102nd Anniversary Of The Navy's First Air-Combat Mission

Started by kit saginaw, April 25, 2016, 03:43:27 PM

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kit saginaw

and the invasion/occupation of Vera Cruz by the boys aboard the USS Utah.

American sympathizers to the doomed regime of Victoriano Huerta, arranged for a shipment of rifles to be loaded onto a merchant-ship in Germany, then transported to Vera Cruz.  The Utah blockaded the ship in the harbor, as Marines and sailors came ashore... engaging in running street-battles with the Mexican Army.

The USS Mississippi launched a Curtiss A-3, piloted by future Vice Admiral & Medal Of Honor recommendee, Frank Bellinger to fly a reconnaissance-mission over the city... returning to 'base': his plane loaded with bullet-holes.

http://navy.togetherweserved.com/usn/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=AssignmentExt&ID=1482533

valley

 Greetings kit, I wonder if this is this is the same USS Mississippi and in your post, because of the time line.
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Hi, Richard here, been ease dropping on this forum, but just couldn't keep from wanting to post a word or three.

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USS Mississippi was laid down in Virginia on April 5, 1915, launched on January 25, 1917, and commissioned on December 18, 1917.  As mentioned above, she was one of three New Mexico-class battleships, who presented an improvement over their predecessors, the Pennsylvania-class battleships.


With her commission on December 18, 1917, and sea trials still to be performed, USS Mississippi missed World War I.  By that time, the German fleet was bottle-necked in its port, and she was not needed.  After some work in the Atlantic, USS Mississippi made her first of several trips to the West Coast, through the Panama Canal, in 1919, and served most of her early years in the Pacific, transiting from time to time in the Caribbean for exercises.




valley

I see! Was wondering why she wasn't put into the fray.

kit saginaw

Quote from: valley on April 27, 2016, 10:47:23 AM
I see! Was wondering why she wasn't put into the fray.

You're thinking of the USS Mississippi BB 41 (41st battleship built).

I should've specified the seaplane-launcher was the USS Mississippi BB 23... which was a Connecticut Class battleship, commissioned in 1908.  We sold her and the USS Idaho to Greece in 1914.  The battleships were 'born outmoded', as we were switching away from the dreadnaught-design.  She was dive-bombed by Stuka's in 1943, which were outmoded as combat aeroplanes by then.