ACR-8 USS Maryland / USS Frederick

Length: 503'11". Breadth: 69 foot 7 inches. Mean Draft: 24 feet 1 inch. Displacement: 13,680 tons. Machinery: 28,059 IHP; 2 Vertical, Inverted, Triple Expansion Engines, 2 screws. Speed: 22.41 knots. Coal Bunker Capacity: 1,825 tons. Batteries: Main Battery: four 8 inch breech-loading rifles 40 cal., fourteen 6-inch rapid fire guns 50 cal., Secondary Battery: eighteen 3-inch rapid fire guns 50 cal., twelve 3-pounder semi-automatic guns, two 1-pounder rapid fire guns, two 18-inch submerged torpedo tubes. Armor: Belt, 6 inches; turrets, 6 1/2 inches; barbettes, 6 inches; deck, 4 inches; Conning Tower, 9 inches. Complement: 41 officers, 850 men. Built by: Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Va. Launched: 12 September, 1903. Class: PENNSYLVANIA

This is a photo of the Maryland sometime after her 1910 rebuilt foremast. On the back it is identified as Seattle, Washington. This and the photo below were taken at the same event.

This photo of the Maryland and the one above was taken in Seattle, Washington. This photo shows her port side as many locals come aboard for a tour. It looks as if she is in a river or inlet in Seattle as many factories can be seen in the background. Note the folks on the shore in the foreground. I believe the photo above this one was taken at the same time as this one but from the opposite side of the bank.

There were 6 ships in the Pennsylvania class and the Maryland (later renamed Frederick) was the second fastest ship in the class. Her 4-hour full power trial showed 28,059 I.H.P. at 22.41 Kts. The Pittsburgh, ex Pennsylvania was the fastest ship at 28,600 I.H.P. at 22.44 Kts. It was noted that the Maryland's main battery of 8-inch guns could be fired at a rate of 1 round per 50 seconds. According to a newspaper clipping dated 28 January 1905 the speed trial of the Maryland took place on the 27th January 1905 on an 88-knot course from Thatcher’s Island, off Gloucester, Maine to Cape Porpoise, Maine and then back again. With Captain Ingersoll at the helm the Maryland answered his commands very quickly and was speedy and economic at the same time.

The second Maryland (ACR-8) was laid down by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Va., 7 October 1901 and she was launched on 12 September 1903. Maryland was sponsored by Miss Jennie Scott Waters and was commissioned on 18 April 1905, with Captain Royal R. Ingersoll in command. Captain Ingersoll was a native of Indiana and later became an Admiral and the cruiser USS Ingersoll was named in his honor. In October 1905, following her shakedown, Maryland joined the Atlantic Fleet for operations along the east coast and in the Caribbean, where she took part in the 1906 winter maneuvers off Cuba.

In 1906 the Navy made its first efforts to make use of naval radio on its ships of the line. In the early months of 1906 Rear Adm. Robley D. Evans, Commander of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet saw an opportunity to experiment with the new radios. The Dewey Dry-dock had just sailed under tow across the Atlantic for the Philippines and he formed a scouting line composed of the USS Illinois, USS Pennsylvania, USS West Virginia, USS Colorado and the USS Maryland. The distance the ships in the scouting line kept from each other was dependent on the ability of each ship to keep in radio contact with the next ship in the line. The idea was to keep in radio contact with the towing party of the Dewey Dry-dock as she was towed across the Atlantic. It was on the 19th of January that the Maryland was 500 miles east of Cape Hatteras, NC and 600 miles north of San Juan, PR, and 640 miles west of the USS Glacier, the flagship of the towing group, when the Maryland received a message from the Glacier for relay to Washington, DC. The Maryland relayed this the USS Illinois, which relayed it to the USS Missouri and she sent it to RADM Evans’ flagship the USS Maine. The Maine then tried the relay to a shore station but was not able to make contact. One week later another attempt was tried as the scouting line had moved another 300 miles farther south. The Glacier again sent a message to the Maryland, which she was able to relay to the Missouri. But the Missouri had to relay the message visually to the Maine. On this attempt the Maine did make radio contact with the shore station. These were the only two communications that were relayed from the Glacier through the Maryland. The Maryland herself was able to keep fairly good radio communications with the Glacier for several days.

