OLDNAVYMCPO
US Veteran, Absent Comrade
Probably like a lot of you, when I think of WWI, I think of "Black Jack" Pershing, trench warfare, the Western Front, the American Expeditionary Force, Chateau-Thierry and Belleau Woods. I fail to give the significance to the Naval aspect of the war that it deserves.
WWI was a war of unrestricted submarine warfare by the Germans, something new in Naval warfare. There was now two fronts to consider in fighting on the seas, surface warfare and submarine warfare. In deference to the surface aspect, the US Navy sent a battleship group to Scapa Flow to join with the British Grand Fleet.
At the beginning of America's active involvement in the war, the USS Patterson ( torpedo boat destroyer No. 36), a Paulding Class Destroyer, patrolled along America's Eastern Seaboard to protect transatlantic convoys. Later she was assigned to the British Fleet to help combat enemy submarines. The Patterson was the flagship of the second division of destroyers to accompany convoys across the Atlantic. She earned a distinguished record for chasing enemy subs and rescuing sailors from sunken ships.
On 28 Aug 1918, Patterson was the flagship of the "Patterson Group", a special submarine hunting group of 11 sub-chasers. She continued hunter-killer operations off the east coast until 23 Nov 1918 when the group was disbanded.
Photos from the internet:
WWI was a war of unrestricted submarine warfare by the Germans, something new in Naval warfare. There was now two fronts to consider in fighting on the seas, surface warfare and submarine warfare. In deference to the surface aspect, the US Navy sent a battleship group to Scapa Flow to join with the British Grand Fleet.
At the beginning of America's active involvement in the war, the USS Patterson ( torpedo boat destroyer No. 36), a Paulding Class Destroyer, patrolled along America's Eastern Seaboard to protect transatlantic convoys. Later she was assigned to the British Fleet to help combat enemy submarines. The Patterson was the flagship of the second division of destroyers to accompany convoys across the Atlantic. She earned a distinguished record for chasing enemy subs and rescuing sailors from sunken ships.
On 28 Aug 1918, Patterson was the flagship of the "Patterson Group", a special submarine hunting group of 11 sub-chasers. She continued hunter-killer operations off the east coast until 23 Nov 1918 when the group was disbanded.
Photos from the internet:
