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Photo # NH 56392:  USS Birmingham underway in 1908

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

USS Birmingham (Scout Cruiser # 2, later CL-2), 1908-1930

USS Birmingham, a 3750-ton Chester class scout cruiser, was built at Quincy, Massachusetts. Commissioned in April 1908, she had intermittent active service with the Atlantic Fleet between then and the end of 1913. On 14 November 1910, the aviator Eugene Ely flew a Curtiss airplane from a temporary platform erected over her forecastle, the first airplane flight from a warship. Among her other activities, Birmingham carried the Panama-Pacific Exhibition Commissioners on a tour of South America in October-December 1913.

Early in 1914 Birmingham began service as Atlantic Torpedo Flotilla flagship. She operated off Mexico during the Vera Cruz intervention during April and May 1914, and in 1916 became flagship of the Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet. Once the United States entered World War I in April 1917, Birmingham had patrol duty off the Atlantic Coast. In June and July she crossed the ocean as an escort to the first convoy transporting U.S. troops to Europe. In August 1917 the cruiser returned to European waters to begin a lengthy deployment as flagship of U.S. Navy Forces operating out of Gibraltar. For the next fourteen months, until the 11 November 1918 Armistice stopped the fighting, Birmingham escorted convoys between ports in the United Kingdom, France and Gibraltar. Post-war, she made a brief cruise to the eastern Mediterranean.

In July 1919, some months after her January 1919 homecoming, Birmingham went to San Diego, California, where she served as flagship for the Pacific Fleet's Destroyer Squadrons. While so employed, in July 1920, she was reclassified as a light cruiser, with the hull number CL-2. Duty as flagship of the Special Service Squadron followed in 1922-1923, including operations off Central America and northern South America. USS Birmingham was decommissioned at the beginning of September 1923 and spent the rest of the decade in "Red Lead Row" at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. She was stricken from the list of Naval vessels in January 1930 and sold for scrapping in May of that year.

This page features, and provides links to, selected views concerning USS Birmingham (Scout Cruiser # 2, later CL-2).

For other images related to this ship, see:

  • USS Birmingham (Scout Cruiser # 2, later CL-2) -- Part II
  • Eugene Ely's Flight from USS Birmingham, 14 November 1910.


    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 #: NH 56390

    USS Birmingham
    (Scout Cruiser # 2)

    Running sea trials in March 1908.
    She is flying the flag of her builder, the Fore River Shipbuilding Company of Quincy, Massachusetts, from her mainmast.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 82KB; 740 x 430 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 56392

    USS Birmingham
    (Scout Cruiser # 2)

    Underway in 1908, possibly during trials.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 98KB; 740 x 590 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 101517

    USS Birmingham
    (Scout Cruiser # 2)

    Dressed with flags while at anchor, circa 1909.

    Collection of Chief Quartermaster John Harold.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 67KB; 740 x 450 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 61899

    USS Birmingham
    (Scout Cruiser # 2)

    Off New York City during the 1912 Naval Review.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 74KB; 740 x 460 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 105382

    USS Birmingham
    (Scout Cruiser # 2)

    Firing salutes with her crew manning the rails, accompanied by three "750-ton" type destroyers.
    Photographed by Waterman.
    Birmingham's black paint scheme and structural details, and the white uniforms worn by her crew, indicate that the date of this photograph is mid-1916, when Birmingham was flagship of the Atlantic Fleet's Destroyer Force. Location may well be near Hampton, Virginia, base of Waterman family's photographic business.
    Note what appears to be pattern camouflage (perhaps an experimental scheme) worn by the destroyer on the left.

    Donation of Charles R. Haberlein Jr., 2007.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image size: 70KB; 900 x 570 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 68227

    USS Birmingham
    (Scout Cruiser # 2)

    Moored in a harbor, circa 1918, probably in the Mediterranean area.

    Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 144KB; 740 x 605 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 56393

    USS Birmingham
    (Scout Cruiser # 2)

    In Brest harbor, France, on 15 October 1918.
    During 1917-1918 she was flagship of U.S. Forces at Gibraltar and escorted convoys in the eastern Atlantic.
    Note her "dazzle" camouflage.

    Courtesy of John G. Krieger, 1966-1967.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 50KB; 740 x 475 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98132

    USS Birmingham
    (Scout Cruiser # 2)

    At Boston, Massachusetts, 20 February 1919.
    Photographed by J. Crosby, Naval Photographer, 11 Portland St., Boston, Mass.

    Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Crosby Collection.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 54KB; 740 x 355 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 75717

    USS Birmingham
    (Scout Cruiser # 2)

    In the Middle West Chamber, Gatun Locks, during the passage of the Pacific Fleet through the Panama Canal, 24 July 1919.

    Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Washington, D.C. Collection of Admiral William V. Pratt.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 107KB; 740 x 590 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 56394

    USS Birmingham
    (Scout Cruiser # 2)

    At Seattle, Washington, in September 1919.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 75KB; 740 x 465 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 102784-B

    USS Birmingham
    (Scout Cruiser # 2)

    At anchor in San Diego Harbor, California, circa late 1919 or early 1920, when she was flagship of Destroyer Squadron Four.
    Note the pair of World War I "Overseas Service" chevrons painted on her forward smokestack.
    This image is cropped from Photo # NH 102784.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 75KB; 740 x 415 pixels

     

    For other images related to this ship, see:

  • USS Birmingham (Scout Cruiser # 2, later CL-2) -- Part II
  • Eugene Ely's Flight from USS Birmingham, 14 November 1910.


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


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 23 October 2002
    New image added 17 January 2008