During that first trial the Maryland had the best radio communications as she had the most powerful radio set. The West Virginia had the next most powerful radio. The Maryland and the West Virginia could transmit radio messages from 550 to 600 miles distance from each other. On the other end of the scale the range that the Colorado and the Pennsylvania could communicate was only about 150 miles distance. RADM Evans again set up another radio experiment in February 1906 in which two scouting groups would try to keep the other scouting force from communicating with the use of radio interference. These two scouting forces were the Blue Force made up of the USS Alabama, Illinois, Maine, Missouri, Kearsage, and Iowa. The opposing Red Force was made up of the USS Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and the Colorado. It was judged that the Blue force was unable to keep the Red Force from communicating the speed and direction of the Blue Force between the Red Force ships. The radio equipment of the time was just not built to withstand the high power that was required to operate a successful radio signal. Transmitting at full power caused excessive heat and this caused the radio sets to break down. They were repaired with anything that could be found on the ship such as tinfoil taken from tobacco packages and other pieces of zinc that could be found. The Navy learned from these two exercises that much improvement in Naval Radio had to be made before it would be reliable enough to withstand the stress of combat at sea between ships. For several years afterwards there was no real improvement in Naval radio transmission at sea.

During the summer of 1907, she conducted a training cruise for Massachusetts Naval Militiamen, and then readied for transfer to the Pacific. Departing Newport News, Virginia on 8 September 1906 she sailed, via San Francisco and Hawaii, for the Asiatic station where she remained until October 1907. In February 1907 Captain Ingersoll term of service as commander of the Maryland was up and Captain C. Thomas took command. During 1907 Maryland along with the cruisers USS Colorado, USS West Virginia and USS Pennsylvania formed the First Division of the First Squadron, Asiatic Fleet, Commanded by Rear Admiral Willard H. Brownson. The USS West Virginia was the Flagship of the Asiatic Fleet. On 2 September 1907 all 4 cruisers of the First Division were at anchor in Honolulu, Hawaii.

She then returned to San Francisco and for the next decade where she cruised throughout the Pacific. In early March 1908 the Armored Cruiser Squadron and the Third Division of the Pacific Fleet held their target practice in preparation for the Annual “Battleship Trophy” for the best marksmanship of main guns on active cruisers or battleships in the combined American Fleet, which would be held in May. The Pacific fleet held their practice in Magdalena Bay and the Atlantic Fleet held its practice in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In May during the combined competition at the firing range off Magdalena Bay, Mexico, the Maryland’s forward 8-inch main gun had the best sore of the entire fleet where she bested the larger guns on the fleet battleships. The 1908 “Battleship Trophy” was awarded to the Maryland and during the competition it was proved that the guns of the cruisers were more accurate than the guns of the battleships and that the average marksmanship of the Pacific Fleet was better than the Atlantic Fleet.

During the spring of 1908, in San Francisco there was a smallpox plague and the Admiral gave orders that no navy personnel was to go ashore until properly vaccinated. One sailor onboard the Maryland, Albert Henderson wrote his mother from the Maryland which was anchored in Vallejo, CA on 1 April 1908 stating that they are under orders not to leave the ship due to the smallpox plague. During July the Battleship Nebraska was in quarantine in the harbor in San Francisco on account of some cases of smallpox among her enlisted men. On the 18th of April 1908 she went to the Bremerton, Washington Navy Yard to go into dry-dock there for routine repairs and she was still in the dry-dock on the 28th of April. She left Bremerton on 1 May, returning to San Francisco for a review of a fleet of 42 warships at anchor in San Francisco Bay, by Navy Secretary Metcalf on 8 May 1908.

In the later months of 1908 Maryland cruised the Pacific and made stops in Samoa as noted on a post card from a crewman to his cousin Miss Ruth Joyce of Centralia, Washington, who stated that he was well and in his words “not much news.” He stated on the card that the photo on the front was of the native Samoan village of Pago Pago. The card stated the Maryland was in San Francisco, CA on January 15th 1909. The Maryland was serving in the Pacific Fleet with at least the West Virginia, which was Commander-in-Chief, US Pacific Fleet, RADM W. T. Swinburn’s flagship. This is known from a disciplinary letter written to the Captain of the Maryland from RADM Swinburn dated 8 February 1909 from Callao, Peru in regards to a general court-martial of GM2c Perry E. Ammon of the Maryland. GM2c Ammon was found guilty of “Leaving station before being regularly relieved.”

