USS Housatonic (SP-1697)

The second USS Housatonic was the Southern Pacific freighter El Rio temporarily converted for planting the World War I North Sea Mine Barrage.

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

History
Name: USS Housatonic (SP-1697)
Namesake: The Housatonic River
Builder: built in 1899 by Newport News Shipbuilding in Norfolk, Virginia.
Completed: 1899
Commissioned: 25 January 1918
Decommissioned: 5 August 1919
General characteristics
Type: Minelayer (in 1918)[1]
Displacement: 7,000 tons[1]
Length: 405 ft (123 m)[1]
Beam: 48 ft (15 m)[1]
Draft: 20 ft (6.1 m)[1]
Speed: 15 knots[1]
Capacity: 830 mines (900 max)[1]
Crew: 21 officers and 400 men[1]
Armament:

USS Housatonic, a US Navy minelayer, was the former 4,664 gross ton commercial passenger-cargo ship El Rio. The El Rio was built and launched on 14 November 1899 by the Newport New Ship Building & Dry Dock Company in Norfolk, Virginia. She was owned by the Southern Pacific Steamship Company, and built for passenger-cargo trade on the New York-New Orleans-Galveston, Texas run, and operated under the flag of the Morgan Line. Her dimensions were 380.5-feet in length, with a 48-foot beam, and she drew 23.9-feet of draft. Her working career spanned from 1899 through 1922. She had a Marconi Wireless radio and some of her early operators were J. A. Daggett, Samuel Kay and W. H. Davis.

Other early officers of the El Rio were just learning the trade and one such officer was 3rd mate Rasmussen. Rasmussen had just attended the Uttmark’s Nautical Academy located on State Street in New York. Captain Uttmark started this school in 1882. He writes the following letter of thanks to Captain Fritz E. Uttmark:

"I am sending you a few lines to express my gratitude and to thank you for your good teaching, also for the interest you took in teaching me during the four weeks' course in navigation. I was able to pass the examination as 2nd mate coastwise and 3rd mate on any tonnage of any ocean without any trouble. I now hold a position as 3rd mate on the SS El Rio of the Morgan Line. I will gladly recommend you to any one wishing to learn navigation, and wish you success with your school. Berent August Rasmussen, 734 51st Street, Brooklyn, NY"

The men of the El Rio took their ship seriously and took great pride in their accomplishments. Chief Engineer Bennett was not going to let another ship take their record, especially a ship from a competing line. In December of 1907 the Chief Engineer of the El Rio writes to the editor of the magazine "The American Marine Engineer" where he states:

"In the issue of October 1907, I note where the San Jacinto (Mallory Line) broke the record from Galveston, Texas to New York; time 5 days. I beg to differ with this, however, as the northbound record is held by the El Rio of the Morgan Line, 4 days, 18 hours and 22 minutes, dock to dock. The southbound record is held by the El Cid of the same line, 5 days, dock to dock. This record was made 4 years ago. H. G. Bennett, Chief Engineer, SS El Rio."

The El Rio and three of her sister ships who were all owned by the Southern Pacific Steamship Company and operated under the Morgan Line flag were taken over by the Navy late in 1917 due to urgent shipping needs because of the war. These four Morgan Line ships were selected by the navy for use as minelayers because their designs were essentially identical, and similar to those of older ships that had entered the Navy in 1898. All four were later converted to transports and used as such to return troops from Europe to the U.S. during 1919. El Rio was renamed USS Housatonic and placed into commission as a United States Naval vessel on 25 January 1918, and given the task of laying sea mines.[2] Her new commanding officer was Captain John W. Greenslade, USN. But first there would need to have extensive changes made to her hull in order to allow for the mine laying tunnel.

Conversion

Work began in earnest on 25 November 1917 at the Tietjen & Lang’s shipyard in Hoboken, New Jersey under the direction of the Fletcher Company, and her hull was painted in the dazzle paint scheme whose purpose was to make the ship difficult to see from a U-boat Captain’s eye while at sea.

Gun platforms were added for two anti-aircraft guns forward and a 5”/51 caliber gun aft. The mine laying 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.[3]

Many new officers came aboard the ship and got their first taste of navy life, one such officer was Stewart Shirley Reynolds. He enlisted into the US Navy on 13 April 1917 as a Seaman in the USNRF. Reynolds was then attending the Phillips Academy in Andover, Maryland. He was commissioned as an Ensign on 20 November 1918. His first duty was aboard the USS Nevada, and then transferred to the USS Housatonic where he participated in the laying of the North Sea Mine barrage.

Once this work was completed Housatonic steamed across the Atlantic to Scotland, from where she would operate from for the rest of World War I. The essential task of the Housatonic was to, with the help of her nine other fleet mates; build a barrier of mines across the North Sea in an effort to restrict the movements of German submarines.

The idea of a mine barrage across the North Sea was first proposed in the summer of 1916 by British Royal Navy Admiral Reginald Bacon, and was agreed at the Allied Naval Conference on 5 September 1917. The Royal Navy, and in particular Admiral Beatty as Commander in Chief of the Grand Fleet; was skeptical about the value of the operation and did not feel it justified the large logistical and manufacturing commitment required. But the United States was altogether more enthusiastic about the operation as the loss of trans-Atlantic shipping was a major domestic concern and this plan allowed the United States to play an active part in tackling this while playing to their industrial strength and with minimal risk of American casualties. Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt appealed directly to President Woodrow Wilson to overcome opposition to the project from Vice Admiral William Sims, who commanded all United States naval forces in Europe.

But many in the navy knew that the mines available at the time were contact only and the logistical commitment to mine a 250-mile long field was nearly impossible. But by July of 1917 a new type of mine was developed one that used an electrical antennae-firing device. This would allow for a reduction from over 400,000 of the old contact type mines to about 100,000 of the new electrical type mines. Now the American and British navies had something they could work with.

