USS Columbia (C-12)
{{Short description|Columbia-class cruiser}}
{{other ships|USS Columbia}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=File:Detroit Photographic Company (1029).jpg |Ship caption=Colorized picture of USS Columbia (C-12), c. 1890s }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United States |Ship flag={{USN flag|1922}} |Ship name=Columbia |Ship namesake=City of Columbia, South Carolina |Ship ordered=30 June 1890 |Ship awarded=19 November 1890 |Ship original cost= $2,725,000 (contract price of hull and machinery) |Ship builder=William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia |Ship yard number=269 |Ship laid down= 30 December 1890 |Ship launched= 26 July 1892 |Ship completed=19 May 1893 |Ship acquired=22 December 1893 |Ship sponsor=Miss Edith Morton |Ship commissioned= 23 April 1894 |Ship decommissioned= 21 August 1919 |Ship out of service= |Ship struck=26 January 1922 |Ship renamed=Old Columbia, 17 November 1921 |Ship reclassified=CA-16, 17 July 1920 |Ship homeport= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship identification=*Hull symbol:C-12
|Ship fate= Sold, 21 June 1922 |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= (as built){{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rXijAAAAMAAJ | title=Ships' Data, U. S. Naval Vessels, 1911- | publisher=US Naval Department | date=1 January 1914 | access-date=4 September 2015 | pages=36–39}}{{cite web | url=http://www.hazegray.org/navhist/cruisers/cruiser1.htm | title=US Cruisers List: Protected Cruisers and Peace Cruisers | publisher=Hazegray.org | date=8 September 1996 | access-date=24 November 2015 | author=Toppan, Andrew}} |Ship class={{sclass|Columbia|cruiser|0}} protected cruiser |Ship displacement=*{{convert|7,350|LT|t|0|lk=on}} (standard)
|Ship length=*{{convert|413|ft|1|in|m|abbr=on}} oa
|Ship beam={{convert|58|ft|2|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draft={{convert|22|ft|7|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship power=*8 × Double-ended boilers, 2 × Single-ended boilers
|Ship propulsion=*3 × vertical triple expansion reciprocating engines
|Ship sail plan=Schooner |Ship speed=*{{convert|23|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship range= |Ship complement=45 officers 338 enlisted men |Ship armament=*1 × 8"/40 caliber gun caliber Mark 5 gun
|Ship armor=*Deck: {{convert|4|in|mm|abbr=on}} (slope)
|Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Ship armament=*3 × {{convert|6|in|mm|abbr=on}}/45 caliber Mark 10 gun
}} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= (1920){{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AEdHAQAAIAAJ| title=Ships' Data, U. S. Naval Vessels | publisher=US Naval Department | date=1 July 1920 | access-date=23 November 2015 | pages=58}} |Ship armament=*3 × {{convert|6|in|mm|abbr=on}}/45 caliber Mark 10 gun
}} |
The fourth USS Columbia (C-12/CA-16) was a protected cruiser in the United States Navy during the Spanish–American War and World War I. She was the lead ship of her class of two cruisers; her sister ship was {{USS|Minneapolis|C-13|3}}. The class was originally designed with three funnels; however, Columbia was built with four and Minneapolis with two. This may have been to make them resemble specific passenger liners.{{cite book |last=Friedman| first=Norman |author-link= Norman Friedman |title=U.S. Cruisers: An Illustrated Design History |publisher=Naval Institute Press | year=1984 | location=Annapolis, Maryland | pages = 39–40 | isbn=0-87021-718-6}}
Columbia was launched 26 July 1892 by William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Company, Philadelphia; sponsored and christened by Miss Edith H. Morton, daughter of Vice President Levi P. Morton;{{cite news |title=Uncle Sam's Darling |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/52849297/ |access-date=12 April 2021 |publisher=Philadelphia Times of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |date=27 July 1892}} and commissioned 23 April 1894, Captain George Watson Sumner in command.{{cite DANFS |url= http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/columbia-iv.html |title= Columbia IV (Cruiser No. 12) |date= 30 June 2015 |access-date= 25 November 2015 }}
Service history
File:USS Columbia in Guantanamo Bay.jpg.]]
File:United States Commerce Destroyer Columbia.jpg
Columbia joined the North Atlantic Squadron, and from 30 July 1894 to 5 January 1895 cruised to protect American interests in the Caribbean. She participated in the intervention in Nicaragua from July to August 1894. She visited Europe in the summer of 1895 and represented the United States at the ceremonial opening of the Kiel Canal in June. Returning to the east coast in August, she operated in the western Atlantic until going in ordinary, in reserve at Philadelphia Navy Yard 13 May 1897.
On 28 April 1896 passenger steamer {{SS|Wyanoke||2}} ({{flag|United States|1891}}) struck the anchored ship at Newport News, Virginia and sank. Wyanoke had 107 passengers and 42 crew on board, of which two passengers and 1 crewman drowned, and one crewman died of injuries in the hospital.{{cite web |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hb1k80&view=1up&seq=37 |page={{#expr:37-6}} |title=Annual report of the Supervising Inspector-general Steamboat-inspection Service, Year ending June 30, 1897 |location=Washington |publisher=Government Printing Office |date=1897 |via=Haithi Trust |access-date=21 March 2020}}
Recommissioned 15 March 1898 for service in the Spanish–American War, Columbia patrolled along the Atlantic coast and in the West Indies until 26 August. She convoyed troops to Puerto Rico and aided in its occupation between July and 14 August. Columbia was decommissioned and placed in reserve at Philadelphia Navy Yard 31 March 1899.
Following recommissioning on 31 August 1902, Columbia served as receiving ship at New York and from 9 November 1903 as a part of the Atlantic Training Squadron. Once more out of commission at Philadelphia between 3 May 1907 and 22 June 1915, the cruiser then joined the Submarine Flotilla as flagship. After cruising between the various Atlantic submarine bases on inspection tours, she was detached 19 April 1917.
Columbia patrolled off the Delaware Breakwater from 21 April 1917 as flagship of Squadron 5, Patrol Force until July when she joined the Cruiser Force as a convoy escort. Between 1 January and 13 November 1918 she made five Atlantic escort voyages, protecting the passage of men and supplies for the American Expeditionary Force in France. On her detachment 7 January 1919, she became flagship of Squadron 2, Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet, operating along the East Coast and in the Caribbean. She was relieved as flagship on 29 May but continued cruising until decommissioned at Philadelphia Navy Yard 29 June 1921.
Reclassified CA-16 on 17 July 1920, she was renamed Old Columbia 17 November 1921, and sold 26 January 1922.
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Awards
- Sampson Medal
- Navy Expeditionary Medal
- Spanish Campaign Medal
- Cuban Pacification Medal
- World War I Victory Medal with "Atlantic Fleet" clasp
References
{{Reflist}}
{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/columbia-iv.html}}
- {{cite book|last1=Chesneau|first1=Roger|last2=Kolesnik|first2=Eugene M|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905|year=1979|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London|isbn=0-85177-133-5}}
External links
{{Commons category-inline|USS Columbia (C-12)|USS Columbia (C-12)}}
- {{navsource|04/c12/c12|USS Columbia}}
- [https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/c/columbia-iv.html Naval Historical Center: USS Columbia]
{{Columbia class cruiser}}
{{WWI US ships}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Columbia (C-12)}}
Category:Protected cruisers of the United States Navy
Category:Columbia-class cruisers
Category:Spanish–American War cruisers of the United States
Category:World War I cruisers of the United States