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USS Machias (PG-5)
Encyclopedia
The first USS Machias (PG-5), a schooner-rigged gunboat, was laid down in February 1891 by Bath Iron Works
, Bath, Maine. She was launched on 8 December 1891. She was sponsored by Miss Ethel Hyde, daughter of President Hyde of Bath Iron Works and commissioned at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine
, 20 July 1893, Comdr. C. J. Train in command.
, Gibraltar
, Malta
, Suez
, Aden
, Ceylon, and Singapore
, arriving Hong Kong
6 March 1895. For the next 2 years, the gunboat remained in the Far East, protecting American Interests in Korea
and Japan
during the Sino-Japanese War
, making intermittent visits to treaty ports up the Yangtze River
, and, in general, showing the flag from Port Arthur
to Saigon, until departing Hong Kong 16 December 1897 to return home the way she came, arriving Boston on 18 March.
Sailing for Key West
, Fla., on 7 April, the ship Joined the North Atlantic Fleet blockading Cuba and participated in the engagement of Cardenas on 11 May, leading gunboats Wilmington, Hudson, and torpedo boat Winslow
against three Spanish gunboats in the bay. Continuing on blockade duty through September, in addition serving as a transport for Army troops and supplies, Machias sailed north to Boston and then Portsmouth for repairs until 15 January 1899. The gunboat then returned to the Caribbean, operating off Cuba, in the West Indies and along the coast of Central America, showing the flag and protecting American interests until sailing for Washington, D.C., to join in the celebration in honor of Adm. George Dewey 24 September. She returned to the Caribbean in January 1900, resuming her patrols and, in addition, carrying the U.S. Minister to Venezuela on a diplomatic mission until ordered home 8 July, arriving Boston on the 17th. and decommissioning there 14 August.
Machias was recommissioned on 24 July 1901 and sailed 15 days later to return to the Caribbean on patrol operations off Panama and Colombia during the Panamanian Revolution, protecting American lives and property off Panama through the end of the year; and then, following repairs at Boston, landing troops at Boca del Toro, Colombia, 17 to 19 April 1902. Attached to the Caribbean Patrol Squadron 4 October, the gunboat remained In Latin American waters until 8 January 1903 when she was assigned to the European Squadron and sailed on the 12th from San Juan, P.R., for the Mediterranean. Steaming via Bermuda, the Azores, and Gibraltar, she arrived off the Riviera in late March and remained there on patrol until sailing in mid-May for a trip to northern Europe, visiting Southampton, England, and transiting the Kiel Canal, returning to the Mediterranean 30 June. From 21 November to 18 January 1904 the ship made a good will visit to Djibouti, Abyssinia, and then, 1 March, was detached from the European Squadron and sailed for home, arriving Pensacola on the 26th. She decommissioned there 14 May and remained there until assigned to the Connecticut Naval Militia 19 November 1907.
Machias departed Pensacola on 17 January 1908 for New York
and following refit was turned over to the Connecticut Naval Militia on 27 June. Based at New Haven, the gunboat continued on this duty, making a cruise once a year off New England until withdrawn on 25 April 1914 and taken to New York where she once again was placed in full commission on the 27th. Assigned to the Special Service Squadron, the warship sailed 17 May for the Caribbean, patrolling off the Dominican Republic and Haiti through the end of 1914 when she was placed in reserve at New York 1 February 1915.
Reactivated on 1 April, the gunboat sailed for Mexico
, arriving at Veracruz
on 14 June to join the fleet protecting American lives and property during a revolution. She then returned to Mobile and New Orleans for repairs from October 1915 to February 1916. Repaired, she returned to Mexico and evacuated a number of Americans from Tuxpan, where there were disturbances, and took the evacuees to Tampico.
The ship continued her operations in the Caribbean, basing out of New Orleans and patrolling off Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and the Danish West Indies. The patrols of the Danish West Indies was to protect American neutrality prior to U.S. entry into World War I
in April 1917.
Machias departed New Orleans 22 July for Gibraltar, steaming via Key West, Bermuda, and the Azores, arriving Gibraltar 22 August. Assigned to the patrol force in European waters, she operated out of Gibraltar on antisubmarine patrol through July 1918, and was then ordered home, departing for New London 20 August and then sailing to Charleston where she refitted. The veteran gunboat departed Charleston in April 1919 for the Pacific, transiting the Panama Canal and operating along the west coast of Central America until 27 August when she arrived Mare Island Navy Yard for inactivation.
Bath Iron Works
Bath Iron Works is a major American shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, United States. Since its founding in 1884 , BIW has built private, commercial and military vessels, most of which have been ordered by the United States Navy...
, Bath, Maine. She was launched on 8 December 1891. She was sponsored by Miss Ethel Hyde, daughter of President Hyde of Bath Iron Works and commissioned at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine
Kittery, Maine
Kittery is a town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 9,543 at the 2000 census. Home to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Seavey's Island, Kittery includes Badger's Island, the seaside district of Kittery Point, and part of the Isles of Shoals...
, 20 July 1893, Comdr. C. J. Train in command.
