USS Bainbridge (DD-1)

History of the USS Bainbridge (DD-1)

The destroyer of this class, named USS Bainbridge (DD-1), commonly referred to as the torpedo boat destroyer, was the first destroyer in the US Navy to serve as the main ship of the same class. She was named after William Bainbridge, who himself served in the U.S. Navy and proved victorious against HMS Java during the War of 1812. The ship was built in August 1901 by the Neafie and Levy Ship & Engine Building Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and in November 1902 was placed on the Philadelphia Dockyard's Reserve Board.

On February 12, 1903, the ship was towed to Norfolk, Virginia under the command of Lieutenant G. W. Williams and served.

The development of the torpedo boat began with the torpedo boat, initially a steam launch system with a long torpedo - essentially a long pole with a charge at the end and attached to the bow of the boat. This seemingly ancient arrangement itself evolved through the use of fortified bows and arrows used centuries ago. The invention of the self-propelled torpedo in the 1880s eliminated the need for the "pole ship" approach to torpedoes.

This new "launch" torpedo required an equally redesigned vehicle that could engage enemy ships from a distance. Within a decade, the success of torpedoes required the world's navies to also develop defenses for their capital ships from such devices. The answer needed is a small gunship, which is larger than a torpedo boat and capable of blue-water operations with maritime fleets.

Aptly, this new design is called the Torpedo Boat Destroyer. Torpedo boats were phased out around 1900 in favor of larger, more heavily armed destroyers that could also perform multiple missions. As a result, Bainbridge and her class became the first ships of its kind in service with the U.S. Navy.

The new generation of destroyers is required to use speed to accomplish their attack and naval protection tasks. This is achieved by using a new compound expansion engine. In a compound engine, high-pressure steam from a boiler expands in a high-pressure cylinder and then enters a low-pressure cylinder. The expansion of the steam in these multiple cylinders means less heat is lost in the process, increasing the engine's power and overall efficiency. These engine types are used in triple or quad configurations and are simply referred to as "triple" or "quad" engines.

British engineer Arthur Woolf built a high-pressure compound engine as early as 1805.

Bainbridge was assigned to the 1st Torpedo Fleet and took three months to complete her sea trials. On June 1, 1903, the fleet sailed for Annapolis, Maryland, where it joined the Coastal Squadron of the North Atlantic Fleet. Over the next few months, the Coastal Squadron conducted and completed exercises in New England waters.

In September 1903, the 1st Torpedo Squadron was separated from the Coastal Squadron and returned to Hampton Roads to be refitted for service in Asia. After weeks of refurbishment, Bainbridge and the rest of her class left the docks in the Chesapeake Bay and headed south with the rest of the 1st Torpedo Squadron and the cruiser USS Baltimore 3, which took place in 1903 December 12. USS Baltimore is a 4,413-ton ship capable of speeds of up to 21.5 knots with 4 x 8" and 6 x 6" guns and rapid-fire "pounders" of various sizes.

The team arrived in Key West, Florida, on December 18 for final fuel and supplies.

Cruiser USS Buffalo replaced USS Baltimore for the Far East on 23 December. The voyage is long and the boat passes through the Canary Islands, Gibraltar, Algiers and Malta. It took weeks to repair the damaged propeller of the Barry DD2 in Malta. After repairs, Bainbridge and the fleet passed through the Suez Canal on 26 February, remaining in the Egyptian port of Suez.

Shortly thereafter, the fleet completed the final leg of the voyage to the US port in Cavite, Philippines. After a four-month voyage from the United States to the Philippines, concerned Navy Department policymakers are now convinced of the destroyer's value.

The next test will be in choppy Chinese waters.

Bainbridge raised the flag of the fleet commander as they sailed out of Manila Bay for their first mission in China with a squadron of battleships from the Asian Fleet. After reporting to the fleet, Bainbridge and the rest of her class joined the battleship squadron of the Asian Fleet.