In the early months of 1909 the Maryland along with her sister ships, Colorado, Pennsylvania and West Virginia formed the Second Division and they were in the Galapagos Islands taking surveys and soundings of the islands for future coaling stations. This is known from a 14 February 1909 personal logbook from a Maryland crewman, Seaman Fred Sanford Rice in which he states; “We are to take surveys, some say the Government is looking for a good site for a coaling station.” The ships visited Charles (Isla Floreana) and Albemarle (Isla Isabela) islands but only the Maryland visited Indefatigable (Isla Santa Cruz) Island.

The new year of 1910 brought new changes to the Maryland as she underwent a refit and her original foremast was removed and replaced with a cage style mast, as did the other ships in her class. These new “cage style” masts were installed because they were designed to take several hits from an enemy and stay intact. Also the additional height was used for better artillery observation of her main battery as targets had to be seen in order to aim for them in those days. On the down side these new masts were flexible enough to take several hits from an enemy shell they were also flexible enough to give the observers in the tower a “sporting ride” in rough weather and when the main battery was fired. Maryland was in the Navy Yard at Mare Island, California on the second day of May 1910 as the Federal Census was taken that day on board the ship. On the 13th of February 1910 Maryland was at sea heading for San Francisco and made port on Valentines Day. According to a Post Card dated 11 October 1910, Maryland was at the Navy Yard in San Francisco, CA. In the 4 December 1910 edition of the Washington Post, under the Movements of Naval Vessels section the USS West Virginia, Maryland, South Dakota, California, Colorado and the Pennsylvania all arrived in port at San Diego, California.

During December of 1910 at a target range off San Diego the Maryland’s gun crew scores 14 hits on the target at a range of 5 1/2 miles. This was an example of the Maryland’s marksmanship as during 1908 she won the combined fleet Battleship Trophy and in 1909 and 1910 she flew the Spokane Trophy Pennant as her gun crews had the best marksmanship of any cruiser or battleship in the Navy. Maryland was the second ship to win the Spokane Trophy and the USS Tennessee was the first ship to win the Spokane Trophy in 1908. The Spokane Chamber of Commerce in 1907 sent a letter to Victor Metcalf, then Secretary of the Navy in which the Spokane Chamber wanted to donate an annual award for Atlantic Fleet turret marksmanship. President Theodore Roosevelt and Secretary Metcalf decided that it should be awarded annually to the battleship or armored cruiser of either fleet that made the highest final merit with all of her turret guns. Trophy costs of $1,500 was paid for and donated by citizens of Spokane, Washington to be awarded to the best battleship or cruiser in the U. S. Navy Fleet. The Spokane Trophy has undergone several changes from 1908 and is still active today being awarded by CINCPACFLT to the surface combatant ship considered to be the most proficient in overall combat systems readiness and warfare operations.

During the winter of 1910-1911, the Maryland stood witness to a historic event in naval history and naval aviation history. In San Francisco Bay, young Seaman Joseph Seuffert stood on the deck of his ship, the Maryland and witnessed a plane landed on a platform constructed on the afterdeck of her sister ship the USS Pennsylvania. At the Mare Island Navy Yard, California in January 1911 the Pennsylvania was fitted with a temporary wooden deck in preparation for Eugene Ely's airplane landing attempt. Upon completion of her flight deck Pennsylvania cruised to San Francisco Bay, California, where she anchored for Eugene Ely's historic flight. Ely landed his Curtiss pusher biplane on board the ship on the morning of 18 January 1911, the first airplane landing on a warship. The landing deck, 120 feet long and 30 feet wide, was inclined slightly to help slow the plane as it landed, and had a thirty-degree ramp at its after end.

Maryland’s Bridge cleared for Action. She is underway steaming in the Target Range during a Pacific Practice during 1912.

At the beginning of 1912 the Maryland was enjoying days of warmth and calm with the Pacific Fleet then in Hawaiian waters stationed at Honolulu. But the calm did not last long as on January 15, 1912 the Navy Department gave rush orders to the Maryland that she was to sail with all haste to Guayaquill, Ecuador to protect American interests and lives there. The gunboat USS Yorktown was already on station in Guayaquill and the Maryland was to join her there. The Maryland was also used by Secretary Frank Knox to take him to West Coast Central American Ports on diplomatic missions. In the later days of March 1912 the Maryland was due in port at San Diego, California to take part in the largest practice of the Pacific Torpedo Fleet held to that date, which was to take place about the 8th of April.

