered from the wreck site.

3 August, 2011-

Another interesting find today! The team recovered an iron block from the site; the archaeologists hypothesize that it may have been used as ballast. Sailors often placed heavy material such as stone or metal into the hold of a ship to help stabilize and balance it while underway; the ballast could be moved about the hold as needed to compensate for any changes in the weight distribution of the vessel. Before excavation took place, a magnetometer survey was conducted on the wreck site; several strongly magnetic anomalies were detected…one of which may have been this block! 

 4 August,  2011- 

Today, the UAB dive team spent most of the day near the stern of the vessel measuring and mapping the area. Unlike the bow, the stern is a bit disarticulated with no real structure. When the Chesapeake Bay Flotilla was ordered scuttled, historical accounts are unclear as to how it was actually done. Firsthand accounts from 22 August, 1814 report that the British troops marching on Bladensburg were able to see flames in the distance (presumably from scuttling the Chesapeake Bay Flotilla); this may indicate that rather than puncturing the ships’ hulls to sink the vessels, sailors burned or placed kegs of gunpowder aboard and exploded them to prevent British capture. Although archaeologists have not observed charring on the architecture of the stern, the absence of an intact stern when the bow is so solidly intact, suggests that gunpowder may have been the method used to scuttle the ship. More research will need to be conducted before a solid conclusion is determined. 

5 August, 2011 -

 An exciting artifact was recovered today: a small, cylindrical glass bottle with a slightly rounded foot and a flared lip. The bottle is pale green in color, measures approximatly four inches and likely held some type of medicinal liquid or ointment. This bottle is nearly identical to those recovered by Donald Shomette in the original investigation of the wreck in 1980. As flagship of the Chesapeake Bay Flotilla, USS Scorpion would have likely had a surgeon on board; the bottle will join other previously recovered medical artifacts such as a tooth key and surgical scissors, which are on display in the National Museum of the United States Navy on the Washington Navy Yard. The bottle has been brought back to the Underwater Archaeology & Conservation Lab at the Washington Navy Yard for further analysis and conservation.  

A pair of surgical scissors recovered from the wreck site.

 6 August, 2011 -

 More exciting artifacts recovered today!  In the morning, the team first recovered a pair of scissors. The scissors appear to be made of an iron alloy and are in remarkably good condition.  Because of their small size and very fine, sharp blade, such scissors were likely part of a surgeon’s kit. This pair bears a resemblence to another recovered during the 1980 excavation, however the blades on this pair are straight. Later on in the afternoon, the team recovered a small stoneware jug. One of the most exciting details about the jug is that it was recovered with air inside; which may have been produced as the contents of the jug decomposed over time. The team managed to trap the air within the jug following recovery and may be able to chemically analyze it using a process called gas chromatography to determine the original contents of the container.

 At the end of the day, the team began to backfill the parts of the wreck where they had been working throughout the project. Backfilling refers to the process of redistributing the previously removed sediment back around the wreck. It is important that the site remain covered until the next and final phase of the Scorpion Project; the thick clay and sediment help protect and preserve the ship and its contents beneath the river bed.

 As the 2011 field season draws to a close, UAB sincerely thanks the Naval History & Heritage Command for its continued support of the USS Scorpion Project, and partners Maryland Historical Trust and Maryland State Highways Administration for their hard work and cooperation. UAB also thanks nautical archaeologists Heather Brown and Bradley Krueger, who joined the UAB team for the project, and also our fantastic summer interns who worked on site: Sarah Cahlan, Melissa Campbell, Ryan Frazier, Maria Grenchik, Chris Kelly, John Rees and Marcus Schweinfurth. Thanks to all who came to visit us on site and followed our progress on the blog. Stay tuned for the next phase of the project and to see the artifacts as they progress through the conservation process!

USS Skate (SSN-578) made submarine history on 11 August 1958 when it became the first submarine to surface at the North Pole.

