USS Somers (TB-22)

The third USS Somers (Torpedo Boat No. 22/TB-22/Coast Torpedo Boat No. 9), a steel torpedo boat built as a private speculation by Friedrich Schichau, Elbing, Germany, was launched in 1897 as yard No. 450; purchased for the United States Navy on 25 March 1898; commissioned on 28 March 1898 and named Somers the next day.

For other ships with the same name, see USS Somers.

USS Somers
USS Somers (TB-22), 21 February 1900, location unknown.
History
German Empire
NameNo. 450
NamesakeMaster Commandant Richard Somers
BuilderFerdinand Schichau, Elbing, German Empire
Laid down1897
FateSold, 25 March 1898, to the US Navy
United States
NameSomers
NamesakeMaster Commandant Richard Somers
Acquiredpurchased, 25 March 1898
Commissioned28 March 1898
Decommissioned1901
OperatorReserve Torpedo Flotilla at the Norfolk Navy Yard
In service1901
Out of service1909
OperatorMaryland Naval Militia
In service26 June 1909
Out of service1914
OperatorUS Navy
Commissioned17 August 1914
Decommissioned13 October 1914
OperatorIllinois Naval Militia
In service13 October 1914
Out of service1919
OperatorUS Navy
Commissioned1919
Decommissioned22 March 1919
Renamed
  • Coast Torpedo Boat No. 9,
  • 1 August 1918
Stricken7 October 1919
FateSold for scrapping, 19 July 1920
Notesname changed so it could be used for USS Somers (DD-301)
General characteristics [1]
Class and typeSomers-class torpedo boat
Displacement
  • As Somers: 143 long tons (145 t)
  • As Coastal Torpedo Boat No. 9: 150 long tons (150 t)[2]
Length156 ft (48 m)
Beam17 ft 6 in (5.33 m)
Draft5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[3]
Installed power
  • As Somers: 1,700 ihp (1,300 kW)
  • As Coastal Torpedo Boat No. 9: 1,900 ihp (1,400 kW)[2]
Propulsion
  • 1 × vertical quadruple-expansion reciprocating steam engine
  • 1 × Loco boiler
  • 1 × screw
Speed
  • As Somers: 23 kn (26 mph; 43 km/h)
  • 15 kn (17 mph; 28 km/h) (Speed on Trial)[3]
  • As Coastal Torpedo Boat No. 9: 17.5 kn (20.1 mph; 32.4 km/h)[2]
Capacity38 short tons (34 t) coal[2]
Complement
  • As Somers: 24
  • As Coastal Torpedo Boat No. 9: 34[2]
Armament

Service history

Purchased through Schichau's London representative as the U.S. prepared for a possible war against Spain, Somers sailed for England on 30 March, manned by a German contract crew. On 5 April, she arrived at Weymouth, whence she was to be escorted across the Atlantic by the gunboat Topeka. However, the British crew contracted for the voyage thought Somers was unsafe and refused to take her out to sea. A second attempt to sail also failed, and the torpedo boat was ordered laid up at Falmouth until the conclusion of the Spanish–American War.

Somers arrived at New York, on board SS Manhattan, on 2 May 1899 and remained at the New York Navy Yard until 8 October 1900, when she got underway for League Island, Pa. Subsequently, decommissioned there, she was reassigned to the Reserve Torpedo Flotilla at the Norfolk Navy Yard, where she was based from 1901–1909. On 26 June 1909, she was loaned to the Maryland Naval Militia and made periodic training cruises from Baltimore until returned to the Navy in 1914.

Scheduled for transfer to the Illinois Naval Militia, Somers was recommissioned on 17 August 1914 for the passage to Cairo, Ill., where she was decommissioned and transferred to the state of Illinois on 13 October. Later renamed and redesignated Coast Torpedo Boat No. 9 to allow the name Somers to be given to destroyer number 301, she served as a training ship until returned to Navy custody after the end of World War I. She was commissioned for the passage back to the east coast and returned to Philadelphia where she was decommissioned on 22 March 1919. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 7 October 1919, and her hulk was sold for scrapping on 19 July 1920 to the U.S. Rail and Salvage Corp., Newburgh, N.Y.

References
Notes
  1. "USS Somers (TB-22)". Navsource.org. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  2. Moore, John Evelyn (2001). Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I. London: Random House. p. 149. ISBN 1-85170-378-0.
  3. "Table 10 - Ships on Navy List June 30, 1919". Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office: 714. 1921.
Bibliography
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