Happy 125th, Newport News Shipbuilding!

In 1886, the Virginia General Assembly charted the Chesapeake Shipbuilding and Dry dock Company.  With the primary financial backing of railroad tycoon Collis B. Huntington, the company began building infrastructure along the James River in what is now Newport News, Virginia.  By 1889, workers finished the company's first dry dock and opened its doors to business.  By the early 20th century, the company became a major builder of the U.S. Navy's new steel hulled warships.  Now called Newport Newport Shipbuilding, the company is one of the largest privately-owned shipyards in the world. Click on the article at left to learn more about the 1889 opening.

New Daybook Published

The newest edition of HRNM's journal of local naval history and events is now online.  This issue's cover story looks at the naval events of the American Civil War in Hampton Roads from October 1861 to Febrauray 1862.  Download it here!

Yard Worker's Pocket Watch

This is a pocket watch that belonged to master shipwright Francis Hart, an employee of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in the 1880s and '90s. Hart worked on the second-class battleship USS Texas and the protected cruiser USS Raleigh (C-8) during his time at the Yard. The watch is currently on display in the museum's Steel Navy gallery.

The watch was state-of-the-art in Hart's day. It only needed to be wound once a week, instead of every day, as indicated by the words "8 days" and "8 Dias". Handmade in La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland, by the Hebdomas company (now known as ETA SA Manufacture Horlogère Suisse), the watch was a low-cost timepiece marketed to working-class men like Hart. The exposed balance in the front was a characteristic of Hebdomas watches.

Hart was an Irish immigrant who trained as a shipwright in the port of Belfast, Ireland, before coming to the United States. He initially landed in New Orleans, but sought cooler weather farther north and ended up in Norfolk. Hired on the spot by the Yard to work on the U.S. Navy's newest steel warships, Hart was praised by the commandant for his skill as a shipwright.

The Brig is Near-One Night Only, October 21

For one night only, the Hampton Roads Naval Museum will present the "Brig of Bartholomew" puppet show. This grand event will take place during the museum's Hunt for Dead October special event. The Hunt begins on October 21 from 6 to 9 p.m. Free admission!

USS T-1 (SS-52) at Norfolk Naval Shipyard

Pictured here is the cruiser-type submarine USS T-1 undergoing repairs at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, 1921. Launched in 1918 and commissioned in 1920, the boat was the U.S. Navy's first attempt to build this type of boat.  On paper, she was a technological wonder.  She displaced over 1,000-tons, had good speed (c. 20 knots), eight torpedo tubes, and had good endurance (c.3,000 nm cruising range @ 18knots). T-1 and her sister boats T-2 and T-3 formed Submarine Division 15 and were based at Naval Operating Base Hampton Roads.

In the museum's collection is a picture of a member of this class at the Yard in 1923.

The project was not a success as all three boats had critical issues with their twin-screw propulsion system. Additionally, the Navy could never settle on the boat's name. First the Navy called her Schley, then AA-1, then SF-1, and then finally settled on T-1. However, like many new ship designs with state of the art technology, the boats served as a platform for better submarine designs in the future.

Chief Oliver and the Spanish Flu Epidemic

USS New Hampshire in Brest, France, December 1918

Quartermaster Chief Petty Officer J.T. Oliver's granddaughter (and donor of his photographs) relayed this story that Oliver told to her about how he had to get creative in preventing the spread of the deadly and highly contagious Spanish Influenza:

“On one of the U.S.S. New Hampshire's return trips from France, the hold of the ship was filled with coffins of men who died during the 1918-1919 Spanish Influenza Epidemic.  Antibiotics didn't exist in that era, so the threat of infection was great, and the coffins were draped with heavy tarpaulins drenched in disinfectant.  And the hold was off limits to the crew.

However, a group of ‘bad boys’ would sneak down into the hold of the ship at night and play poker, using one of the coffins as a table.  QMC Oliver was told to he had stop these poker games before the flu spread all over the ship.  So one night ... he crept down into the hold and hid in an empty coffin ... and waited for the poker game to start.  When it did and the ‘bad boys’ were focused on the game, he lifted the lid of the coffin and moaned, ‘ooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhh,’ and let the lid slam closed.

The ‘bad boys’ were a little spooked.  ‘What was that?’  ‘I don't know.’  ‘It sounded like someone moaning.’  ‘I didn't hear anything.’  ‘I tell you I heard someone moaning.’  ‘You're hearing things.’  After a minute or two of silence, the ‘bad boys’ decided it was nothing, just the normal creaking of a ship at sea, and the game resumed.  A few minutes later, Oliver lifted the lid again and moaned in a much louder voice, ‘ooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhh,’ and let the lid slam closed.

This time the ‘bad boys’ left ... and in such a hurry that one of them had footprints up the back of his white jumper.  From that point on there were no more card games (or any other activity) in the hold of the ship.”

USS Idaho (BB-43),1918...Maybe

This is another photo from the collection of Quartermaster Chief Petty Officer J.T. Oliver.  Chief Oliver was a part of the ship's company of USS New Hampshire (BB-25) during World War I.  According to the caption, Oliver states that this is the brand new battleship USS Idaho (BB-43) underway and conducting live fire exercises with her 14-inch rifles in the Chesapeake Bay.  He took the photo from the fan tail of New Hampshire. 

There is a date issue, however, with the photo.  There were two battleships named USS Idaho.  The first one was a "Great White Fleet"-era battleship that the United States sold to the Hellenic Navy (Greece) in 1914 (and later sunk in 1942 by  German bombers).  New York Shipbuilding Corporation launched the second battleship named Idaho in 1917, but the U.S. Navy did not commission the ship into the fleet until 1919. 

It is possible, given the war crisis at hand, that Idaho conducted part of her shakedown cruise with the rest of the fleet.  Any assistance in identifying the photo would be most appreciated.  Below are two positive identified photos of the second Idaho battleship.

USS Idaho, 1927

USS Idaho off of Okinawa, 1945

USS New Hampshire (BB-25), 1918

QMC J.T. Oliver

Recently a visitor brought by some local photographs, once belonging to QMC (quartermaster, chief petty officer) J.T. Oliver, USN. Chief Oliver had a long Navy career, which naturally led him to Hampton Roads during World War I on board USS New Hampshire (BB-25).

New Hampshire came to Norfolk in February 1917 for overhaul, where she lay when the United States entered World War I. For the next year and a half she trained gunners and engineers in coastal waters, and on September 15, 1918, began the first of two convoy escort missions, guarding transports from New York to a rendezvous point off the French coast. On December 24, she sailed on the first of four voyages bringing veterans home from France to east coast ports.

Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels (with the binoculars up to his eyes) aboard
 New Hampshire during live fire exercises in the Chesapeake Bay, 1918.

Of note in these pictures is the Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels, working for a living. (shown above) Chief Oliver's hand-written caption for the photo states "The Captain and Secretary of the Navy taking time of firing on board USS New Hampshire at US Target Grounds Va. Another image (shown below) shows the ship's Second Division drilling on dry land. The exact location of the drill field is not given. It was possibly taken at Naval Operating Base Hampton Roads (modern day Naval Station Norfolk). But it could have also been taken at St. Helena Naval Training Station, which was next to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in modern day Chesapeake, Virginia. Any guesses as to the structure behind the men are welcome.

New Hampshire's sailors from the ship's Second Division conducting manual-of-arms drills, 1918