USS Tennessee (ACR-10)

The second USS "Tennessee" (ACR-10), also referred to "Armored Cruiser No. 10", and later renamed "Memphis" and renumbered CA-10, was a United States Navy armored cruiser, the lead ship of her class. The ship was laid down by the Cramp Shipbuilding Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 20 June 1903, launched on 3 December 1904, sponsored by Miss Annie K. Frazier (daughter of Governor James B. Frazier of Tennessee and later the foundress of the Society of Sponsors of the United States Navy), and commissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 17 July 1906, Captain Albert Gleaves Berry in command.

Service history

Pre-war

The new armored cruiser departed Hampton Roads on 8 November 1906 as escort for "Louisiana" (Battleship No. 19) in which President Theodore Roosevelt had embarked for a cruise to Panama to check on the progress of work constructing the Panama Canal. After a brief visit to Puerto Rico on the return voyage, the warships arrived back at Hampton Roads on 26 November. "Tennessee" was present for the Jamestown Exposition held in 1907 to commemorate the tricentennial of the founding of the first English settlement in America.

On 14 June, "Tennessee" sailed for Europe and reached Royan, France, on the 23rd for duty with the Special Service Squadron. She returned home in August but departed Hampton Roads on 12 October for the Pacific.

"Tennessee" then patrolled off the California coast until 24 August 1908 when she sailed for Samoa, arriving at Pago Pago on 23 September to resume service with the Pacific Fleet. On 15 May 1910, she arrived at Bahia Blanca to represent the United States at the centenary celebration of the independence of Argentina. On 8 November, the armored cruiser departed Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and proceeded to Charleston, South Carolina, to embark President William Howard Taft for a round trip voyage to Panama to inspect further progress on the canal. She returned to Hampton Roads on 22 November and then engaged in battle practice off the Virginia coast into February 1911. Following a Mardi Gras visit to New Orleans and a visit to New York early in March, the ship steamed to Cuban waters for two months of operations out of Guantanamo Bay.

Placed in reserve at the Portsmouth Navy Yard on 15 June 1911, she remained on the east coast for a year and one-half before departing Philadelphia on 12 November 1912 for the Mediterranean. Arriving off Smyrna (now İzmir), Turkey, on 1 December, she remained there protecting American citizens and property during the First Balkan War until 3 May 1913 when she headed home. After reaching Hampton Roads on the 23rd, "Tennessee" operated on the East Coast until entering the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Philadelphia on 23 October. On 2 May 1914, she became receiving ship at the New York Navy Yard.

On 6 August, "Tennessee" sailed from New York for duty in Europe through the first half of 1915 supporting the American Relief Expedition. In August, she transported the 1st Regiment, Marine Expeditionary Force, and the Marine Artillery Battalion to Haiti. From 28 January to 24 February 1916, the cruiser served as flagship of a cruiser squadron off Port-au-Prince, Haiti. In March, she embarked a group of dignitaries at Hampton Roads for a two-month, round trip cruise to Montevideo, Uruguay.

On 25 May, "Tennessee" was renamed "Memphis", honoring a city of Tennessee, so that the name "Tennessee" could be reassigned to a new warship, Battleship No. 43.

Loss

In July, under the command of Captain Edward L. Beach, Sr., the ship got underway for the Caribbean arriving at Santo Domingo on 23 July for peace-keeping patrol off the rebellion-torn Dominican Republic. On the afternoon of 29 August, while at anchor in the harbor of Santo Domingo, "Memphis" was driven ashore by an unexpected tsunami and totally wrecked. The casualties, including a boatload of "Memphis" sailors returning from shore leave, numbered some 40 men dead or missing and 204 badly injured. Due to this incident, Chief Machinist's Mate George William Rud, Lieutenant Claud Ashton Jones and Machinist Charles H. Willey were awarded the U.S. Medal of Honor.

"Memphis" was struck from the Navy List on 17 December 1917 and sold to A. H. Radetsky Iron and Metal Company, Denver, Colorado, on 17 January 1922 for scrapping.

References

* Alden, John D. "American Steel Navy: A Photographic History of the U.S. Navy from the Introduction of the Steel Hull in 1883 to the Cruise of the Great White Fleet." Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1989. ISBN 0870212486
* Beach, Edward L. "The Wreck of the Memphis". New York, New York: Holt, Rinear, and Wiston, 1966. Naval Institute Press Classics of Naval Literature 1998 re-print ISBN 1-55750-070-3
* Friedman, Norman. "U.S. Cruisers: An Illustrated Design History." Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1984. ISBN 0870217186
* Musicant, Ivan. "U.S. Armored Cruisers: A Design and Operational History." Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985. ISBN 0870217143

External links

* [http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-t/acr10.htm USS Tennessee (Armored Cruiser # 10), 1906-1916. Renamed Memphis in May 1916]