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Photo # 80-G-86311: Servicemen on USS James O'Hara learning Arabic before arriving in North Africa, June 1943.

Archive of Older "What's New in the Online Library of Selected Images?" --
Entries posted in April through October 2005


This page features the Online Library's 'What's New?' entries for April through October 2005.

For the more recent entries, and links to previous years' entries, see:

  • What's New in the Online Library of Selected Images.

    For earlier entries from the year 2005, see:

  • What's New in the Online Library of Selected Images? -- Entries posted in January through March 2005.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the Online Library's digital images, see: How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions.


    Photo # NH 41842: View in USS S-4's torpedo room, December 1919 New presentation production in October mainly consisted of World War I era ships, to a great extent the residue of uncompleted projects begun during the spring and summer. While introductory text remains to be written on a few items, the photos and their captions are all in place.

    A major presentation on the USS S-4 (Submarine # 109) leads the way, with (among other things) a fine series of of interior photographs and coverage on her tragic loss in December 1927 and the subsequent salvage operation. Three even older submarines were also added: USS L-5 (Submarine # 44), USS O-6 (Submarine # 67) and USS R-2 (Submarine # 79).

    Photo # NH 103126: 'The Giants of the Sea' -- USS Imperator and USS Leviathan at Hoboken, N.J., 1919 A Really Big (nearly matching the size of the ship) presentation was generated on the huge World War I transport Leviathan (ID # 1326), which held the record as the Navy's largest ship for two and a half decades. As S.S. Leviathan, this German-built (as S.S. Vaterland) passenger liner also the U.S. Flag merchant marine's biggest ship for some thirty years. Her near-sister, Imperator, whose page was done early in 2004, received some new pictures in the course of the Leviathan project.
    Photo # NH 68728-A:  Officers and Crew of USS Pocahontas, circa November 1918Four other "Great War" era troop transports also joined the Online Library during the month, some with multi-page presentations. They include USS Orizaba, which saw service in both World Wars; USS Pocahontas, whose long-running reunion association bequeathed its photo albums to the Naval Historical Center in 1974; USS Saint Louis (of 1898, which was USS Louisville in 1918-1919) -- an expansion and reworking of one of the Online Library's ancient (ie: 1998) productions; and the delivered but never commissioned transport Sol Navis, which had a long subsequent commercial career that ended with her loss, without survivors, during World War II's Battle of the Atlantic.

    Photo # 80-G-86311: Servicemen on USS James O'Hara learning Arabic before arriving in North Africa, June 1943. Speaking of World War II, four other ships of that era were posted, among them the frigate Hutchinson (PF-45), hospital ship Hope (AH-7), and two attack transports: Carteret (APA-70) and James O'Hara (APA-90). The latter's long post-World War II service as a troop transport (T-AP-179) is included.

    We'll wrap up this report with a long list of freshly-prepared World War I era ships. Patrol vessels include the converted yachts Ranger (SP-237) and Sabalo (SP-225), plus seven patrol boats: Desire (SP-786), Dianthus (SP-639), Dicky (SP-231), Dixie III (SP-701), Dodger II (SP-46), Dohema Jr. (SP-612) and Get There (SP-579).
    Logistics ships are represented by a tanker and a "dishonest baker's dozen" of cargo ships. The former is W.L. Steed (ID # 3449), another ship with long commercial service which was a victim of the World War II U-boat campaign. The cargo ships are: Dakotan (ID # 3882), Dochra (ID # 1758), Edgecombe (ID # 3894), Felix Taussig (ID # 2282), Invincible (ID # 3671), Rondo (ID # 2488), Victorious (ID # 3514), West Avenal (ID # 3871), West Carnifax (ID # 3812), West Galeta (ID # 3330) and West Humhaw (ID # 3718).Photo # NH 70466:  S.S. Invincible in 1918.  She served as USS Invincible from October 1918 to April 1919 No, we are not making up those "West" names -- the Navy inherited them from the U.S. Shipping Board, where somebody in the name assignment business appears to have had a sense of humor that matched the bizarre camouflage designs that were common in 1918.
    There are a handful of service types: salvage tugs Rescue (ID # 3209) and Tasco (SP-502) of 1909; barges Derry (ID # 1391) and Diascond (ID # 2385); and the derrick lighter Derrick Barge # 70 (ID # 2635).
    Finally, we have two ships that were considered for Naval service, but not taken up: the freighter Coronado of 1918 and the tanker Georgia of 1908.
    31 October 2005


