German Sailors in Hampton Roads, in 1915, and Now

In a panoramic view from the Half Moone Cruise and Celebration Center at the downtown Norfolk waterfront, the German air-defense frigate Hessen (F 221) is shown docked at Nauticus on March 14, 2018, during a short port visit, alongside the schooner Virginia and the battleship Wisconsin (BB 64). (M.C. Farrington)

A three-postcard series shows a panorama of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in 1916, with the German commerce raiders (both former luxury liners) Prinz Eitel Friedrich and Kronprinz Wilhelm looming large over Kolonie Etel Wilhelm, the group of over 50 miniature structures known to the thousands of tourists that visited it simply as "the German village." The German sailors who built the village sold postcards such as these to raise money for the German Red Cross. (Hampton Roads Naval Museum collection) 

At the Hampton Roads Naval Museum (HRNM), we draw great satisfaction in helping visitors, K-12 educators, college students, professors, genealogists, and even scale modelers from across the country with their research projects, but it is always a moment of pride when a book reaches my desk that we helped an author create. 

German Sailors in Hampton Roads: A World War I Story at the Norfolk Navy Yard (History Press: Charleston, SC, 2018)

An excellent example is the new book German Sailors in Hampton Roads by Gregory Hansard, who teaches history and museum studies at John Tyler Community College in Chester, Virginia. While researching photographs at the Virginia Historical Society (now known as the Virginia Museum of History and Culture) a few years ago, he came across some unusual postcards of German passenger liners lying peacefully at Norfolk Naval Shipyard.  A postcard panorama from the time shows dozens of cute little cottages in front of the liners, in stark contrast to the drab shipyard buildings in the rest of the image.  It didn't take him long to learn that the ships were in the midst of one of the strangest sojourns in naval history.  They had carved a global path of destruction across the world's sea lanes during the opening months of World War I, and, despite having sunk 25 merchant vessels between them (including an American barque) along the way, the raiders had been allowed to proceed unmolested into Hampton Roads in early 1915.

His curiosity piqued, Hansard embarked on a journey of exploration that took him from the Library of Virginia in Richmond to the National Archives in Washington DC, and finally to museums and archives in Hampton Roads, including HRNM.  The fruit of his research gives the reader practically everything there is to know about the unusual way World War I came early to Hampton Roads, and explains why the first belligerents from that war to reach our area were so well-treated.  That is, until Americans began dying on the high seas as a result of German naval activities, indirectly resulting in the American declaration of war against Germany in April 1917.

The German army had cemented their reputation for ruthless barbarity during their invasion of Belgium in August 1914, yet seven months after setting out from China (the place Kaiser Wilhelm II first told his troops to behave as "Huns") on their mission of destruction at around the same time, the 800 or so German sailors who entered Hampton Roads with British and French warships on their heels were regarded by many Americans, according to Hansard, as "courteous pirates."

Even Captain H.H. Kiehne of the merchant ship William P. Frye, the first American ship destroyed by the Germans during World War I, became friends with the man who destroyed his ship and took him, his wife, and his crew as prisoners: Captain Max T. Thierichens of the raider Prinz Eitel Friedrich.  The German captain even sought advice from his American prisoner as to the best way to get to Newport News, their original destination.  "Without Kiehne's guidance," wrote Hansard, "the Eitel may have never made it to safety."

It might have been easy to explain away Kiehne's actions as that of a man simply trying to preserve the lives of his family and crew, but taking into account the multiple visits the captain, his wife, and even "a group of ladies" they brought with them back to the German vessels after their release, plus the eight kegs of beer and cigars sent to the German sailors by the Frye's crew, it seems clear that the Germans interned at Norfolk Naval Shipyard were a different breed of warrior.  Some American commentators even went so far as to compare the Prinz Eitel Friedrich, favorably, it seems, with the legendary CSS Alabama, adding to its regional cachet.

"Despite the case of the Frye and potential threats to neutrality," wrote Hansard, "the German sailors were not seen as villains but as members of the Hampton Roads community, where they would live comfortably for eighteen months."  The strange interlude for the Germans, however, finally ended when their village was swept away and their ships were moved to Philadelphia in September 1916.  After war was declared, the ships were confiscated and pressed into the Atlantic Fleet's Cruiser and Transport Force, while the sailors were shipped south to prisoner-of-war camps in Georgia, where they would remain until the end of the war.

