Well At Least We Tried

The Seaport of Redondo Beach from 1888 to 1912

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Chapter 2: U.S. Navy Presence

The United States Navy at Redondo Beach

The United States Navy maintained a presence along the coast of Southern California during Redondo’s career as a seaport and had even called at Redondo Beach periodically. Some of these visits were captured in newspaper articles, photographs, and personal journals. These sources tell us something of the men and vessels who maintained California’s coastal defense and who safeguarded Redondo Beach. [44]

On July 23, 1891 the cruiser U.S.S. Charleston called at Redondo Beach. By the time she arrived, readers of the Los Angeles Times had become well acquainted with the ship and were ready to give her a hero’s welcome. In the months leading up to her visit, the Charleston was involved in a two-month sea chase pursuing what the Times had been calling a “pirate”.

When civil war erupted in Chile in early 1891 between the Chilean Congress and President José Manuel Balmaceda, the Chilean navy backed the insurgent Congress and the army backed the President. While trying to maintain neutrality, the United States supported the Balmaceda government, and in May 1891 responded to a request from Balmaceda to apprehend a rebel Chilean steamship, the Itata, which had loaded a shipment of arms for the rebels. The Itata had taken the illicit cargo onboard from another “pirate”, the schooner Robert and Minnie from San Francisco in violation of American neutrality laws. In addition, both ships had sailed from American ports without U.S. Customs clearance giving the United States further legal justification for hunting them down. The U.S. Government ordered an extensive search for the Itata, and between May 8 and June 4, 1891, the Charleston took part in the sea hunt.

The Itata had arrived at San Diego harbor to take on supplies, coal and provisions, but primarily to rendezvous with the Robert and Minnie. In Oakland, on April 22, the Robert and Minnie had loaded 10,000 Lee Remington rifles and 2,500,000 cartridges shipped by train to from the Remington factory in Lyon, New York. A few hours later, on April 23, under cover of darkness at 3:00 a.m., both the Robert and Minnie and the tug Vigilant doused their lights as the tug towed the schooner out of the harbor. The Vigilant had been hired to tow the schooner to Santa Catalina Island where she would rendezvous with the Itata. As she lay at anchor on the seaward side of Santa Catalina Island, Los Angeles Times reporters chartered the sloop Hattie to visit the schooner and were allowed aboard, confirming the cargo was indeed Remington rifles and ammunition. Immediately after the departure of the reporters, the Robert and Minnie put out to sea. It was shortly after the Itata’s arrival in San Diego that the Robert and Minnie made her appearance outside the harbor keeping just within Mexican waters. Knowing that the schooner had skipped out of Oakland without clearing customs, the collector of the port of San Diego left with U.S. Deputy Marshall Higgins aboard the tug Rover at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday night May 5 to overtake her. The tug cruised up and down off the mouth of San Diego harbor but did not succeed in capturing the schooner.[45]

The next day, acting on instructions from Washington, U.S. Marshall George E. Gard[46] seized the Itata while in port. His orders included pursuing and capturing the Robert and Minnie anywhere outside Mexican jurisdiction as a piratical craft. Gard left Deputy Marshall Spenser onboard the Itata and took the tug Tia Juana with a posse of armed men including some soldiers from the garrison in San Diego to hunt the Robert and Minnie. They sighted a sail close hauled on the wind and bound northwest just off the North Island of the Coronado Islands (Mexican waters). It was the Robert and Minnie. When she knew she was sighted the schooner put about and ran before the wind to the south to get into Mexican waters. Even though she appeared heavily laden and sailing slowly, she made it and the two vessels met over two miles south of the international line. The tug could do nothing but steam around the schooner. Finally, the Tia Juana headed back home arriving in the evening, and all onboard the tug including the Marshall, watched as the Itata steamed past them with both Deputy Marshall Spencer and the harbor pilot onboard standing between armed Chilean sailors. “Chilean Steamer Itata gets away” said the Los Angeles Times. “Eighty armed men and four cannon on the pirate’s deck. Robert and Minnie also makes her escape.”[47]

