USS Oregon (BB-3)

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

Oregon
USS Oregon in dry dock, 1898
History
United States
NameOregon
Namesake
State of Oregon
Ordered30 June 1890
BuilderUnion Iron Works
Laid down19 November 1891
Launched26 October 1893
Commissioned15 July 1896
Decommissioned27 April 1906
Recommissioned29 August 1911
Decommissioned12 June 1919
Stricken2 November 1942
Identification
Hull symbol
: BB-3
FateSold for scrap, 15 March 1956
General characteristics
Class and typeIndiana-class pre-dreadnought battleship
Displacement
Length351 feet 2 inches (107.04 m)
Beam69 ft 3 in (21.11 m)
Draft24 ft (7.3 m)
Installed power
Propulsion
  • 2 ×
    triple-expansion steam engines
  • 2 × screw propellers
Speed15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph) (design)
Range4,900 nmi (9,100 km; 5,600 mi)
Complement473 officers and men
Armament
  • 2 × twin
    13 in (330 mm)/35 caliber guns
  • 4 × twin
    8 in (203 mm)/35
    caliber guns
  • 4 × single
    6 in (152 mm)/40 caliber guns
  • 20 × single 6-pounder guns
  • 6 × single
    1 pounder guns
  • 5–6 ×
    18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor

USS Oregon (BB-3) was the third and final member of the

seakeeping
problems owing to their small size and insufficient freeboard.

After entering service in 1896, Oregon briefly served with the

Qing China. The ship returned to the United States in 1906, when she was decommissioned and placed in reserve
for the next five years, during which she was modernized.

Reactivated in 1911, Oregon spent the next several years cruising off the

hulk for the upcoming invasion of Guam in 1944. She remained off the island through the mid-1950s before being sold for scrap in 1956 and broken up in Japan
.

Design

Main article: Indiana-class battleship

In the late 1880s, the United States Navy's senior commanders began to plan for the possibility of a conflict with a European naval power, eventually coming to the conclusion that a force of both short- and long-range battleships would be necessary to defend the country. Congress agreed to begin modernizing the Navy and authorized three small vessels—the ironclad battleship Texas and the armored cruisers Maine and New York. Three further ships, the Indiana class, were authorized in 1890; these were to be the first installment of short-range battleships to meet the Navy's plans. The ships proved to be disappointments in service, as they were badly overweight upon completion, their low freeboard hampered operations at sea, and they handled poorly. They were nevertheless the first modern battleships for the American fleet.[1][2]

Top and profile illustration of Oregon

Oregon was 351 feet 2 inches (107.04 m)

cage mast in 1910–1911. She had a crew of 32 officers and 441 enlisted men, which increased to a total of 586–636 officers and enlisted.[2][3]

The ship was armed with a

18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes in above-water mounts, though the number is unclear. According to Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships and the US Navy's Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, she was fitted with six tubes, though the naval historian Norman Friedman states she was ordered with seven but completed with five.[2][4][5]

Oregon's main

armored belt was 18 in (457 mm) thick over the magazines and the machinery spaces and was reduced to 4 in (102 mm) at the bow and stern. The main battery gun turrets had 17-inch (432 mm) thick sides, and the supporting barbettes had the same thickness of armor plate on their exposed sides. The 8 in turrets had 6 in of armor plating and the casemate battery had 5 in (127 mm). The conning tower had 10 in (254 mm) thick sides.[6]

Service history

USS Oregon in 1898

Congress authorized three Indiana-class battleships on 30 June 1890, and in the authorization, specified that one of the ships was to be built on the

sea trials as part of the Pacific Squadron, where she served for the next year.[5][7]

On 15 February 1898, the armored cruiser Maine exploded in

Callao, Peru on 4 April, where she took on a fresh load of coal before continuing on the journey.[5][8]

