USS THE SULLIVANS

 17 April 2022: Happy Easter and happy Passover to all those who celebrate! Once again, we are kind of flying in the face of precedent by posting a current event, but this is definitely in our wheelhouse. Museum ships are history and those charged with the "care and feeding" of one should do everything possible to ensure their continued viability. Sometimes, resources don't match the need, and then this happens. From FoxNews:

                                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~

The USS The Sullivans, a decommissioned Navy warship, has partially sunk in waters near Buffalo, New York.

 The Navy destroyer, commissioned in 1943, began listing to its starboard side Thursday (14 April). Workers in the Naval and Military Park where it is held have begun efforts to save the ship with support from local and state politicians.

"USS The Sullivans is a National Historic Landmark and a true Western New York treasure. Just ten days ago, on the 79th anniversary of the vessel's launch, we announced $490,000 in federal funding to support repairs needed to protect the ship and the incredible history that goes with it," said Rep. Brian Higgins of New York.

"We were just at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park yesterday honoring veterans and join the community in being shocked and sickened to see The Sullivans taking on water to this extent today," Higgins continued. "We are in communication with the City of Buffalo and the Naval Park. We thank the United States Coast Guard Station Buffalo and local emergency personnel and the Naval Park team for all they are doing to save The Sullivans."

Officials report the ship took on upward of 3 million gallons as it began sinking. Crewmen continue to pump water out of the ship to maintain its buoyancy and integrity. 

"The state of The Sullivans today is an urgent reminder of the need to adequately fund the National Maritime Heritage Grant Program and ensure floating military history like those here at the Buffalo Naval Park and across the country are preserved for generations to come," Higgins concluded.

The USS The Sullivans has been battling damage and disrepair for years. In 2018, a breach in the hull caused the ship to begin sinking before the government supplied funds to renovate and secure the ship into the future.

This latest threat to the historic warship is concerning for state citizens and lawmakers as The Sullivans struggles to remain above water.

                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rep Higgins has been a national leader in the push to increase funding for the National Maritime Heritage Grant Program. The above effort is but one example of his efforts. Thanks to one of the few federal bureaucrats who actually cares! Sadly, this is but the tip of the iceberg. But at least it's a start - and timely! The program needs some serious funding!

Until next time,

                                       Fair Winds, 

                                              old Salt

 

USS AMERICA CVA66

 11 April 2022: Every once in a while, the US Navy decides to sink one of their own - usually a retired WWII vintage ship which has been in mothballs for some time and will not be needed going forward. The ships selected are generally smaller ships such as destroyers, amphibs, and utility vessels, and the method of sinking is often by using other ships and aircraft to use warshots weapons against them. It is a great opportunity for the crews of destroyers, submarines, and planes to see what their weapons can do against a "real" target, albeit one that is not shooting back!

Several years ago, the navy decided to see what effect their weapons would have against an aircraft carrier and they selected USS America CVA66 as the target. I spent time in the mid-60's both with and aboard America, and can personally attest that she was an amazing ship ... and huge, especially to a destroyerman! A further note of personal significance is that my nephew, a career Navy flyer, flew off her decks during the crisis in the Mideast. Here's the story of her demise. From an online post 1945.

                                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

What made the USS America, a fearsome aircraft carrier of the Cold War era, truly special? The USS America (CVA/CV-66)—which was one of three Kitty Hawk-class supercarriers built for the U.S. Navy back in the 1960s—was commissioned in 1965.

The carrier spent most of its time in the Atlantic and Mediterranean but also did make three deployments in the Pacific Ocean while serving during the Vietnam War. In addition, it took part in key operations during the Persian Gulf War. Here time on the high seas during the Cold War is nothing but pure legend and one for the history books.

 

Originally Enterprise-Class

According to USSAmerica.org, the supercarrier was “originally ordered as an Enterprise-class nuclear carrier, the ballooning costs of Enterprise during construction caused the cancellation of the nuclear CVAN-66 and her reordering as a conventionally powered Kitty Hawk-class carrier.”

The site continued: “Her keel was laid down on 1 January 1961 at Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Corp.; launched on 1 February 1964, she was sponsored by Mrs. Catherine McDonald, wife of Admiral David L. McDonald, the Chief of Naval Operations at that time. She was commissioned at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard on 23 January 1965 with Captain Lawrence Heyworth Jr., in command.”

The supercarrier was stationed in Hampton Roads for operations off the Virginia Capes till March 1965.

Catapult Launch

Then “she conducted her first catapult launch on 5 April 1965, with Commander Kenneth B. Austin, the Executive Officer, piloting a Douglas A-4C Skyhawk. Later proceeding to the Caribbean, America conducted shakedown training and concluded it at Guantanamo Bay on 23 June 1965.”

“Entering the Norfolk shipyard for post-shakedown availability on 10 July 1965, she remained there until 21 August. She next operated locally through late August and then proceeded to the operating areas off the Virginia Capes and to Bermuda, arriving back at Norfolk on 9 September 1965,” it continued.

Then in late 1965, the USS America sailed off for its first Mediterranean deployment, starting a thirty-year adventure for her country.

Laid to Rest

USS America certainly saw serious action in hot spots all over the world. America would take part in military operations off the coasts of Libya, Iraq, Haiti and Bosnia, and many other areas around the world. Unfortunately, on August 9, 1996, after many years of faithful and dedicated service to the nation, a decommissioning ceremony was held.

After a long multi-decade career, she was finally pulled from service

However, in 2005, she was scuttled southeast of Cape Hatteras after four weeks of tests. She was the largest warship ever to be sunk.