On Tuesday April 23, 1912 the Maryland took part in an exercise that was in hindsight somewhat risky and ill advised. She was used as a live target for the submarine Grampus off San Pedro. The Grampus fired a torpedo at the Maryland and the resulting impact left a nine-inch hole in the side of the Maryland. The torpedo tore through her outer plates and she quickly anchored in the outer harbor in San Pedro to make temporary repairs to her hull. Officers who were interviewed kept a tight lid on what had happened saying that they would or could not comment on the actions that took place and the damage to the Maryland. But enlisted men who were allowed to come ashore during the repairs did tell that it was risky to the men as well as endangering the ship using her as a live target. On April 26 the Grampus along with the submarine Pike left with the naval tug Fortune for San Diego where a Naval Court of Inquiry would be held into the actions of the 23 of April.

Maryland participates in survey missions to Alaska in 1912 and 1913. On August 9, 1912 Maryland returned to Seward, Alaska from Cordova during the night. She was waiting on a party of officers and men she had left there before going to Cordova. The shore party was to inspect the Coal Fields at Matanuska and then to meet the ship upon her return. During her 1913 Alaska trip the ships company marched in a July 4th Parade in Seward, Alaska.

USS Maryland at anchor in the bay at Sitka, Alaska during one of her survey missions in 1912 or 1913.

USS Frederick during her Olympic cruise Another early photo of the USS Maryland in the Dewey Drydock. You can see that the floor of the drydock is partially awash. Indicating that she was rising or lowering the Maryland. On the right side of the photo can be seen two smoke stacks billowing coal smoke, again showing the drydock pumping water to rise or lower the Maryland. This photo shows the Maryland with her original fore mast indicating this photo is before 1910.

Frederick crossed the Atlantic again, carrying the U.S. Olympic Team to Antwerp, Belgium, as she conducted a naval reservist-training cruise in July of 1920. At 10:20 on the evening of September 9, 1920 the Pittsburgh ran aground on some rocks 3 miles off the port of Libau near the breakwater. This is the present day city of Liepaja, Latvia and Libau was the name used during the German occupations of WWI. In a dispatch from Admiral Huse the Pittsburgh was in “no immediate danger” but several sections of her double bottom were flooded. As soon as the Navy Department was advised they sent a dispatch to the USS Frederick, which was then stationed in Antwerp, Belgium. She was carrying the United States Olympic rowing, swimming and running teams to the Olympic games being held in Antwerp. The Frederick was to disembark her passengers and precede at best possible speed to render assistance to the Pittsburgh. Frederick got underway at noon on the 10th of September heading down the Scheldt River. At 7:30 on the 14th of September the Frederick was just outside the breakwater off Libau where she found the Pittsburgh afloat with the HMS Dauntless standing by her. On the 18th the Pittsburgh off loaded her ammunition to the Frederick. That evening at 8:00 PM a smoker was held on the deck of the Frederick in which Vice Admiral Huse and his staff were the guests. Two three-round boxing bouts were held and the final bout was a six-round bout of Browne vs. Crosby, both of the Frederick’s engineer force. Crosby was the winner. Movies were then shown on the quarterdeck. On the morning of the 19th of September at 7:30 the Pittsburgh got underway steaming at 8 knots with the Frederick following astern acting as her escort. Both ships steamed to Sheerness, England where the Pittsburgh went into dry-dock for repairs. She reached Sheerness at 10 in the morning on the 23 of September 1920. At the end of that year she returned to the Pacific Fleet. Serving as flagship of the Train, Pacific Fleet, for the next year, she conducted only one lengthy cruise, to South America in March 1921. Operations off the west coast took up the remainder of her active duty career and on 14 February 1922 she decommissioned and entered the Reserve Fleet at Mare Island. She was struck from the Naval Register 13 November 1929 and sold 11 February 1930.