USS Skate (SSN-578) hung below the Arctic ice like a matchstick suspended an inch from the ceiling of a large room. A knot of sailors in the control room stared intently at an instrument inscribing patterns of parallel lines on a rolling paper tape. The pattern looked like an upside down mountain range.

“Heavy ice, ten feet,” said one of the sailors.

Suddenly the lines converged into a single narrow bar. “Clear water!” the sailor called out.

Commander James Calvert, the skipper, studied the marks on the paper closely. He stopped the submarine, ordered “up periscope,” and peered into the eyepiece. The clarity of the water and the amount of light startled him. At this same depth in the Atlantic—180 feet—the water was black or dark green at best, but here in the Arctic, it was pale blue like the tropical waters off the Bahamas. The crew laughed nervously as Calvert reported seeing nothing but a jellyfish.

Calvert turned toward the man in charge of the ice-detecting instrument. “How does it look?” The sailor flashed him the okay sign.

“Bring her up slowly,” Calvert said. The three-thousand ton sub began drifting upward like a giant balloon. The diving officer called the depth as the Skate rose.

Otherwise the room was deathly quiet. A wrong move or a miscalculation would endanger the mission or even the ship. Calvert continued to peer through the eyepiece. When the top of the periscope came within sixty feet of the surface, he spotted heavy ice to the side. He flipped the prism to look straight up, but saw nothing except the same blurred aquamarine. Sweat appeared on his forehead as he felt all eyes in the control room bear down upon him. If the sub rose too slowly, it could drift away from the opening. If it rose too quickly and struck ice, the collision could tear open the pressure hull and send the sub and all ninety men on board to the bottom.

Calvert, one of the most decorated naval officers of World War II, had survived eight war patrols in the submarine Jack and later became the third naval officer selected by Admiral Hyman Rickover to command a nuclear powered submarine. It was one of the Navy’s most demanding jobs, for it required the intellect and the courage to operate the Navy’s most sophisticated and dangerous propulsion system. This success of this mission would help Navy planners determine whether submarines could navigate safely under Arctic ice, a question with grave implications for national security, given the emerging Soviet submarine threat.

Calvert ordered the ballast tanks blown. The roar of high pressure air seemed earsplitting after the tense silence of the last few minutes. Upon surfacing, Calvert ordered the hatch opened, then climbed up to the bridge. The sky was slightly overcast and the damp air felt like an unseasonably warm February day in New England, with the temperature hovering near freezing. The submarine’s black hull stood out in stark relief against the deep blue of the calm lake in which the ship now floated. Beyond the lake, stretching to the horizon in every direction, was the stark white of the permanent polar ice pack. The officer who had climbed to the bridge with Calvert called the skipper’s attention to the port side of the ship. There a full grown polar bear was climbing slowly out of the water and up onto the ice.

The date was 11 August 1958 and the Skate had just become the first submarine to surface at the North Pole.

A deep water diving helmet equipped with lights. Photo: Alexis Catsambis

After more than two weeks in the North Sea aboard USNS Grasp, amid cold winds, unpredictable weather and swells of nearly 16 feet, the NHHC Underwater Archaeology Branch (UAB), along with partners from Ocean Technology Foundation, Naval Oceanographic Office, SUPSALV, Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit (MDSU) 2 and the US Naval Academy, continues to comb the ocean floor for the remains of John Paul Jones’ Revolutionary War flagship Bonhomme Richard.

An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) in its cradle prior to launch. Photo: Alexis Catsambis

The search zone encompasses several hundred nautical miles, so to locate Bonhomme Richard, which may lie several hundred feet beneath the frigid waters of the North Sea, the team utilizes remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs). ROVs are tethered to the research vessel via electrical cable and towed, whereas AUVs are programmed to survey specific coordinates and then allowed to collect data as they navigate independently through the water. The ROVs and AUVs are equipped with sidescan sonars, multibeam echosounders and magnetometers which scan the sea floor and deliver data to the archaeologists aboard the command vessel. The combined data collected from this equipment helps archaeologists to clearly differentiate between debris items and potential archaeological sites or “targets”. So far, the expedition has conducted 3 remote-sensing surveys and 13 AUV missions.

