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On March 2, 1899, George Dewey became the first naval officer in the United States to hold the rank of Admiral of the Navy. Due to an error in the wording of the Congressional orders, the rank was bestowed on him on 1903 effective March 2, 1899. From the article:
"Biography
George Dewey, the only officer of the US Navy ever to hold the rank of Admiral of the Navy, was born on 26 December 1837, in Montpelier, Vermont. On 23 September 1854, he was appointed Acting Midshipman from the first Congressional District of Vermont, and upon graduation from the US Naval Academy in June 1858, was warranted Midshipman, to date from 11 June of that year. He became a Passed Midshipman on 19 January 1861, and on 28 February of the same year he was warranted Master. His subsequent advancement was as follows: Lieutenant, 19 April 1861; Lieutenant Commander, 3 March 1865; Commander, 13 April 1872; Captain, 27 September 1884; Commodore, 28 February 1896; Rear Admiral, 11 May 1898; Admiral, 2 March 1899; and Admiral of the Navy on 24 March 1903 to date from 2 March 1899.
During the period 26 April 1861, until 30 August 1867, he had consecutive service on USS Mississippi, USS Brooklyn, USS Agawam, USS Colorado, USS Kearsarge, USS Canadiagua, and again USS Colorado. When detached from the latter he was directed to await orders of 1 October 1867, which returned him to the Naval Academy for a tour of duty which ended in September 1870. On 10 October 1870, he assumed command of USS Narragansett, and in February 1871 was transferred to command of USS Supply, hospital ship. On 27 July 1871, he was ordered to the Navy Yard, Boston, Massachusetts, and after five months' duty there and brief instruction at the Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, Rhode Island, he again commanded Narragansett from 1 March 1873, to August 1875.
Ordered on 25 August 1875, to report as Lighthouse Inspector, Second Naval District, at Headquarters in New York, New York, he served in that capacity until 1 August 1877, and as a member of the Lighthouse Board for eight months thereafter. On 1 May 1878, he became Secretary of the Lighthouse Board. On 18 October 1882, he was ordered to command USS Juniata, and remained at sea from 25 October that year until July 1884, when he was ordered detached and to the Navy Department, Washington DC. Again at sea, he commanded USS Dolphin from October 1884 until March 1885, when he transferred to command of USS Pensacola.
On 1 August 1889, he was commissioned Chief of the Bureau of Equipment, Navy Department, Washington DC. His term ended by resignation on 30 June 1893, when he again became a member of the Lighthouse Board. On 5 November 1895, he reported for duty as President of the Board of Inspection and Survey, Navy Department. On 30 November 1897, he was ordered to Asiatic Station and, proceeding by steamer, he assumed command on 3 January 1898, his flag in the protected cruiser, USS Olympia, Captain Charles V. Gridley, commanding. The Spanish-American War action at Manila, Philippine Islands, 1 May 1898, not only gave birth to the historical expression "You may fire when you are ready Gridley," but also liquidated the Spanish Fleet and installations in the Manila Harbor without loss of men to the US Fleet.
On 10 May 1898, Admiral (then Commodore) Dewey was given a vote of thanks by the Congress of the United States, and three days later was commissioned Rear Admiral, to date from 11 May 1898. That promotion was an advancement of one grade for "highly distinguished conduct in conflict with the enemy as displayed by him in the destruction of the Spanish Fleet and batteries in the harbor of Manila, Philippine Islands, May 1, 1898." He was relieved of command of Asiatic Station on 4 October 1899, and ordered to the Navy Department, Washington, where on 29 March 1900, he was designated President of the General Board.
An Act of Congress, 2 March 1899, created the rank of Admiral of the Navy. It provided that when such office became vacant either by death or otherwise, the office would cease to exist. On 24 March 1903, Admiral Dewey, who held the rank of Admiral since 8 March 1899, was commissioned Admiral of the Navy, with date of rank 2 March 1899, and became the only officer of the United States Navy who was ever so commissioned. He held the rank of Admiral of the Navy until his death in Washington, DC, on 16 January 1917.
The body of Admiral Dewey was interred in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, on 20 January 1917. At the request of his widow, his remains were reinterred in the crypt of Bethlehem Chapel at the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral, Mount Saint Alban, Washington, DC, on 28 March 1925. Besides his widow, Mrs. Mildred McLean Dewey, Admiral Dewey was survived by his only son, George Goodwin Dewey.