By November 1917 the idea was ready for action and the two nations agreed to put things into motion to mine the North Sea. But first ships would be needed to lay mines with. Rear Admiral Joseph Strauss was given command of this vacant fleet. His first order of business was to put Captain Reginald R. Belknap in command of the Mine-force. Belknap was a stern disciplinarian and was experienced in the use of sea mines. Admiral Strauss used as his force flagship the USS Black Hawk, skippered by Captain R. C Bulmer.

It would be seven months before the ten-ship fleet was ready for sea. But in the early spring of 1918 the new fleet arrived in Inverness, Scotland for duty. There in Inverness awaited all the mines that the fleet would need.

Wartime service

The small fleet of ten ships together formed Mine Squadron One, US Atlantic Fleet, and was responsible for the laying of the great North Sea Mine Barrage of 1918.

Mine Squadron One, U.S. Atlantic Fleet

Senior officers of the squadron, September 1918.

Rear Admiral Joseph Strauss, Force Commander. Captain Reginald R. Belknap, Commander Mine Squadron One; Commander Bruce L. Canaga, Aide to Commander Mine Squadron One;

Captain Henry V. Butler, C.O. USS San Francisco, Squadron Flagship

Captain Wat T. Cluverius, Commanding Officer USS Shawmut;

Captain Clark D. Stearns, C.O. USS Roanoke;

Captain Albert W. Marshall, C.O. USS Baltimore.

Captain Thomas L. Johnson, C.O. USS Canonicus;

Captain James H. Tomb, C.O. USS Aroostook;

Captain John W. Greenslade, C.O. USS Housatonic;

Commander Sinclair Gannon, C.O. USS Saranac;

Commander William H. Reynolds, C.O. USS Canandaigua;

Commander Daniel P. Mannix, C.O. USS Quinnebaug;

During the next five-months the American ships laid 56,571 and the British ships laid 13,606 mines. By wars end the minefield was not completed but it did have an effect on the U-boats. It was said that the men in the ships were “Living on the edge of eternity.” These sailors were packed into ships that were filled to the rails with high explosives, at any given moment they could go up in a ball of flames. A typical day would be steaming out to position, forming a line three or five ships abreast at 500-yard intervals drop a mine with 300-pounds of TNT and then return to base like it was no big deal. Captain Belknap ran a very tight operation; he had too every man's life depended on it. Belknap remarked later, “Precision and quickness of action while at sea were imperative, from start to finish.” During the mine laying expeditions the Housatonic twice had steering gear troubles, which added to the stress already upon the crew. Steaming in a tight formation loaded with enough explosives to wipe out the ship with a disabled steering system likely made life a bit sporting in the wheelhouse for the captain and coxswain.

Once on station the time that it took to lay the mines would last anywhere from four to seven hours. Staying in formation in bad weather and or darkness was a hair-raising experience. Captain Belknap in writing to his wife remarked, “Interesting as these trips are, no sane person would take two for pleasure.” Once the ships returned to Inverness after laying mines, relaxation was something that took a bit to work out. But throughout the operation men and officers were able to keep good spirits.

But the fear of death by an explosion was not the only worry aboard the Housatonic. Just getting the mines down the tunnel off the stern of the ship and into the water carried its own risks. On 27 May 1918 Fireman 2c Roy H. Jolley was killed when he was crushed under the top arc of the rudder and the mine tunnel during a launching operation. Roy Herbert Jolley was born on 12 September 1893 and joined the navy on 17 April 1917 just eleven days after America entered the war. His sister, Florence Crawford of Watermill, NY was listed as his next of kin.

While operating as part of Mine Squadron 1 out of Inverness, Scotland, Housatonic from 7 June 1918 until the close of the war on 11 November 1918, planted the following:

  • 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.

By the end of the war the minefield had reached 230 miles long and 15–35 miles wide. Even though this field was not completed it was enough to make the stoutest German U-boat captains think twice about navigating it. At least four U-boats were sunk due to the field, which was equal to the number of U-boats sunk by American surface ships during the war. Additionally there were another four U-boats possibly sunk.

Fate

The Housatonic returned to the U.S. following the November 1918 Armistice and was converted to a troop transport. Housatonic was then employed by the Cruiser and Transport Force, making three trips returning American servicemen home from France. Housatonic was decommissioned on 5 August 1919 and returned to her former owner, the Southern Pacific Steamship Company. She ended her working days in 1922.

Officers and Warrant officers of the Housatonic serving under Captain John W. Greenslade during WWI were:

Lt. Commander Walter F. Jacobs, Executive Officer, USN

Lt. Commander Harry W. Lewis, Naval Reserve Force

Lt. Commander Glenn Albert Smith

Lt. Serguis M. Rilis, Naval Reserve Force

Lt. Frank Spoerr, Naval Reserve Force

Lt. (jg) John Wilson, USN

Ensign Edward Bertrand Collins, USN

Ensign (Temporary) Ernest J. Leonard, USN

Assistant Paymaster, Daniel M. Miller, USN

Acting Pay Clerk (Temporary) Theodore W. S. Runyon, USN

Assistant Surgeon William R. Levis, USN

Chief Warrant Officer Samuel MacDonald, Jr.

Warrant Machinist (Temporary) Albert A. Elliott, USN

Commanding officers

Big Four

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

See also

References
  1. 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. Naval History And Heritage Command (20 July 2015). "Housatonic II (SP-1697)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History And Heritage Command. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  3. Daniels, Josephus The Northern Barrage and Other Mining Activities (1920) Government Printing Office pp.70–71
  4. "Navy Distinguished Service Medal to Captain Greenslade". MilitaryTimes.
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