The squadron consisted of Flagship Olympia, Baltimore, Raleigh, Haiyan, Concord, Boston, and McCulloch. The fleet began to develop new tactics, with destroyers conducting offensive and defensive maneuvers off the coast of China. The fleet also spent a lot of time flying the flag in Chinese ports.

With a 3-year history of the Boxer uprising, these ports are relatively safe for foreign seafarers looking to come ashore for a number of reasons. Bainbridge and her fleet upheld China's sovereignty and kept China open to U.S. interests -- aka "the stick."

During Bainbridge's first trip to the Far East, tensions between Japan and Russia began to escalate. The Russian Navy needs a year-round warm water port in the Pacific Ocean. The Russian Pacific port of Vladivostok only operates in summer, but Port Arthur in Manzhouli can operate year-round. The Russian fleet has many vessels in Port Arthur, both merchant and warships. Japan sees the presence of Russian warships as an invasion and threat to the Yellow Sea, which is claimed by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN).

On February 8, 1904, a squadron of Japanese destroyers launched a sudden night attack on the Russian fleet anchored at Port Lushun, followed by a major surface attack the next day, triggering the start of the Russo-Japanese War. The United States did not want to be involved in this conflict and returned all warships from Chinese waters to the Philippines.

Destroyer fleets and some cruisers were left in the area for coastal service, and patrol boats were used in Chinese rivers.

In August 1904, the Japanese forced the Russian squadron to attempt an advance towards Vladivostok. Bainbridge was in Shanghai when the Russian-protected cruiser Askold took refuge in port. Japan sent a destroyer to capture Askold, as they already did with another Russian ship in Shifu, in violation of international maritime law.

Rear Admiral Sterling dispatched Bainbridge to prevent the capture of an impounded ship in a neutral port. Unwilling to fire on the U.S. warship, the Japanese destroyers retreated, and the Russian warship Askold sought and accepted Chinese asylum.

After the incident, Bainbridge remained in Chinese waters for another two months before leaving Shanghai on October 4. The destroyer arrived in Cavite in late October and spent the remainder of 1904 conducting local operations, mainly torpedo and artillery practice. In 1905, Bainbridge and the destroyer fleet of the Battleship Squadron spent the next few months defending the U.S. Philippines from possible violations of neutrality by the Russians and Japanese. After the war, Bainbridge and Barry stayed in Chinese waters and continued to "raise the flag". In January 1907, Bainbridge was taken out of service at the Cavite Shipyard in the Philippines to repair her boilers.

She was out of service for 14 months and returned to service on April 2, 1908.

After returning to active duty, Bainbridge served three years of normal routine work for destroyers in the Asian fleet. Towards the end of the summer cruise of 1911, unrest in China forced her to return to Chinese waters again to protect American interests. After returning from China, Bainbridge was placed in reserve on April 24, 1912, and remained in this semi-active state for nearly a year until his retirement under the command of a lieutenant in April 1913.

J. G. Raymond A. Spruance returned to full active duty. For the next 4 years, she patrolled the waters between the Philippines and China. She and the fleet patrolled the Philippines throughout 1916.

Even when war was declared in the spring of 1917 and the United States was plunged into World War I, Bainbridge did not interrupt his plans for operations in the Philippines until midsummer. A few months later, the destroyer fleet was ordered to go to European waters. They began their long-haul voyage in August and began operating as they entered the Mediterranean Sea, where German and Austro-Hungarian U-boats were active. Bainbridge sailed with the division to Malta and escorted some ships to Naples. On October 8, their lookouts saw a U-boat behind the SS Camilla Rickmers.

Bainbridge Sonic Battle Station. As she approached range, the submarine dived and fled. The next day Bainbridge and the merchant ship sailed into the safe harbor of Naples.

The warship, which served nine months in the European theater of operations, is based in Gibraltar and escorts in and out of the Mediterranean. She returned to the United States and served on the East Coast until 1919.

On July 3, 1919, DD1 Bainbridge was officially decommissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, and her name was removed from the Naval Register later that year on September 15. In 1920, she was sold to Joseph G. Hitner of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, turning the ship from a fruit carrier to commercial servicea brief voyage for a historic warship .

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