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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 Harding (Destroyer # 91, later DD-91), 1919-1936
USS Harding, a 1060-ton Little class destroyer,
was built at San Francisco, California. Commissioned in January
1919, she steamed to the Atlantic Coast during February and, later
in that month, escorted President Woodrow Wilson, embarked in
USS George Washington,
into Boston Harbor as he returned from peace negotiations in France.
During March and April Harding participated in fleet exercises
off Cuba and in May she served as a guide and lifeguard ship during
the attempt of the "NC" seaplanes to fly across the
Atlantic, rendering assistance to the NC-1 after it was
forced down near the Azores. Afterwards, the destroyer visited
Brest, France, before returning to the U.S.
Following training operations off the East Coast, in late 1919
Harding entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard to be converted
to a seaplane tender. In June 1920, soon after this work was completed,
she was sent to Vera Cruz, Mexico, with a cargo of medical supplies
needed there to help fight an outbreak of the plague. For the
rest of the year, and into 1921, Harding supported aviation
activities at Pensacola, Florida, and in the Caribbean. In June
and July 1921 she took part in bombing tests against former German
warships. The following year was spent in Atlantic coastal waters.
USS Harding was decommissioned at the beginning of July
1922 and laid up at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. She was stricken
from the list of Navy ships in January 1936 and sold for scrapping
in September of that year.
This page features all the views we have concerning USS
Harding (Destroyer # 91, later DD-91).
Click on the small photograph to prompt
a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: NH 103073
USS Harding (Destroyer # 91)
At Port au Prince, Haiti, 1919.
The original image is printed on postal card ("AZO")
stock.
Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2005.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 60KB; 740 x 475 pixels |
![](../../images/i03000/i03073t.jpg) |
Photo #: NH 53629
USS Harding (DD-91)
In Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, circa 1920-1921.
She has been converted to a seaplane tender, with the aviation
insignia painted on her forward smokestack, but still retains
at least her forward torpedo tubes.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 66KB; 740 x 585 pixels |
![](../../images/h53000/h53629t.jpg) |
Photo #: NH 72872
Trans-Atlantic Flight of the "NC" Aircraft, May 1919
Seaplane NC-1 down at sea after her forced landing, with USS
Harding (Destroyer # 91) coming up to render assistance,
May 1919.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 66KB; 740 x 440 pixels |
![](../../images/h72000/h72872t.jpg) |
Photo #: NH 79596
Trans-Atlantic Flight of the "NC" Aircraft, May 1919
USS Gridley (Destroyer # 92) arrives on the scene of the
foundering seaplane NC-1, as seen from USS Harding (Destroyer
# 91), May 1919. A whaleboat from Harding is standing
by the disabled airplane.
Photographed by Jim Dan Hill.
Donation of Major General Jim Dan Hill, U.S. Army (Retired),
1964.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 55KB; 740 x 440 pixels |
![](../../images/h79000/h79596t.jpg) |
Photo #: NH 79595
Navy/Curtiss NC-3 seaplane
At Ponta Delgada, Azores, after taxiing there following her forced
landing 200 miles at sea during the May 1919 trans-Atlantic flight
of the "NC" flying boats.
Photographed by Jim Dan Hill from on board USS Harding
(Destroyer # 91).
Donation of Major General Jim Dan Hill, U.S. Army (Retired),
1964.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 73KB; 740 x 450 pixels |
![](../../images/h79000/h79595t.jpg) |
Photo #: NH 95799
Trans-Atlantic Flight of the "NC" Aircraft, May 1919
Diagram of the sixth, and final, leg of the flight of the NC-4
aircraft, from Lisbon, Portugal, to Plymouth, England, during
30-31 May 1919. It also shows the positions of the ten U.S. Navy
destroyers stationed along the way.
Printed by the Matthews-Northrup Works, Buffalo, New York.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 142KB; 485 x 925 pixels |
![](../../images/h95000/h95799t.jpg) |
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Page made 29 January 2006