“America was the first large aircraft carrier since Operation Crossroads in 1946 to be expended in weapons tests,” USSAmerica.org noted, adding that there were plenty of protests demanding that the supercarrier be instituted as a memorial museum. 

a truly sad image

According to the electronic ship transmission released by the Naval Sea Systems Command—garnered via a Freedom of Information Act request—the warship slipped beneath the ocean waves at thirty-three degrees, nine minutes, nine seconds north latitude and seventy-one degrees, thirty-nine minutes, seven seconds west longitude, per the Daily Press.

That places the USS America roughly four hundred eighty miles east of Charleston, South Carolina and about four hundred miles west of Bermuda.

                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Of note is that it took 4 weeks to sink the old girl! And ultimately, personnel had to board her and set demolition charges! America lasted so long because A) they were not trying to sink her immediately - the navy wanted to see how much damage the ship could absorb before succumbing (they did end up having to board her to make her sink) and B) her sheer bulk made it a lot harder to sink by being able to absorb damage better than battleships.

Until next time,

                                       Fair winds,

                                                Old Salt

WHALESHIP INDUSTRY

 5 April 2022: The wreck of the whaleship Industry has been found in the Gulf of Mexico (off New Orleans) and has revealed a host of interesting facts about the whaling business and the crews who manned the ship. From The Center Daily Times (online):

                                            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

1836 shipwreck reveals Black and Native American crews played a key role in whaling

A nearly two-century old shipwreck found in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana is being hailed as a rare and highly prized artifact of forgotten African American history. Named the Industry, the two-masted wooden brig was a whaling ship crewed largely by freed descendants of slaves and Native Americans, two races seldom highlighted in the adventure tales tied to New England’s 18th and 19th century whaling industry. The wreck was discovered 3,000 feet down, during a February expedition that partnered NOAA Ocean Exploration with SEARCH Inc. and the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). So prized is the site that plans are underway to nominate it for the National Register of Historic Places — a move historians hope will help earn Black whalers the same attention being afforded Black cowboys and Buffalo soldiers (Black infantry and cavalry regiments). James Delgado of SEARCH Inc. notes the Black whalers who served on ships such as the Industry lived in two worlds: Free at sea, but still potential property on land.

“If the Black crewmen had tried to go ashore, they would have been jailed under local laws,” Delgado said in a news release. “And if they could not pay for their keep while in prison, they would have been sold into slavery.” Yet they not only persevered, but they also thrived in “America’s first global industry,” he says.

The wreck of the Industry is rare on many fronts, including being the only known whaling ship that went down in the Gulf of Mexico from the 1780s into the 1870s, historians say.

Location of Industry wreck (yellow dot)

It set sail in 1815 from Westport, Massachusetts, and records show the crew hunted primarily sperm whale in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, NOAA’s expedition report says. The ship met its demise May 26, 1836, about “70 miles off the mouth of the Mississippi River,” when a strong storm “snapped its masts and opened its hull to the sea,” historians says. Its crew abandoned ship, but the Industry was “caught in a loop of current” and stubbornly refused to sink. The ghost ship was still afloat when the whaling schooner Harmony crossed its path June 3, and sent men to board. They found no crew, but salvaged 200 to 300 barrels of whale oil, records show. The fate of the crew was long a mystery, with some historians speculating they purposely avoided paddling to shore out of fear of being enslaved, according to a report co-authored by Delgado, Michael L. Brennan of SEARCH Inc, and Scott Sorset of BOEM. If that’s true, the risk paid off. Recent research done by Robin Winters, a librarian at the Westport Free Public Library, found documents that report the crew was picked up at sea by another Westport whaling ship, the Elizabeth, and it brought them home, according to the expedition report. Names of those who were aboard the Industry on its final voyage were lost when the ship sank, but “lists of crews from previous voyages describe crew members and officers as including Black people, Native Americans, White people and multiracial people,” NOAA reports.

The Industry was 64 feet long and 18 feet wide, and little but an outline can be seen above the sand after 207 years. 

NOAA Ocean Exploration made the discovery Feb. 25, using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that circled the wreck site for about two hours, recording video and taking photos for study. It was the discovery of a 19th century stove that gave a first clue the ocean-floor “anomaly” — first reported in 2011 — was likely a whaling ship. The stove appeared to be a trywork, a type of cast-iron furnace used in rendering whale blubber to oil. Bricks found around the trywork “formed a fire-resistant hearth” that kept it from setting fire to the deck. Bottles were also found, some still intact. “One anchor is missing, and the wreck has few visible portable artifacts,” the expedition report says. “One cask’s outline was spotted in the silt, along with the anchors, which are out of place as they are not at the bow, and the minute glass. While some artifacts are doubtless obscured or buried in the silt, this is a strikingly empty wreck.” 

The lack of artifacts was seen as even more proof the team had found the Industry. Crew members likely took as much as they could carry when they abandoned the ship, historians say. Then even more was salvaged by the Elizabeth when it boarded the sinking ship. It’s also possible many items The Industry’s wreckage is a haunting reminder of their forgotten achievements as captains and crew members, NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad said in a release. “The discovery reflects how African Americans and Native Americans prospered in the ocean economy despite facing discrimination and other injustices,” he said. James Delgado believes the Industry is of both national and international significance, with a story to tell about whaling and maritime culture. It’s with that in mind that a team is working to get the site on the National Register of Historic Places, a process that will likely take three or four years. “Black and Native American history is American history, and this critical discovery serves as an important reminder of the vast contributions Black and Native Americans have made to our country,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves said in a release about the wreck discovery. “This 19th century whaling ship will help us learn about the lives of the Black and Native American mariners and their communities, as well as the immense challenges they faced on land and at sea.”

                                                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Interesting story, and to our knowledge, this would be the only (or one of the few) barely visible site nominated for the National Register!

Until next time,

                                                Fair Winds,

                                                         Old Salt