Clark decided to skip the scheduled coaling stop in

Valparaíso, Chile, electing to proceed to the Strait of Magellan directly, which the ship reached on 16 April. A severe storm complicated her passage through the hazardous waters and she was forced to drop anchor overnight to avoid running aground, but she reached Punta Arenas, Chile, the next morning. There, she joined the gunboat Marietta, which was also en route to join the North Atlantic Squadron. After both ships replenished their coal stocks there, they got underway for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 21 April; false rumors of a Spanish torpedo boat in the area kept the ships' gun crews at their stations. The ships reached Rio de Janeiro on 30 April, where they learned of the state of war between the United States and Spain. They departed on 4 May, stopped briefly in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, and then coaled in Barbados on 18 May. Oregon arrived in Jupiter, Florida on 24 May, where she met other elements of the North Atlantic Squadron. In the course of the voyage, which lasted sixty-six days, Oregon had traveled some 14,000 nmi (26,000 km; 16,000 mi).[5][8][9] One long term result of this trip, which had received extensive press coverage, was public pressure for the construction of a Panama Canal to shorten future trans-oceanic repositionings.[10]

Spanish–American War

Painting of Oregon passing Cape Horn on the way to the Caribbean
Main article: Spanish–American War

Oregon sailed to

Rear Admiral Pascual Cervera y Topete and consisted of the armored cruisers Infanta Maria Teresa, Cristóbal Colón, Vizcaya and Almirante Oquendo and the destroyers Plutón and Furor. Oregon arrived off that port on 1 June, and over the course of the month, took part in bombardments of Spanish positions around the city and helped to maintain the blockade.[5][11]

At 08:45 on 3 July, Cervera sortied with his flag aboard Infanta Maria Teresa, followed by Cristóbal Colón, Vizcaya and Almirante Oquendo, with the two destroyers bringing up the rear. The Spaniards cleared the roadstead at 09:35; luckily for the Spanish, New York—Sampson's flagship—was out of position at the time and Massachusetts was replenishing her coal at Guantánamo Bay. Lookouts aboard the armored cruiser Brooklyn spotted Cervera approaching and fired one of her guns to warn the other American ships, which quickly ordered their crews to general quarters and initiated the Battle of Santiago de Cuba. As the Spanish ships attempted to break out to the west, Cervera charged at Brooklyn with Infanta Maria Teresa to delay the American pursuit and give his other ships time to escape. The Spanish coastal batteries also contributed their fire in the first stage of the battle but had little effect.[11]

Oregon took the lead in the ensuing chase as she was the only large American ship which had good steam pressure when the battle began. The cruiser Brooklyn had uncoupled two of her four engines, but could still achieve 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) and was right behind her. Heavy American gunfire had set Infanta Maria Theresa on fire, and, fearing a magazine explosion, Cervara ordered her run aground at 10:25. Almirante Oquendo's captain issued similar instructions five minutes later, as his ship, too, was burning badly. Vizcaya was also forced ashore shortly thereafter, striking her colors to surrender at 10:36. Meanwhile, the two Spanish destroyers had also been badly damaged by the American battleships; Indiana had nearly cut Plutón in half with a 13-inch shell, forcing her to run aground, where she exploded. And Furor had been savaged by Oregon's, Iowa's, and Indiana's secondary batteries, leading her crew to surrender to the gunboat Gloucester.[11][12]

naval review

Only Cristóbal Colón, which had a 6 nautical miles (11 km; 6.9 mi) lead at that point, was still running westward. Oregon and Texas followed Brooklyn as they chased Cristóbal Colón; the Americans slowly caught up to the fleeing Spanish cruiser and engaged her at long range. Cristóbal Colón, which had not been fitted with her main armament before being sent to Cuba, could not return fire, and her commander realized his hopeless position. At 13:20, he turned to shore and struck his flag, indicating his surrender, and the crew scuttled the ship. Oregon was not hit in the action, owing in large part to the poor quality of Spanish shooting.[13] With the destruction of Cervera's squadron and American successes in Cuba and the Philippines, Spain sued for peace on 17 July, and the war ended on 12 August with the Treaty of Paris.[8]

Asiatic Station

After the war, Oregon steamed to New York for an overhaul, after which she was assigned to the

Kure, Japan to be dry-docked for permanent repairs on 17 July.[5][8]

Oregon got underway again on 29 August for operations along the coast of China. She patrolled off the mouth of the

Puget Sound Navy Yard, which she reached on 6 July. She remained there for a year and a half before departing in early 1903 for China. She arrived in Hong Kong on 18 March, and over the course of the next three years, she served on the Asiatic Station, visiting ports in China, Japan, and the Philippines. The period passed uneventfully for Oregon, and she returned to the United States in February 1906. She was decommissioned in Puget Sound on 27 April.[5][8]

