USS Oregon (BB-3)

USS Oregon (BB-3) was a pre-dreadnought of the United States Navy. Her construction was authorized on 30 June 1890, and the contract to build her was awarded to Union Iron Works of San Francisco, California on 19 November 1890. Her keel was laid exactly one year later. She was launched on 26 October 1893, sponsored by Miss Daisy Ainsworth, delivered to the Navy on 26 June 1896, and commissioned on 15 July 1896 with Captain H.L. Howison in command.

Oregon served for a short time with the Pacific Squadron before being ordered on a voyage around South America to the East Coast in March 1898 in preparation for war with Spain. She departed from San Francisco on 19 March, and reached Jupiter Inlet 66 days later, a journey of 14,000 nautical miles (26,000 km; 16,000 mi). This was considered a remarkable achievement at the time. The journey popularized the ship with the American public and demonstrated the need for a shorter route, which led to construction of the Panama Canal. After completing her journey Oregon was ordered to join the blockade at Santiago as part of the North Atlantic Squadron under Rear Admiral Sampson. She took part in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba, where she and the cruiser USS Brooklyn (CA-3) were the only ships fast enough to chase down the Spanish cruiser Cristóbal Colón, forcing its surrender. Around this time she received the nickname "Bulldog of the Navy", most likely because of her high bow wave—known as "having a bone in her teeth" in nautical slang—and perseverance during the cruise around South America and the battle of Santiago.

After the war Oregon was refitted and sent back to the Pacific. She served for a year in the Philippines during the Philippine–American War and then spent a year in China at Wusong during the Boxer Rebellion before returning to the United States for an overhaul. In March 1903 Oregon returned to Asiatic waters and stayed there for three years, decommissioning in April 1906. Oregon was recommissioned in August 1911, but saw little activity and was officially placed on reserve status in 1914. After the United States joined World War I in 1917 Oregon acted as one of the escorts for transport ships during the Siberian Intervention. In October 1919, she was decommissioned for the final time. As a result of the Washington Naval Treaty, Oregon was declared "incapable of further warlike service" in January 1924. In June 1925 she was loaned to the State of Oregon, who used her as a floating monument and museum in Portland.

In February 1941, Oregon was redesignated IX–22. Due to the outbreak of World War II it was decided that the scrap value of the ship was more important than her historical value, so she was sold. Her stripped hulk was later returned to the Navy and used as an ammunition barge during the battle of Guam, where she remained for several years. USCGC Tupelo (WLB-303) assisted towing Oregon to Guam. During a typhoon in November 1948, she broke loose and drifted out to sea. She was located 500 miles southeast of Guam and towed back. She was sold on 15 March 1956 and scrapped in Japan.

Design and construction
Oregon was constructed from a modified version of a design drawn up by a policy board in 1889 for a short-range battleship. The original design was part of an ambitious naval construction plan to build 33 battleships and 167 smaller ships. The United States Congress saw the plan as an attempt to end the U.S. policy of isolationism and did not approve it, but a year later approved funding for three coast defense battleships, which would become Oregon and her sister ships USS Indiana (BB-1) and USS Massachusetts (BB-2). The ships were limited to coastal defense due to their moderate endurance, relatively small displacement and low freeboard, or distance from the deck to the water, which limited seagoing capability. They were however heavily armed and armored; Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships describes their design as "attempting too much on a very limited displacement."

Construction of the ships was authorized on 30 June 1890 and the contracts for Indiana and Massachusetts were awarded to William Cramp & Sons in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They also offered to build Oregon, but the Senate specified one of the ships had to be built on the West Coast of the United States. Therefore the contract for Oregon—not including guns and armor—was awarded to Union Iron Works in San Francisco, California for $ 3,180,000. The total cost of the ship was over twice as high, approximately $6,500,000. Her keel was laid down on 19 November 1891 and she was launched two years later on 26 October 1893, a ceremony attended by thousands of people. The construction was slowed due to delays in armor deliveries, so the ship was not completed until March 1896. Her sea trial was on 14 May 1896, during which she achieved a speed of 16.8 kn, a significant improvement over the design speed of 15 kn and superior to her sister ships.

Journey around South America


Oregon was commissioned on 16 July 1896 under the command of Captain H.L. Howison as the first United States battleship on the Pacific Coast. In the winter of 1897–1898 she was put in drydock where bilge keels were installed to improve her stability. She left dock on 16 February 1898 after receiving news that the USS Maine (ACR-1) had blown up in Havana harbor. While she went to San Francisco to load ammunition, relations between Spain and the United States rapidly deteriorated. In San Francisco the captain fell ill and was replaced by Captain Charles Edgar Clark. Because of the impending threat of war Oregon was ordered to reinforce the North Atlantic Squadron on the East Coast. To do so the ship would have to make a journey of roughly 14000 nmi around South America.