On Saturday morning, May 9, the Cruiser U.S.S. Charleston sailed from San Francisco in pursuit of the Itata. The transfer of arms from the schooner Robert and Minnie to the Itata had been completed on the afternoon of Friday, May 8, off Santa Catalina Island, giving the Itata a head start of thirty-six hours and 500 miles. Yet this was exactly the kind of mission the Charleston was made for. She was built at San Francisco's Union Iron Works as a protected cruiser, a lightly armored, well-armed, fast ship intended to be used for raiding commerce. This was also exactly the kind of mission the Itata’s escort was made for; the Chilean Navy protected cruiser Esmeralda.[48]

The Esmeralda had accompanied the Itata well up the coast from Chile and had transferred her commander to the Itata, and then returned to wait for her off Acapulco. On May 14, the Esmeralda had been denied coal at Acapulco and then tried to get a supply at several large houses all of which refused since the Chilean warship could offer no money. In addition, she had been speaking every vessel that passed by for news of the Itata fearing the freighter might pass her as she tried desperately to refuel. On May 16, when the two Chilean ships met off Acapulco, and while they were yet talking, the smoke of the Charleston was sighted on the horizon to the north. The vessels parted company, the Itata heading south under full steam for the Chilean port of Iquique, and the Esmeralda, still low on coal, heading leisurely eastward for Acapulco. The officers of the Esmeralda were happy to see the Charleston follow them and not the Itata. As the Charleston neared the entrance to the harbor, it was obvious she would pass very close to the Esmeralda. The Charleston steamed past the Esmeralda into the harbor, anchored, and loaded her batteries. Soon afterward, the Esmeralda entered the harbor and anchored. In a formal interview on the morning of May 18, the commander of the Esmeralda told Captain Remy of the Charleston that he would never take the Itata until the Esmeralda was sunk. Captain Remy replied, “I have my orders to take the Itata. The fact that the Esmeralda is present will make no difference.”[49]

If the Itata had called at Acapulco there would likely have been a fight between the two cruisers, but the Itata had put into Guayaquil, Ecuador, for coal and supplies. When she arrived in Iquique she found other U.S. warships already there waiting for her including the cruiser U.S.S. Baltimore[50] with orders to capture the ship and confiscate her cargo. Commander Schley of the Baltimore boarded the Itata taking possession of her without a shot fired. The captain of the Esmeralda who had remained aboard the Itata could not be found and was presumed to have escaped.

The Itata’s engines were found to be in poor condition due to the strain that had been put on them during her run and with a U.S. prize crew aboard, her engines were repaired enough for her to steam again for San Diego accompanied by the Charleston on June 13. The two ships arrived in San Diego on July 4 after being out 23 days. The Itata entered the harbor and anchored in the channel while the Charleston remained outside the heads (Figure 31 on page 32). On July 9, crowds visited the Charleston in San Diego harbor giving a banquet for her officers. Excursion trains were running from all over Southern California to see the vessels. The officers of the Itata were charged a $500 fine for leaving the port of San Diego without clearance papers. When the Congressionalists won the civil war, the United States government recognized the new Chilean government in August. After all legal matters concerning the Itata were settled, she was released on September 23, 1891.[51]

On Thursday, July 23, 1891 the U.S.S. Charleston arrived at Redondo Beach. As at San Diego, thousands of people from nearby towns came to see the cruiser. Trains running to Redondo had to add extra cars to handle the heavy passenger traffic. Once at Redondo, the crowds on the wharf (Wharf No. 1) were so densely packed a Los Angeles Times correspondent observed that the crowed threatened, “being pushed by its own impetuosity into the sea or crushed by its contrary and conflicting efforts to move about.” While many others picnicked on the beach, those on the crowded wharf stood in a “sweltering and suffocating condition” waiting to board the two tugs, Warrior and Pelican to be ferried out to the ship for a guided tour. The following day, better crowd control methods were adopted and visitors were kept off the wharf by gates at the landward end. Only stated numbers sufficient for loading the tugs were allowed on the wharf. In addition, tourists were loaded at one landing, and returned to different, newly constructed landing on the wharf to eliminate the bottleneck experienced by the first day’s crowd.[52]

