USS Nero

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USS Nero prior to World War I
History
United States
NameUSS Nero
NamesakeNero
Launched8 December 1894
Acquired30 June 1898
Commissioned8 June 1898
Decommissioned12 September 1921
FateSold 29 July 1922 to A. Bercovich and Company, Oakland, California
General characteristics
Type
Collier
Displacement6,360 long tons (6,460 t)
Length320 ft (98 m)
Beam41 ft (12 m)
Draft20 ft (6.1 m)
Speed9 kn (17 km/h)
Complement80
Armament4 x 6-pounder guns

USS Nero (AC–17), a steel steam

Sunderland, England. The vessel was purchased on 30 June 1898 from McCondray and Co. at San Francisco and commissioned
on 8 June 1898.

Service

Spanish–American War

Acquired by the

Mare Island Navy Yard, the ship departed San Francisco on 23 June 1898 for the Philippines, in company with the monitor Monadnock. Sailing by way of Honolulu and Guam, the collier arrived Manila on 14 August and remained there supporting U.S. forces occupying the Philippines until departing on 4 October on a coaling voyage, steaming to Taku, China and Nagasaki, Japan, before returning to Cavite
on 20 November.

Nero sailed for home on 1 December and arrived Mare Island on 7 January 1899, where she was placed out of commission.

Postwar service

Nero recommissioned on 10 April and sailed five days later for the Hawaiian Islands for deep sea soundings, then steamed via Guam to the Philippines arriving Cavite on 4 August. There she coaled various naval vessels until sailing on 9 September for Yokohama to continue deep sea sounding. The collier got under way for the west coast on 24 September, stopping at Guam and Honolulu and arriving Mare Island on 15 February 1900. During this voyage she took a sounding in the area of the Challenger Deep, recording a depth of 5,269 fathoms (31,614 ft; 9,636 m), the greatest depth recorded at that time.[1] She decommissioned on 20 May.

Placed in service on 4 October, Nero departed on 23 October from Mare Island on her third voyage to the Far East. Steaming to Yokohama by way of Honolulu from 23 October-27 November, she then proceeded to Cavite on 12 December to supply American forces putting down

Ceylon, Suez, Algiers, Malta, and Gibraltar, and docking at Norfolk on 16 April. The ship departed Norfolk on 11 June on a long coaling voyage down the east coast of South America, returning on 12 December. Two months later, she sailed again for Latin America, this time going around Cape Horn to supply the Pacific outpost of Tutuila, Samoa. Returning to the States on 29 July, Nero underwent overhaul at New York and then sailed on 12 October for a return voyage to the Philippines. Once again steaming through the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean, the well-traveled collier arrived at Cavite on 21 December where she remained for one month, giving needed logistic support, and then returned the way she had come, putting into Boston
on 28 April 1903.

Nero sailed on 25 July for the Pacific. Rounding Cape Horn once again, the collier made intermittent stops along the coast of South America and arrived San Francisco on 22 February 1904. She remained in the Pacific making one voyage to Honolulu and then

Aleutians
from 14 April-22 August, then departed Mare Island to return around Cape Horn to Norfolk, arriving on 2 March 1905.

Serving as an

Puget Sound Navy Yard
.

World War I

Nero was once again placed in full service on 29 April 1914 and, three days later, resumed her logistic operations, cruising from

Naval Overseas Transportation Service
.

Based at Cardiff, Wales, Nero began operations with the Army's Cross Channel Service, transporting coal from English ports to France until 25 February 1919, subject to German submarine attacks and the hazardous English Channel weather. She then sailed for Norfolk, arriving on 17 March. After unloading, the collier proceeded to New York on 22 April, and then cruised the east coast for the next month, carrying cargo to New England and Middle Atlantic ports until arriving Charlestown on 22 May for extensive overhaul. There she remained for over a year, undergoing complete repair and alteration. On 14 August 1920, she sailed to Hampton Roads to load cargo and then steamed to the Caribbean to coal U.S. naval vessels at Guantanamo Bay and Santo Domingo, returning to Norfolk on 28 September.

Nero departed Norfolk for the last time on 5 December 1920 to return to the Pacific and her homeport of San Francisco. Proceeding by way of the Panama Canal, the veteran collier arrived Mare Island on 7 February 1921. She departed on her last voyage the next day, steaming first to Pearl Harbor and then to Tutuila. On her return to Pearl Harbor, she was called to aid Colonel and Mrs. Meng who were living on the remote, uninhabited Palmyra Atoll, manning a copra plantation. The couple's supplies had nearly run out, and they were in desperate need of food and clothing to continue their work. Nero stopped and gave assistance, before returning (by way of Pearl Harbor) to San Francisco, on 6 June 1921.[5]

Nero decommissioned on 12 September 1921. In February 1922, Nero was sold for scrap to Philip C. Lowry of

San Francisco, California for $10,125.[6][7]

References

  1. ^ Theberge, A. (24 March 2009). "Thirty Years of Discovering the Mariana Trench". Hydro International. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
  2. ^ "Annual report of the United States Life Saving Service, Year ending June 30, 1907". University of Michigan. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  3. ^ "Collier Nero Saved by Compressed Air". The New York Times. 3 August 1909. p. 2. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  4. ^ "Reactions: The salving and repair of the USS Nero". Goldschmidt Thermit. 1908. Retrieved 15 November 2020 – via Google books.
  5. ^ "Mengs Short of Food on Palmyra". The Garden Island Newspaper. 4 October 1921.
  6. ^ "Obselete U.S. Ships Sold at Low Marks". Petaluma, California: The Petaluma Argus-Courier. 28 February 1922. p. 8. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  7. ^ "USS Nero (1898-1922, later AC-17). Previously S.S. Whitgift (British Freighter, 1895)". Imbilio.org. Retrieved 15 November 2020.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

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