USS Winslow (TB-5)
USS Winslow (TB-5), photographed circa 1898, with a small "water taxi" rowing past her bow.
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | Winslow |
Namesake | Rear admiral John Ancrum Winslow |
Ordered | 26 July 1894 (authorised) |
Builder | Columbian Iron Works and Dry Dock Co., Baltimore, Maryland |
Laid down | 8 May 1896 |
Launched | 8 May 1897 |
Sponsored by | Miss E. H. Hazel |
Commissioned | 29 December 1897 |
Decommissioned | 12 July 1910 |
Stricken | 12 July 1910 |
Identification | TB-5 |
Fate | Sold, January 1920 |
General characteristics [1] | |
Class and type | Foote-class torpedo boat |
Displacement | 142 long tons (144 t)[2] |
Length | 161 ft 6.75 in (49.2443 m) |
Beam | 16 ft (4.9 m) |
Draft | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) (mean)[2] |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | |
Complement | 20 officers and enlisted |
Armament |
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USS Winslow (Torpedo Boat No. 5/TB-5) was a
History
The first Winslow (Torpedo Boat No. 5) was laid down on 8 May 1896 at
On 6 January 1897, Winslow departed Norfolk, Virginia and proceeded via New York City to Newport, Rhode Island, where she loaded torpedoes and drilled her crew in torpedo firing before returning to Hampton Roads on the 30th.
During Winslow's seven-week sojourn at Norfolk, the
Battle at Cárdenas
During the next fortnight, the warship patrolled the northern coast of Cuba near Havana, Cárdenas, and Matanzas. On 8 May, she engaged in battle and forced three Spanish gunboats back into the harbor of Cardenas. Early in the morning of 11 May 1898, Winslow left her blockade station off Matanzas and proceeded to Cardenas to replenish her coal bunkers. Upon reporting to USS Wilmington for that purpose, she was ordered to take on a Cuban pilot and scout the entrance of Cardenas Bay for mines. Winslow then entered the bay in company with USRC Hudson. The two ships conducted a meticulous search of the channel, found no mines, and returned to Wilmington around noon to make their report. At this point, the commanding officer of Wilmington decided to take his ship, escorted by Winslow and Hudson, into Cardenas harbor in search of three Spanish gunboats reportedly in port. Winslow marked shoal water to Wilmington's portside and, upon reaching a point about 3,000 yards (2,743.2 m) from the city, sighted a small, gray steamer moored alongside the wharf. The torpedo boat received orders to move in closer to determine whether or not the vessel was an enemy warship.
By 1335, Winslow reached a point approximately 1,500 yards (1,371.6 m) from her quarry when a white puff of smoke from the Spaniard's bow gun signaled the beginning of an artillery duel which lasted one hour and 20 minutes. Winslow immediately responded with her
All but disabled, Winslow requested Hudson to tow her out of action. The revenue cutter approached the stricken torpedo boat and rigged a tow line between the two ships. As Hudson began to tow Winslow out to sea, one of the last Spanish shells to strike the torpedo boat hit her near the starboard gun and killed Ensign Worth Bagley who had been helping to direct the warship's maneuvers by carrying instructions from the deck to the base of the engine room ladder. Ens. Bagley had the dubious distinction of being the first naval officer killed in the Spanish–American War; and in memory of his sacrifice and devotion to duty, four ships of the US Navy have carried the name USS Bagley.
Badly damaged, Winslow was towed clear of the action. Her commanding officer and a number of others in her crew were wounded. Lt. Bernadou saw that the dead and wounded were transferred to Hudson, and he then left the ship himself after turning command over to Chief Gunner's Mate George F. Brady, who—along with Chief Gunner's Mate Hans Johnsen and Chief Machinist Thomas C. Cooney—later received the Medal of Honor and was promoted to warrant officer.
The day following the engagement, Winslow arrived at Key West for temporary repairs there and at
Post Spanish–American War
But for a short voyage to
Information on her activities between July 1904 and February 1906 is extremely sketchy, but she probably spent the majority of that time either in reserve or out of commission at New York. Whatever the case, Winslow was recommissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 16 February 1906 and steamed south to Norfolk, where she was placed in the Reserve Torpedo Flotilla. Sometime during fiscal year 1909, she was transferred to Charleston, South Carolina, though she remained in reserve.
On 1 June 1909, the torpedo boat was turned over to the
References
- ^ "USS Winslow (TB-5)". Navsource.org. Retrieved 8 July 2015.
- ^ a b c "Table 10 - Ships on Navy List June 30, 1919". Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office: 714. 1921.
- ^ "Annual report of the Supervising Inspector-general Steamboat-inspection Service, Year ending June 30, 1904". Retrieved 30 July 2019.
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
- Additional technical data from Gardiner, Robert (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Conway Maritime Press. p. 160. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
- Cook County Herald, Arlington Il, 12 Oct 1923
External links
- Photo gallery of Winslow at NavSource Naval History