USS Recruit (1917)
USS Recruit, also known as the Landship Recruit, was a wooden mockup of a
Description
Operating as the U.S. Navy's headquarters for recruiting in the New York City district, Recruit was a fully rigged battleship, and was operated as a commissioned ship of the U.S. Navy.
The accommodations aboard Recruit included fore and aft examination rooms, full officer's quarters, a wireless station, a heating and ventilation system that was capable of changing the temperature of the air inside the ship ten times within the span of an hour, and cabins for the accommodation of the sailors of its crew.[1]
Two high
Events
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/USS_Recruit_in_Union_Square_NYC_1917.jpg/220px-USS_Recruit_in_Union_Square_NYC_1917.jpg)
Following its completion and commissioning, the Landship Recruit hosted a variety of different events and receptions intended to bring civilians aboard the ship, the first of which took place on the afternoon of 8 September 1917.[3] Some events were of a patriotic nature in keeping with the wartime spirit, including the presentation and unfurling of a recreated Betsy Ross American flag,[4] while others were purely social events, including dances for New York's socialites.[5]
Fate
After spending over two years in Union Square, the Landship Recruit was decommissioned and dismantled, the Navy intending to move it to Coney Island's Luna Park, where it would be maintained as a recruiting depot following its success at its Union Square location;[6] Recruit struck its colors on 16 March 1920;[6] The New York Times reported that the "Landship" had helped the U.S. Navy recruit 25,000 men into the service[6]—625 times the size of her own crew, and enough to crew twenty-eight Nevada-class battleships. However, the cost of a move to Coney Island proved to exceed the value of the materials used in the vessel, so following its dismantling it was never reassembled, the materials being most likely reused in local projects.[7]
See also
- Muroc Maru, another wooden landship
- USS Commodore (401B)
- USS Recruit (TDE-1)
References
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- ^ a b c d "The "Recruit" – Our Only Land Battleship". Popular Science Monthly. 91 (2). New York: Modern Publishing: 212–213. August 1917.
- ISBN 978-1-146-93246-2.
- ^ "A Reception on Landship Recruit", The New York Times, 8 September 1917. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
- ^ "Betsy Ross Sewing Party", The New York Times 8 March 1918. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
- ^ Shorpy, Shorpy.com presentation of period photograph with caption describing activities on board ship.
- ^ a b c "Landship Recruit sails", The New York Times, 17 March 1920. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
- ^ La Gorce, Tammy (9 April 2017). "In New York, a Battleship That Never Left Dry Land". The New York Times. New York. p. MB4. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
External links
- Uren, Amanda; Wild, Chris (30 April 2015). "The battle ship in Union Square". Retronaut. Mashable. Retrieved 31 May 2015.