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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Photo #  NH 78128:  USS Nero before World War I.

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

USS Nero (1898-1922, later AC-17).
Previously S.S. Whitgift (British Freighter, 1895).

S.S. Whitgift, a 2925 gross ton (4925 tons displacement) freighter, was built in 1895 at Sunderland, England. She was purchased at San Francisco, California and commissioned as USS Nero in June 1898. Nero was one of two colliers (the other being USS Brutus) acquired for use on the Pacific coast and in convoying ships to Manila during the Spanish-American War. Soon after entering service she departed San Francisco in company with the monitor Monadnock and arrived at Manila in August. The collier returned to Mare Island, California and decommissioned there in January 1899.

Recommissioned for special service only three months later, Nero took deep sea soundings on a voyage between the West Coast and the Far East in 1899 and 1900. Assigned to collier duty between 1900 and 1903, she travelled from the U.S. Pacific seaboard to the Philippines, the U.S. East Coast, South America, Samoa, the Philippines, and back to the East Coast. Nero then served in the Pacific Squadron, the North Atlantic Fleet and the Asiatic Fleet, before starting a comparatively long period of service in the Atlantic Fleet that lasted from 1906 to 1911. In October 1911 the ship departed Norfolk, Virginia and commenced another lengthy period of Pacific Ocean service that lasted until 1917. Between May and November 1912 Nero transported materials and personnel of the 1912 Alaskan Radio Expedition, which built or upgraded Navy radio stations at seven locations in Alaska.

Nero returned to the Atlantic in August 1917 in response to the First World War's shipping requirements. Between October 1917 and February 1919 she was assigned to the Army coal trade, carrying fuel from Wales and Northern Ireland to French ports in support of U.S. Army forces operating on the Western Front. The collier returned to Norfolk in March 1919, served along the East Coast and in the Caribbean until December 1920, and then returned to the Pacific Fleet for a final resupply voyage from Mare Island to Samoa. USS Nero, which had been designated AC-17 in July 1920, was decommissioned in September 1921 and sold for scrapping in July 1922.

This page features, and provides links to, all the views we have concerning USS Nero and S.S. Whitgift.

For other images concerning this ship, see:

  • USS Nero -- 1912 Alaskan Radio Expedition.


    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 102991

    USS Nero
    (1898-1922)

    Fine screen halftone reproduction of a photograph of the ship aground on Block Island, 1 August 1906. Two tugs are standing by.
    The original photograph is printed on a postal card.

    Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2005.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 475 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 78128

    USS Nero
    (1898-1922, later AC-17)

    Photographed prior to World War I.

    Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1973.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 59KB; 740 x 485 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 105433-A

    USS Nero
    (1898-1922, later AC-17)

    At Dutch Harbor, Alaska, during the 1912 Alaskan Radio Expedition.
    Nero made frequent stops here between early June and early September 1912, often to take shelter from storms while erecting a radio station at nearby Unalga.
    This image is cropped from the original print for Photo # NH 105433.

    Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 605 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 92197

    USS Nero
    (1898-1922, later AC-17)

    In a Pacific Coast harbor, before World War I.
    The original photograph is printed on post card ("AZO") stock.

    Collection of Thomas P. Naughton, 1973.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 43KB; 740 x 475 pixels

     


    The following photographs were taken from USS Nero

  • Photo # NH 45956: Monitor USS Monadnock in the Pacific Ocean during her voyage from San Francisco to Manila, 23 June - 16 August 1898.
  • Photo # NH 60659: Same subject.

    For other images concerning this ship, see:

  • USS Nero -- 1912 Alaskan Radio Expedition.


    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 18 May 2008