On 19 March Oregon started on the first leg of her journey, departing from San Francisco and steaming to Callao, Peru. She arrived in Callao on 4 April and replenished her coal. Her next stop would have been Valparaíso, Chile, but Clark decided to press on. Oregon entered the Strait of Magellan on 16 April, where she encountered a severe storm. She was forced to anchor on a rocky shelf during the night and proceed the next day through the narrow passage and to Punta Arenas, Chile. While refueling she was joined by the gunboat USS Marietta (PG-15), which was also sailing to the East Coast. The ships left Punta Arenas together and steamed on to Rio de Janeiro, where they arrived on 30 April and heard the United States and Spain were now officially at war. Oregon stopped very briefly in Salvador, Brazil, and then proceeded to Barbados for a final coal resupply. She arrived off the Florida coast on 24 May, completing a 13675 nmi mile journey in 66 days, a remarkable achievement at the time.

The Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships describes the effect of the journey on the American public and government as follows: "On one hand the feat had demonstrated the many capabilities of a heavy battleship in all conditions of wind and sea. On the other it swept away all opposition for the construction of the Panama Canal, for it was then made clear that the country could not afford to take two months to send warships from one coast to the other each time an emergency arose." The extensive press coverage of the journey also increased the popularity of the ship with the American public.

Spanish–American War


Oregon proceeded to the naval base at Key West, where she was attached to the North Atlantic Squadron under Rear Admiral William T. Sampson. They had just received word that Commodore Winfield Scott Schley's Flying Squadron had found the Spanish fleet and was blockading them in the port of Santiago de Cuba. Sampson reinforced the blockade on 1 June and assumed overall command.

In an attempt to break the stalemate, it was decided to attack Santiago from land. An expeditionary force, under the command of Major General William Rufus Shafter, landed east of the city and attacked it on 1 July. The Spanish commander, Admiral Pascual Cervera y Topete, saw that his situation was desperate and attempted to break through the blockade on 3 July 1898, resulting in the battle of Santiago de Cuba. The cruisers USS New Orleans (CL-22) and USS Newark (C-1) and battleship USS Massachusetts (BB-2) had left the day before to load coal in Guantanamo Bay. Admiral Sampson's flagship, the cruiser USS New York (ACR-2), had also sailed east earlier that morning for a meeting with General Shafter, leaving Commodore Schley in command. This left the blockade weakened and unbalanced on the day of the battle, as three modern battleships (Oregon, USS Indiana (BB-1) and USS Iowa (BB-4)) and the armed yacht USS Gloucester (1891) guarded the east, while the west was only defended by the second-class battleship USS Texas (1892), cruiser USS Brooklyn (CA-3) and armed yacht USS Vixen (PY-4).

When the Spanish fleet steamed out of the harbor at 9:00 on 3 July, they immediately turned westwards and tried to outrun the blockade ships. Oregon took the lead in the ensuing chase as she was the only large American ship which had good steam pressure when the battle began. The cruiser Brooklyn had uncoupled two of her four engines, but could still achieve a maximum speed of 17 kn and was right behind her. Cervera's flagship, the SPANISH CRUISER Infanta Maria Teresa, took heavy damage and Cervera ordered her driven ashore at 10:15 to prevent her from sinking. SPANISH CRUISER Almirante Oquendo shared her fate 15 minutes later and SPANISH CRUISER Vizcaya had to beach herself at 11:15. Only the SPANISH CRUISER Cristóbal Colón, which had a 6 nmi lead at that point, was still running westward. She was trapped inshore of the American vessels and would need to make a large detour around Cape Cruz 60 nmi westward. Schley ordered Oregon to keep up the chase and directed the Brooklyn directly to the point of the cape. The American ships were slowly catching up and started firing when Cristóbal Colón came within range of their forward guns. Cristóbal Colon—who was ordered to Cuba before her main guns could be installed—had nothing to return fire with. She struck her flag at 13:20 and was scuttled in the mouth of Tarquino River to prevent capture by the Americans.

The battle of Santiago de Cuba was a complete victory for the United States and left Spain without a navy. Santiago capitulated on 17 July and the war itself ended less than a month later on 12 August. Oregon went to New York for a refit and departed for the Pacific in October 1898 under the command of her new Captain Albert S. Barker. By now she had received the nickname "Bulldog of the Navy", most likely because of her high bow wave—known as "having a bone in her teeth" in nautical slang—and perseverance during the cruise around South America and the battle of Santiago.

Asiatic Station
After the war the United States annexed the Spanish colonies of Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. However, in the Philippines revolutionary forces under Emilio Aguinaldo had ousted the Spanish colonial government, declared independence and established the First Philippine Republic. The United States did not recognize the republic, which led to the Philippine–American War. Oregon was sent to the Philippines to be used for gunboat diplomacy and arrived in Manila on 18 March 1899. Over the next year she functioned as a station ship, took part in the capture of Vigan, and performed blockades. She left the Philippines on 13 February 1900 and cruised in Japanese waters for a few months until heading for Hong Kong in May. She then left Hong Kong on 23 June for Taku, China to take part in the Boxer Rebellion, but grounded on a rock near the Changshan Islands on 28 June. She took significant damage and a forward compartment was flooded. After several days she was successfully re-floated and headed towards Kure, Japan, where she arrive on 17 July and was put into drydock for repairs.