As seen from the Portsmouth side, Prinz Eitel Friedrich passes the Norfolk waterfront on its way to Philadelphia in September 1916. She would serve under the American flag during the war as the troopship USS DeKalb. (Hampton Roads Naval Museum collection)

Blasting the 1980s Sammy Hagar song, "Winner Takes it All," from its loudspeakers, the Sachsen-class frigate FGS Hessen (F 221) comes about on the Elizabeth River just off the pier at Nauticus after a three-day visit to Norfolk, Virgnia.  Naval Medical Center Portsmouth and Hospital Point Park can be seen in the background (M.C. Farrington)

Just after opening the package and getting a first look at the new book, I was informed that a German frigate had moored right behind our museum.  At first, it would seem that the visit might be a poignant reminder of historical continuity, but the visit's circumstances couldn't have been more different than those surrounding SMS Prinz Eitel Friedrich and SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm 103 years ago.

FGS Hessen, seen here with the carrier Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), deployed with the Truman Strike Group in 2010.  (U.S. Navy/ Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kilho Park via Wikimedia Commons)

The three-day visit of FGS Hessen (F 221) to Norfolk was quite brief and low-key by comparison to its swashbuckling forebears.  After its successful participation in a Composite Training Unit Exercise with the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, it was simply in town for a couple of days before deploying operationally as an integrated part of the group. The circumstances were quite routine, but that is what makes it remarkable; a German ship seamlessly working as part of an American strike group set to deploy on missions around the world.

Visits of German warships to our area were far from new, even in 1915.  A German naval contingent participated in the Hampton Roads International Naval Rendezvous in 1893, and ships that would later take part in the Battle of Jutland visited Hampton Roads in 1912.  Today, however, there is no preening nor sabre-rattling.  Neither is there any pomp and circumstance.  They're just another part of the team now.

Gregory Hansard will be speaking about his new book at the MacArthur Memorial in downtown Norfolk on April 11 for the Norfolk Historical Society Lecture Series. 

Unexpected Enemies in the Civil War: The Japanese (Part One)

By Elijah Palmer
Hampton Roads Naval Museum Educator

While the majority of the US Navy in the Civil War was involved in blockade operations along the Southern seaboard, a few ships were needed to patrol the high seas because of the success of Confederate commerce raiders. In July 1863, USS Wyoming was finishing its cruise spent searching for CSS Alabama in the Pacific. Commander David McDougal, captain of Wyoming, received orders to head  back to the United States. However, just before the crew was to leave from Yokohama, they heard of a nearby attack on the American merchant steamer, Pembroke. Perhaps contrary to expectations, the aggressor was not Raphael Semmes and the Alabama, but Japanese forces flying their national flag. This was alarming, as the United States and Japan were not at war, having signed a treaty only a few years before. 

USS Wyoming (from Official Records)

Commander McDougal

Deciding that such an affront could not go unpunished, Commander McDougal postponed his return to the United States, instead taking his ship to what he termed "the scene of the outrage."* Pembroke had been attacked near the heavily transited Shimonoseki Straits (known now as the Kanmon Straits), a key waterway between two of the main Japanese islands, Kyushu and Honshu. 

(image from http://www.shimonoseki-fc.jp/)

 USS Wyoming arrived at the straits on the morning of July 16, 1863. Near the town of Shimonoseki on the north side of the channel, the crew spotted three Japanese vessels which were identified as those that had attacked the Pembroke. Remarkably, these ships were originally American and British-built merchant vessels which had been outfitted for combat. McDougal noticed that while these ships flew the Japanese flag, they were also flying the colors of the powerful Prince of Nagato (a feudal domain also known as Choshu), who was "bitterly opposed to foreigners." This fact explained the antagonism previously displayed by these forces, who were acting independently from the Japanese government. When USS Wyoming approached these ships, previously unknown shore batteries opened fire upon it. A Japanese eyewitness onboard the American frigate reported that the fire intensified when the American flag was hoisted. The American ship was faced with fire from three ships as well as six shore batteries, yet McDougal did not back down even as most of his inexperienced crew had become "quite pale." Even though afraid, these green sailors would prove themselves this day. 

McDougal's map of the battle (From Official Records)

While the shore artillery included modern Dahlgren guns (given to the Japanese by the US), most of their shells were aimed at the center of the channel, which Wyoming dodged by hugging close to shore. For sheer number of cannon involved, the American ship was outnumbered, but was able to take advantage of better gunnery skill as the Japanese shore gunners' "aim was wild" and "their shot mostly went ten to fifteen feet overhead." Wyoming's crew returned fire with "XI-inch shell from pivot guns and solid shot from broadside guns" as it headed towards the Chosu vessels. The American ship first passed between two of the ships, a brig and a bark, exchanging broadsides at pistol range,** receiving damage and casualties, but crippling the Japanese vessels. Commander McDougal then targeted the Japanese steamer Koshin (formerly known as Lancefield), which the Wyoming's 11-inch Dahlgren cannon crews put out of action when "two well-directed shells exploded [Koshin's] boilers...proved by the vessel being immediately enveloped in steam and smoke." 