Admiral Dewey earned the Civil War Medal; the Spanish Campaign Medal; the Philippine Campaign Medal; and the Dewey Medal (commemorating the Battle of Manila Bay). A destroyer, USS Dewey (DD-349), was named to honor Admiral of the Navy George Dewey. Built by the Bath Iron Works Corporation of Bath, Maine, she was launched on 28 July 1934, under the sponsorship of Miss Ann M. Dewey of Quechee, Vermont, great-grandniece of Admiral Dewey. Dewey was placed in commission at the Boston Navy Yard on 4 October 1934, and earned thirteen battle stars for operations in the Pacific War Area during World War II.
[Adapted from: Navy Office of Information. Internal Relations Division. "Admiral of the Navy George Dewey, United States Navy, Deceased." 17 May 1963. George Dewey ZB file, Navy Department Library]
Service Record of George Dewey
Born in Montpelier, Vermont, 26 December 1837. Died in Washington, DC, 16 January 1917.
Appointed Midshipman, 23 September 1854.
Commissioned Lieutenant, 19 April 1861.
Commissioned Lieutenant Commander, 3 March 1865.
Commissioned Commander, 13 April 1872.
Commissioned Commodore, 9 February 1896.
Commissioned Rear Admiral, 1 May 1898.
Commissioned Admiral of the Navy, 2 March 1899.
Service:
Took prominent part in the operations of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, under Admiral Farragut. First Lieutenant of USS Mississippi in attacks on Forts Jackson and St. Philip, capture of New Orleans, and Battle of Port Hudson. Commended for gallantry, judgment and skill in action between Mississippi and enemy's forts at Port Hudson, and the rescue of the crew from the burning ship when set on fire by the enemy's shot.
Participated in attacks on Fort Fisher, 24-25 December 1864 and 13-15 January 1865.
Commanded the Asiatic Squadron 1897 - 1898. 1 May 1898 destroyed or captured the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay, captured land batteries at Cavite and took possession of Manila, for which he received the thanks of Congress and was promoted to Rear Admiral. Appointed Admiral of the Navy by President McKinley and confirmed by Congress, 2 March 1889.
[Adapted from: "Admiral George Dewey." Memo for the Bureau of Navigation, dated 26 July 1917. George Dewey ZB file, Navy Department Library]
George Dewey, Admiral of the Fleet.
By Ammen Farenholt, Rear Admiral, Medical Corps, US Navy (Retired)
The 26th of December marks the birthday of one of our most colorful naval commanders and one who, as an able and fearless officer, an excellent seaman, a smart diplomat and a polished gentleman, had no superior in our service.
Admiral Dewey possessed a very full measure of resourcefulness, justice and common sense, qualities which we like to regard as "Yankee" characteristics. He was far from being a martinet or an ogre but he could never suffer fools gladly and his prompt decisions and quick temper were sometimes, wrongly, resented as irascibility and eccentricity. The following three anecdotes may interest the men of this newer and therefore somewhat different navy.
The Admiral and the Army gunboats
In 1899 matters of jurisdiction and policy in the Philippines in general and in the local vicinity of Manila in particular, had not been fully settled and occasionally someone's toes were stepped on. The senior naval officer was of course Admiral Dewey who had destroyed the Spanish fleet and had only refrained from requiring the immediate surrender of the city of Manila because of his inability to properly police it. General Otis was for a long time the senior Army officer and as such supreme ashore. The affairs of the newly acquired territory were conducted by a joint board in which the Admiral and the General were the most influential members. The sessions were held on shore and usually passed off in more or less harmony and accord but on at least one occasion Dewey, who was not particularly patient in long winded discussion, just couldn't stand it any longer and stalked out of the meeting, down to his barge, Cristina, and back to Olympia.
In order to properly police the Passig river and the adjacent back country it was necessary to have armed force on that active waterway. This duty fell to the Army and four vessels were so employed; the Oeste, a large tug given to the Army by the Navy; the Napindan, the Covadonga and the larger Laguna de Bay, the flagship. The two latter were chartered or commandeered vessels. Laguna de Bay had sloping casemated upper works and looked like a small edition of the confederate Merrimack [CSS Virginia]. All four were well protected with boiler plate and railroad iron. This fleet was manned chiefly by personnel of the regular 3rd US Artillery.