Service
Following shakedown along the east coast and service on the North Atlantic station, Machias departed Portsmouth in November 1894 for the Asiatic station, sailing via the AzoresAzores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
, Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
, Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, Suez
Suez
Suez is a seaport city in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez , near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boundaries as Suez governorate. It has three harbors, Adabya, Ain Sokhna and Port Tawfiq, and extensive port facilities...
, Aden
Aden
Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...
, Ceylon, and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, arriving Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
6 March 1895. For the next 2 years, the gunboat remained in the Far East, protecting American Interests in Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
during the Sino-Japanese War
First Sino-Japanese War
The First Sino-Japanese War was fought between Qing Dynasty China and Meiji Japan, primarily over control of Korea...
, making intermittent visits to treaty ports up the Yangtze River
Yangtze River
The Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...
, and, in general, showing the flag from Port Arthur
Lüshunkou
Lüshunkou is a district in the municipality of Dalian, Liaoning province, China. Also called Lüshun City or Lüshun Port, it was formerly known as both Port Arthur and Ryojun....
to Saigon, until departing Hong Kong 16 December 1897 to return home the way she came, arriving Boston on 18 March.
Sailing for Key West
Key West
Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida on the North American continent at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys. Key West is home to the southernmost point in the Continental United States; the island is about from Cuba....
, Fla., on 7 April, the ship Joined the North Atlantic Fleet blockading Cuba and participated in the engagement of Cardenas on 11 May, leading gunboats Wilmington, Hudson, and torpedo boat Winslow
USS Winslow (TB-5)
-External links:*...
against three Spanish gunboats in the bay. Continuing on blockade duty through September, in addition serving as a transport for Army troops and supplies, Machias sailed north to Boston and then Portsmouth for repairs until 15 January 1899. The gunboat then returned to the Caribbean, operating off Cuba, in the West Indies and along the coast of Central America, showing the flag and protecting American interests until sailing for Washington, D.C., to join in the celebration in honor of Adm. George Dewey 24 September. She returned to the Caribbean in January 1900, resuming her patrols and, in addition, carrying the U.S. Minister to Venezuela on a diplomatic mission until ordered home 8 July, arriving Boston on the 17th. and decommissioning there 14 August.
Machias was recommissioned on 24 July 1901 and sailed 15 days later to return to the Caribbean on patrol operations off Panama and Colombia during the Panamanian Revolution, protecting American lives and property off Panama through the end of the year; and then, following repairs at Boston, landing troops at Boca del Toro, Colombia, 17 to 19 April 1902. Attached to the Caribbean Patrol Squadron 4 October, the gunboat remained In Latin American waters until 8 January 1903 when she was assigned to the European Squadron and sailed on the 12th from San Juan, P.R., for the Mediterranean. Steaming via Bermuda, the Azores, and Gibraltar, she arrived off the Riviera in late March and remained there on patrol until sailing in mid-May for a trip to northern Europe, visiting Southampton, England, and transiting the Kiel Canal, returning to the Mediterranean 30 June. From 21 November to 18 January 1904 the ship made a good will visit to Djibouti, Abyssinia, and then, 1 March, was detached from the European Squadron and sailed for home, arriving Pensacola on the 26th. She decommissioned there 14 May and remained there until assigned to the Connecticut Naval Militia 19 November 1907.
Machias departed Pensacola on 17 January 1908 for New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and following refit was turned over to the Connecticut Naval Militia on 27 June. Based at New Haven, the gunboat continued on this duty, making a cruise once a year off New England until withdrawn on 25 April 1914 and taken to New York where she once again was placed in full commission on the 27th. Assigned to the Special Service Squadron, the warship sailed 17 May for the Caribbean, patrolling off the Dominican Republic and Haiti through the end of 1914 when she was placed in reserve at New York 1 February 1915.
Reactivated on 1 April, the gunboat sailed for Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, arriving at Veracruz
Veracruz, Veracruz
Veracruz, officially known as Heroica Veracruz, is a major port city and municipality on the Gulf of Mexico in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The city is located in the central part of the state. It is located along Federal Highway 140 from the state capital Xalapa, and is the state's most...
on 14 June to join the fleet protecting American lives and property during a revolution. She then returned to Mobile and New Orleans for repairs from October 1915 to February 1916. Repaired, she returned to Mexico and evacuated a number of Americans from Tuxpan, where there were disturbances, and took the evacuees to Tampico.
The ship continued her operations in the Caribbean, basing out of New Orleans and patrolling off Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and the Danish West Indies. The patrols of the Danish West Indies was to protect American neutrality prior to U.S. entry into World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in April 1917.
Machias departed New Orleans 22 July for Gibraltar, steaming via Key West, Bermuda, and the Azores, arriving Gibraltar 22 August. Assigned to the patrol force in European waters, she operated out of Gibraltar on antisubmarine patrol through July 1918, and was then ordered home, departing for New London 20 August and then sailing to Charleston where she refitted. The veteran gunboat departed Charleston in April 1919 for the Pacific, transiting the Panama Canal and operating along the west coast of Central America until 27 August when she arrived Mare Island Navy Yard for inactivation.