USS Wyoming (center) attacks between the Japanese ships

Koshin's (Lancefield) boiler exploding, causing an estimated 40 casualties. Wyoming to the right.

The battle was over in about an hour, with the Pembroke's attackers crippled or destroyed, and with punishment meted out to the artillery on shore as well. Wyoming suffered heavy damage, being "hulled 11 times, and with considerable damage to smokestack and rigging aloft." In addition, around a dozen sailors and marines were killed or wounded. McDougal praised his men, stating that "the conduct of the officers and crew was all I could desire." 

Due to the continued threat of CSS Alabama, USS Wyoming put off returning to the United States for another year, only arriving in Philadelphia in July 1864, in dire need of repair. However, the threat of another Confederate raider, CSS Florida, forced McDougal and his crew to return to sea. For all their likely grumbling, this endeavor proved to be short-lived as a faulty boiler prompted its return to the navy yard for repairs, likely to the crew's great appreciation. 

Commander McDougal believed that his actions against the Choshu had taught them "a lesson that will not soon be forgotten," but he was being too optimistic. European ships would continue to be harassed at the Shimonseki Straits, causing international ire and resulting in action the following year. (to be continued)

*All quotations taken from The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies, Series 1, Vol. 2 and The Narrative of a Japanese, Vol. 1 by James Heco.
** Sailors and marines shot "100 rounds of musket-ball cartridges, 50 of Sharps rifle ball cartridges, 50 pistol-ball cartridges, 50 revolver cartridges."

CSS Florida: Symbol and Substance

The front page of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper of December 24, 1864, currently displayed in the gallery of the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, shows the defeat of an antiquated, moribund Confederacy symbolized by the submerged Florida, under the guns of the modern Union Navy in the form of a Passaic-class ironclad, possibly USS Sangamon.  In reality, the Confederate commerce raider and the Union ironclad were both launched in 1862.  

At the close of 1864, two different messages were being broadcast to two different audiences concerning the sinking of the captured Confederate commerce raider Florida.  The image shown by the Northern press to its domestic readership was one of triumph. 

The accompanying story above the illustration did not refer directly to the Florida, its capture from Brazil in October or its sinking near Newport News Point the following month.  It was an editorial on Abraham Lincoln's state of the union address, made on December 6.  It read in part, "There is something almost marvelous in the positive proofs thus furnished that the great loyal section of the Union, in the fourth year of this stupendous civil war, is vastly more powerful in men, materials, resources, all the elements of strength, wealth and prosperity, than at the beginning of the struggle."  The vanquished rebel steamer and victorious Union ironclad merely served as a useful illustration of the state of affairs between the Union and the Confederacy during what would prove to be the latter's final winter.

Within his state of the union address to Congress, Lincoln himself made mention of the international backdrop to the Florida affair; the contentious relations between the US government and those nations granting the status of belligerents to Confederate vessels, diplomats and agents: 

It is possible that if it were new and open question the maritime powers, with the lights they now enjoy, would not concede the privileges of a naval belligerent to the insurgents of the United States, destitute, as they are, and always have been, equally of ships of war and of ports and harbors. Disloyal emissaries have been neither less assiduous nor more successful during the last year than they were before that time in their efforts under favor of that privilege, to embroil our country in foreign wars. The desire and determination of the governments of the maritime states to defeat that design are believed to be as sincere as and can not be more earnest than our own. Nevertheless, unforeseen political difficulties have arisen, especially in Brazilian and British ports and on the northern boundary of the United States, which have required, and are likely to continue to require, the practice of constant vigilance and a just and conciliatory spirit on the part of the United States, as well as of the nations concerned and their governments.

William H. Seward (Wikimedia Commons) 

As with such speeches made today, the state of the union address is an important way for the chief executive to communicate policies and intentions to foreign powers.  A way to send a more direct message, of course, is through the Secretary of State.  A message sent on December 26 from William H. Seward to the Brazilian charge d' affaires in Washington reflected the uncompromising stance Lincoln's cabinet took towards the Confederacy.  In response to an official protest made on December 12 against the US government over Florida's seizure by USS Wachusett from the port of Bahia, Seward replied:

This Government disallows your assumption that the insurgents of this country are a lawful naval belligerent, and...it maintains that the imputation of that character by the Government of Brazil to insurgent citizens of the United States who have been hitherto been, and who still are, destitute of naval forces, ports, and courts is an act of intervention in derogation of the law of nations.... 

So also the Government disallows your assumptions that the Florida belonged to the aforementioned insurgents, and maintains... that the vessel, like the Alabama, was a pirate belonging to no nation or lawful belligerent, and therefore the harboring and supplying of these piratical ships and their crews in Brazilian ports were wrongs and injuries for which Brazil justly owes reparation to the United States as ample as the reparation which she now receives from them.