On 29 August she steamed again for China, this time to serve as a station ship at Woosung, the port town of Shangai. She stayed there until 5 May 1901, when she departed for the United States to be overhauled in the Puget Sound Navy Yard. Extensive repairs were made to her bottom and deck, to repair damage caused by her grounding in June 1900. She stayed in the navy yard for over a year and left for San Francisco on 13 September 1902. She then returned to the far east, arriving in Hong Kong on 18 March 1903. From there she returned to Woosung, where she helped quell a mutiny on a civilian ship. She remained in Asiatic waters for the next three years to support United States interests there. During that time she visited various ports in China, Japan and the Philippines and went to Honolulu during an Asiatic Fleet winter cruise. Early 1906 she was ordered back to United States to be modernized, for which a budget of a million dollar was approved (adjusted for inflation, approximately $23 million in 2010 dollars). She officially decommissioned on 27 April 1906 in the Puget Sound navy yard.

Second Commission
In 1911 a reserve fleet on the Pacific coast was formed, for which Oregon recommissioned on 29 August 1911 She remained in reserve until October, when she sailed to San Diego. The following years were ones of relative inactivity for the aging veteran, as she operated out of West Coast ports. On 9 April 1913, she was placed in ordinary at Bremerton, Washington and on 16 September 1914 went into a reserve status, although she remained in commission. On 2 January 1915, she was again in full commission and sailed to San Francisco for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. The ship visited Portland for the Rose Festival in 1916, arriving on 6 June. The sailors wrote the Portland mayor on 12 June, especially thanking the Portland Railway & Light streetcar company for giving the sailors free rides.

From 11 February 1916 – 7 April 1917, she was placed in commission in reserve, this time at San Francisco. Returned to full commission again on the latter date, Oregon remained first on the West Coast, then acted as one of the escorts for transports of the Siberian Intervention. On 12 June 1919 she was decommissioned at Bremerton. From 21 August – 4 October, she was recommissioned briefly and was the reviewing ship for President of the United States Woodrow Wilson during the arrival of the Pacific Fleet at Seattle.

Inter-war period
With the adoption of ship classification symbols on 17 July 1920, Oregon was redesignated BB-3.

In 1921, a movement was begun to preserve the battleship as an object of historic and sentimental interest, and to lay her up permanently at some port in the state of Oregon.

In accordance with the Washington Naval Treaty, Oregon was rendered incapable of further warlike service on 4 January 1924, and was retained on the Naval Vessel Register as a naval relic with a classification of "unclassified". In June 1925, she was loaned to the state of Oregon, restored, and moored at Portland, Oregon, as a floating monument and museum.

On 17 February 1941, when identifying numbers were assigned to unclassified vessels, Oregon was redesignated IX-22.

Fate
With the outbreak of World War II, it was deemed that the ship should be scrapped. Accordingly, she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 2 November 1942 and sold on 7 December. On that day, one year after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a parade commemorating the ship marched through the streets of downtown Portland. Congressman Lyndon B. Johnson delivered the keynote speech, and the front page of The Oregonian included a fifteen-stanza ode to the ship by Ben Hur Lampman. The poem ended:

"The gray, gray mists where once she lay —

(Ah but her name is pride!)

She loosed her moorings and bore away

To serve again in a thunderous day —

The Oregon sails with the tide!"

She was sold for $35,000 and towed to Kalama, Washington in March 1943 for dismantling. The scrap company intended on using the scrap for a barge, hoping to sell it for $150,000, but the War Shipping Administration wanted it. The ownership of the barge went to the United States Court of Claims, was reinstated by the military and towed to Guam to be used as a munitions barge during the Battle of Guam.

The hulk of the old battleship remained at Guam for several years. During a typhoon on 14–15 November 1948, she broke her moorings and drifted out to sea. On 8 December 1948, she was located by search planes 500 mi southeast of Guam and towed back. She was sold for $208,000 on 15 March 1956 to the Massey Supply Corporation, resold to the Iwai Sanggo Company, and finally towed to Kawasaki, Japan, and scrapped.

Surviving pieces


Her mast survives as a memorial located in Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland, Oregon. On 4 July 1976, a time capsule was sealed in the base of the memorial. The time capsule is scheduled to be opened on 5 July 2076.

Oregon's two funnels were preserved for a time at a separate location, in Portland's Liberty Ship Memorial Park. In 2006, the funnels were put into storage and the park (always on private property) became part of the Waterfront Pearl condominium development.

During the dismantling of the ship during World War II, small 3" by 3" sections of the ship's wooden decking and interior were used as incentives for selling war bonds. Purchase of a certain number of bonds would allow the buyer to claim a small piece of the ship. This program was highly successful and resulted in a large number of bonds being sold in the Portland area. Other items from the ship's interior were also auctioned for war bonds at this time, such as the pool table from the officers' mess.