In the latter part of 1891, the Charleston served as flagship of the Asiatic Squadron. From 1892 until the outbreak of the Spanish American war she served with the South Pacific Squadron then later again with the Asiatic Squadron. In the Spanish American War, the Charleston was sent to the Philippines and on her way across the Pacific stopped to capture Guam. The invasion was accomplished without bloodshed since the Spanish government had neglected to inform the island garrison that America and Spain were at war. After the war, she remained in the Philippines and was involved in actions against the Filipino Insurgents. On November 2, 1899, the Charleston ran aground on a reef near Camiguin Island, north of Luzon and became a total loss. Her crew managed to escape to a nearby island where picked up by the U.S.S. Helena on November 12, 1899.[53]

The next naval vessel to call at the port of Redondo Beach was the U.S.S. Monterey. The Monterey was a monitor, a class of warship named after the first of its kind, the U.S.S. Monitor, which made its appearance in the Civil War at the battle of Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862. From the Civil War to World War I, about fifty monitors were commissioned in the U.S. Navy. The Monterey was built in San Francisco by Union Iron Works, was 256 feel long, 59 feet wide, and had a crew of 175. She was commissioned on February 13, 1892 and assigned to the Pacific Squadron, based in Mare Island Navy Yard, San Francisco. Her primary function was coastal defense and during her first 5 years of service, the Monterey made numerous voyages to ports on the west coast including Redondo Beach. Each spring the Monterey would make a voyage down the California coast or up to Washington for maneuvers and target practice. It was probably her routine patrol that brought the Monterey to Redondo Beach on May 5, 1894, when A. J. McDonald took this picture (Figure 32).[54]

The Monterey revisited Redondo Beach on Friday August 16, 1895. The ship was open to visitors the following morning from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and people began to pour in to Redondo coming from miles around. At the time, the Santa Rosa was tied up at Wharf No. 1 monopolizing much of the limited wharf frontage (see Figure 12 on page 15) making it difficult for any tourists to get onboard the warship, however. Some men with small boats tried to capitalize on this delay by offering to take people out from the beach but few wanted to risk a trip through the surf. Only when the Santa Rosa sailed after 1:00 p.m., could the tugs Warrior and Pelican begin ferrying tourists out to the Monterey. A Times reporter described a “crush of people” filling the wharf from side to side as the tugboats plied back and forth. Once onboard, the sailors politely sought to answer every question put to them as tourists swarmed over the Monterey.[55]

The Monterey participated in the Spanish-American war serving in the Philippines. After the war, she remained in the Far East serving in various China ports, Hong Kong, and Shanghai until 1917 when she was towed to Pearl Harbor. There she served as a submarine tender until 1921 when she was sold for scrap.[56]

At the turn of the century, the industrialization of America brought change to American foreign policy. The enforcing of the Monroe Doctrine and ideas of expansionism (fueled by the agitating newspapers of Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst) caused the U.S. to play a larger role in world affairs. By 1900, after the war with Spain, America had gained possessions scattered all over the globe and a more prominent voice in international affairs. This new position of power and military strength, led the new imperialist nation to show off its strength. “The Great White Fleet,” actually the third largest navy in the world at the time, sailed around the world landing at every port possible to make the desired impression.[57]

This showmanship brought the Great White Fleet to Redondo Beach in April of 1908, and the headline of the Redondo Reflex read, “Magnificent Fleet of Fighters.” The Reflex went on to describe the fleet as, “the greatest body of fighting machines ever assembled in Pacific waters, manned by officers and sailors renown the world over.” [58]

On Monday, April 20, 1908, the New York Times reported that for the first time since leaving Hampton Roads, the battleships of the fleet separated off Los Angeles: “In four harbors, a few miles apart, they lie in anchor in divisions of four…” The first division landed at San Pedro, the second at Long Beach, the third at Santa Monica and the fourth at Redondo Beach. The fourth division, commanded by Rear Admiral Charles S. Sperry, consisted of the flagship Alabama, Illinois, Kearsarge, and Kentucky. The Alabama led its division, “…dropping out of the column to anchor a few hundred yards off the pier [wharf] at Redondo.” In addition to entertaining the officers and men of the fleet, the people of Redondo could visit the ships, and the Redondo Beach Company had hired the largest boats for this purpose. The Nellie, tug Redondo, and other launches conveyed the visitors to the ships for a fare of twenty-five cents.[59]

