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Posted on 12/28/2004 9:53:04 PM PST by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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The USS Memphis was a large armoured cruiser of 18,000 tons, originally named the Tennessee, and launched on 3 December 1904. Her boilers were coal-fired and she had two reciprocating engines which gave her a speed of 23 knots. Her main armament consisted of four ten-inch guns in twin turrets, and when she was commissioned these guns could outrange those of any battleship in existence. Her subsidiary armament included 16 six-inch and 22 three-inch guns.  She was renamed Memphis in 1916 to release the name Tennessee for a battleship (BB43) which was then under construction. Many of the dock workers thought it bad luck to change the name and the idea spread to the crew, but few took it really seriously. Her commanding officer was Captain Edward J. Beach, who had earlier commanded Memphis' sister ship, the cruiser Washington. Shortly after her change of name Memphis sailed from Hampton Roads for the harbour of San Domingo. San Domingo was capital of the Caribbean Island of the same name (now the Dominican Republic). The island was in formal terms an independent state, but the government was unstable and the United States Government deemed it advisable to station Marines there to look after US interests. The Memphis was sent there to support the Marines and more generally to act as guardship. She was also flagship to the senior officer, Admiral Pond. San Domingo harbour is a very exposed anchorage, lying open to the south and east. Neither Admiral Pond nor Captain Beach much liked the anchorage, but they had to make the best of it, as Memphis was likely to be stationed there for a long time. As it was August and the hurricane season was almost upon them Captain Beach proposed to keep four boilers alight at all times to enable the ship to get out of harbour quickly if a hurricane warning should be received. However, the US Navy was in the middle of one of its periodic bouts of economising, and there was much emphasis on saving fuel costs. The Admiral therefore told Captain Beach to keep only two boilers alight (the minimum needed to run the auxiliary machinery) but to keep four other boilers ready to be lit at a moment's notice.  This arrangement was to be put to the test on the evening of 22 August. The weather started to deteriorate and the barometer fell alarmingly. Captain Beach thought that a hurricane was approaching, so he ordered the additional four boilers to be lit and all arrangements to be made for getting underway. The Admiral was entertaining the the US Ambassador. There was to have been a film show after dinner, but this was cancelled, the boats were hoisted and the Ambassador was obliged to spend the night on board. However, the hurricane did not materialise. Nonetheless the situation had provided good practice. Moreover, the preparations for the anticipated hurricane had demonstrated that steam could be raised in 40 minutes. This greatly reassured the Captain, as he expected to have much more than 40 minutes warning of any future hurricane. All was peaceful for another week. On Tuesday 29 August the day dawned fine with a light northeasterly breeze. The Admiral and Captain Beach had been invited ashore for an afternoon concert in the Cathedral but the Captain felt he had too much work to do aboard the Memphis. Admiral Pond and two aides went ashore and were met by the US consul. Memphis was as usual anchored in some 55 feet of water, with the gunboat USS Castine also anchored nearby. At 13.00 the cruiser put ahore a recreation party, consisting largely of the ship's baseball team. The party proceeded in one of the ship's boats to a point half a mile upstream in the Ozama River - near to Fort Ozama where the US Marines were billeted.  The first warning of an approaching storm was voiced by the cruiser's Executive Officer, Lt-Commander Williams. One of the ship's dinghies had capsized and he was supervising the operation of re-hoisting it when he noticed that the ship was rolling more than usual. Memphis often rolled in the afternoons when the wind got up, but he noticed that there was no wind. He therefore went below to inform the Captain. The Executive Officer was unhappy about the rising swell and told Captain Beach that he had sent two boats ashore to pick up the recreation party. The CO of the gunboat Castine - Commander Kenneth Bennett - was visiting the Captain, having come aboard Memphis for dental treatment. The three officers went on deck to assess the situation. They saw that the cruiser and the much smaller (1,600 ton) Castine were now rolling very heavily, and they did not like what they saw. Captain Beach arranged for Commander Bennett to return to Castine immediately in a Memphis boat. He also took a long look at the lee shore and could see clearly the surf breaking on the rocks. Turning to look to seaward he could see long waves rolling into the harbour from the east. This was enough to worry him, and he therefore sent a message to the Chief Engineer to raise steam in the four boilers as fast as possible. He also told Williams to make all preparations for sea and to hoist all boats. One boat had alrady gone inshore for the recreation party and a second was on its way, but the swell was rising so quickly that the Captain decided to recall this boat. Before the recall could be signalled the boat had got through the breakers near the shore and was entering the mouth of the Ozama, so the recall was in fact never made. Beach then sent a signal to the officer commanding the Marine garrison to hold both boats and to keep the party ashore for the time being.
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Good afternoon Aeronaut.
Good afternoon EGC. Overcast and in the mid 40's here.
Good afternoon Mayor.
Good luck.
Go Army! Neat flag-o-gram.
The electricians were a no-show today. Grrrr.
That is sooo true.
Good afternoon feather.
Your funny Sam!
Heck, I do that with the people I'm compatibale with. ;-)
Good afternoon shield.
Great images, thanks.
Wow. Sounds like your project went smoothly.
You're welcome young lady. . . thanks for the updates on the Wild Bird Center. If I have only one complaint it's that the store isn't in my neighborhood. ;^)
Wouldn't that be great. We have the kind of store where folks come in and aren't in a hurry so they just chit-chat awhile. It would be nice if it was full of freepers!
It did, digging around in our work cabinet I found a piece of screen molding just the right size so I won't have to buy a piece of quater round, and staples are going to work just right to tack the carpet edge back in place. So my project will only cost $24.91. I found a neat way to install the grout tomorrow...my cake decorating supplies which have long been unused had some old throw away tubing in them with throw away bags..I'll use them to do the grouting tomorrow.
I love it. Proof that you belong in the Foxhole!
Thanks for the link ConservativeMan55
Improvise, Adapt, Overcome! :-)
Just ask Snippy. ;-)
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