Occasionally this non-descript collection, which was efficient and sufficient for the required purposes but far from "ship shape and Bristol fashion", would come out of the Passig river for a turn about the bay on some business or other. Now the waters of the bay were the Admiral's particular bailiwick and each time they were reported beyond the light-house Dewey would become nearly apoplectic with wrath and would order them back. Finally he sent a direct order, it might have been a request but if Dewey wrote it when annoyed it certainly would have had the character of an order, to General Otis to the effect that if he ever caught one of them outside of the river again he would sink her. They never reappeared in those forbidden waters for the General probably didn't know just how far the forceful Admiral really would go and would rather not provoke a show down.
The Society of the Dog
Admiral Dewey had on board Olympia as his pet a badly spoiled dog. He was very fond of it and in his eyes it could do no wrong; however he was alone in that opinion and both officers and the crew, particularly the afterguard sweepers, detested the animal. The dog was smart enough to know that his sole protector was the Admiral and ran back to him if he had been maltreated, whenever anyone touched or made a pass in his general direction. Several men were punished, some justly and perhaps some not quite so justly, and a quartermaster was disrated. Partly in a spirit of waggishness and born of the monotony of the blockade in Manila bay before the fall of the city the men formed a very secret organization called the "Society of the Dog." To be an ordinary member a man had to have kicked the brute, but to become a member first class he had to have kicked him while the Admiral was on deck and could possibly have seen him do it, or had performed some other allied act of equal daring. There were very few of these. The organization lasted as long as the dog did for one morning he turned up missing. That day a first class member was hurriedly promoted to the office of "Chief Superior Dog" and the society prudently disbanded. "Chief Superior Dog" was an afterguard sweeper.
The Capture of the Spanish Gunboat Leyte
At the time of the outbreak of the Spanish war, Revenue Cutter, later Coast Guard, McCulloch, was at sea on an extended shakedown cruise from Hampton Roads to her assigned station at San Francisco and on her arrival at Singapore orders were received to proceed with all possible speed to Hong Kong and report to Commodore Dewey for further duty. The ship arrived on 17 April and sailed with the fleet for Mirs Bay and Manila a week later. While a small vessel and not built for naval service she was a very welcome and valuable addition to the fleet and she performed excellent patrol and dispatch service throughout the period of hostilities and until November 1898 when she resumed her voyage to San Francisco.
Captain Ridgley USCG [US Coast Guard] who was attached to the ship tells the following story. On 29 June a signal was received from Olympia which read "Spanish gunboat sighted bearing north-west apparently attempting to reach Manila, intercept and capture." That time McCulloch broke her record, getting underweigh in one minute and dragging her anchor and a course was shaped to get between the gunboat and the foreign shipping of Manila. The stranger changed her course to meet the cutter head on flying a flag at the fore, a pennant at the main and a flag at the gaff, all indistinguishable because of the light airs, but on closing in on her it was found that she was flying a white flag at the fore. After heaving to a boarding officer was sent aboard and found her to be the Spanish gunboat Leyte which had escaped during the early morning of 1 May, and had remained in hiding in one of the numerous rivers emptying into the bay, but could neither escape to sea or avoid the attacks of the Filipino insurgents and so her commanding officer decided to surrender.
The Spanish flag was hauled down, the United States ensign [the American flag] hoisted and with a prize crew aboard she proceeded to Olympia and anchored off her starboard quarter. McCulloch accompanied her and sent a whale boat to the Leyte to take her commanding officer and the prize master to the flagship. In the meantime a heavy rain squall had kicked up quite a choppy sea; also that morning the ship had coaled from a casco alongside and some "bino" had, as usual, come on board so the boat's crew didn't pull in the style and form usual in the Navy in those days. Once alongside the two officers mounted the gangway and were escorted to the Admiral, sitting as usual in his wicker chair on the quarterdeck. "I have to report the capture of the Spanish gunboat Leyte, Sir and to deliver the commanding officer on board" rather proudly announced the prize master. If he expected, as was perhaps excusable, a hero's welcome he certainly "missed out" for the Admiral only looked up sharply and said; "Very well sir and I want to tell you that your boat's crew pull like a lot of damn farmers!"
From that wicker chair on the quarterdeck there was very little that went on in Manila bay that escaped Admiral Dewey's sharp eyes, and quite likely, a sharp signal to follow."
