Samuel Greene (naval officer)

Greene was born in Cumberland, Maryland, the son of future U.S. Army General George S. Greene. He entered the United States Naval Academy on September 21, 1855, and graduated on June 9, 1859, with the rank of midshipman.{{cite web |url= http://www.history.navy.mil/books/callahan/reg-usn-g.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060623174516/http://www.history.navy.mil/books/callahan/reg-usn-g.htm |url-status= dead |archive-date= June 23, 2006 |title=US Navy Officers: 1778–1900 (G) |work=Naval Historical Center |year=2006 |accessdate=August 8, 2013}} He was stationed on the steam sloop {{USS|Hartford|1858|2}}, which transported John Elliott Ward, the American ambassador to various cities in China to settle American claims.

When the Civil War broke out, the Hartford was ordered to return home. Greene, having been promoted to lieutenant on August 31, 1861, arrived in Philadelphia on December 2, 1861. After a short leave, he volunteered for duty on the Monitor. Greene was appointed executive officer, serving under Commander Lieutenant John L. Worden during its historic four-hour battle at Hampton Roads, Virginia, with the Confederate ironclad warship {{Ship|CSS|Virginia}} on March 9, 1862. During the battle he assumed full command of Monitor when Worden was temporarily blinded by shell fragments from an explosion from one of Virginia{{'}}s broadsides. After the subsequent retreat and assessment of all damage Greene ordered the return to battle and continued engaging the Virginia to a standoff.Davis, 1981, p.132-133Baxter, 1933, p.294 Greene continued to command the Monitor until Thomas O. Selfridge Jr. took command on March 10, 1862.

From April to May 1862 Greene continued to serve as executive officer on Monitor during the Battle of Drewry's Bluff on the James River, Virginia, and later provided naval support for General McClellan's forces on land along that river. Greene was aboard the ship when it foundered in a gale 20 miles off Cape Hatteras on December 31 – January 1, 1863, which Greene survived after being pulled into a lifeboat by the ship's surgeon, Dr. Grenville M. Weeks.Davis, 1981, p.160-164

In 1863 Greene served aboard the gunboat {{USS|Florida|1850|2}} on the blockade of North Carolina, then in 1864–1865 aboard the sloop {{USS|Iroquois|1859|2}}, under the command of Christopher R. P. Rodgers, sailing around South America and across the Pacific to Singapore in search of the Confederate raider {{Ship|CSS|Shenandoah}}.{{cite web |url= http://www.marinersmuseum.org/uss-monitor-center/eyewitness-accounts-samuel-dana-greene |title=Eyewitness Accounts – Samuel Dana Greene |work=Mariners' Museum |year=2013 |accessdate=August 8, 2013}}

Greene was promoted to Lieutenant Commander on August 11, 1865, and served as instructor of mathematics at the Naval Academy from 1866 to 1868.{{cite web |url= http://suvcw.org/mollus/art049.htm |title=Commander Samuel Dana Greene, USN |first=Douglas |last=Niermeyer |work=Military Order Of The Loyal Legion Of The United States |year=2010 |accessdate=August 8, 2013}} From 1868 to 1871 he served in the Pacific Squadron, aboard the sloops {{USS|Ossipee|1861|2}} and {{USS|Saranac|1848|2}}, and the screw steamer {{USS|Pensacola|1859|2}}. He served as the head of the department of astronomy, navigation and surveying at the Naval Academy from 1871 to 1875, receiving promotion to Commander on December 12, 1872. Greene commanded the {{USS|Juniata|1862|2}} and {{USS|Monongahela|1862|2}} between 1875 and 1878, was assistant superintendent of the academy from 1878 to 1882, then commanded the {{USS|Despatch|1873|2}} in 1883–1884.

Greene was serving as the executive officer of the Portsmouth Navy Yard when on December 11, 1884, at the age of 45, he committed suicide at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and was buried in the Juniper Hill Cemetery in Bristol, Rhode Island.Davis, 1981, p. 168

Greene was married twice. First to Mary Willis Dearth (1839-1874) and second to Mary Abby Babbitt (1839-1926). Mary Abby Babbitt was the daughter of Major Jacob Babbitt (1809-1862) of the 7th Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry, who was killed in action at the Battle of Fredericksburg.

Greene had three children by his first wife - Samuel Dana Greene Jr. (1864-1900), who graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1883, Mary Richmond (Greene) Conover (1867-?) and Charles de Boketon Greene (1871-?).

The destroyer {{USS|Greene|DD-266}} (1919–1945) was named for him.

{{portal|American Civil War}}

• Union Navy

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{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=Baxter|first=James Phinney, 3rd|authorlink=James Phinney Baxter III |title=The Introduction of the Ironclad Warship |ref=Baxter |edition=reprint of the 1933 |year=1968 |publisher=Archon Books |location=Hamden, Connecticut |pages=398|isbn=9781557502186|oclc=695838727 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rR95Mi7vVHoC&q=%22Cornelius+Scranton+Bushnell%22 }}
• {{cite book |first=William C. |last=Davis |authorlink=William C. Davis (historian) |title=Duel Between the First Ironclads |ref=Davis81 |publisher=University Press, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State (First Published New York: Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1975) |year=1981 |isbn=0-8071-0868-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/duelbetweenfirst0000davi }}
• {{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/g8/greene.htm}}
• {{NIE|title=Ship|volume=XXI |pages=5–6}}

• {{cite book |first1=John Lorimer |last1=Worden |first2=Dana S. |last2=Greene |first3=H. Ashton |last3=Ramsay |others=Compiled by Lucius E. Chittenden |title=The Monitor and the Merrimac; both sides of the story, told by Lieut. J. L. Worden, U.S.N., Lieut. Greene, U.S.N., of the Monitor, and H. Ashton Ramsay, C.S.N., chief engineer of the Merrimac |publisher=Harper & Brothers |location=New York |date=1912 |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24612/24612-h/24612-h.htm }}
• {{Gutenberg author | id=26623| name=Samuel Dana Greene}}
• {{Internet Archive author |sname=Samuel Dana Greene}}
• {{Librivox author |id=14099}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Greene, Samuel}}

Category:American educators

Category:1839 births

Category:1884 deaths

Category:Union Navy officers

Category:United States Navy officers

Category:Military personnel from Cumberland, Maryland

Category:Suicides in New Hampshire

Category:United States Naval Academy alumni

Category:American expatriates in China

Category:Greene family (Rhode Island)

Category:Burials at Juniper Hill Cemetery