The fourth USS Baltimore (C-3) was a United States Navy cruiser, the fifth protected cruiser to be built by an American yard. Like the previous one, Charleston, the design was commissioned from the British company of W. Armstrong, Mitchell, and Company of Newcastle. Baltimore was an all-around improvement on Charleston, somewhat larger with more guns, thicker armor, and better machinery.
A Minelayer is any warship, submarine or military aircraft deploying explosive mines. Since World War I the term "minelayer" refers specifically to a naval ship used for deploying naval mines. "Mine planting" was the term for installing controlled mines at predetermined positions in connection with coastal fortifications or harbor approaches that would be detonated by shore control when a ship was fixed as being within the mine's effective range.
USS Oglala (ID-1255/CM-4/ARG-1) was a minelayer in the United States Navy. Commissioned as Massachusetts, she was renamed Shawmut a month later, and in 1928, was renamed after the Oglala, a sub-tribe of the Lakota, residing in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
The second SS Kaiser Wilhelm II, named for the German Emperor, was a 19,361-gross register ton passenger ship built at Stettin, Germany. The ship was completed in the spring of 1903. At the time of her launch she was larger by 1,900 tons than any other German ship and was surpassed in the weight of her hull and machinery only by the British liners RMS Cedric and RMS Celtic. The ship was seized by the U.S. Government during World War I, and subsequently served as a transport ship under the name USS Agamemnon. A famous photograph taken by Alfred Stieglitz called The Steerage, as well as descriptions of the conditions of travel in the lowest class, have conflicted with her otherwise glitzy reputation as a high class, high speed trans-Atlantic liner.
The first USS San Francisco (C-5) was a steel protected cruiser in the United States Navy. She was later named Tahoe and then Yosemite, becoming the third US Navy ship to bear the name Yosemite. She generally resembled her predecessor Newark, with a main armament of twelve 6-inch guns.
USS Terror (CM-5) was a fleet minelayer of the United States Navy, the only minelayer of the fleet built specifically for and retained for minelaying during World War II.
The North Sea Mine Barrage, also known as the Northern Barrage, was a large minefield laid easterly from the Orkney Islands to Norway by the United States Navy during World War I. The objective was to inhibit the movement of U-boats from bases in Germany to the Atlantic shipping lanes bringing supplies to the British Isles. Rear Admiral Lewis Clinton-Baker, commanding the Royal Navy minelaying force at the time, described the barrage as the "biggest mine planting stunt in the world's history." Larger fields with greater numbers of mines were laid during World War II.
USS Aroostook (ID-1256/CM-3/AK-44) was the Eastern Steamship Company's Bunker Hill converted for planting the World War I North Sea Mine Barrage. Bunker Hill was built in 1907 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for passenger service between Boston and New York City. Bunker Hill was one of three sister ships, the others being Massachusetts and Old Colony, delivered as passenger/cargo ships by William Cramp & Sons in 1907. They were among the eight ships acquired by the U.S. Navy in November 1917. Bunker Hill and Massachusetts were converted to minelayers at the Boston Navy Yard. Old Colony was used as a district scout until sent across the Atlantic and turned over to the British in 1919.
The Northern Barrage was the name given to minefields laid by the British during World War II to restrict German access to the Atlantic Ocean. The barrage stretched from the Orkney to the Faroe Islands and on toward Iceland. Mines were also laid in the Denmark Strait, north of Iceland.
USS Mizar (AF-12) was the United Fruit Company fruit, mail and passenger liner Quirigua that served as a United States Navy Mizar-class stores ship in World War II.
USS Merak (AF-21), the second Navy ship of the name, was the United Fruit Company cargo and passenger liner Veragua that served as a United States Navy Mizar-class stores ship in World War II.
The second USS Canonicus was the Southern Pacific freighter El Cid temporarily converted for planting the World War I North Sea Mine Barrage. Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company launched El Cid at Newport News, Virginia on 7 October 1899 for service between New York City and Gulf of Mexico seaports of New Orleans and Galveston, Texas. The United States Shipping Board took control of the ship from Southern Pacific Steamship Company in 1917.
El Capitan, United States Official Number 285587, was built in 1917 by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company at Newport News, Virginia for the Southern Pacific Company's Atlantic Steamship Lines. In 1915 the line operated from the North River piers 49–52 at the foot of 11th Street in New York to New Orleans under the flag and name of Morgan Line, which combined with the Southern Pacific's rail service from the Pacific Coast was known as the Sunset Gulf Route. During World War I the ship was purchased from the builder before delivery to the owner by the United States Shipping Board (USSB) which later turned the ship over to the United States Navy which placed her in commission as USS El Capitan (ID-1407) from 1918 to 1919. El Capitan was returned to commercial service by the Southern Pacific Company until just before the United States entry into World War II when the United States War Shipping Administration (WSA) acquired the ship, changed her registry to Panama and placed her in operation under its agent, United States Lines. El Capitan was in the Arctic convoy PQ 17 to the Soviet Union when she came under air attack on 9 July 1942, was damaged and abandoned to be sunk by torpedo just after midnight on 10 July.
The second USS Kiowa (ID-1842) was a cargo ship that served in the United States Navy from 1918 to 1919.
United States Navy operations during World War I began on April 6, 1917, after the formal declaration of war on the German Empire. The American navy focused on countering enemy U-boats in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, while convoying men and supplies to France and Italy. Because of United States' late entry into the war, her capital ships never engaged the German fleet, and few decisive submarine actions occurred.
The second USS Housatonic was the Southern Pacific Steamship Company freighter El Rio. The ship was one of four company ships temporarily converted for planting the World War I North Sea Mine Barrage.
The second USS Canandaigua was the Southern Pacific freighter El Siglo temporarily converted for planting the World War I North Sea Mine Barrage. Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company launched El Siglo at Newport News, Virginia in May 1901 for service between New York City and Gulf of Mexico seaports of New Orleans and Galveston, Texas. The United States Shipping Board took control of the ship from Southern Pacific Steamship Company in 1917.
The third USS Quinnebaug was originally the Old Dominion Steamship Company Jefferson built by the Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works, Chester, Pennsylvania. She was launched on 14 October 1898 and completed during June, 1899. The ship was acquired for World War I naval service and, as USS Quinnebaug, participated in planting the North Sea Mine Barrage. In March 1919 the ship returned to service as Jefferson with the Old Dominion Line.
The third USS Saranac was the Old Dominion Steamship Company Hamilton temporarily converted for planting the World War I North Sea Mine Barrage. John Roach & Sons launched Hamilton at Chester, Pennsylvania in 1899. Hamilton steamed between Norfolk, Virginia and New York City until The United States Shipping Board took control of the ship from Old Dominion Steamship Company in 1917. She was fitted out for United States Navy service by James Shewan & Sons at Brooklyn, New York. The minelaying conversion enabled her to carry mines on two decks, and included four Otis elevators individually capable of transferring two mines every 20 seconds from the storage deck to the launching deck. USS Saranac was commissioned on 9 April 1918. While operating as part of Mine Squadron 1 out of Inverness, Scotland, from 14 July until the close of the war on 11 November 1918, Saranac laid a total of 4,782 mines:
SS Antigua was a United Fruit Company passenger and refrigerated cargo liner completed as one of six nearly identical vessels, three built by Newport News Shipbuilding and three by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, for operation by the company's subsidiary the United Mail Steamship Company. The ship was the first of the ships built by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Quincy, Massachusetts.
United States