The visit had been carefully planned by the Redondo people. The program for the reception and entertainment of the officers and men was printed in the Los Angeles Times two weeks before including dinners, receptions, dances, concerts, athletic events including baseball and swimming, Marine Corps drill, fireworks, and a searchlight display from the fleet. Months earlier, in August of 1907, Henry Huntington had built his huge Pavilion on the Redondo Beach waterfront. This and the Hotel Redondo would be the venues of many of the planned events. The Hotel Redondo also served as Admiral Sperry’s headquarters ashore. Of course, the main event for many of the tourists would be visiting the battleships, and in preparation for the huge traffic expected, Superintendent Maddox of the Los Angeles and Redondo Railway contracted a mosquito fleet of launches and motorboats to ferry people out to the battleships.[60]

On Sunday, April 19, 1908, for the first time since leaving Hampton Roads, the battleships of the fleet separated off Los Angeles into four divisions of four ships each. The first division landed at San Pedro, the second at Long Beach, the third at Santa Monica, and the fourth at Redondo Beach. The fourth division, commanded by Rear Admiral Charles S. Sperry, consisted of the flagship Alabama, Illinois, Kearsarge, and Kentucky.[61]

On Sunday, April 19, “Everybody and everybody’s, sister, cousin and aunts, were on the waterfront this morning to greet the warships” said the Los Angeles Times. Some had spent the night there in anticipation of the fleet’s arrival. Shortly after 6:00 a.m., crowed streetcars on both the Los Angeles and Redondo and the Los Angeles Pacific lines began to arrive at Redondo, arriving at intervals of five minutes until noon. The Los Angeles and Redondo Railway had added twenty-five cars from the city line for the occasion. At 7:45 a.m. on “a perfect California day”, the head of the column of eight battleships appeared off the Palos Verdes Peninsula. They steamed in line ahead until four miles off Redondo Beach and then made a sharp turn toward the shore, each ship turning in the others wake and making the turn in exactly the same spot. The Alabama (flag) led the column, followed by the Illinois, Kentucky, Kearsarge, Main, Missouri, Ohio, and Minnesota. When about 1,500 feet offshore, seemingly at the very edge of the breakers, the eight battleships turned again to parallel the shore passing in review of Redondo Beach until the last ship, Minnesota, was opposite Wharf No. 1. The Alabama and the first four ships turned around and headed back to anchor off Redondo while the last four ships kept their course north for Santa Monica. The crowed at Redondo greeted the fleet with cheer after cheer and that Sunday over 3,000 people would visit the ships.[62]

“Sailors seek city,” said the Times, and shortly after the ships anchored several boatloads of sailors and marines came ashore heading immediately for Los Angeles. Others would need to wait their turn for shore leave on one of the weekdays. One of these, sailing aboard the Alabama, was a marine named Paul E. Embler whose diary covers roughly nine months aboard the Alabama from August 27, 1907 to June 5, 1908:[63]

[Monday] April 20, 1908: The fourth division is anchored off Redondo. I went ashore today at 7 a.m.. From Redondo to Los Angeles is twenty miles. Free transportation to Los Angeles and return. Free rides all over the city. Dinner served to 800 at one time. Liberty was up at 7 next day.

In his next diary entry, Embler describes the death of a shipmate during the Division’s stay in Redondo Beach:

[Thursday] April 23, 1908: First Sergeant Jenkins was on liberty today. The ocean was too choppy to send boats to shore. Sgt. Jenkins time was up, and no boat was there for him. So he decided to swim to the Alabama and was drowned. He is very much missed aboard. He was a good man. He was called the Pop of the fleet. This is his second hitch. He has a mother and sister left to mourn the loss. They live in Baltimore, MD.

Each squadron stayed at its respective port for six days until the morning of Saturday, April 25 when they all continued up the Pacific coast. The Alabama did not complete the circumnavigation of the globe with the rest of the fleet however. She was docked for repairs in San Francisco and detached from the fleet on May 15, 1908. In San Francisco, Embler wrote more about the apparently mysterious death of Sgt. Jenkins:

May 14, 1908: Sgt. Jenkins body has never been found. His clothes were sold for about $75. He will always be declared a deserter unless his body is found. Several of our men were there and no one saw him drown himself. A civilian said he tried to save Jenkins. Who knows but that it was a put up job. But it is a fact that he had been drinking heavily all day. So he might have thought that he could swim to the Alabama.

Embler was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps in 1910 and moved back to Columbus, Ohio where he eventually became an assistant horticulturist at Ohio State University.

