Naval History Blog

On September 7, the NHHC Underwater Archaeology Branch (UAB), Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, Naval Oceanographic Office, Office of Naval Research, and U.S. Naval Academy along with partners from Ocean Technology Foundation began the 2010 search and survey for Bonhomme Richard. The investigation will take place September 7 through September 21.

A SAAB Double Eagle MKII ROV being launched off the deck of CMT Cassiopée during the May 2010 search for Bonhomme Richard. Photo courtesy of Alexis Catsambis.

On September 23, 1779, Bonhomme Richard,  the flagship of the Continental Navy and commanded by Captain John Paul Jones, participated in one of the fiercest battles of the Revolutionary War against HMS Serapis off the coast of Flamborough Head, England. Although Jones emerged victorious from the battle, Bonhomme Richard was badly damaged and, after drifting for thirty-six hours, sank into the North Sea. If found, the final resting place of Bonhomme Richard could shed new light on US maritime history and would increase public awareness and appreciation for America’s maritime patrimony.

Photo of the USNS Henson, which will serve as the search vessel for the 2010 Bonhomme Richard survey. Photo courtesy of msc.navy.mil.

The survey area was determined using a computer program, developed by the U.S. Naval Academy, which integrates the weather and tidal data, crew actions and the vessel’s last known positions to establish where it might have gone down. The Bonhomme Richard Project teams will use an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) equipped with side scan and multibeam sonar, and a separate high-quality side scan sonar that will be towed behind the search vessel to create an image of the sea floor. NHHC will also be joined by a French Navy minehunter equipped with a robotic underwater video camera and teams of divers to further examine any targets warranting closer investigation. Dr. Robert Neyland, Head of UAB, will act as chief archaeologist and lead the investigation in authenticating and identifying any remains of the ship and its artifacts.

 Stay tuned for more updates as the search for Bonhomme Richard continues!

On September 2, 1944 Lieutenant Junior Grade George Herbert Walker Bush, then a pilot with Torpedo Squadron Fifty-One (VT-51 ) assigned to the USS San Jacinto (CVL-30) , flew a bombing mission against a Japanese radio station on Chichi Jima.  Despite his TBM Avenger being struck by heavy anti-aircraft fire before reaching the target, Lt.(jg) Bush pressed onward to deliver his payload of four 500-lb. bombs.  This dedication to the completion of his mission earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross. 

Shortly thereafter, clouds of smoke enveloped the cockpit and Bush evacuated the aircraft 1,500 feet above the ocean.  Radioman Second Class John Delaney and gunner Lieutenant Junior Grade William White were not so fortunate.  One of them died when his parachute failed to open and the other went down with the aircraft.  Lieutenant Doug West, an Avenger pilot from VT-51, strafed a Japanese boat that attempted to capture Bush as he as paddled his inflatable life raft out to sea. 

Fighter planes in the area then transmitted his position to the submarine Finback (SS-230) patrolling nearby waters to rescue downed aviators.  A few hours later the submarine sighted him, but being plucked from the ocean did not completely put an end to the danger.  Bush, along with four other pilots, stayed with the submarine for the next thirty days, the remainder of her patrol.  During this time period, Finback sank two small freighters and endured attacks by bombs and depth charges.  The pilots also stood watch searching for enemy planes and vessels. 

After the submarine disembarked the aviators at Midway, Bush was taken to Hawaii for a period of rest and relaxation.  However, concerned about the fate of his crew, Bush boarded a plane to Guam and made his way back to San Jacinto.

SCORPION Project barge transported back down the Patuxent after the completion of the field work.

 On August 12, the NHHC Underwater Archaeology Branch (UAB), and its partners MD SHA and MHT, successfully completed the first phase of their three-year archaeological investigation of the Patuxent shipwreck believed to be the War of 1812 U.S. block sloop SCORPION.  Firstly, a big thank you to our on-site visitors who made the trip out to Upper Marlboro, MD.  It was great to see you and we really appreciate your support!  We were also glad to welcome members of the press on site to inform them about the SCORPION project, our partnerships and the NHHC and were pleased to see the story covered in the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun and The Capital (Annapolis). 

Underwater archaeologists preparing to dive on the wreck.

 During the first part of the two-week project, UAB’s team of underwater archaeologists, in cooperation with MD SHA and MHT, measured the site and extent of the wreck beneath the sediment via a process called “hydroprobing.”  Based on the data from the hydroprobe, the team was then able to determine which parts of the wreck most warranted investigation.  Archaeologists then removed the overburden (overlying sediment) from specific parts of the wreck using dredge systems; the sediment pulled from the wreck was suctioned up the dredge onto the barges where it was screened by capable staff.  Some artifacts were also recovered and brought back to the UAB Conservation and Archaeology Lab for stabilization, treatment and documentation.  

Again, the UA team is very grateful to MD SHA and MHT as well as URS and SUPSALV. With their help and cooperation, significant progress was made during Phase 1 and we look forward to working with them again on the next phase of the SCORPION project in summer 2011. We’re always glad to talk about the SCORPION project and answer any questions, so feel free to stop by our offices or send us an email (NHHCUnderwaterArchaeology@navy.mil) and stay tuned for more posts!

The former 4th rate iron screw tug Palos was converted to a gunboat and commissioned on 11 June 1870, Lieutenant C. H. Rockwell in command. Departing Boston, Massachusetts, on 20 June for the Asiatic Station, Palos steamed across the Atlantic and through the Mediterranean, becoming the first American warship to transit the Suez Canal on 11–12 August. For the next 22 years the gunboat had an eventful career operating on the China and Japan coasts and inland waters protecting American interests.

