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

Photo # NH 92017:  Commodore John W. Philip, USN.  Photographed circa 1898-1899

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- PEOPLE -- UNITED STATES --

Rear Admiral John W. Philip, USN, (1840-1900)

John Woodward Philip was born in Kinderhook, New York, on 26 August 1840. He was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy in September 1856, graduated in June 1861 and spent the next year on Civil War service in the Gulf of Mexico as an officer of the sailing warship Marion. During the summer of 1862 Lieutenant Philip was assigned to the gunboat Sonoma, then was Executive Officer of the gunboat Chippewa off South Carolina and was wounded in action in July 1863. He finished his active Civil War service in the steam sloop Pawnee and the monitor Montauk, also in South Carolina waters.

In 1865-1871 Philip, who was promoted to Lieutenant Commander in July 1866, was Executive Officer of the steam sloops Wachusett and Hartford in the Far East and Richmond in European waters. He returned to the Asiatic Squadron in 1872 as Executive officer of Hartford and commanded the gunboat Monocacy in 1873-1874. He received a leave of absence during the next two years to command a Pacific mail steamer and reached the rank of Commander during that time. From 1876 into 1883, Philip commanded the gunboat Adams and led the Earth-circling Woodruff Scientific Expedition. During the next seven years he was Lighthouse Inspector at San Francisco, California, Commanding Officer of the receiving ship Independence at the Mare Island Navy Yard, and a member of the Board of Inspection and Survey. He was promoted to Captain in March 1889.

In the first half of the 1890s command of the cruisers Atlanta and New York were among Captain Philip's assignments. After serving as Captain of the Yard at the Boston Navy Yard in 1894-1897 he became Commanding Officer of the battleship Texas, in which he participated in the capture of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the Battle of Santiago during the Spanish-American War. His distinguished war service produced advancement to Commodore in August 1898, and he then was given command of one unit of the North Atlantic Squadron. From January 1899 he was Commandant of the New York Navy Yard and was promoted to Rear Admiral in March of that year. Rear Admiral John W. Philip died at New York on 30 June 1900.

The U.S. Navy has named two destroyers in honor of Rear Admiral John W. Philip: USS Philip (Destroyer # 76, later DD-76), 1918-1940; and USS Philip (DD-498, later DDE-498), 1942-1971.

This page features all the views we have of John W. Philip.


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 47324

Lieutenant Commander John W. Philip, USN


Photograph taken circa 1866-1867, at about the time he was serving in USS Wachusett.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 107KB; 595 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 79248

Captain John W. Philip, USN


Halftone reproduction of a photograph, published in "Officers of the Army and Navy Who Served in the Civil War", 1892.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 146KB; 565 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 72749

Captain John W. Philip, USN


Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken by Gutekunst, circa 1898. He commanded USS Texas during the Spanish-American War.

Copied from "Harper's Weekly", Volume 42.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 95KB; 435 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 90429-KN (color)

USS Texas (1895-1911)

Colored lithograph, based on a photograph by A. Loeffler, published in the "Boston Sunday Herald", 19 June 1898.
It features information on the ship and a vignette photograph of her Commanding Officer, Captain John W. Philip, USN.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 143KB; 740 x 530 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 92017

Commodore John W. Philip, USN


Photograph taken circa 1898-1899.

Donation of Mrs. Mary F. Philip, 1969.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 93KB; 495 x 765 pixels

 


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


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Page made 11 July 2003