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Photo # NH 85034:  USS Canonicus in British waters, 1918

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

USS Canonicus (ID # 1696), 1918-1919

USS Canonicus, a 7360-ton (displacement) minelayer, was built at Newport News, Virginia, in 1899 as the 4665 gross ton commercial passenger-cargo ship El Cid. She was acquired by the Navy in December 1917 and converted at Brooklyn, New York. Renamed Canonicus, the minelayer was placed in commission in March 1918 and in May steamed across the Atlantic to Inverness, Scotland. During the summer and fall of 1918 she participated in laying the North Sea mine barrage, an anti-submarine barrier intended to limit the German U-Boat threat.

Canonicus returned to the U.S. at the beginning of 1919, less than two months after the end of World War I's fighting. Reconverted to a troop transport and transferred to the Cruiser and Transport Force, she made three voyages from France to the East Coast, bringing home more than four-thousand veterans of the "Great War". USS Canonicus was decommissioned in early August 1919 and turned over to the U.S. Shipping Board for return to her owner, the Southern Pacific Steamship Company.

This page features all the views we have concerning USS Canonicus (ID # 1696).


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 85034

USS Canonicus
(ID # 1696)

Halftone reproduction of a photograph taken in British waters, 1918.
Note her pattern camouflage scheme.

Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1976.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 114KB; 740 x 510 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 102942

USS Canonicus
(ID # 1696)

In a U.S. East Coast port, while employed as a troop transport in 1919.
The original photograph is printed on postal card ("AZO") stock.

Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2005.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 77KB; 740 x 470 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 105866

USS Canonicus
(ID # 1696)

In port in 1919, while serving as a transport.

Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2008.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 99KB; 740 x 535 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 105423

USS Canonicus
(ID # 1696)

In harbor in 1919, while employed as a troop transport.
Printed on postcard ("AZO") stock. See Photo # NH 105423-A for a reproduction of the reverse of the original postcard, featuring typed data on Private Enoch Bleichley, of the 352nd Regiment, who may have been a passenger on this ship.

Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2007.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 52KB; 740 x 465 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 106362

USS Canonicus
(ID # 1696)

Arriving off Newport News, Virginia, with homeward bound troops from France, 10 July 1919.
Panoramic photograph by Holladay, Newport News.
The harbor tug Maren Lee is assisting Canonicus.

Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2008.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 136KB; 2000 x 510 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 51900

USS Canonicus
(ID # 1696)

Ship's officers and crew, photographed at Invergordan, Scotland, in October 1918. Her Commanding Officer, Captain Thomas L. Johnson, is seated in the center of the front row.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 105KB; 740 x 530 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 52819

Mine Squadron One, U.S. Atlantic Fleet


Senior officers of the squadron, photographed on board ship in the North Sea area, September 1918.
Those present are identified in Photo # NH 52819 (complete caption).

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 96KB; 740 x 430 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 52995

Mine Squadron One, U.S. Atlantic Fleet


Senior officers of the squadron, photographed on board ship in the North Sea area, September 1918.
Those present are identified in Photo # NH 52995 (complete caption).

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 88KB; 740 x 495 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 53575

USS Canandaigua
(ID# 1694);
USS Roanoke (ID # 1695);
USS Canonicus (ID # 1696); and
USS Housatonic (ID # 1697)

Sketch of "Rearrangement of Steering Gear" on ships' bridges, made at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia, 23 April 1918.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 81KB; 590 x 765 pixels

 


USS Canonicus is seen distantly in the following Photograph:

Photo #: NH 61101

U.S. Navy Mine Layers


Steaming in line abreast during the laying of the North Sea mine barrage, September 1918.
Analysis of camouflage patterns indicates that these ships are (from front to rear):
USS Roanoke (ID # 1695);
USS Housatonic (ID # 1697);
USS Shawmut (ID # 1255);
USS Canandaigua (ID # 1694);
USS Canonicus (ID # 1696);
with USS Quinnebaug (ID # 1687) and USS Saranac (ID # 1702) in the left and right center distance.
A four-stack British cruiser is in the left distance.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 86KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 


USS Canonicus was present when the following Photograph was taken, but is out of the view to the right:

Photo #: 111-SC-43563

Laying the North Sea Mine Barrage, 1918


U.S. Navy minelayers proceeding to sea in two columns, in Area Number 2 of the North Sea, September 1918.
Ships in the column at left are (from front to rear): Roanoke, Housatonic, Quinnebaug and Baltimore.
Ships in column at right are (from front to rear): Canonicus (out of picture, to right), Canandaigua, Aroostook and Saranac.
Note disruptive "dazzle" camouflage worn by these ships.

Photograph from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

Online Image: 59KB; 740 x 460 pixels

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

 


The ships seen in the following photographs MAY include USS Canonicus:

Photo #: NH 99468

U.S. Navy Transport


Crowded with troops, probably in a French port just before departure for the United States in 1919.
This ship is not USS Ohioan. She is rather one of the four former Morgan Line steamers converted to minelayers during World War I and employed as transports in 1919. These were USS Canandaigua (ID # 1694), USS Roanoke (ID # 1695), USS Canonicus (ID # 1696) and USS Housatonic (ID # 1697).
Photographed from USS Scranton (ID # 3511).

Photograph from the USS Scranton photo album kept by J.D. Bartar, one of her crew members.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 64KB; 740 x 440 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 89508

U.S. Navy mine layers and British warships in a Scottish harbor, 1918


Photographed from on board either USS Shawmut (ID # 1255) or USS Aroostook (1256), with a British light cruiser at left.
Two U.S. mine layers are at right. That nearest the camera is either USS Quinnebaug (ID # 1687) or USS Saranac (ID # 1702). Immediately ahead of her is either USS Housatonic (ID # 1697), USS Canonicus (ID # 1696), USS Roanoke (ID # 1695) or USS Canandaigua (ID # 1694).

Collection of Lieutenant (Junior Grade) A. Alvin Booth, USNRF.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 455 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 107072

Two U.S. Navy Transports at St. Nazaire, France circa April-June 1919


The left-hand ship is USS Huron (ID # 1408). That on the right is one of four former minelayers: USS Canandaigua (ID # 1694), USS Canonicus (ID # 1696), USS Housatonic (ID # 1697) or USS Roanoke (ID # 1695).
Note the rifle-armed sentry in the lower center.
Copied from the Donald R. Cochran album (Lot S-591), page 11.

Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2010.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 124KB; 900 x 640 pixels

 


NOTES:

  • To the best of our knowledge, the pictures referenced here are all in the Public Domain, and can therefore be freely downloaded and used for any purpose.

  • Some images linked from this page bear obsolete credit lines citing the organization name: "Naval Historical Center". Effective 1 December 2008 the name should be cited as: "Naval History and Heritage Command".


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


    Return to Naval History and Heritage Command home page.

    Page made 29 September 2004
    New image added 18 October 2010