|
| |
The USS ''Oregon'' bound for Manila
|
| |
(US)
|
| |
30 June 1890
|
| |
19 November 1891
|
| |
26 October 1893
|
| |
15 July 1896
|
| |
4 October 1919
|
| |
Sold for scrap
|
| |
10,288 tons / 11,688 tons full load
|
| |
351 ft overall, 348 ft waterline
|
| |
69 ft
|
| |
24 ft mean, 27 ft max
|
| |
16 knots
|
| |
737 officers and men
|
| |
4 × 13 in (330 mm) guns<br />8 × 8 in (203 mm) guns<br />4 × 6 in (152 mm) guns<br />20 × 6 pounders<br />6 × 1 pounders<br />6 × 18 in (457 mm) surface torpedo tubes
|
was a pre-Dreadnought
''Indiana''-class Battleship of the
United States Navy .
Her construction was authorized on
30 June 1890 , and the contract to build her was awarded to
Union Iron Works of
San Francisco, California on
19 November 1890 . Her keel was laid exactly one year later. She was launched
26 October 1893 , sponsored by Miss Daisy Ainsworth, delivered to the Navy
26 June 1896 , and commissioned
15 July 1896 , under the command of Captain H.L. Howison.
After commissioning, ''Oregon'' was fitted out for duty on the Pacific Station, where she served for a short time.
Leaving drydock on
16 February 1898 , she received news that
''Maine'' had blown up in Havana harbor the previous day. As tensions with
Spain grew, on
9 March ''Oregon'' arrived in San Francisco and loaded ammunition. Three days later she was ordered on what was to become one of the most historic voyages ever undertaken by a Navy ship.
''Oregon'' departed San Francisco on
19 March for
Callao ,
Peru , the first coaling stop on her trip around South America to the East Coast for action in the impending
War With Spain . Arriving at Callao
4 April and departing several days later, she bypassed the coaling station at
Valparaíso ,
Chile on the orders of her commanding officer, Captain
Charles E. Clark , and continued on through the
Straits Of Magellan . On
16 April ''Oregon'' entered the Straits and ran into a terrific gale which obscured the perilously close rocky coastline. For a time she was in great danger, but just after dark she let go her anchors on a rocky shelf fringed by islets and reefs, and safely weathered the night. Before dawn on the 17th, the gale moderated and ''Oregon'' proceeded around
Cape Forward to
Punta Arenas , where she was joined by gunboat ''Marietta'', also sailing to the East Coast.
Both ships coaled and departed on
21 April for
Rio De Janeiro , keeping their guns manned all the while for a Spanish torpedo boat rumored to be in the area. Head seas and winds delayed them, and they did not reach Rio until
30 April . There ''Oregon'' received news of the declaration of war against Spain, and on
4 May she left on the next leg of her remarkable journey. With a brief stop in
Bahia, Brazil , she arrived at
Barbados for coal on
18 May , and, on the 24th, anchored off
Jupiter Inlet, Florida , reporting ready for battle. Altogether, ''Oregon'' had sailed over 14,000 miles since leaving San Francisco 66 days earlier.
The record-setting voyage delighted the public and inspired popular songs -- "The Race of the ''Oregon''," by
John James Meehan , included the lyrics
:Lights out! And a prow turned toward the South,
:And a canvas hiding each cannon's mouth
:And a ship like a silent ghost released
:Is seeking her sister ships in the East.
:When your boys shall ask what the guns are for,
:Then tell them the tale of the Spanish war,
:And the breathless millions that looked upon
:The matchless race of the ''Oregon''.
On one hand, the feat had demonstrated the many capabilities of a heavy battleship in all conditions of wind and sea. On the other, it swept away all opposition for the construction of the
Panama Canal . Despite ''Oregon'''s inspiring transit, the realization that the 74-day delay would have been cut to some three weeks if the
Panama Canal had been operational greatly helped to persuade the
United States to buy the failed French operations in Panama and complete the canal.
On
26 May ''Oregon'' proceeded to the Navy Base at Key West, joined
Admiral Sampson's fleet two days later, and on
1 June arrived off
Santiago, Cuba , to shell military installations and to help in the destruction of Admiral Cervera's fleet on
3 July . ''Oregon'''s dogged determination to fight acquired for her the nickname "McKinley's Bulldog." ''Oregon'' then went to the New York Navy Yard for a refit, and returned to the
Asiatic Squadron in October 1898.
She arrived at Manila on
18 March 1899 , and remained in the area until the following February. In cooperating with the Army during the
Philippine-American War , the battleship performed blockade duty in
Manila Bay and off
Lingayen Gulf , served as a station ship, and aided in the capture of
Vigan .
