USS Talbot (TB-15)

Last updated
USS Talbot (TB-15) NH 63732.jpg
USS Talbot (TB-15), underway, circa the early 1900s.
History
US flag 48 stars.svgUnited States
NameTalbot
Namesake Lieutenant John G. Talbot
Ordered10 June 1896 (authorised)
Builder Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., Bristol, RI
Laid down8 April 1897
Launched14 November 1897
Commissioned4 April 1898
Decommissioned18 June 1940
RenamedBerceau, 11 April 1918
Reclassifiedas YFB-3, 17 July 1920
Stricken18 July 1944
Identification
FateSold for scrap, 18 July 1944
General characteristics [1]
Class and type Talbot-class torpedo boat
Displacement46 long tons (47 t) [2]
Length99 ft 6 in (30.33 m)
Beam12 ft 6 in (3.81 m)
Draft3 ft 3 in (0.99 m) (mean) [2]
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed
  • 21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph)
  • 21.15 kn (24.34 mph; 39.17 km/h) (Speed on Trial) [2]
Complement16 officers and enlisted
Armament

The first USS Talbot (Torpedo Boat No. 15/TB-15/YFB-3) was a torpedo boat in the United States Navy.

Contents

Namesake

John G. Talbot John G. Talbot.jpg
John G. Talbot

John Gunnell Talbot was born on 16 August 1844 at Danville, Kentucky. He was appointed a midshipman in 1862 and graduated from the United States Naval Academy on 12 June 1866. Commissioned Ensign on 12 March 1868, he attained the rank of master on 26 March 1869 and Lieutenant on 21 March 1870. He was serving as executive officer of USS Saginaw when that steamer grounded on a reef off Ocean Island in the mid-Pacific on 29 October 1870 and broke up. Talbot and four men volunteered to go to Honolulu, the nearest port, 1,500 miles (2,400 km) away, for help.

The men began the voyage in an open boat on 18 November and reached Kauai, Hawaii, on 19 December. However, as the party attempted to get through the heavy surf to shore, their boat capsized. Talbot and three others drowned while attempting to swim through the rough breakers to shore. The lone survivor, William Halford, reported the wreck of Saginaw, and her crew was saved.

Construction and commissioning

Talbot was laid down on 8 April 1897 at Bristol, Rhode Island, by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co.; launched on 14 November 1897; and commissioned on 4 April 1898.

Talbot cruised down the coast, making calls in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina before arriving at Havana, Cuba, on 2 August. She reported to the flagship and received mail for the blockading squadron. At 2100 hours that evening, while en route to Key West for coal, she sighted the dark hull of a ship off the port bow. Talbot signalled and stopped her engines, but was still rammed by the tug USS Uncas. The bow of the tug penetrated one foot into the torpedo boat's coal bunker, bending in two frames and crushing the side plating to below the water line. The tug towed Talbot to Piedras Cay where temporary repairs were made the next day to enable the damaged ship to proceed to Key West.

Talbot reached Key West on the 5th and got underway 10 days later for New York. She arrived at the New York Navy Yard on 6 September and was ready for sea again in early October. The torpedo boat was then assigned to the US Naval Academy for duty supporting midshipmen training, mooring at Annapolis on 10 October. On 11 June 1899, Talbot moved to Norfolk to participate in a one-year evaluation of experimental fuel oils. At the completion of this test program, she resumed her duties at the Naval Academy.

Talbot was decommissioned on 20 February 1904 and attached to the Reserve Torpedo Flotilla at Norfolk. She was recommissioned on 31 August 1906 and assigned to special duty between Norfolk and Annapolis. From early 1908 to September 1911, she served at the Torpedo Station, Newport, R.I. On 22 September 1911, Talbot was reassigned to Indian Head, Maryland, for service as a tender. Before assuming the new duty, she proceeded to Norfolk for her annual inspection and was found to be unfit for further naval use.

Talbot was inactivated on 1 May 1912 but retained, "in service," as a ferryboat to be operated between the Washington Navy Yard and the naval facilities at Indian Head. When she arrived at Washington, she was manned by a civilian crew and made an average of three trips a week between the two points. Talbot was renamed Berceau on 11 April 1918 and reclassified a ferry boat. On 17 July 1920, she was designated YFB-3. She remained on ferry duty until 18 June 1940 when she was placed out of service and towed to Philadelphia.

Berceau was struck from the Navy list on 18 July 1944 and sold for scrap.

Related Research Articles

USS <i>Adder</i> Submarine of the United States

USS Adder, later renamed A-2, was one of seven Plunger-class submarines built for the United States Navy (USN) in the first decade of the 20th century.

USS <i>K-8</i> (SS-39) Submarine of the United States

USS K-8 (SS-39) was a K-class submarine of the United States Navy. Her keel was laid down by the Union Iron Works in San Francisco, California, under subcontract from Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 11 July 1914 sponsored by Mrs. John W. Lewis, wife of the first commanding officer, and commissioned on 1 December at Mare Island.

USS <i>Cushing</i> (TB-1) Torpedo boat of the United States Navy

USS Cushing was a torpedo boat in the United States Navy during the Spanish–American War. She was named for William B. Cushing.