Divers preparing for a deep water descent. Photo: Alexis Catsambis

The Bonhomme Richard survey expedition is also an important training opportunity for Navy divers. To date, there have been 14 diver investigations launched, many of which have focused on targets resting at more than 200 feet deep. Such depths exert enormous pressure on the human body, so instead of regular compressed air, divers must use a specially-formulated mixture of  oxygen, nitrogen, and/or helium. The ratio of the gasses is essential to the safety of the diver; if the mix is off by even a little, it can be very hazardous, so it is important that divers be well-trained when undertaking mixed-gas diving. To further protect themselves from the extreme pressure and cold, the divers wear a full deep water diving helmet which locks into place, and several warm layers beneath a dive suit designed to keep them dry while working underwater.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Dr. Robert Neyland, UAB, records measurements and observations from his dive.

 Monday, 18 July 2011-

Today, we were back in the Patuxent trenches continuing our efforts to delineate the boundaries of the suspected USS Scorpion wreck.  So far, the team has been successful in uncovering ship timbers in test units placed on the upstream and downstream extremities of the site.  These test units allow archaeologists to assess the vessel’s degree of preservation, articulation, and orientation within the river.  One of the vessel’s features that we are still trying to determine is which end of the wreck is the bow and which end is the stern. Since Scorpion and the rest of the Chesapeake Flotilla were possibly burned when scuttled in 1814 to prevent British capture, this may have severely damaged the ends of the structure making it difficult to delineate bow from stern. More excavation and analysis is needed before a positive identification can be made.

An exciting discovery! Archaeologists working at the north end of the wreck site have determined that it is likely the bow of the ship. One main reason for this hypothesis is the discovery of a “breasthook,” a thick, curved piece of wood that is typically placed across the stem (the very foremost part of a ship) to strengthen it and unite the bows on each side. So far, all of the planking and architectural structure of the ship uncovered by the divers appear to be very strong and solid; after nearly 200 years sealed beneath the thick sediment of the Patuxent, the majority of the vessel appears to be quite sound and very well-preserved.

Immediately following each dive, the team records notes, measurements and observations while underwater. They also produce a detailed sketch of the submerged wreck site based upon the new areas exposed during the dredging. Updated sketches are a necessity to the project as more and more of the wreck is uncovered. The UAB team is currently working to further expose and analyze the southern end of the wreck which, after the discovery this morning, is most likely the stern of the vessel.

Iron strop with wood fragment (presumably part of a deadeye) recovered from the wreck site. Image courtesy of MSHA.

Friday, 22 July, 2011-

A very interesting artifact was recovered today! Archaeologists working near the north end of the wreck (now believed to be the bow) recovered a double-looped iron ”strop” which typicaly holds a circular wooden piece called a “deadeye,” an essential part of the rigging of a sailing vessel. The deadeye was so called by sailors because of the way it’s three holes resemble the eyes and nose of a skull. The strop was transported back to the NHHC Underwater Archaeology & Conservation Lab and, after further analysis, appears to contain a small wood fragment of the deadeye it once held.

Despite the extreme heat, the team managed to conduct several dives and continue to delineate the extent of the vessel. In the afternoon, underwater visibility improved enough for Dr. Neyland to take down the underwater video camera and film near the southern end of the wreck.

Anthracite, a high-luster, clean-burning coal commonly used aboard ships. This piece was recovered from the Scorpion project wreck site.

Saturday, 23 July, 2011-

Another interesting artifact was recovered today: a piece of anthracite. Anthracite is a very hard, compact variety of coal that is very lustrous. Although difficult to ignite, anthracite was the preferred coal for use aboard ships as it burned cleanly and produced little smoke. With their considerable expertise, archaeologists are able to sift through several meters of sediment and distinguish very small, seemingly insignificant artifacts like this as potentially important parts of the wreck site. The team continued to excavate key points on the wreck site and sketch the architecture of the ship as more and more of the vessel is revealed. Stay tuned for updates next week!