ACR-4 USS Pennsylvania / USS Pittsburgh

USS Pennsylvania anchored at Oyster Bay, New York, during the Presidential Naval Review held on 4 September 1906. President Teddy Roosevelt reviewed the fleet anchored there. Another of her sister ships can be seen in the background. This is the USS Colorado as only the Colorado and Pennsylvania had the large ventilator in front of the fore funnel. The other 4 ships in the Pennsylvania class did not have this ventilator. Some of the ships that were reviewed by President Roosevelt were the; USS Virginia BB-13, USS New Jersey B-16, USS Florida Monitor No. 9, USS Denver C-14, USS Des Moines C-15, The Auxilliary Cruiser USS Yankee, USS Hopkins.

A souvenir button from the 22 August 1903 Launching ceremony.

The USS Pennsylvania (Armored Cruiser 4) was laid down 7 August 1901 by William Cramp and Sons, Philadelphia; launched 22 August 1903; sponsored by Miss Coral Quay, daughter of Senator Matthew S. Quay; and commissioned 9 March 1905, with Capt. Thomas C. McLean in command. USS Pennsylvania operated on the East Coast of the United States and in the Caribbean until 8 September 1906 when she cleared Newport News, Virginia for duty with the Asiatic Fleet. During 1907 Pennsylvania along with the cruisers USS Colorado, USS West Virginia and USS Maryland formed the First Division of the First Squadron, Asiatic Fleet, Commanded by Rear Admiral Willard H. Brownson. On 2 September 1907 all 4 cruisers were at anchor in Honolulu, Hawaii. Pennsylvania returned to San Francisco, California on 27 September 1907 for west coast duty. A year later she was again cruising the waters of the Pacific and on the 16th of September 1908 she crossed the equator. In the autumn of 1909, she deployed westward with the Armored Cruiser Squadron and on 5 September 1909 the West Virginia, California, South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Colorado and possibly the Maryland departed San Francisco, California and arrived on 11 September in Honolulu, Hawaii steaming 2,100 miles. The force called on ports in the Admiralty Islands, Pago Pago on Tutuila Island on American Samoa, the Philippines, Japan, and China, before returning to Honolulu on 31 January 1910. Pennsylvania spent Christmas of 1909 anchored at Hong Kong, China. After return from Far Eastern waters Pennsylvania saw South American duties and she cruised off Chile and Peru. In February of 1910 the Pennsylvania was under the command of Lt. Cdr. W. Evans. It is known from letters written to loved ones by members of the crew that Pennsylvania was on 2 May 1910 anchored at the Navy Yard in Bremerton, Washington. During the later half of 1910 she underwent a refit and her original foremast was replaced with the new cage style mast as did the other six ships in her class. In the December 4th, 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.

The USS Pennsylvania in the Dewey Drydock at Olongapo, Philippines.

From 1 July 1911 to 30 May 1913, while in reserve at Puget Sound, Washington her duties were training of naval militia. She was renamed Pittsburgh on 27 August 1912 to free the name Pennsylvania for a new battleship. Re-commissioned, Pittsburgh patrolled the west coast of Mexico during the troubled times of insurrection which led to American involvement with the Vera Cruz landing in April of 1914. Later, as an impressive symbol of American might and concern, she served as flagship for Admiral William B. Caperton, Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet. In the days before America entered WWI, Pittsburgh took part in South American patrols in cooperation with the British, scouting for German and Austrian raiders and acted as a powerful deterrent against their penetration of the eastern Pacific. On 20 May 1917 the Pittsburg along with the USS Frederick and USS South Dakota entered the Canal at Balboa transiting to join the Atlantic Fleet. From a report from the USS Stewart the USS Pueblo on 16 May, was moored to the dock in Balboa along with the USS St. Louis, USS Whipple and the USS Truxtun was in the dry dock. The next day the Pueblo went into the dry dock at Balboa for repairs from her fight with the German Raider. Finished with repairs on 21 May, Pueblo comes out of the dry dock and the USS Pittsburg entered the dry-dock. She joined Pueblo (ACR-7), and Frederick at Colon, Panama, on 29 May 1917 then proceeded to the South Atlantic for patrol duty operating from Brazilian ports protecting shipping, paying diplomatic calls to South American ports, and preventing the sailing of German and Austrian ships interned at Bahia, Brazil.