    Photo # NH 103111-A-KN: 'Souvenir Folder' featuring photographs of and on board USS Agamemnon, circa 1918-1919 Those with long memories may recall the last of the Online Library's "What's New" columns, but everyone else will just have to be satisfied with an assurance that such things were, in fact, provided in the past. With some luck, they will appear regularly in the future.
    Anyway, we have not been completely unproductive since the end of March of "'Aught-five". One new topic joined the front page, providing the beginnings of what may become substantial coverage on "Souvenir Folders", which serve much the same function as picture postcards, while offering many images in a single package. The examples we have received thus far all concern World War I era troop transports.
    Three new people were added to the Online Library population, all of whom had distinguished Navy careers. They are Rear Admiral Hiram Paulding (1797-1878), whose service began before the War of 1812 and extended past the Civil War; Rear Admiral Caspar Goodrich (1847-1925); and Rear Admiral Bradley A. Fiske (1854-1942). The latter two officers were among the Navy's leading intellectual figures during the last years of the 19th and early years of the 20th Centuries. In 1913-1915 Fiske was also the Secretary of the Navy's Aide for Operations, a position that soon became that of Chief of Naval Operations.

    Photo # 80-G-K-12234: USS Consolation off Inchon, Korea, 8 May 1952 Also posted was coverage of four destroyer types named for these officers: USS Paulding (Destroyer # 22), USS Goodrich (DD/DDR-831), USS Fiske (DE-143) and USS Fiske (DD/DDR-842).
    Several other combat ships were also done, including the torpedo boat Talbot (Torpedo Boat # 15); destroyers Israel (Destroyer # 98), Laub (Destroyer # 263), Laub (DD-613) and Stephen Potter (DD-538); and submarines L-3 (Submarine # 42), O-3 (Submarine # 64), R-1 (Submarine # 78) and Seadragon (SS-194).
    Newly added auxiliary ships of the World War II and later eras are: transport Wharton (AP-7); submarine tender Antaeus (AS-21), which later became the hospital ship Rescue (AH-18); hospital ships Haven (AH-12) and Consolation (AH-15); and store ships Karin (AF-33), Athanasia (AF-41), Gordonia (AF-43) and Octavia (AF-46).

    Photo # NH 46460:  Sailor working on USS Niagara's figurehead, circa 1931-1933. "New" World War I era patrol vessels include converted yachts Niagara (SP-136, later PY-9), Nokomis (SP-609, later PY-6) and Noma (SP-131); ex-fishing vessels Davis K. Philips (SP-978) and Delaware (SP-467); and patrol boats Daisy (SP-1186), Daraga (SP-43), Dauntless (SP-1002), Dawn (SP-26), DeGrasse (ID # 1217) and Pomander (SP-702).
    Freshly posted auxiliaries of that era are oiler Alameda (AO-10), cargo ships Defiance (ID # 3327) and Democracy (ID # 2215); and the steam lighter Dana.


    Photo #  NH 53968:  Launching of the U.S. Steam Battery Fulton, 29 October 1814 One 19th Century ship was posted, the steam battery Fulton of 1814, which was also known as "Demologos" and "Fulton the First" and was the Navy's first steam-powered ship. The U.S. Army and the British Navy each gained two ships. The Army vessels served as both transports and hospital ships: transport Agwileon, which was later the hospital ship Shamrock; and hospital ship Dogwood, which became the transport George Washington Carver. The Brits are a pair of cruisers: Devonshire, an armored cruiser of 1904, and the late 1920s heavy cruiser Devonshire.
    Finally, we added eight civilian vessels: "banana boat" Abangarez of 1909; collier Coastwise of 1910; yawl Dawn of 1916; freighter Georgian (previously named Cajacet and Willsolo) of 1920; coastal passenger steamers Allegheny (later American Seafarer) and City of Chattanooga (later American Navigator) of 1923; passenger liner Brazil (originally named Virginia) of 1928; and freighter Lightning of 1942.
    29 September 2005


    This page features the Online Library's 'What's New?' entries for April through October 2005.

    For the more recent entries, and links to previous years' entries, see:

  • What's New in the Online Library of Selected Images.

    For earlier entries from the year 2005, see:

  • What's New in the Online Library of Selected Images? -- Entries posted in January through March 2005.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the Online Library's digital images, see: How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions.


    Return to Online Library listing.

    Page made 31 October 2005