"Biography
George Dewey, the only officer of the US Navy ever to hold the rank of Admiral of the Navy, was born on 26 December 1837, in Montpelier, Vermont. On 23 September 1854, he was appointed Acting Midshipman from the first Congressional District of Vermont, and upon graduation from the US Naval Academy in June 1858, was warranted Midshipman, to date from 11 June of that year. He became a Passed Midshipman on 19 January 1861, and on 28 February of the same year he was warranted Master. His subsequent advancement was as follows: Lieutenant, 19 April 1861; Lieutenant Commander, 3 March 1865; Commander, 13 April 1872; Captain, 27 September 1884; Commodore, 28 February 1896; Rear Admiral, 11 May 1898; Admiral, 2 March 1899; and Admiral of the Navy on 24 March 1903 to date from 2 March 1899.
During the period 26 April 1861, until 30 August 1867, he had consecutive service on USS Mississippi, USS Brooklyn, USS Agawam, USS Colorado, USS Kearsarge, USS Canadiagua, and again USS Colorado. When detached from the latter he was directed to await orders of 1 October 1867, which returned him to the Naval Academy for a tour of duty which ended in September 1870. On 10 October 1870, he assumed command of USS Narragansett, and in February 1871 was transferred to command of USS Supply, hospital ship. On 27 July 1871, he was ordered to the Navy Yard, Boston, Massachusetts, and after five months' duty there and brief instruction at the Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, Rhode Island, he again commanded Narragansett from 1 March 1873, to August 1875.
Ordered on 25 August 1875, to report as Lighthouse Inspector, Second Naval District, at Headquarters in New York, New York, he served in that capacity until 1 August 1877, and as a member of the Lighthouse Board for eight months thereafter. On 1 May 1878, he became Secretary of the Lighthouse Board. On 18 October 1882, he was ordered to command USS Juniata, and remained at sea from 25 October that year until July 1884, when he was ordered detached and to the Navy Department, Washington DC. Again at sea, he commanded USS Dolphin from October 1884 until March 1885, when he transferred to command of USS Pensacola.
On 1 August 1889, he was commissioned Chief of the Bureau of Equipment, Navy Department, Washington DC. His term ended by resignation on 30 June 1893, when he again became a member of the Lighthouse Board. On 5 November 1895, he reported for duty as President of the Board of Inspection and Survey, Navy Department. On 30 November 1897, he was ordered to Asiatic Station and, proceeding by steamer, he assumed command on 3 January 1898, his flag in the protected cruiser, USS Olympia, Captain Charles V. Gridley, commanding. The Spanish-American War action at Manila, Philippine Islands, 1 May 1898, not only gave birth to the historical expression "You may fire when you are ready Gridley," but also liquidated the Spanish Fleet and installations in the Manila Harbor without loss of men to the US Fleet.
On 10 May 1898, Admiral (then Commodore) Dewey was given a vote of thanks by the Congress of the United States, and three days later was commissioned Rear Admiral, to date from 11 May 1898. That promotion was an advancement of one grade for "highly distinguished conduct in conflict with the enemy as displayed by him in the destruction of the Spanish Fleet and batteries in the harbor of Manila, Philippine Islands, May 1, 1898." He was relieved of command of Asiatic Station on 4 October 1899, and ordered to the Navy Department, Washington, where on 29 March 1900, he was designated President of the General Board.
An Act of Congress, 2 March 1899, created the rank of Admiral of the Navy. It provided that when such office became vacant either by death or otherwise, the office would cease to exist. On 24 March 1903, Admiral Dewey, who held the rank of Admiral since 8 March 1899, was commissioned Admiral of the Navy, with date of rank 2 March 1899, and became the only officer of the United States Navy who was ever so commissioned. He held the rank of Admiral of the Navy until his death in Washington, DC, on 16 January 1917.
The body of Admiral Dewey was interred in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, on 20 January 1917. At the request of his widow, his remains were reinterred in the crypt of Bethlehem Chapel at the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral, Mount Saint Alban, Washington, DC, on 28 March 1925. Besides his widow, Mrs. Mildred McLean Dewey, Admiral Dewey was survived by his only son, George Goodwin Dewey.
Admiral Dewey earned the Civil War Medal; the Spanish Campaign Medal; the Philippine Campaign Medal; and the Dewey Medal (commemorating the Battle of Manila Bay). A destroyer, USS Dewey (DD-349), was named to honor Admiral of the Navy George Dewey. Built by the Bath Iron Works Corporation of Bath, Maine, she was launched on 28 July 1934, under the sponsorship of Miss Ann M. Dewey of Quechee, Vermont, great-grandniece of Admiral Dewey. Dewey was placed in commission at the Boston Navy Yard on 4 October 1934, and earned thirteen battle stars for operations in the Pacific War Area during World War II.