At Hampton Roads 16 May 1917, Pittsburg in company with the USS Nebraska depart for Montevideo, Uruguay with the body of the late Carlos M. DePena, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from Uruguay, with full honors. The Nebraska and Pittsburgh arrived in Montevideo on 10 June 1917. The Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet, came on board for the ceremonies and the body of the late Uruguyan Minister to the United States and was transferred with full honors. Nebraska and Pittsburgh departed Montevideo on 15 June for home.

After returning from Montevideo the USS Pittsburgh along with the USS Frederick, USS Pueblo and USS South Dakota proceeded to the South Atlantic for patrol duty operating from Brazilian ports. On 23 July 1917 while steaming toward Buenos Aires, Argentina an accident occurred when a saluting charge exploded and injured several men, one of which died as a result of the explosion. Gunners Mate Clay Tenny Lyles died on the 23rd from injuries from the explosion. Gunner’s Mate Lyles was born on 17 October 1896 in Texas and was 20 years old when he died. According to an article in the 26 July edition of the Washington Post, Gunner’s Mate Lyles body was buried at sea on the 25th of July, but other sources indicate that he is buried in the Lyles Family plot in Garland Memorial Cemetery in Garland Texas. The incident happened when a 3-inch saluting charge exploded and caught fire of some material on the deck. The fire now threatened to ignite the powder supply and that could have caused a devastating and possibly fatal explosion to the men as well as to the ship. As a result of the cool and heroic action of Commander Willis Winter Bradley, Jr. and Seaman Ora "Pappy" Graves who put out the fire, both men were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions that day.

Pittsburgh was at anchor in the harbor in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 17 August 1917 along with some British ships one of which was the HMS Glasgow. During January 1918 while the Pittsburgh was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil there was a murder on board and 5 crewmen were imprisoned. They were transferred to the Coalier USS Cyclops for trial. The Cyclops sailed for Bahia, Brazil on 21 February and then on 4 March 1918 she sails from Bahia for Baltimore, Maryland and was never heard from again, lost in the famous Bermuda Triangle disappearances.

Around the end of June 1918 Pittsburgh and the USS Vermont were patrolling the waters off Antofagasta, Chile protecting American interests and preventing Austrian and German ships from sailing. It was during the last week of June that the USS Radnor a US Navy cargo ship made port in Antofagasta, Chile on the 28th of June, but due to she being a US Navy ship tensions were high in Antofagasta and the Radnor was ordered out of the harbor by the German ambassador or she would be interned in port. Lt. Comdr. Marcus S. Harloe, Captain of the Radnor radioed for help and the USS Vermont and USS Pittsburgh answered the call. Radnor readied for sea in a hurry and Vermont and Pittsburgh arrived and escorted Radnor to safety before hostilities started.

Returning to the east coast, Pittsburgh prepared for duty as flagship for Commander, U.S. Naval Forces in the eastern Mediterranean, for which she sailed from Portsmouth, N.H., on 19 June 1919. Cruising the Adriatic, Aegean, and Black Seas, she joined in the massive relief operations and other humanitarian concerns with which the Navy carried out its quasi-diplomatic functions in this troubled area. Pittsburgh was at anchor in San Marco Bay in Venice, Italy on March 14, 1920. On 26 April 1920 she left Broussa, Turkey for the Black Sea. In June of 1920, she sailed north to visit French and British ports and cruise the Baltic on further relief assignments before returning to decommission at Philadelphia on 15 October 1921.

The Pittsburgh was made flagship of Vice Admiral Henry McLaren Pinckney Huse on 24 June 1920 who was Commander, U.S. Naval Forces in European Waters. On the 28th of August 1920, at the request of the United States State Department, Navy Secretary Daniels send orders to Admiral Huse who was in command of the US warships then in the Baltic area to take his flagship the USS Pittsburgh then at Reval, Estonia to Danzig, Poland in order to protect the considerable number of Americans there in that port. Reval is the present day capitol city of Tallinn, Estonia located on the Baltic coast between the Paaskula and Pirita Rivers. There was some concern that tensions in the area were growing and the State department thought is a wise move to have the presence of a US warship in the area.

Post card of the Pittsburgh sent home from Paul L. Webb a sailor aboard the Pittsburgh. It shows the Pittsburgh while in Danzig before she went aground off Libau. Webb was onboard when she went on the rocks as he made note of that on the back of this post card. This post card was mailed in Lativia as the stamp on the front is a Latavian stamp.

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 Fredericks 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.

