USS Galveston (CL-19)

	USS Galveston (CL-19) underway soon after completion, c. 1905. Note that her topmasts are partially lowered.
History
United States
Name	Galveston
Namesake	City of Galveston, Texas
Ordered	3 March 1899
Awarded	14 December 1899
Builder	William R. Trigg Company, Richmond, Virginia
Cost	$1,027,000 (contract price of hull and machinery)($32,199,420 in 2021 dollars)
Laid down	19 January 1901
Launched	23 July 1903
Sponsored by	Miss Ella Sealey
Commissioned	15 February 1905
Decommissioned	2 September 1930
Reclassified	PG-31, 17 July 1920; CL-19, 8 August 1921;
Stricken	1 November 1930
Identification	Hull symbol: C-17; Hull symbol: PG-31; Hull symbol: CL-19;
Fate	Sold for scrapping, 13 September 1933
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	Denver-class protected cruiser
Displacement	3,200 long tons (3,251 t) (standard); 3,514 long tons (3,570 t) (full load);
Length	308 ft 9 in (94.11 m) oa; 292 ft (89 m)pp;
Beam	44 ft (13 m)
Draft	15 ft 9 in (4.80 m) (mean)
Installed power	6 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers; 21,000 kW);
Propulsion	2 × vertical triple expansion reciprocating engines; 2 × screws;
Sail plan	Schooner
Speed	16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph); 16.65 knots (30.84 km/h; 19.16 mph) (Speed on Trial);
Complement	30 officers 261 enlisted men
Armament	10 × Breech-loading rifles; 8 × 6-pounder (57 mm (2.2 in)) rapid fire guns; 2 × 1-pounder (37 mm (1.5 in)) guns;
Armor	Deck: 2+1⁄2 in (64 mm) (slope); 3⁄16 in (4.8 mm) (flat); Shields: 1+3⁄4 in (44 mm);
General characteristics (1921)
Armament	8 × 5 in (127 mm)/50 caliber Mark 5 breech-loading rifles; 1 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 anti-aircraft gun ; 6 × 6-pounder (57 mm (2.2 in)) rapid fire guns; 2 × 1-pounder (37 mm (1.5 in)) guns;

USS Galveston (C-17/PG-31/CL-19) was a Denver-class protected cruiser in the United States Navy during World War I. She was the first Navy ship named for the city of Galveston, Texas.

Galveston was laid down 19 January 1901 by

launched 23 July 1903; sponsored by Miss Ella Sealey; and commissioned at Norfolk, Virginia, 15 February 1905.^[4]

Service history

1905–1918

Galveston departed Norfolk on 10 April 1905 for Galveston, Texas, where on 19 April she was presented a

Annapolis on 22 July.^[4]

She next joined

State Department cruise from Norfolk to the West Indies ports of Santo Domingo and Port-au-Prince, followed by preparations for foreign service at Norfolk and New York.^[4]

Galveston departed

William H. Taft at Manila on 13 October 1906 and served in his honor escort to Vladivostok, Siberia, the next month.^[4]

Galveston spent the following years in cruises among ports of the

Puget Sound Navy Yard on 21 February; and recommissioned there on 29 June 1912 for service that included a training cruise to Alaska. She left the Puget Sound Navy Yard on 19 September 1913, touching San Francisco, Hawaii and Guam on her way to Cavite, where she joined the Asiatic Fleet on 2 November.^[4]

Galveston's tour on the Asiatic Station was largely taken up with convoy service for supply ships and troop transports shuttling Marines and other garrison forces and stores between the Philippines and ports of Japan and China for the protection of American lives, property, and interests with brief intervals of

Cristobal, in the Canal Zone, to Norfolk, and on to New York, arriving on 11 February 1918.^[4]

World War I, 1918

Galveston was assigned to Squadron 2 of the Atlantic Fleet Cruiser Force for convoy escort duties concurrent with the training of

Halifax, Nova Scotia, she was largely employed in repeated convoy escort voyages between New York and Norfolk until 22 September 1918 when she departed Tompkinsville with a 19-ship convoy bound for Ponta Delgada, Azores. On the morning of 30 September a convoy straggler was attacked by German submarine U-152. Alerted by the flashing explosion to starboard, Galveston headed for the scene of attack and opened fire on the U-boat. Cargo ship Ticonderoga was shelled and sunk in the 2-hour battle with a loss of 213 lives and the submarine escaped but the remaining ships of the convoy were brought safely into Ponta Delgada 4 October 1918. Galveston returned to Norfolk on 20 October 1918 to resume her coastal convoy escort work until the Armistice.^[4]

1919–1923

She arrived in Plymouth, England, 26 March 1919; transported a contingent of British-American troops from

Theodosia; and carried Rear Admiral Newton A. McCully from Theodosia to Yalta. She was relieved as station ship at Constantinople on 15 July 1920 by cruiser Chattanooga.^[4]

With the initial assignment of hull classification symbols and numbers to U.S. Navy ships in 1920, Galveston was classified as PG-31. She then returned home by way of

Charleston Navy Yard and decommissioned 30 November 1923.^[4]

1924–1930

Galveston was recommissioned 5 February 1924 for duty with the Special Service Squadron. She based most of her operations out of

Bluefields, Nicaragua, landing a force of 195 men at the request of the American Consul to protect American interests during a revolutionary uprising. Thereafter much of her time was spent cruising between that-port and Balboa to cooperate with the State Department in the restoration and preservation of order, and to insure the protection of American lives and property in Central America.^[4]

After a voyage north in the fall of 1929 for overhaul in the Boston Navy Yard, Galveston revisited her namesake 26 to 29 October for the Navy Day celebrations, then touched Cuba on her way to Haiti, where she embarked Marines for transport to the Panama Canal. She resumed her watchful cruises between Balboa and Corinto until 19 May 1930 when she transited the Panama Canal for a last courtesy visit to Galveston (24–31 May) before inactivation overhaul in the Philadelphia Navy Yard.^[4]

Decommissioning

She was decommissioned at Philadelphia on 2 September 1930; struck from the Navy List 1 November 1930, and sold for scrapping 13 September 1933 to the Northern Metal Company of Philadelphia.^[4]

References

^ "Ships' Data, U. S. Naval Vessels". US Naval Department. 1 January 1914. pp. 40–47. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
^ ^a ^b Toppan, Andrew (8 September 1996). "US Cruisers List: Protected Cruisers and Peace Cruisers". Hazegray.org. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
^ "Ships' Data, U. S. Naval Vessels". US Naval Department. 1 July 1921. pp. 60–67. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l "Galveston I (Cruiser No. 17)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. 9 July 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2015.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

"The U.S.S. Galveston: General Description—Standardization, Official and Endurance Tests". Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers. XVII (3): 678–695. August 1905.

External links

Photo gallery of USS Galveston (CL-19) at NavSource Naval History

[ships14-1] "Ships' Data, U. S. Naval Vessels". US Naval Department. 1 January 1914. pp. 40–47. Retrieved 15 September 2015.

[haze-2] Toppan, Andrew (8 September 1996). "US Cruisers List: Protected Cruisers and Peace Cruisers". Hazegray.org. Retrieved 24 November 2015.

[ships21-3] "Ships' Data, U. S. Naval Vessels". US Naval Department. 1 July 1921. pp. 60–67. Retrieved 15 September 2015.

[DANFS-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l "Galveston I (Cruiser No. 17)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. 9 July 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2015.

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v t e Denver-class cruisers
Denver Des Moines Chattanooga Galveston Tacoma Cleveland
Preceded by: Columbia class Followed by: St. Louis class
List of cruisers of the United States Navy