USS <i>Stringham</i> (TB-19) Torpedo boat of the United States Navy

USS Stringham was a steel torpedo boat in the United States Navy. Stringham was named for Silas H. Stringham, who served in the United States Navy from the War of 1812 through the American Civil War.

USS <i>Amphitrite</i> (BM-2)

The second USS Amphitrite—the lead ship in her class of iron-hulled, twin-screw monitors—was laid down, on June 23, 1874 by order of President Ulysses S. Grant's Secretary of Navy George M. Robeson at Wilmington, Delaware, by the Harlan and Hollingsworth yard; launched on 7 June 1883; sponsored by Miss Nellie Benson, the daughter of a Harlan and Hollingsworth official; and commissioned at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, on 23 April 1895, Captain William C. Wise in command.

USS <i>Winslow</i> (TB-5) Torpedo boat of the United States Navy

USS Winslow was a United States Navy torpedo boat noted for its involvement at the First and Second Battle of Cardenas during the Spanish–American War. She was named for Rear Admiral John Ancrum Winslow.

USS <i>Ericsson</i> (TB-2) Torpedo boat of the United States Navy

The first USS Ericsson was the second torpedo boat built for the United States Navy. The first,Cushing, had been built seven years earlier.

USS <i>Du Pont</i> (TB-7) Torpedo boat of the United States Navy

The first USS Du Pont was launched 30 March 1897 by Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., Bristol, R.I.; sponsored by Miss L. Converse; and commissioned 23 September 1897, Lieutenant Spencer S. Wood in command.

USS <i>Gwin</i> (TB-16) Torpedo boat of the United States Navy

The first USS Gwin, was launched 15 November 1897 by the Herreshoff Manufacturing Co., Bristol, Rhode Island, and commissioned at Newport 4 April 1898, Lt, (j.g.) C. S. Williams in command.

USS <i>MacKenzie</i> (TB-17) Torpedo boat of the United States Navy

The first USS MacKenzie, was laid down by Charles Hillman Ship & Engine Building Company, Philadelphia, 15 April 1897; launched 19 February 1898; sponsored by Master Charles Hillman; and commissioned 1 May 1899.

The first USS McKee was laid down on 11 September 1897 by Columbian Iron Works, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, launched 5 March 1898; sponsored by Mrs. William H. Humrichouse; and commissioned 16 May 1898.

USS <i>Bailey</i> (TB-21) Torpedo boat of the United States Navy

The second USS Bailey was laid down on 30 April 1898 at Morris Heights, N.Y., by the Gas Engine & Power Co. & Charles L. Seabury Co.; launched on 5 December 1899; sponsored by Miss Florence Beekman Bailey; and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard on 10 June 1901, Lt. George W. Williams in command.

USS <i>Manley</i> (TB-23) Torpedo boat of the United States Navy

USS Manley more often spelled Manly, was built by Yarrow & Co., Ltd., Poplar, London, England; purchased from Charles R. Flint 13 April 1898 during the Spanish–American War; and delivered to the New York Navy Yard to be placed in service.

USS <i>Bagley</i> (TB-24) Torpedo boat of the United States Navy

USS Bagley was a torpedo boat in service with the US Navy between 1898 and 1919, named after Ensign Worth Bagley.

USS <i>Barney</i> (TB-25) Torpedo boat of the United States Navy

The first USS Barney was laid down on 3 January 1900 at Bath, Maine, by the Bath Iron Works; launched on 28 July 1900 and sponsored by Miss Esther Nicholson Barney, great-granddaughter of Commodore Joshua Barney; and placed in commission at the Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, Rhode Island, on 21 October 1901.

USS <i>Seneca</i> (AT-91) Tugboat of the United States Navy

USS Seneca (AT-91) was a Navajo-class fleet tug constructed for the United States Navy during World War II. Her purpose was to aid ships, usually by towing, on the high seas or in combat or post-combat areas, plus "other duties as assigned." She served in the Atlantic Ocean performing various tasks.

USS <i>Sandoval</i> (1895) Gunboat of the United States Navy

USS Sandoval (1895) was an Alvarado-class gunboat acquired by the United States Navy from the Spanish as a prize-of-war. Duties assigned her by the Navy included patrolling coastal and river waterways, and, later, acting as a "practice ship" for the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland and for the New York Naval Militia as well.

USS <i>Wando</i> (AT-17) Tugboat of the United States Navy

The second USS Wando, later YT-17, later YT-123, later YTB-123, was a United States Navy tug in commission from 1917 to 1946.

USS Nina was a United States Navy steamer commissioned in 1866. She served in a variety of roles — as a tug, torpedo boat, torpedo boat tender, salvage ship, supply ship, and submarine tender — before she sank in a storm in 1910.

USS <i>Acushnet</i> Tugboat of the United States Navy

Acushnet – a steel-hulled revenue cutter – was launched on 16 May 1908 at Newport News, Virginia, by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.; sponsored by Miss Alayce Duff; and commissioned at Baltimore on 6 November 1908. She saw service as a United States Revenue Cutter Service cutter, a U.S. Navy fleet tug, and as a U.S. Coast Guard cutter. She was taken out of service 8 January 1946.

References

  1. "USS Talbot (TB-15)". Navsource.org. Retrieved July 11, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 "Table 11 - Ships on Navy List June 30, 1919". Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office: 725. 1921.