Blakely-class torpedo boat
_underway_off_Grant%27s_Tomb.jpg)
USS Blakely (TB-27) underway off Grant's Tomb during the 1909 Hudson-Fulton Celebration.
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Name: | Blakely |
| Namesake: | Johnston Blakeley |
| Ordered: | 4 May 1898 authorised |
| Builder: | George Lawley & Son, South Boston, MA |
| Laid down: | 12 January 1899 |
| Launched: | 22 November 1900 |
| Commissioned: | 27 December 1904 |
| Decommissioned: | 8 March 1919 |
| Renamed: |
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| Struck: | 31 March 1919 |
| Fate: | sold, 10 March 1920 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Blakely-class torpedo boat |
| Displacement: | 196 long tons (199 t) |
| Length: | 175 ft (53 m) |
| Beam: | 17 ft 8 in (5.38 m) |
| Draft: | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) (mean) |
| Installed power: |
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| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: |
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| Complement: | 28 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: | 3 × 1-pounder, 3 × 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes |
The first USS Blakely (Torpedo Boat No. 27/TB-27/Coast Torpedo Boat No. 13) was laid down on 12 January 1899 at South Boston, Massachusetts, by George Lawley & Son and launched on 22 November 1900. Sponsored by Miss Nellie M. White; and commissioned on 27 December 1904, with Lieutenant Charles E. Courtney in command.
Blakely completed dock trials at the Boston Navy Yard and then moved to Newport, Rhode Island, where she fitted out with ordnance and electrical equipment at the torpedo station and underwent various tests and inspections.
Blakely became a unit of the 3rd Torpedo Flotilla, United States Atlantic Fleet. She cruised the Atlantic and gulf coasts of the United States with that organization, engaged in a series of drills, exercises, and port visits. The torpedo boat was placed out of commission, in reserve, at the Norfolk Navy Yard on or about 28 February 1907. She remained inactive until recommissioned on 13 January 1908, Lieutenant Thomas L. Ozburn in command, and, for about five months, resumed active operations with the 3d Torpedo Flotilla. On 1 July 1908, Blakely returned to inactive status with the Reserve Torpedo Flotilla at Norfolk. At some unspecified point in the succeeding months, she was moved to the New York Navy Yard where she was recommissioned on 6 May 1909, Ensign Reuben L. Walker in command. The warship cruised with the Atlantic Torpedo Flotilla for six months. On 9 November 1909, she went back into reserve, this time at Charleston, South Carolina
She remained in reserve, though not necessarily inactive, for a little more than seven years. The first year or so, she spent in Charleston. By 1 July 1911, she had been moved to Newport, Rhode Island, as a unit of the Reserve Torpedo Group. On St. Patrick's Day 1914, this ship, named for a native son of Ireland, was placed in ordinary at the Torpedo Station, Newport, Rhode Island. This suggests that she was assigned to some quasi active duty in support of the Torpedo Station's mission. In May 1916, Blakely, still not in commission, moved to the Naval Station, Narragansett Bay, where she served as a station craft.
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