In April of 1921 Pittsburgh still serving in European waters, was under the command of Captain Joseph Mason “Bull” Reeves. His command of the Pittsburgh only lasted until October 1921 when he was re-assigned as Commander, Navy yard, Mare Island, California. Reeves later would retire from the Navy at the rank of Admiral and distinguished himself by served in the Spanish-American War, WWI and WWII and it was largely through Admiral Reeves foresight that the foundation of modern carrier striking forces are based on today.

The USS Pittsburgh at Villefranche, France on Christmas Day, 1920. The officers and men entertained about 200 French children to a Christmas dinner on board , afterwards presenting them with presents . Excited poor French children waving American flags and admiring their presents on board.

USS Pittsburgh in the harbor of Venice, Italy.

Another view of the Pittsburgh in Venice.

This is a photo from Paul L. Webb who was a sailor serving on the Pittsburgh while she was in Venice. This photo taken by Webb shows an airship as it passes over-head.

Re-commissioned again on 2 October 1922, Pittsburgh returned to European and Mediterranean waters as flagship of Naval Forces in Europe. She then arrived in New York on 17 July 1926 to prepare for flagship duty with the Asiatic Fleet. She under went a refit for her Asiatic duties and her fore stack is removed changing her to a 3-stack design. She was the only ship of her class to be so modified. Gun directors were placed on the bridge just abaft of the mainmast and one large ventilator installed just aft of the bridge area.

She sailed on 16 October for Chefoo, China arriving there on 23 December 1926. Early in January of 1927, she landed sailors and Marines to protect Americans and other foreigners in Shanghai from the turmoil and fighting of the Chinese power struggle. When Chiang Kai-shek's Cantonese Army won control of Shanghai in March 1927, Pittsburgh resumed operations on patrol and exercises with the Asiatic Fleet. On 28 March 1928 Pittsburgh was in Hong Kong, China according to post cards mailed from the ship and cancelled with Hong Kong postmarks.

This photo shows crew of the Pittsburgh's landing force out side the Battilion Headquarters building in Shanghai during 1927
The sign above the door reads: "Battilion Headquarters Landing Force, USS Pittsburgh."

In the book “The Sand Pebbles” by Richard McKenna, which was also made into the famous movie by the same name starring Steve McQueen there is a passage that refers to the USS Pittsburgh. McKenna wrote this book, which tells the story of the men in the US Navy known as “China Sailors” of 1926. This was also the beginning of the start of the Pittsburgh’s tour as Flagship of the Asiatic Fleet from 1926-1931. It refers to something that happened while in South America several years previous, which is likely to be the murder that took place on the Pittsburgh during January of 1918 while the Pittsburgh was in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In those days “China Sailors” were clearly regarded in a poor light. In the movie “The Sand Pebbles” Jake Holman played by Steve McQueen tells Shirley Eckert (Candice Bergen) “…nice American girls don’t talk to China Sailors.” Even the local Chinese mock them and their superior officers treat them badly and the people whom they protect regard them as an embarrassment. McKenna reminds us in his book that the US Navy of the 1920’s was not necessarily seen as a career (except by the officers), but often as a means of escape or even punishment for the lowly China Sailor.

This may help explain the following reference form McKenna’s book, in which the implication was that the Pittsburgh had a bad reputation, with one character saying “I would rather have my sister in a whorehouse then have my brother serve on the USS Pittsburgh.” A second sailor replied, “I would rather have your brother.” In the book, the next day the second sailor received a warning in the form of a scrap of canvas with a pile of wet sand on it. This canvas warning likely refers to the old tradition in the navy known as “cobbing” or being beaten with a stocking filled with wet sand. There was no doubt that to the sailor who received the sand on his bunk that this was an old seagoing warning and that the message was very clear.

Murder on navy ships of the line is not a new thing as life within the hulls of any ship is a small sampling of the larger population and so we should expect that this would happen from time to time. An example of this would be the murder that happened onboard the USS Columbia in 1921 in which two crewmen did not get along and one man killed the other in a fit of rage.

Closing her long career of service, she carried the Governor General of the Philippines, Dwight F. Davis on a courtesy cruise to such ports as Saigon, Bangkok, Singapore, Belawan Deli, Batavia, Surabaya, Bali, Macassar, and Sandakan, returning to Manila on 15 April 1931. Six days later, she steamed for Suez enroute to Hampton Roads, Virginia arriving there on 26 June 1931. She was decommissioned for the last time on 10 July 1931 and on 8 October of that year was used by the navy in some bombing experiments as a target. Pittsburgh was sold for scrapping under the terms of the London Treaty to the Union Shipbuilding, Baltimore, Maryland on 21 December 1931.

