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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
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WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 78275:  USS Caesar while transporting submarines to the Philippines, 1908-1909

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Caesar (1898-1922, later AC-16)

USS Caesar, a 5920-ton collier, was built in 1896 at Stockton-on-Tees, England, as the commercial freighter Kingtor. She was purchased by the Navy in April 1898, part of the Nation's preparations for the Spanish-American War. Commissioned in mid-May, she transported coal in support of combat activities in the Caribbean area during that brief conflict and, for more than two decades, in both the Atlantic and Pacific as part of the Navy's wide-ranging logistics system. Her voyages to the Far East included three of special interest. In December 1905 - July 1906 Caesar helped tow the "Dewey" floating drydock from the United States to the Philippines, and a few years later she made two trips to take submarines to Manila Bay. USS Porpoise and USS Shark were transported out on her decks in April-July 1908, while USS Adder and USS Moccasin went out in July-October 1909.

Among the collier's other noteworthy activities were providing support for a 1906 scientific expedition to observe a solar eclipse in Spain, and carrying refugees and relief supplies in 1915-1916 as World War I fighting created turmoil in the eastern Mediterranean. In 1917 and the first eight months of 1918 Caesar served with the Asiatic Fleet, then took supplies to France as the First World War came to an end. She remained active in the Atlantic after the war and was designated AC-16 when the Navy implemented its hull number system in July 1920. Overhauled in 1920-1921, the collier carried coal between the East and West Coasts and, in the spring of 1922, made a trip to Samoa. USS Caesar was decommissioned at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, in June 1922 and sold in December of that year.

This page features all the views we have related to USS Caesar (1898-1922, later AC-16).


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: 19-N-28-5-11

USS Caesar
(1898-1922)

In port, possibly while fitting out for Navy service in April-May 1898.

Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

Online Image: 87KB; 740 x 565 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 
Photo #: NH 78275

USS Caesar
(1898-1922)

At anchor in 1908-1909, while transporting submarines to the Philippine Islands.
The "boats" are either Porpoise (Submarine # 7) and Shark (Submarine # 8), which were embarked on Caesar in April-July 1908, or Adder (Submarine # 3) and Moccasin (Submarine # 5), which were on board in July-October 1909.

Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1973.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 81KB; 740 x 495 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 42644

USS Porpoise
(Submarine # 7)
and
USS Shark (Submarine # 8)

On board the collier Caesar for transportation to the Philippine Islands, April 1908.
Halftone reproduction, published in the book "Army & Navy", page 753.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 90KB; 740 x 495 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 86211

USS California
(Armored Cruiser # 6)

Taking on coal from a U.S. Navy collier (probably USS Caesar), circa 1907-1908. Location may be a California harbor.
The original photograph was printed on a postal card, published by Frank J. Stumm, Benicia, California.

Courtesy of Alfred Cellier, 1977.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 94KB; 740 x 470 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 54498

The "Dewey" Floating Drydock


Artwork by F. Muller, depicting the drydock during her voyage from the United States to the Philippines, under tow by the tug Potomac, store ship Glacier and colliers Brutus and Caesar, 1906.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 101KB; 740 x 465 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 54499

The "Dewey" Floating Drydock


Artwork by F. Muller, depicting the drydock en route from the United States to the Philippines, 1906. She was towed during this voyage by the tug Potomac, store ship Glacier and colliers Brutus and Caesar, 1906.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 98KB; 740 x 495 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 98658

USS Caesar (AC-16)


Panoramic photograph of the ships' Officers and Crew, taken on board at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia, 1921.

Donation of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard Museum, Portsmouth, Virginia.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 187KB; 1200 x 455 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 94774-KN (Color)

"Uncle Sam's Ships"

Cover for sheet music composed and written by Chief Yeoman Daisy May Pratt Erd, USNRF, during World War I. It features the names of 109 U.S. Navy ships, from battleships to tugs and patrol boats.

Donation of Miss G.H. Erd, 1973.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 136KB; 585 x 765 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 20 August 2003
Link added 9 October 2003