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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --
USS Columbia (AG-9), 1921-1922.
Originally Great Northern (ID # 4569, later AG-9)
In August 1921 the Navy reacquired the Army Transport Great Northern.
Built in 1915 as a commercial
passenger steamer, she served in the Navy during and immediately
after World War I as the troop transport Great Northern. Now she received a new role, as administrative flagship for the U.S. Atlantic Fleet (soon rechristened simply "U.S. Fleet"). Commissioned
as USS Great Northern (AG-9), she carried passengers from
California to the Caribbean and the East Coast before embarking
the Fleet's commander, Admiral Hilary P. Jones, and his staff
in mid-October 1921. Renamed Columbia a month later, she
accompanied the fleet in U.S. and Cuban waters until late February 1922. After steaming north to Chester, Pennsylvania, she was decommissioned in early March and transferred to the U.S. Shipping Board. The ship subsequently had a long commercial career and during World War II again operated as an Army transport.
USS Columbia's brief service represents an early effort
to provide major Naval forces with specialized flagships. This
would remove a fleet's large administrative staff from already
crowded warships, provide more space for supervisory and planning
functions, isolate delicate communications gear from gunfire shock
and battle damage risks, and free the combatants for their primary
fighting duties. The experiment was apparently about two decades premature. The notion resurfaced, with far more lasting results, in the form of the World War II amphibious force flagship (AGC) and the postwar tactical command ships (CLC
and CBC). Under the designations LCC and AGF (the latter rather closer in concept to Columbia's purpose), the U.S. Navy's specialized flagships continue active employment into the Twenty-first century.
This page features, and provides links to, all the views
we have concerning USS Columbia (AG-9).
For other images related to this ship, see:
USS Great Northern
(ID # 4569, later AG-9), 1917-1919 and 1921-1922;
USAT
Great Northern (1919-1921) and USAT George S. Simonds
(1942-1946); and
S.S. Great
Northern and S.S. H.F. Alexander.
Click on the small photograph to prompt
a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: NH 55295
USS Columbia (AG-9)
At Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, dressed with flags for George Washington's
Birthday, 22 February 1922.
This ship served as USS Great Northern in 1917-1919.
Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation -- Collection of
Admiral Hilary P. Jones.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 86KB; 740 x 510 pixels |
|
Photo #: NH 83085
USS Columbia (AG-9)
In harbor, circa 1922, while serving as administrative flagship
for the Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet, Admiral Hilary P. Jones.
Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation -- Collection of
Admiral Hilary P. Jones.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 50KB; 740 x 535 pixels |
|
Photo #: NH 83740
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
View of the harbor, with battleships, destroyers and auxiliaries
of the U.S. Fleet present, circa 1922.
Ship in center is USS Vestal (AR-4). In the right distance
is USS Columbia (AG-9), the Fleet's administrative flagship.
Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation -- Collection of
Admiral Hilary P. Jones.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 112KB; 900 x 715 pixels |
|
Photo #: NH 83088
Admiral Hilary P. Jones, USN,
Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet
On board his administrative flagship, USS Columbia (AG-9),
circa 1922.
Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation -- Collection of
Admiral Hilary P. Jones.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 60KB; 430 x 765 pixels |
|
Photo #: NH 83749
U.S. Fleet staff officers
In the ward room of the Fleet's administrative flagship, USS
Columbia (AG-9), circa 1922. Those present include (in
no particular order):
Commander Benjamin Dutton, Jr.;
Commander Edgar G. Oberlin;
Lieutenant Commander William S. Farber;
Lieutenant Commander Jules James;
Lieutenant Tunis A.M. Craven;
Lieutenant Andrew R. Mack;
Lieutenant Robert L. Porter, Jr.;
Captain Charles E. Riggs (Medical Corps);
Captain George Brown, Jr. (Supply Corps);
Commander Robert B. Hilliard (Construction Corps);
Captain Bower R. Patrick (Chaplain Corps); and
Lieutenant Colonel John W. Wadleigh, USMC.
Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation -- Collection of
Admiral Hilary P. Jones.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 77KB; 740 x 590 pixels |
|
For other images related to this ship, see:
USS Great Northern
(ID # 4569, later AG-9), 1917-1919 and 1921-1922;
USAT
Great Northern (1919-1921) and USAT George S. Simonds
(1942-1946); and
S.S. Great
Northern and S.S. H.F. Alexander.
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Historical Center home page.
Page made 30 January 2006