History Blog
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Long Island’s coastal waters are rich in maritime history. Some stories are well known, others lesser known, and some waiting to tell their tale. In 2020, a friend, knowing I enjoyed local history, showed me an undated black and white photo of two surplus U.S. Navy boats in a cove off of Shore Road, Cold Spring Harbor, NY. The area is presently Eagle Dock Beach. I was intrigued with the boat stenciled 182 on her bow and began my research. Perhaps from watching the movie PT109 and building the model boat as a child, I initially presumed it was a Patrol Torpedo boat, but I learned that very few survived their service. Utilizing the website, Navsource, I forwarded the photograph and they provided me with a link to SC182, a World War I Submarine Chaser. The webpage included: photos from the Naval History and Heritage Command of the first crew, the boat serving in the North Atlantic and returning to the United States. The SC-1 class of 77 ton, 110’ submarine chasers, affectionately known as the Splinter Fleet, had a crew of two officers and 18 sailors. Powered by three, six cylinder 220hp engines, with a speed of 18 knots, they had a range of 1,000 nm. Four 600 gallon fuel tanks would “cover just a third of an Atlantic crossing, the 200+ subchasers … were either towed or accompanied by escorts with fuel and provisions.”[1] Armament included a 3”/23 caliber gun, two .30 caliber Colt machine guns and depth charges. They featured that latest in hydrophone sensors to detect German U boats. With the major shipyards tasked with building the larger vessels, smaller boat builders, already skilled at crafting wooden boats, were called upon to build the chasers. SC182 was constructed by International Shipbuilding Company in Nyack, NY and delivered to the U.S. Navy on May 6, 1918.[2] She arrived at Inverness, Scotland on April 24, 1919 and eventually saw service with the North Sea Minesweeping Detachment.[3] Three years later, SC182 was sold on June 24, 1921 from the Third Naval District Supply Depot, South Brooklyn, NY with an appraised value of $11,400.[4] For prospective buyers, the Sale of Navy Vessels catalogue included plans on how the chasers could be converted to yachts or fishing vessels. From the angle the photo was taken, the bow of another boat is partially obstructed, leaving only her last number “3” visible. The South Brooklyn location sale catalogue lists only one chaser for sale with an ending number of “3”… SC43.[5] Records indicate that both 182 and 43 were sold to Joseph G. Hitner of Philadelphia, P.A. Henry A. Hitner's Sons Company (later Hitner Industrial Dismantling Company) purchased many surplus Navy vessels; converting some to merchant ships while scrapping others.[6] A 1947 aerial photograph from the Suffolk County (NY) GIS website shows the boats in the cove[7] and again in 1953.[8] Interestingly today at low tide, remnants of a relatively large, wooden-planked boat, partially buried in silt, become visible in the tidal wetlands, proximate to the submarine chasers location. Could this be SC182 or her sister boat SC43? Perhaps. While this may never be confirmed, it is certain SC182, and possibly SC43, spent some of their last days here. More information about WW1 submarine chasers can be found in the book, Hunters of the Steel Shark: The Submarine Chasers of WW1 by Todd A. Woofenden. Footnotes: [1] https://unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov/2016/04/26/spotlight-submarine-chasers/ [2] http://shipbuildinghistory.com/shipyards/emergencysmall/international.htm [3] www.subchaser.org/sc182 [4] www.subchaser.org/sale-of-vessels-14 [5] www.subchaser.org/sc43 [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_A._Hitner%27s_Sons_Company [7] https://gisapps.suffolkcountyny.gov/gisviewer/ [8] https://www.historicaerials.com/viewer AuthorJames Garside appreciates local history. When a friend showed him an undated photograph of two US Navy boats taken locally, he was intrigued and wanted to identify and learn more about them. This article is the result of his research. It was originally published in the August 2023, Points East magazine. If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!
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The rapid decline of sail freight in the early 20th century was not entirely due to technological advantages of steam and motor propulsion, or to economics, but another outside force: Submarine Warfare. The First World War raged from 1914 to 1918, and was the first truly mechanized war. The submarine made its debut as a weapon in this conflict, and the German U-Boats became notorious for their damage to allied shipping. Since submarines were new, there were few developed techniques for countering them. By the end of the war the Office Of Naval Intelligence had created a small handbook on the subject: The main recommendations were to use a vessel's superior speed first, to reduce time in the war zone, and to maneuver unpredictably if a speed over 16 knots could not be maintained For windjammers, 16 knots is a very high speed in most conditions, and changing course by 20-40 degrees every 10-20 minutes is difficult or impracticable, depending on the winds available. Their relatively small size made arming them with sufficiently powerful naval guns difficult, and there weren't enough small guns to go around even if they could be mounted around the ship's rigging. According to Lloyd's of London Casualty Lists, some 2,000 windjammers of over 100 tons were sunk during the War, over a third more than in the 5 years before the war., and this does not count ships damaged but not sunk. Dozens of others under this threshold were also sunk or damaged by submarines. As a result, the already slowly declining sail fleets suffered a catastrophic loss of vessels and trained crew. Further, due the importance of speed in avoiding or evading U-Boat attacks, steamers and motor vessels became the primary means of replacing ships lost during the war. The larger, faster vessels were more survivable, and could take up the shipping capacity lost faster than building another large fleet of relatively small wind-powered vessels. Those windjammers which survived the First World War carried on, especially in coastal trade, until the 1930s and some areas continue to do so today. However, losses in the First World War reduced the world's transoceanic windjammer fleet to a very low number, while economics favored the new, very large steamers on all but the longest routes. For more reading about the use of U-Boats off the US Coast in the First World War, try out the Navy's publication on the subject from 1920 for many detailed accounts and information. This Memorial Day, keep the windjammer sailors of a century ago in mind. AuthorSteven Woods is the Solaris and Education coordinator at HRMM. He earned his Master's degree in Resilient and Sustainable Communities at Prescott College, and wrote his thesis on the revival of Sail Freight for supplying the New York Metro Area's food needs. Steven has worked in Museums for over 20 years. If you enjoyed this post and would like to support more history blog content, please make a donation to the Hudson River Maritime Museum or become a member today!
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AuthorThis blog is written by Hudson River Maritime Museum staff, volunteers and guest contributors. Archives
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