Later career

Oregon in January 1914

The ship remained out of service for the next five years. She received a fairly minimal modernization during her period in

deckhouse amidships, one on each 8-inch turret and two on the 13-inch turrets apiece. Her small size and cramped decks prevented the more thorough modernization of her superstructure that the later American pre-dreadnought battleships received at this time.[5][14]

On 29 August 1911, Oregon was recommissioned, but she remained assigned to the reserve fleet until October, when she got underway for

Siberian expedition that intervened in the Russian Civil War in 1918.[5]

After returning from Russia, Oregon was decommissioned again on 12 June 1919 before being recommissioned briefly from 21 August to 4 October. During this period, she hosted President

review of the Pacific Fleet when it arrived in Seattle, Washington. She was assigned the hull number of "BB-3" on 17 July 1920 when the Navy adopted the system. Beginning in 1921, a group of naval enthusiasts embarked on a campaign to have Oregon preserved as a museum ship, to be based somewhere in her namesake state. The Washington Naval Treaty, signed in 1922, required Oregon to be demilitarized, and she was accordingly disarmed in 1923, being pronounced compliant with the terms of the treaty on 4 January 1924. She was listed on the Naval Vessel Register as an "unclassified" relic. The Navy loaned the ship to Oregon in June 1925, and she was moored in Portland and restored as a museum vessel.[5]

Fate

Oregon's mast in Portland, Oregon

Oregon was redesignated with the hull number IX-22 on 17 February 1941. After the United States entered

hulk or as a breakwater. The Navy requested that the breakers stop after the superstructure had been cleared and her internal fittings and equipment had been removed and to return her. She was then loaded with ammunition to support the forces that would invade Guam and towed there as part of the invasion fleet.[5]

The vessel remained moored in Guam through the end of the war in 1945 and for several years thereafter. During this period, on the night of 14–15 November 1948, Oregon broke free from her moorings during

Kawasaki, Japan. She was then towed there and broken up.[5]

Several parts of the ship remain in Portland; her military foremast was erected in 1956 at the Tom McCall Waterfront Park and her wheel is held in the collection of the Oregon Historical Society. Both of her funnels also survive, but are not on public display.[15]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Friedman, pp. 17, 20–29.
  2. ^ a b c Campbell, p. 140.
  3. ^ Friedman, pp. 83, 425.
  4. ^ Friedman, p. 27.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l DANFS Oregon (BB-3).
  6. ^ Friedman, p. 425.
  7. ^ Friedman, pp. 26–27.
  8. ^ a b c d e Lomax.
  9. ^ Reilly & Scheina, pp. 66–67.
  10. ^ The Epic Journey Of USS Oregon During The Spanish American War
  11. ^ a b c DANFS Iowa (BB-4).
  12. ^ Hale, pp. 288–295.
  13. ^ Hale, pp. 295–296.
  14. ^ Friedman, pp. 82–83.
  15. ^ Boddie.

References

  • Boddie, Ken (25 November 2019). "Where We Live: Saving Battleship Oregon's smokestacks". KOIN. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  • Campbell, N. J. M. (1979). "United States of America". In Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Greenwich: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 114–169.
    ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5
    .
  • Evans, Mark L. (1 October 2015). "Iowa II (Battleship No. 4)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  • Friedman, Norman (1985). U.S. Battleships: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.
    ISBN 978-0-87021-715-9
    .
  • Hale, John Richard (1911). Famous Sea Fights, From Salamis to Tsu-Shima. Boston: Little, Brown, & Company.
    OCLC 1710465
    .
  • Lomax, Ken (2005). "A Chronicle of the Battleship Oregon". Oregon Historical Quarterly. 106 (1): 132–146.
    S2CID 245845492. Archived from the original
    on 17 June 2008. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  • "Oregon II (Battleship No. 3)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History & Heritage Command. 9 November 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  • Reilly, John C.; Scheina, Robert L. (1980). American Battleships 1886–1923: Predreadnought Design and Construction. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.
    ISBN 978-0-87021-524-7
    .

Further reading

External links

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