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The New Navy: The Navy in Transition:
Following four years of Civil War, the Navy returned to its pre-war missions, cruising familiar station in familiar ships. The peacetime Navy stagnated, promotions slowed, and advances in technology ignored.
Naval officers pursued other distinctions: founding the Naval Institute, creating the Naval War College, challenging the Arctic, and promoting a modern navy.
Then, almost over night, the Navy adopted modern technologies, abandoning its wooden sailing fleet and taking a lead in building modern steel warships.
1865-1895
A New Navy:
Potential war with Spain in 1873 brought a painful truth to light: the US naval fleet was inadequate, consisting of resurrected monitors and slow-moving wooden sailing ships.
In 1881, a board of naval officers recommended 68 new vessels. Congress could not accept the cost of so many ships, but two years later approved the construction of four new steel ships. These first ships of the New Navy had double hulls, watertight compartmentation, electricity, breech-loading guns -- and sails.
Combating Nature:
In 1870, the USS Saginaw arrived in Kure Atoll to check for castaways. Instead, she ran aground. The ship was a total loss, but the 93-man crew made it to one of the larger of the atoll's islands.
After almost three weeks, Lt. John G. Talbot and four enlisted men volunteered to seek help by sailing the ship's gig 1,500 to Hawaii. After 31 days, the exhausted men closed in on their destination, but the boat overturned in the rough surf. William Halford, the gig's lone survivor, managed to reach shore. A rescue party saved the 88 sailors stranded on Kure Atoll.
George W. DeLong (1844-1881):
DeLong served in USS Juniata during her 1873 voyage to Greenland in search of the missing exploration ship Polaris. His experiences on the Juniata convinced him of the value of Arctic exploration. He joined with publisher James Gordon Bennett who purchased the Jeannette and turned her over to the US Navy. In July 1879, Jeannette sailed for the Bering Strait, entering the ice in early September and remained in its grip until June 1881, when she was broken open by its force and sank. DeLong then led his men on a heroic journey of nearly three months duration across the rugged ice to open water north of Siberia. DeLong and many of his crew died in the effort.
Call of the Arctic:
Seeking honor and glory during the time of professional stagnation that followed the Civil War, a few officers ventured into the frozen wilderness of the Arctic despite little naval support for exploration.
Robert E. Peary saw his chance to fame in being the first person to reach the North Pole. As opposed to previous explorers, Peary and Matthew Henson achieved this through working with local Inuits, building igloos and traveling on land by dog sled. Over the course of numerous separate expeditions, starting in 1889, he and companion Henson advanced further and further north. Finally, in April 1906, Peary, Henson, and four Inuits, achieved the ultimate goal: to stand atop the world.
Matthew A. Henson (1866-1955):
Orphaned at the age of eleven, Henson began his working life two years later as a cabin in a ship out of Baltimore. The ship's captain taught Henson to read and write. He eventually left the sea and began working as a store clerk in Washington, where he met Peary.
Henson and Peary teamed up for all of the Arctic explorations. Henson learned to handle sled dogs and to speak Inuit. It's possible that Henson reached the pole before Peary, but given the racial attitudes of the day, was not credited with the discovery.
Robert E. Peary (1856-1920)
Robert E. Peary joined the Navy as a civil engineer in 1881. He spent several years surveying a route for a canal across Nicaragua.
A[n] 1886 exploration to Greenland sparked his interest in reaching the North Pole. He obtained a leave of absence from the Navy to make six subsequent expeditions. In 1902, he reached a latitude of 84 degrees, 17'N; four years later, he achieved 87 degrees, 6'N. Finally, on April 6, 1909, Peary made it to the North Pole.
The "Weekend" War:
The Navy returned to pre-Civil War patrols of distance stations to protect American interests with only occasional breaks in the routine. In 1866, the American steamer General Sherman ran aground near Inchon, Korea. Thinking it was a pirate ship, local villargers burned it and killed its crew. Making matters worse, Korean officials barred the Navy's subsequent investigation.
Angered by the stalemate and determined to open relations with the isolationist country, the Navy sent the Asiatic Squadron to Inchon in 1871. When the Koreans fired on an American ship and then refused to apologize, squadron commander John Rodgers ordered an all-out attack.
He sent 650 men ashore to destroy forts along the Salee River. In two days, the forts were demolished and 243 Koreans killed. The Americans suffered three men killed, seven wounded. |