Above is a 1927 Christmas post card for the folks back home. She was on duty on the Asiatic Station at the time. Of note is the rare view of the Pittsburgh in her re-configured 3-funnel design. She was the only ship in her class of six Armored Cruisers so modified.

Her final chapter was written as the decommissioned USS Pittsburgh was used in bombing tests on 8 October 1931. This photograph shows the explosion of the first 500-pound bomb in the test series. Also in this photo she is in her modified 3-funnel design.

And again another undated article but likely when he was attached to the Pittsburgh while she was flagship, European Forces. It reads as follows;

ENG2c Clayton F. Martin

As the United States Navy was being called into its wartime strength in April of 1917 many of her ships were manned with peacetime crew strengths. Consequently each ship needed to add to her crew. Clayton Frederick Martin is an example of this additional force of men.

Clayton Frederick Martin was born on September 20, 1899 in Oregon to Adolph F. and Alice S. Martin. The family lived in a home on Jefferson Street in La Grande, Oregon, which is in Northeast Oregon. Adolph was born in May of 1863 in Wisconsin to German and Irish parents. Clayton’s mother, Alice was born in January of 1872 in Missouri and her parents came from Tennessee. Clayton’s father Adolph worked as a house painter to support his family.

By 1910 the family had moved to east 17th Street in Vancouver, Washington, where Adolph still was working as a house painter. The family then consisted of Adolph who was 46 years old, his wife Alice aged 37, eldest son Clayton F. age 10, Stella age 8 and Harold D. age seven.

This is Clayton F. Martin’s Crossing the Line document he received on June 4, 1917 when the USS Pittsburgh crossed the Equator at 36 degrees, 6 minutes West bound southward. The Pittsburgh was traveling southbound for Montevideo, Uruguay. Together with the USS Nebraska the Pittsburgh was transporting the body of Carlos M. DePena who was a Uruguayan Envoy. The two ship convoy reached Montevideo six days later on June 10, 1917.

Two generations later the grandson of Clayton Frederick Martin found out that his grandfather had served in the navy during WWI and on the Armored cruiser USS Pittsburgh. Clay Janer, the grandson of Clayton Martin has a Certificate from when his grandfather crossed the Equator aboard the USS Pittsburgh. The crossing took place on June 4th 1917 while the Pittsburgh and the USS Nebraska were southbound to Montevideo, Uruguay with the body of Uruguayan envoy to the United States, Carlos M. DePena who had passed away while in the United States. So by this Crossing of the Equator certificate Clayton Martin must have been in the Navy early in 1917, and likely joined the Navy before being drafted. His rank while in the navy was Engineman Second Class. Seaman Clayton Martin would have been on board the Pittsburgh when the explosion occurred on the 23rd of July 1917 that killed one man and injured several other men. As a new recruit Seaman Martin would have witnessed his first burial at sea when on July 25, 1917 Gunner’s Mate Lyle, who was killed in the explosion was buried at sea. According to family stories Seaman Clayton Frederick Martin is said to have met his future wife Irine at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Irine was born about 1898 in New York to parents from Hungary and Germany. According to the 1920 Federal Census taken on board the USS Pittsburgh on the 3rd of April 1920 as the Pittsburgh was at anchor in the harbor at Spalato, Austro-Hungary (Split, Croatia) Engineman 2c Clayton F. Martin was listed aboard as a 20-year old and single. So he and Irine would have married after he was out of the navy. But the 1930 Federal Census tells a slightly different story. It tells us that in April of 1930 Clayton and Irine were living in Brooklyn, New York on Albany Avenue, where Clayton was working as a Carpenter. The Census form states that they were married when Clayton was 17-years old and so that would date their marriage to 1917. And the first child born to Clayton and Irine was a son named John W. born sometime during 1917. So clearly they were married soon after Clayton joined the navy. In 1919 a daughter named Ethel T. was born, and both children were born in Brooklyn. The home on Albany Avenue was owned by a Jewish couple, named Samuel and Mary Thactor. This was a large home in which two other families rented from Samuel and Mary. The address was 760 Albany Avenue and the two families were the Martin’s and James and Mary Mitchell. Samuel Thactor worked as a carpenter and so it is likely that he and Clayton Martin worked together. The rent that Clayton and Irine paid to Samuel Thactor was $68 monthly, while the rent for James and Mary Mitchell was $55 monthly. Clayton and Irine lived in New York the rest of their lives. Clayton died sometime during the 40’s while still in New York.

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This page was created on 26 February 2005 and last modified on: 7/8/08

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