USS Wilkes (TB-35)

The first USS Wilkes (TB-35) was a Blakely-class torpedo boat in the United States Navy.

For other ships with the same name, see USS Wilkes.
USS Wilkes (TB-35), trnning trials before installation of armament, about 1901.
History
United States
Name: Wilkes
Namesake: Rear admiral Charles Wilkes
Builder: Gas Engine & Power Company & Charles L. Seabury Company, Morris Heights, New York
Laid down: 3 June 1899
Launched: 28 September 1901
Sponsored by: Miss Harriet E. Rankin
Commissioned: 18 September 1902
Decommissioned: 14 November 1913
Stricken: 15 November 1913
Fate: sunk as a target, 1914
General characteristics [1]
Class and type: Blakely-class torpedo boat
Displacement: 165 long tons (168 t)[2]
Length: 175 ft (53 m)
Beam: 17 ft 7 in (5.36 m)
Draft: 4 ft 8 in (1.42 m) (mean)[2]
Installed power: not known
Propulsion: not known
Speed: 25.99 kn (29.91 mph; 48.13 km/h) (Speed on Trial)[2]
Complement: 28 officers and enlisted
Armament: 3 × 1-pounder, 3 × 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes

Built in New York

Wilkes was laid down on 3 June 1899 at Morris Heights, New York, by the Gas Engine and Power Company and the Charles L. Seabury & Co.; launched on 28 September 1901; sponsored by Miss Harriet E. Rankin; and commissioned at the Norfolk Navy Yard on 18 September 1902, Lt. (jg.) Dudley Wright Knox in command.

U.S. Navy service

Wilkes spent the bulk of her career in reserve. Soon after her commissioning, she was assigned to the Reserve Torpedo Flotilla based at Norfolk, Virginia. There, she remained until the winter of 1906 and 1907 when she briefly returned to full commission for service with the 3rd Torpedo Flotilla.

On 30 May 1907, she was again placed in reserve with the Reserve Torpedo Flotilla at Norfolk. There, she remained until 23 November 1908 when she was recommissioned and assigned to duty with the Atlantic Torpedo Fleet based at Charleston, South Carolina.

Decommissioning

On 22 December 1909, she went back into reserve, this time at the Charleston Navy Yard. Apparently in commission, in reserve, while at Charleston, Wilkes was decommissioned there on 14 November 1913, and her name was struck from the Navy list on the following day. She was sunk as a target in the summer or fall of 1914.

gollark: I should make this.
gollark: Or a drone, actually, but instead of hunting you it just follows you and makes annoying beepy noises.
gollark: Please make that.
gollark: λασερ
gollark: υεετ

References
  1. "USS Thornton (TB-33)". Navsource.org. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
  2. "Table 10 - Ships on Navy List June 30, 1919". Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office: 714. 1921.

Bibliography
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.