Seward then declared that, although the Florida's crew were "enemies of the United States, and as they contend, enemies of the human race," they had been unlawfully brought into custody and therefore "could not lawfully be subjected to the punishment which they had deserved."  They would then "be set at liberty to seek a refuge wherever they may find it...."  

"The Florida was brought into American waters and was anchored under naval surveillance and protection at Hampton Roads," Seward continued.  "While awaiting the representation of the Brazilian government, on the 28th of November she sunk, owing to a leak which could not be seasonably stopped."  Seward announced that a naval court of inquiry had submitted its report, concluding that "...it is assumed that the loss of the Florida was a consequence of some unforeseen accident which casts no responsibility upon the United States."   

Because CSS Florida and the men who sailed upon her were considered the unlawful combatants of their day by the United States Government, the laws of warfare, such as there were, did not apply to them.   The demands of the Brazilian government that the United States government abide by international laws and treaties by returning the steamer were met by the insistence that Brazil was abrogating those same laws and treaties by recognizing Florida as a lawful combatant in the first place.

Seen in this light, Seward's alleged suggestion to Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter that Florida be surreptitiously sunk is perfectly plausible.  And if this was the real reason for her demise, it would be far from the first or last time international laws and conventions were skirted, bent or broken in the interest of defeating an enemy perceived as illegitimate.  

Pulp Fiction in "Civil War News" Trading Cards

In 1962, during the Centennial of the Civil War, the Topps Trading Card company released a set of 88 cards with graphic depictions (very loosely) based on the war.  The set was officially titled "Civil War" but because the back of each card looked like an old newspaper with the heading "Civil War News," this latter name stuck.  Aimed at young boys, the images of battle were done in a very vivid and overtly gory way, sensationalizing the war. Images of stabbing, point blank cannon fire, and blood were fairly commonplace.  In this manner it was a throwback to the popular "Horrors of War" series in 1938 which focused on recent conflicts of that time (Spanish Civil War, Ethiopian War, and Sino-Japanese War).  

Topps enlisted pulp artist Norm Saunders (who also did Mars Attacks) to help with the images, while Topps creative editor Len Brown did the text. In an interview many years afterward, Brown describes the battle cards as "phony."  The disregard for historical accuracy is readily visible when looking at them as many details in the text or pictures are clearly fabrications.  Brown affirmed this when he spoke on making the cards: "We'd dream up a scene, some gory scene...from there it was dreamland...I'm sure kids thought this was the real history.  And we had teachers writing us, thanking us for teaching kids history." 

Of interest to this blog are a few cards that portray naval battles. There are three images that depict the Battle of Hampton Roads, which is more than any other battle in the series, even Gettysburg.  Whether this is owing to the importance of the battle or because the cards are earlier in the set is unclear. 

Card #7 from the series shows USS Cumberland being attacked by CSS Virginia. 121 Cumberland sailors died on March 8, 1862. 

Card #8 inaccurately shows the attack on the USS Congress (Virginia did not ram it). In an uncommon nod to accuracy, the artist placed what appears to be CSS Patrick Henry in the background. 

Card #10- Note the inaccuracies such as the gaping hole torn in the armor and giant gun port. 

Other naval battles are also displayed in pulp fashion.  One humorous example is the CSS Hunley's attack on USS Housatonic seen below (card #59).  The Southern Cross is prominently displayed on the side of the vessel, visible underwater to the viewer.  The text on the back of the card claims that this attack happened in the afternoon (instead of night), and that the submarine rammed the ship when it could not fire its (non-existent) guns.  Truly Brown was not lying when he claimed to be in "dreamland" while developing this trading card set.   

Another example of ignoring facts for the sake of a good picture (and sales) is card #69, showing the aftermath of the battle between USS Kearsarge and CSS Alabama.  Sharks are seen attacking the Alabama's crew as they flounder in the water.  In actuality most survivors were picked up by the Kearsarge, although Capt. Semmes and some other officers escaped on the British yacht Deerhound.  Any that were lost in the water died from drowning, not sharks. 

In contrast the card (#76) depicting Adm. Farragut's USS Hartford fighting CSS Tennessee at Mobile Bay seems fairly tame and loosely based on previous paintings ("August Morning with Farragut" by William Heysham Overend). 

When examining this series, it is important to remember that these cards were ultimately designed to tap into the market created by the Centennial events.  Yet for all of their countless ahistorical shortcomings, the cards probably helped spark interest in the Civil War among the young male segment of the population during the 1960's.  Regarded as collector's items these days, the "Civil War News" series is a very interesting piece of cultural history. 

(Excerpt of Brown's interview can be found in Baetens, Jan. "Civil War News: How Pop Culture Rewrites History." Journal of American Culture, (1997), 1-6.)