[Adapted from: Navy Office of Information. Internal Relations Division. "Admiral of the Navy George Dewey, United States Navy, Deceased." 17 May 1963. George Dewey ZB file, Navy Department Library]
Service Record of George Dewey
Born in Montpelier, Vermont, 26 December 1837. Died in Washington, DC, 16 January 1917.
Appointed Midshipman, 23 September 1854.
Commissioned Lieutenant, 19 April 1861.
Commissioned Lieutenant Commander, 3 March 1865.
Commissioned Commander, 13 April 1872.
Commissioned Commodore, 9 February 1896.
Commissioned Rear Admiral, 1 May 1898.
Commissioned Admiral of the Navy, 2 March 1899.
Service:
Took prominent part in the operations of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, under Admiral Farragut. First Lieutenant of USS Mississippi in attacks on Forts Jackson and St. Philip, capture of New Orleans, and Battle of Port Hudson. Commended for gallantry, judgment and skill in action between Mississippi and enemy's forts at Port Hudson, and the rescue of the crew from the burning ship when set on fire by the enemy's shot.
Participated in attacks on Fort Fisher, 24-25 December 1864 and 13-15 January 1865.
Commanded the Asiatic Squadron 1897 - 1898. 1 May 1898 destroyed or captured the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay, captured land batteries at Cavite and took possession of Manila, for which he received the thanks of Congress and was promoted to Rear Admiral. Appointed Admiral of the Navy by President McKinley and confirmed by Congress, 2 March 1889.
[Adapted from: "Admiral George Dewey." Memo for the Bureau of Navigation, dated 26 July 1917. George Dewey ZB file, Navy Department Library]
George Dewey, Admiral of the Fleet.
By Ammen Farenholt, Rear Admiral, Medical Corps, US Navy (Retired)
The 26th of December marks the birthday of one of our most colorful naval commanders and one who, as an able and fearless officer, an excellent seaman, a smart diplomat and a polished gentleman, had no superior in our service.
Admiral Dewey possessed a very full measure of resourcefulness, justice and common sense, qualities which we like to regard as "Yankee" characteristics. He was far from being a martinet or an ogre but he could never suffer fools gladly and his prompt decisions and quick temper were sometimes, wrongly, resented as irascibility and eccentricity. The following three anecdotes may interest the men of this newer and therefore somewhat different navy.
The Admiral and the Army gunboats
In 1899 matters of jurisdiction and policy in the Philippines in general and in the local vicinity of Manila in particular, had not been fully settled and occasionally someone's toes were stepped on. The senior naval officer was of course Admiral Dewey who had destroyed the Spanish fleet and had only refrained from requiring the immediate surrender of the city of Manila because of his inability to properly police it. General Otis was for a long time the senior Army officer and as such supreme ashore. The affairs of the newly acquired territory were conducted by a joint board in which the Admiral and the General were the most influential members. The sessions were held on shore and usually passed off in more or less harmony and accord but on at least one occasion Dewey, who was not particularly patient in long winded discussion, just couldn't stand it any longer and stalked out of the meeting, down to his barge, Cristina, and back to Olympia.
In order to properly police the Passig river and the adjacent back country it was necessary to have armed force on that active waterway. This duty fell to the Army and four vessels were so employed; the Oeste, a large tug given to the Army by the Navy; the Napindan, the Covadonga and the larger Laguna de Bay, the flagship. The two latter were chartered or commandeered vessels. Laguna de Bay had sloping casemated upper works and looked like a small edition of the confederate Merrimack [CSS Virginia]. All four were well protected with boiler plate and railroad iron. This fleet was manned chiefly by personnel of the regular 3rd US Artillery.
Occasionally this non-descript collection, which was efficient and sufficient for the required purposes but far from "ship shape and Bristol fashion", would come out of the Passig river for a turn about the bay on some business or other. Now the waters of the bay were the Admiral's particular bailiwick and each time they were reported beyond the light-house Dewey would become nearly apoplectic with wrath and would order them back. Finally he sent a direct order, it might have been a request but if Dewey wrote it when annoyed it certainly would have had the character of an order, to General Otis to the effect that if he ever caught one of them outside of the river again he would sink her. They never reappeared in those forbidden waters for the General probably didn't know just how far the forceful Admiral really would go and would rather not provoke a show down.