In May 1871 the warship was operating off Korea as part of the Asiatic Squadron under Rear Admiral John Rodgers. While surveying the Salee River on 1 June, she was fired upon by a Korean fort, and two men from the squadron were wounded before return fire stopped the attack. Admiral Rodgers waited ten days for an official apology and then ordered Palos, the gunboat Monocacy, and a 650-man landing party into action, with the two warships supporting an assault and capture of the main Korean fort on 10 June and taking four others the next day. The squadron departed the Korean coast on 3 July without renewing negotiations, but the show of force was ultimately helpful in opening the country to Western trade.

While operating off China from June to September 1891, anti-foreign riots up the Yangtze River forced the warship to make an extended voyage as far as Hankow, 600 miles upriver, in protection of American lives and property. Stopping at each open treaty port, the gunboat cooperated with naval vessels of other nations in restoring order and repairing damage. She then operated along the north and central China coast and on the lower Yangtze easing anti-foreign tensions until June 1892 when she departed for Japan.

On 6 July Palos was condemned as unfit for further service there; she was decommissioned and sold at auction 25 January 1893, and was subsequently scrapped.

Lashed in the rigging of Hartford’s mainmast high above the deck, Rear Admiral David Glasgow Farragut had a bird’s-eye view of his squadron of eighteen ships as it fought past the booming guns of Fort Morgan into Mobile Bay, Alabama. Everything was going according to plan until the monitor Tecumseh suddenly rolled to starboard, her bow knifing into the water and stern rearing up with the propeller still spinning, then plunged out of sight like an arrow shot from a bow. Farragut knew instantly that Tecumseh had struck a torpedo, as mines were called in those days. As the gunfire from the Confederate fort intensified, Brooklyn, the lead ship in the main column just ahead of Hartford, started backing down, her skipper reporting a line of torpedoes across the channel.

Farragut realized that the decisive moment had arrived. The column was bunching up under the enemy guns. To try to maneuver around the torpedoes would lengthen the ships’ exposure to the cannonade. To go forward would hazard the fleet against the torpedoes. To retreat was out of the question. Farragut reflected on everything he knew about the Confederate defenses, offered a silent prayer, and then acted. “Damn the torpedoes!” he shouted. “Full speed ahead!”

Farragut’s ships passed through the enemy’s underwater defenses to confront a Confederate squadron of four ships. The Union ships quickly defeated or ran aground the three smaller ships. The fourth ship, a heavy ram, surrendered after an intense hour-long battle. The last major Confederate port in the south was now sealed.

The first Missouri, a wooden-hulled sidewheel steam-frigate, was commissioned in early 1842. In the summer of 1843 she departed the United States, under the command of Captain John Taylor Newton, to convey a diplomat to Alexandria, Egypt. On the evening of 26 August, as Missouri lay in the harbor of Gibraltar, the accidental breakage of a demijohn of turpentine started a fire when the liquid fell upon a lighted lamp. Capt. Newton, paying the customary call on the governor of the crown colony, returned to Missouri when he learned of the fire. Some of Missouri’s crew had rigged the pumps and employed hoses, while others formed bucket brigades. British sailors from the 74-gun ship HMS Malabar also assisted in the vain attempt to quell the raging flames. Although a court of inquiry investigating Missouri’s loss found the captain guilty of negligence and he was temporarily suspended from duty, Newton praised the zealous efforts of his officers and men save the ship.

The second Missouri (Battleship No. 11) rendered aid to the earthquake-stricken city of Kingston, Jamaica, in January 1907, voyaged around the world with the Great White Fleet, and trained midshipmen once newer dreadnoughts joined the fleet. The third Missouri (BB 63) served with distinction in World War II, hosted the signing of the Japanese surrender in September 1945 in Tokyo Bay, and showed the Stars and Stripes in the eastern Mediterranean in the spring of 1946 to show American support of Greece and Turkey. She went on to serve in the Korean War and Operation Desert Storm, and lies moored today at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, as a memorial.

Today’s commissioning of the fourth Missouri (SSN 780) continues the legacy of valor and heroism which have been the hallmark of the name since the mid-19th century.

(DD–886: dp. 2,425; l. 390’6”; b. 41’1”; dr. 18’6”; s. 34 k.; cpl. 367; 6 5”, 16 40mm., 5 21” tt., 6 dcp., 2 dct., 1 dcp (hh); cl. Gearing)

Brandon Richards of KPLC 7 in Lake Charles, Louisiana reports:

It’s been sixty-five years since J.T. Platt last boarded the USS Orleck.  “I was one of the grunts. I did what I was told,” said Platt, who worked at Consolidated Steel Corporation, the group that built the Orleck starting in 1944.  Platt worked at the company in Orange, Texas from 1944 to 1945.

He left Consolidated Steel two months after the Orleck was commissioned. Platt was part of the original group from Consolidated Steel, responsible for making sure all of the equipment on board the Orleck was in working order. Platt was also in charge of making sure all of the ship’s wires were working properly…

Click here to read the rest of the story.  For a brief history of the USS Orleck as well as background information on her namesake, please click here.

To plan a visit to the USS Orleck Naval Memorial in Lake Charles, Louisiana, click here.

Edson (DD-946) was launched 4 January 1958 by Bath Iron Works Corp., Bath, Maine; sponsored by Mrs. M. A. Edson; and commissioned 7 November 1958.

 Our nation’s fleet of historic ships grows by one!

Tim Younkman of the Bay City Times writes, “The battle continues to bring the Vietnam-era destroyer USS Edson to the Bay City riverfront.  Volunteers and maritime enthusiasts have worked for 13 years to secure a 20th century combat ship as a Bay City attraction.  Their efforts paid off when the U.S. Navy granted ownership of the 56-year-old Edson, now in mothballs, to the Saginaw Valley Navel Ship Museum.”

Full article here.

For more about the namesake of the USS Edson, click here.