USS Vesuvius (1888)

Vesuvius in 1891
History
United States
Name	USS Vesuvius
Namesake	Mount Vesuvius
Ordered	3 August 1886[2]
Builder	William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia
Yard number	256
Laid down	September 1887
Launched	28 April 1888[1]: 49
Commissioned	3 June 1890[1]: 50
Decommissioned	21 October 1921
Stricken	21 April 1922
Fate	Sold for scrapping
General characteristics
Type	Dynamite gun cruiser
Displacement	930 long tons (945 t)
Length	246 ft 3 in (75.06 m)[1]: 50
Beam	26 ft 6 in (8.08 m)
Draft	9 ft (2.7 m)[1]: 50
Depth	14 ft (4.3 m)[1]: 50
Propulsion	2 × 2,183 hp (1,628 kW) 4-cylinder triple-expansion steam engines[2]
Speed	21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Complement	70 officers and enlisted
Armament	3 × 15 in (380 mm) pneumatic guns 3 × 3-pounder guns

USS Vesuvius, the third ship of the United States Navy named for the Italian volcano, was a unique vessel in the Navy inventory which marked a departure from more conventional forms of main battery armament. She is considered a dynamite gun cruiser and was essentially an operational testbed for large dynamite guns.

Vesuvius was laid down in September 1887 at

in command.

Dynamite guns

Vesuvius carried three 15-inch (38 cm) cast-iron pneumatic guns, invented by D. M. Medford and developed by Edmund Zalinski, a retired officer of the United States Army.^[3] They were mounted forward side by side at a fixed elevation of 16 degrees. Gun barrels were 55 feet (17 meters) long with the muzzles extending 15 feet (4.6 meters) through the deck 37 feet (11 meters) abaft the bow. In order to train these weapons, the ship had to be aimed, like a gun, at its target. Compressed air from a 1000 psi (70 atm) reservoir projected the shells from the dynamite guns. Two air compressors were available to recharge the reservoir.^[2]

The shells fired from the guns were steel or brass casings 7 feet (2.1 meters) long with the explosive contained in the conical forward part of the casing and spiral vanes on the after part to rotate the projectile. The explosive used in the shells themselves was actually a "desensitized blasting gelatin" composed of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin. It was less sensitive to shock than regular dynamite, but still sensitive enough that compressed air, rather than powder, had to be utilized as the propellant. Shells containing 550 pounds (250 kg) of explosive had a maximum range of 1 mile (1.6 km), but range could be extended to 4,000 yards (3.7 km) by reducing projectile weight to 200 pounds (91 kg). Maximum muzzle velocity was 800 feet (240 meters) per second. Range could be reduced by releasing less compressed air from the reservoir. Ten shells per gun were carried on board, and 15 shells were fired in 16 minutes 50 seconds during an 1889 test. The shells employed an electrical fuze which could be either set to explode on contact or delayed to explode underwater.^[2][3]

Service history

Shakedown cruise

Vesuvius sailed for New York shortly after commissioning and then joined the Fleet at

, on 1 October 1890. She operated off the east coast with the North Atlantic Squadron into 1895. Highlights of this tour of duty included numerous port visits and participation in local observances of holidays and festivals, as well as gunnery practice and exercises. Experience showed that the ship's unique main battery had two major drawbacks: first, the range was too short; second, the method of aiming was crude and inaccurate.

Spanish–American War

Decommissioned on 25 April 1895 for major repairs, Vesuvius re-entered service on 12 January 1897 with Lieutenant Commander

coastal waters. Vesuvius performed special duties at the discretion of the Fleet Commander in Chief and served as a dispatch vessel between Cuba and Florida into July 1898.

On 13 June, Vesuvius conducted the first of eight shore bombardment missions against

Post-war conversion

After hostilities with Spain ended later that summer, Vesuvius sailed north and called at

Naval Torpedo Station

in Newport, Rhode Island to begin her new career.

She conducted torpedo experiments at the station for two years until decommissioned on 27 November 1907 for repairs. Recommissioned again on 14 February 1910, Vesuvius remained at Newport for the next 11 years, on occasion serving as station ship, into 1921.

In May 1913, a torpedo fired from Vesuvius ran a circular course and punctured the hull of the ship. Damage control efforts by her crew and the quick judgment of her commanding officer, Chief Gunner Thomas Smith, prevented her from sinking before she was intentionally run aground on Prudence Island in Narragansett Bay.^[4]

She was decommissioned and ordered appraised for sale on 21 April 1922 to J. Lipsitz and Company of Chelsea, Massachusetts.

The ship's bell of Vesuvius is on display in the administration building of the Rhode Island Veterans Home in Bristol, Rhode Island.

Awards

• Sampson Medal
• Spanish Campaign Medal
• World War I Victory Medal

See also

• USS Vesuvius (AE-15)
• USS Katahdin

References

Bibliography

• R. Busetto, La USS Vesuvius, in Rivista Marittima, 1997, vol. 507, p. 81
• Johnson, Harold (September 2017). "Question 30/53". Warship International. LIV (3): 192–193.
  ISSN 0043-0374
  .
• The White Squadron. [Toledo, Ohio]: Woolson Spice Co., 1891.
  OCLC 45112425
• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links

• navsource.org: USS Vesuvius
• hazegray.org: Photographs of the Vesuvius