Return to Naval Historical Center home page. Return to Online Library listing

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 60652:  USS Milwaukee stranded at Samoa Beach, near Eureka, California, January 1917

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- EVENTS -- The 1910s -- 1917

Stranding of USS Milwaukee, 13 January 1917

By the evening of 12 January 1917 preparations were in place for the big cruiser Milwaukee's attempt to pull the stranded submarine H-3 free of the grip of Samoa Beach. Unfortunately, in the fog and darkness, things quickly went very wrong. One of the two restraining lines, running from the monitor Cheyenne to Milwaukee's starboard bow, parted. In the grip of the powerful Pacific coast currents, the cruiser began to swing southwards. Tug Iroquois, not powerful enough by herself to resist the movement, had to cut her self free of the other restraining line.

The cruiser's crew tried to cut the steel cable between her stern and the H-3, but it was too heavy for the hacksaw work required. It formed an inescapable leash, at the outer end of which the current and waves moved Milwaukee inexorably southwards and toward shore. Her engines, some twenty-one-thousand horsepower, were helpless against the sideways force of the current and the cable's backwards pull. Anchors dropped from her bow were too close to the ship to have any meaningful effect. By about 4 a.m. on 13 January 1917 Milwaukee was hard aground, broadside to the beach. The pounding surf rolled her hull, which gradually opened, letting in the sea, extinguishing the fires under the ship's boilers and dismounting some of her machinery. Milwaukee was now beyond saving and seemingly in danger of breaking up. Her endangered crew, some 450 men, had to be rescued . (This tale continues on the following pages)

This page features, and provides links to, all the views we have concerning the loss of USS Milwaukee (Cruiser # 21) at Samoa Beach, California, in January 1917.

For more pictures of, or related to, this event, see:

  • USS H-3 salvage attempts, January 1917;
  • Stranding of USS Milwaukee, 13 January 1917 -- Rescue of the ship's crew; and
  • USS Milwaukee (Cruiser # 21) -- Later views of the ship's wreck.

    For other views concerning the loss of USS Milwaukee, see:

  • Stranding of USS H-3 and USS Milwaukee, and salvage of USS H-3, December 1916 - April 1917.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the Online Library's digital images, see: How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions.

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

    Photo #: NH 60652

    Loss of USS Milwaukee, January 1917


    USS Milwaukee (Cruiser # 21) stranded at Samoa Beach, near Eureka, California. She had gone aground on 13 January 1917 while attempting to salvage the grounded submarine H-3.
    This photograph was taken soon after her crew had been brought ashore. Note that her flag is still flying from her mainmast.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 109KB; 740 x 565 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 46150

    Stranding of USS Milwaukee, 13 January 1917


    A Navy officer walking on the beach, with the abandoned wreck of USS Milwaukee (Cruiser # 21) in the background. Photographed on or shortly after 13 January 1917, when the cruiser went aground at Samoa Beach, near Eureka, California.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 122KB; 740 x 595 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 46151

    Stranding of USS Milwaukee, 13 January 1917


    USS Milwaukee (Cruiser # 21) stranded at Samoa Beach, near Eureka, California, soon after she went aground on 13 January 1917. A whaleboat is alongside her port quarter, and a few men are visible on her main deck above the boat.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 88KB; 740 x 560 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 46152

    Stranding of USS Milwaukee, 13 January 1917


    USS Milwaukee (Cruiser # 21) stranded at Samoa Beach, near Eureka, California, on 13 January 1917, probably just after all of her crew had been brought ashore.
    Photographed by Emma B. Freeman, Eureka, California.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 82KB; 740 x 595 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 46153

    Stranding of USS Milwaukee, 13 January 1917


    USS Milwaukee (Cruiser # 21) stranded at Samoa Beach, near Eureka, California, on 13 January 1917, probably just after all of her crew had been brought ashore.
    Photographed from the dunes behind the beach by Emma B. Freeman, Eureka, California.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 68KB; 740 x 590 pixels

     

    For more pictures of, or related to, this event, see:

  • USS H-3 salvage attempts, January 1917;
  • Stranding of USS Milwaukee, 13 January 1917 -- Rescue of the ship's crew; and
  • USS Milwaukee (Cruiser # 21) -- Later views of the ship's wreck.

    For other views concerning the loss of USS Milwaukee, see:

  • Stranding of USS H-3 and USS Milwaukee, and salvage of USS H-3, December 1916 - April 1917.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the Online Library's digital images, see: How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions.


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 31 May 2004
    Text added 13 June 2004