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USS Housatonic (SP-1697)

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For other ships with the same name, see USS Housatonic.

The USS Housatonic (SP-1697)
History
Name
  • El Rio (1899—1918)
  • Housatonic (1918—1919)
  • El Rio (1919—1925)
  • Brazos (1925—1945))
NamesakeThe Housatonic River
Builderbuilt in 1899 by Newport News Shipbuilding in Norfolk, Virginia.
Yard number24
Launched24 June 1899
Completed19 October 1899
Commissioned(Navy) 25 January 1918
Decommissioned(Navy) 5 August 1919
In service1899
Out of service1942
FateLost as Brazos in collision 1942.
General characteristics
TypeMinelayer (in 1918)[1]
Displacement7,000 tons[1]
Length405 ft (123 m)[1]
Beam48 ft (15 m)[1]
Draft20 ft (6.1 m)[1]
Speed15 knots[1]
Capacity830 mines (900 max)[1]
Crew21 officers and 400 men[1]
Armament

The second USS Housatonic was the Southern Pacific Steamship Company freighter El Rio. The ship was one of four company ships temporarily converted for planting the World War I North Sea Mine Barrage.

El Rio

El Rio was launched as hull number 24 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company at Newport News, Virginia on 24 June 1899 and completed 19 October 1899 for the Morgan Line.[note 1] The ship was assigned U.S. Official Number 136761.[2] El Rio was intended for service between New York City and Gulf of Mexico seaports of New Orleans and Galveston, Texas. The Morgan Line was incorporated into the Southern Pacific system.[3]

Big Four minelayers

The United States converted eight civilian steamships as minelayers for the 100,000 mines manufactured for the barrage. British Rear Admiral Lewis Clinton-Baker described the North Sea mine barrage as the "biggest mine planting stunt in the world's history."[1]

The largest of the converted minelayers were four freighters owned by Southern Pacific Steamship Company. Southern Pacific Transportation Company had evolved from the First Transcontinental Railroad to become the dominant transportation provider in California. Owners of the original Central Pacific Railroad were known as the Big Four. Sailors similarly referred to these former Southern Pacific ships as the Big Four.[1]

Conversion

The United States Shipping Board took control of the ship from Southern Pacific Steamship Company in 1917. Housatonic was fitted out for United States Navy service at Tietjen & Lang's shipyard at Hoboken, New Jersey. Work began on 25 November 1917. Gun platforms were added for two anti-aircraft guns forward and a 5"/51 caliber gun aft. The minelaying conversion enabled her to carry mines on three decks, and included six Otis elevators individually capable of transferring two mines every 20 seconds from the storage decks to the launching deck. Stern ports were cut for launching the mines and the rudder quadrant was raised to give adequate clearance. Watertight subdivision was improved by strengthening existing bulkheads and building two new bulkheads to divide the largest compartments so the ship might stay afloat if only one compartment were flooded. Quarters were enlarged to accommodate messing and berthing arrangements for a crew of about 400. The main machinery was overhauled and auxiliary machinery was added for the elevators, for heating the berthing spaces, for refrigerated food storage, for additional fresh water distilling capacity, for magazine sprinklers and galley and washroom plumbing, and enlarged electric generators for lighting and radio communications. Existing coal bunkers on the third deck were replaced with a bunker in the hold forward of the boiler room with chutes to load coal over the mines. Larger boats and heavier anchors required larger davits and anchor windlass, and the mines required specialized handling machinery.[4]

Wartime service

USS Housatonic was commissioned on 25 January 1918 with Captain John Greenslade, USN, in command. While operating as part of Mine Squadron 1 out of Inverness, Scotland, from 7 June until the close of the war on 11 November 1918, Housatonic laid a total of 9,339 mines:[1]

  • planted 769 mines during the 1st minelaying excursion on 7 June,
  • planted 800 mines during the 2nd minelaying excursion on 30 June,
  • planted 840 mines during the 3rd minelaying excursion on 14 July,
  • planted 830 mines during the 4th minelaying excursion on 29 July,
  • planted 320 mines during the 5th minelaying excursion on 8 August,
  • planted 810 mines during the 7th minelaying excursion on 26 August,
  • planted 820 mines during the 8th minelaying excursion on 7 September,
  • planted 830 mines during the 9th minelaying excursion on 20 September,
  • planted 860 mines during the 10th minelaying excursion on 27 September,
  • planted 840 mines during the 11th minelaying excursion on 4 October,
  • planted 820 mines during the 12th minelaying excursion on 13 October, and
  • planted 800 mines during the final 13th minelaying excursion on 24 October.

Housatonic then made three trips returning soldiers of the American Expeditionary Forces to the United States.

John Greenslade was awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal while aboard Housatonic.[5]

Return to Southern Pacific

Housatonic decomissioned 5 August 1919 and was returned to the Southern Pacific Steamship Company.[6] El Rio was renamed Brazos in 1925 and operated until lost in a collision 13 January 1942.[2][7][8]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Five ships for the Morgan Line had been built as hulls 2 through 6 between 1891 and 1893 with hull number 5 being an earlier El Rio. That ship was one of the three converted to become an auxiliary cruiser, USS Dixie (1893).

See Also

History of the Southern Pacific

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Belknap, Reginald Rowan The Yankee mining squadron; or, Laying the North Sea mining barrage (1920) United States Naval Institute pp.46–47,74&110
  2. ^ a b Colton, Tim (15 December 2020). "Newport News Shipbuilding". ShipbuildingHistory. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  3. ^ Luce, G. W. (February 1921). "Sunset Gulf—The 100 Per Cent Route". Southern Pacific Bulletin. 10 (2). San Francisco: Southern Pacific: 16–18. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  4. ^ Daniels, Josephus The Northern Barrage and Other Mining Activities (1920) Government Printing Office pp.70–71
  5. ^ "Navy Distinguished Service Medal to Captain Greenslade". MilitaryTimes.
  6. ^ Naval History And Heritage Command (20 July 2015). "Housatonic II (SP-1697)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History And Heritage Command. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  7. ^ "U.S. FRIGHTERS SUNK IN COLLISION JAN. 13; Brazos, a 4,497-Ton Vessel, and Unidentified Ship Struck 150 Miles From Hatteras 35 IN THE CREW ALL SAVED Master of Brazilian Rescue Craft Tells of Trying to Salvage the Ciltvaira". The New York Times. New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company: 10. 23 January 1942. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  8. ^ "Brazos SS (1925~1935) Brazos SS (+1942)". The Wrecksite. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
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