When the USS Frederick was scrapped her great bronze bell that hung outside the bridge was removed and saved. This bell was cast in 1903 and inscribed with her former name of USS Maryland. This bell was stored by the Navy and set awaiting a new life. On 28 July 1942 a new ship was launched, which carried the name USS Baltimore (CA-68). The Baltimore was a new heavy cruiser being launched from the Bethlehem Steel Shipyard on the Fore River in Massachusetts. As the Baltimore slid down the ways she carried mounded on her bridge the ships bell from the USS Maryland. As the Baltimore was completed and commissioned on 15 April 1943 she carried the bell of the Maryland into battle first in the invasion of Makin Island in November of 1943 and then 11 more separate actions in the Pacific during 1944. The USS Baltimore was awarded nine battle stars during World War II and had the honor of transporting President Franklin Roosevelt to Hawaii and Alaska during July and August of 1944. Following the end of the career of the Baltimore she was decommissioned in 1956 after a long and distinguished service. Again as the Baltimore was being scraped the great bronze bell of the USS Maryland was again saved and in 1984 is found a new home. U. S. Senator Charles Mac Mathias of Maryland and Baltimore Mayor William Donald Schaeffer obtained the bell and placed it in the University of Baltimore. It has now been moved again and now resides in the northeast corner of the main floor in the Langsdale Library on the University of Baltimore campus and can be seen through the glass from both Maryland Avenue and Oliver Street.

The bell of the USS Maryland 1905. This bell served both the USS Maryland/Frederick and the USS Baltimore and has traveled to many distant oceans. Every man who has served on the Maryland/Frederick and the Baltimore knew the sound of this bell. The bell now sets silent but the stories that have taken place where the sound of this bell has rang should never be silenced. Robert Shindle, Project Archivist at the Langsdale Library, University of Baltimore took this photo of the bell.

The Maryland’s bell was not the only thing that was saved from the Frederick when she was broken up. Charley Carter of Alameda, California for over 31 years worked on building the ship of his dreams. She was a 72-foot wooden hull schooner named Talofa. Carter lived the seafarer's life in the Navy during World War I, and under sail for years before that as a youngster, and as a tug-boatman. Charley and his brother Chester Carter modeled the Talofa after a Gloucester fisherman's type of sailing craft, and the Talofa, a two-master, was begun by the Carter brothers in January of 1928.

On July 29, 1959 the unmasted hull lay moored to Jesse (Tiny) Hembree's yacht harbor at 1721 The Embarcardero in San Francisco, California. Charley Carter had run out of money and his dream ship the Talofa was being sold as a Sheriff’s Sale. Deputy Sheriff George Mahi read without emotion from official documents and called for bids. Jesse Hembree gave the one and only bid of $3,278.48 for the unfinished hull, the hull that had been Charley Carters home for the last 31 years. When his bid was accepted, Hembree placed a big palm on Carter's bowed shoulder and said, “Well, you can stay home now and not worry.”

“If some stranger had got her,” Carter mused, rubbing a hand over the teak railing he had fashioned, “I'd have had to get off. Now I can really relax.” He pointed to the, succession of turned stanchions that girdle the commodious cockpit. “A lot of hard work in those, made from timbers we got when they broke up the old USS Frederick, not far from here. The companionway teakwood's from her, too.” “Yes, she's Estuary-supplied, Estuary-born, never left the Estuary in all these years.” Carter shook his head.

It was to be fulfillment of a childhood dream for the brothers who had spent most of their lives at sea. Since their earliest days before the mast, they had planned and talked of the day when, at the helm of their own vessel, they would cruise the Pacific. They would catch sharks and go trading across the broad seas. Their plans, aired during the depression days, attracted a number of willing helpers. The helpers gave time and money to the Talofa effort, but she grew too slowly for youthful horizons, and for limited funds. She never sailed—except on hopes. But for Charley Carter, the hopes and her hull was his home.

Even though the re-cycled timbers from the Frederick never sailed on the seas again in the Talofa, they did give rise to many dreams of sailing the high seas to those who gazed upon her stately form.

The USS Maryland's Battle Song

Written while under the command of her plank holder Captain R. R. Ingersoll.  It was written by Helen R. Raymond, and dedicated to the ship, probably on the occasion of her commissioning in 1905.

Photo of the USS Maryland in January 1915, coaling at Bremerton, Washington.	The Maryland's Mascot

The USS Maryland in Dry-Dock 1, at the Charlestown Navy Yard. The Charlestown Navy Yard is located on the Charles River in Boston Mass. Both of these are colored post cards and I believe that this was in 1906 just before she was released from the Atlantic Fleet and transferred to the Pacific Fleet. Established in 1800, Charlestown Navy Yard served the fleet with distinction, especially proving its worth in each of the nations wars, until its closing in 1974. Dry Dock 1, was one of the first two dry docks constructed in the nation.