The Society of the Dog
Admiral Dewey had on board Olympia as his pet a badly spoiled dog. He was very fond of it and in his eyes it could do no wrong; however he was alone in that opinion and both officers and the crew, particularly the afterguard sweepers, detested the animal. The dog was smart enough to know that his sole protector was the Admiral and ran back to him if he had been maltreated, whenever anyone touched or made a pass in his general direction. Several men were punished, some justly and perhaps some not quite so justly, and a quartermaster was disrated. Partly in a spirit of waggishness and born of the monotony of the blockade in Manila bay before the fall of the city the men formed a very secret organization called the "Society of the Dog." To be an ordinary member a man had to have kicked the brute, but to become a member first class he had to have kicked him while the Admiral was on deck and could possibly have seen him do it, or had performed some other allied act of equal daring. There were very few of these. The organization lasted as long as the dog did for one morning he turned up missing. That day a first class member was hurriedly promoted to the office of "Chief Superior Dog" and the society prudently disbanded. "Chief Superior Dog" was an afterguard sweeper.
The Capture of the Spanish Gunboat Leyte
At the time of the outbreak of the Spanish war, Revenue Cutter, later Coast Guard, McCulloch, was at sea on an extended shakedown cruise from Hampton Roads to her assigned station at San Francisco and on her arrival at Singapore orders were received to proceed with all possible speed to Hong Kong and report to Commodore Dewey for further duty. The ship arrived on 17 April and sailed with the fleet for Mirs Bay and Manila a week later. While a small vessel and not built for naval service she was a very welcome and valuable addition to the fleet and she performed excellent patrol and dispatch service throughout the period of hostilities and until November 1898 when she resumed her voyage to San Francisco.
Captain Ridgley USCG [US Coast Guard] who was attached to the ship tells the following story. On 29 June a signal was received from Olympia which read "Spanish gunboat sighted bearing north-west apparently attempting to reach Manila, intercept and capture." That time McCulloch broke her record, getting underweigh in one minute and dragging her anchor and a course was shaped to get between the gunboat and the foreign shipping of Manila. The stranger changed her course to meet the cutter head on flying a flag at the fore, a pennant at the main and a flag at the gaff, all indistinguishable because of the light airs, but on closing in on her it was found that she was flying a white flag at the fore. After heaving to a boarding officer was sent aboard and found her to be the Spanish gunboat Leyte which had escaped during the early morning of 1 May, and had remained in hiding in one of the numerous rivers emptying into the bay, but could neither escape to sea or avoid the attacks of the Filipino insurgents and so her commanding officer decided to surrender.
The Spanish flag was hauled down, the United States ensign [the American flag] hoisted and with a prize crew aboard she proceeded to Olympia and anchored off her starboard quarter. McCulloch accompanied her and sent a whale boat to the Leyte to take her commanding officer and the prize master to the flagship. In the meantime a heavy rain squall had kicked up quite a choppy sea; also that morning the ship had coaled from a casco alongside and some "bino" had, as usual, come on board so the boat's crew didn't pull in the style and form usual in the Navy in those days. Once alongside the two officers mounted the gangway and were escorted to the Admiral, sitting as usual in his wicker chair on the quarterdeck. "I have to report the capture of the Spanish gunboat Leyte, Sir and to deliver the commanding officer on board" rather proudly announced the prize master. If he expected, as was perhaps excusable, a hero's welcome he certainly "missed out" for the Admiral only looked up sharply and said; "Very well sir and I want to tell you that your boat's crew pull like a lot of damn farmers!"
From that wicker chair on the quarterdeck there was very little that went on in Manila bay that escaped Admiral Dewey's sharp eyes, and quite likely, a sharp signal to follow."
Dewey, George
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Great read, Kearsarge was the only class of Battleship not named after a state. There was I believe a Sloop of War by the same name. SGT (Join to see)
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Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen
USS Kearsarge (Steam Sloop of War)
USS Kearsarge, 1862-1894 The Mohican-class steam sloop-of-war, USS Kearsarge, was commissioned on January 24, 1862, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Deployed to European waters during the Civil War, she searched for Confederate raiders. On June 19, 1864, in the Battle of Cherbourg, Kearsarge, commanded by Captain John A. Winslow, sank CSS Alabama, commanded by Raphael Semmes, ending the career of the South's most famous...
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