Departing
Cavite on
13 February 1900 , ''Oregon'' cruised in
Japan ese waters until May when she went to
Hong Kong . Under orders then to proceed to
Taku on account of the
Boxer Rebellion , she departed
23 June for that northern port; and, on
28 June , while steaming through the
Straits Of Pechili , she grounded on an uncharted rock. Suffering some damage and taking on water, the battleship was in a precarious situation for a week. On
5 July ''Oregon'' resurfaced and the following day was towed to
Hope Sound for temporary repair. Arriving
Kure, Japan , on
17 July she was placed in dry dock at the naval station there for final repairs.
On
29 August 1900 , the battleship departed again for the coast of
China and cruised off the
Yangtze River and served as station ship at
Woosung . On
5 May 1901 , she got underway for the United States. Sailing via
Yokohama ,
Japan , and
Honolulu, Hawaii , she arrived at
San Francisco, California ,
12 June and entered
Puget Sound Navy Yard on
6 July for overhaul. Remaining in the Puget Sound area for well over a year, it was not until
18 March 1903 , that ''Oregon'' returned to Asiatic waters, and arrived in
Hong Kong on that day. Visiting various Chinese, Japanese, and Philippine ports, the battleship remained in the Far East until returning to the West Coast in February 1906. She decommissioned at the
Puget Sound Navy Yard on
4 April 1906 .
''Oregon'' recommissioned
29 August 1911 , but remained in reserve until October, when she sailed to San Diego. The following years were ones of relative inactivity for the aging veteran, as she operated out of West Coast ports. On
9 April 1913 she was placed in ordinary at
Bremerton, Washington , and on
16 September 1914 went into a reserve status, although she remained in commission. On
2 January 1915 , she was again in full commission and sailed to San Francisco for the
Panama-Pacific International Exposition . From
11 February 1916 to
7 April 1917 she was placed in commission in reserve, this time at San Francisco. Returned to full commission again on the latter date, ''Oregon'' remained first on the West Coast, then acted as one of the escorts for transports of the Siberian expedition. With
World War I over, on
12 June 1919 , she decommissioned at Bremerton. From
21 August to
4 October of that year she recommissioned briefly and was the reviewing ship for
President Of The United States Woodrow Wilson during the arrival of the Pacific Fleet at Seattle.
With the adoption of ship classification symbols on
17 July 1920 , ''Oregon'' was redesignated BB-3.
In 1921, a movement was begun to preserve the battleship as an object of historic and sentimental interest, and to lay her up permanently at some port in the state of
Oregon .
In accordance with the
Washington Naval Treaty , ''Oregon'' was rendered incapable of further warlike service on
4 January 1924 , and was retained on the
Naval Vessel Register as a naval relic with a classification of "unclassified." In June 1925, she was loaned to the state of
Oregon , restored, and moored at
Portland, Oregon , as a floating monument and museum, to be visited by hundreds of thousands in the ensuing years.
On
17 February 1941 , when identifying numbers were assigned to unclassified vessels, ''Oregon'' was redesignated IX-22.
With the outbreak of
World War II , it was deemed that the scrap value of the old veteran was vital and necessary to the war effort of the nation. Accordingly, she was struck from the
Naval Vessel Register on
2 November 1942 and sold on
7 December . On that day, one year after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a parade commemorating the ship marched through the streets of downtown Portland. Congressman
Lyndon B. Johnson delivered the keynote speech, and the front page of ''
The Oregonian '' included a fifteen-stanza ode to the ship by
Ben Hur Lampman . The poem ended:
:The gray, gray mists where once she lay —
:(Ah but her name is pride!)
:She loosed her moorings and bore away
:To serve again in a thunderous day —
:The ''Oregon'' sails with the tide!
She was towed to
Kalama, Washington , the following March for dismantling. However, when progress reached the main deck and after the ship's interior had been cleared out, the Navy requested that the scrapping process be halted, since the need for scrap was not critical. The Navy, embarrassed by public criticism of the events, reinstated the vessel, using it as a munitions barge during the
Battle Of Guam .
The hulk of the old battleship remained at Guam for several years. During a typhoon on
14 November and
15 November 1948 , she broke her moorings and drifted to sea. Finally, on
8 December , the old warrior was located by search planes some 500 miles south east of Guam and towed back. She was sold for $208,000 on
15 March 1956 to the Massey Supply Corporation, resold to the Iwai Sanggo Company, and finally towed to
Kawasaki ,
Japan , and scrapped.
Her
Mast survives however, as a memorial located in
Tom McCall Waterfront Park , in
Portland, Oregon . On
4 July 1976 , a time capsule was sealed in the base of the memorial. The time capsule is scheduled to be opened
5 July 2076 .
- Oregon (Battleship No. 3) from the '' Dictionary Of American Naval Fighting Ships ''
- A Chronicle of the Battleship ''Oregon'' from the journal of the Oregon Historical Society , with numerous photographs
- Alden, John D. ''American Steel Navy: A Photographic History of the U.S. Navy from the Introduction of the Steel Hull in 1883 to the Cruise of the Great White Fleet.'' Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989. ISBN 0870212486
- Friedman, Norman. ''U.S. Battleships: An Illustrated Design History.'' Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985. ISBN 0870217151
- Reilly, John C. and Robert L. Scheina. ''American Battleships 1996-1923: Predreadnought Design and Construction.'' Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1980. ISBN 0870215248
- Sternlicht, Sanford V. ''McKinley's Bulldog: The Battleship Oregon.'' Chicago : Nelson-Hall, 1977. ISBN 0882292633
- Webber, Bert. ''Battleship Oregon: Bulldog of the Navy: An Oregon Documentary.'' Medford, Oregon: Webb Research Group, 1994. ISBN 0936738790
