USS Blakely (TB-27)

The first USS Blakely (Torpedo Boat No. 27/TB-27/Coast Torpedo Boat No. 13) was laid down on 12 January 1899 at South Boston, Massachusetts, by George Lawley & Son and launched on 22 November 1900. Sponsored by Miss Nellie M. White; and commissioned on 27 December 1904, with Lieutenant Charles E. Courtney in command. It was named for Johnston Blakeley, commander of USS Wasp.

For other ships with the same name, see USS Blakely.

USS Blakely (TB-27) underway off Grant's Tomb during the 1909 Hudson-Fulton Celebration
History
United States
Name: Blakely
Namesake: Johnston Blakeley
Ordered: 4 May 1898 authorised
Builder: George Lawley & Son, South Boston, MA
Laid down: 12 January 1899
Launched: 22 November 1900
Commissioned: 27 December 1904
Decommissioned: 8 March 1919
Renamed: Coast Torpedo Boat No. 13, 1 August 1918
Stricken: 31 March 1919
Fate: sold, 10 March 1920
General characteristics [1]
Class and type: Blakely-class torpedo boat
Displacement: 196 long tons (199 t)[2]
Length: 175 ft (53 m)
Beam: 17 ft 8 in (5.38 m)
Draft: 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) (mean)[2]
Installed power:
  • 3 × Normand boilers
  • 3,000 shp (2,200 kW)
Propulsion:
  • vertical triple expansion engines
  • 2 × screw propellers
Speed:
  • 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph)
  • 25.58 knots (47.37 km/h; 29.44 mph) (Speed on Trial)[2]
Complement: 28 officers and enlisted
Armament:

Built in Massachusetts

Blakely completed dock trials at the Boston Navy Yard and then moved to Newport, Rhode Island, where she fitted out with ordnance and electrical equipment at the torpedo station and underwent various tests and inspections.

Pre-war service with the U.S. Navy

Blakely became a unit of the 3rd Torpedo Flotilla, United States Atlantic Fleet. She cruised the Atlantic and gulf coasts of the United States with that organization, engaged in a series of drills, exercises, and port visits. The torpedo boat was placed out of commission, in reserve, at the Norfolk Navy Yard on or about 28 February 1907. She remained inactive until recommissioned on 13 January 1908, Lieutenant Thomas L. Ozburn in command, and, for about five months, resumed active operations with the 3d Torpedo Flotilla. On 1 July 1908, Blakely returned to inactive status with the Reserve Torpedo Flotilla at Norfolk. At some unspecified point in the succeeding months, she was moved to the New York Navy Yard where she was recommissioned on 6 May 1909, Ensign Reuben L. Walker in command. The warship cruised with the Atlantic Torpedo Flotilla for six months. On 9 November 1909, she went back into reserve, this time at Charleston, South Carolina

She remained in reserve, though not necessarily inactive, for a little more than seven years. The first year or so, she spent in Charleston. By 1 July 1911, she had been moved to Newport, Rhode Island, as a unit of the Reserve Torpedo Group. On St. Patrick's Day 1914, this ship, named for a native son of Ireland, was placed in ordinary at the Torpedo Station, Newport, Rhode Island. This suggests that she was assigned to some quasi active duty in support of the Torpedo Station's mission. In May 1916, Blakely, still not in commission, moved to the Naval Station, Narragansett Bay, where she served as a station craft.

World War I service

On 6 April 1917, the day the United States joined the Allies in World War I, Blakely was placed back in commission. Assigned to the Patrol Force and based at New London, Connecticut, she patrolled the waters of the 1st and 2d Naval Districts. In August 1918, her name was canceled and reassigned to a new Wickes-class destroyer then under construction.

Inactivation

For the remainder of her career, the warship was known as Coast Torpedo Boat No. 13. In January 1919, she was ordered to the Philadelphia Navy Yard for inactivation. She was decommissioned for the last time on 8 March 1919, and her name was struck from the Navy list on 7 October 1919. She was sold to the U.S. Rail & Salvage Corp., Newburgh, New York, on 10 March 1920.

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References
  1. "USS Blakely (TB-27)". Navsource.org. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  2. "Table 10 - Ships on Navy List June 30, 1919". Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office: 714. 1921.

Bibliography
  • Sieche, Erwin F. (1990). "Austria-Hungary's Last Visit to the USA". Warship International. XXVII (2): 142–164. ISSN 0043-0374.
  • This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
  • Additional technical data from Gardiner, Robert (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Conway Maritime Press. p. 162. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.
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