Following WW I, another type of vessel was being used for coastal defense in California. In 1920, the submarine H-8 (SS 151) called at Redondo Beach. Built at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington, she was launched on November 14, 1918. The H-8 was stationed at San Pedro, California, first with SubDiv6 and then SubDiv7, participating in various battle and training exercises along the West Coast with her sister H-class subs H-4, H-5, H-6, and H-7, all assigned to the Submarine Base in San Pedro. These exercises were interrupted by occasional patrol duty off Santa Catalina Island and periodic overhauls at Mare Island Naval Shipyard. It was on one of these patrols that the following pictures were taken of the H-8 at Redondo Beach.[64]

The handwritten caption of Figure 38 (above) reads, “Lumber boat leaving pier - Redondo”. The steam lumber schooner shown must have called at Wharf No. 3, the only surviving wharf in 1920. Lumber remained the main commodity unloaded onto the wharves at Redondo Beach throughout its life as a port of call.

In 1941, nine Imperial Japanese submarines were strategically located along the Pacific coast of America to attack the shipping lanes most commonly used by American merchantmen. On December 24, 1941, at 10:30 a.m., the Japanese submarine I-19 was cruising off Point Fermin in the Catalina Channel. Heading south in the Channel for Los Angeles Harbor was the McCormick Steamship Company’s 5,700-ton freighter Absaroka which had sailed from Oregon with a load of lumber.[65]

The explosion from the I-19’s torpedo sent a spout of water 100 feet into the air and was clearly visible from shore. The torpedo had hit the freighter at the number five hold causing extensive damage and blowing the cargo from the hold into the air. The crew had at least one veteran merchant seaman who had been torpedoed in the First World War, but everyone knew what had happened almost immediately. Radio operator Walt Williams sent the SOS signal and within minutes the Absaroka had already settled to her main deck. As the crew abandoned ship, one of their two lifeboats capsized and the surviving thirty-three men managed to get away from the ship in a single lifeboat. One of the crew, Joseph Ryan, died of injuries after being struck by the displaced cargo.[66]

Not long after Williams’ distress call, U.S. warplanes arrived and dropped bombs near where the sub was last seen. Following the aircraft attack, the sub chaser U.S.S. Amethyst (PYc-3) arrived and dropped thirty-two depth charges. The Amethyst was built in Long Beach, California as the yacht Samona II in 1931. She had been purchased by the Navy, converted, and commissioned in February 1941. The sub chaser was assigned to the Inshore Patrol, 11th Naval District patrolling the entrance to Los Angeles harbor, escorting vessels and convoys, and even carrying local passenger traffic.[67]

The Absaroka’s lifeboat was picked up eighty minutes after the attack. The freighter was later re-boarded by the Coast Guard, towed into San Pedro Harbor, and beached on a strip of sand below Fort MacArthur. One month later, in the January 26, 1942, issue of LIFE magazine, movie actress Jane Russell was featured in the full-page “Picture of the Week,” (Figure 41) standing in the tremendous hole in Absaroka’s hull created by the Japanese torpedo. She is holding a poster that warns, “A slip of the lip may sink a ship,” with the words “may sink a ship” crossed out and “may have sunk this ship” written in.

The general assumption that the submarine was sunk proved to be false however. To some degree, this belief was based on the presence of wreckage in the vicinity. The day following the attack on the Absaroka and the counterattack by American planes and the Amethyst, newspaper headlines announced “Army Flyer Sinks Coast Raider, Air Filled with Debris as Nippon Submarine Is Destroyed.” Later it is discovered that the wreckage is actually that of the fishing barge Kohala.[68] In fact, Captain Nahara of the I-19 withdrew from the area with his submarine intact after the Japanese attack on California was called off in early 1942. Until then, the nine Japanese submarines would attack other ships along the West Coast. Some would escape with little or no damage, some would be sunk, and at least eight more lives would be lost.

After the attack on the Absaroka, coastal defenses were strengthened around the Santa Monica Bay, including Redondo Beach. In early 1942, soldiers from Fort MacArthur installed two 155mm cannon and machine guns at the end of the Redondo Pier. This battery, known as “Tactical Battery 3”, was one of several around the Santa Monica Bay. There were similar batteries installed at Pacific Palisades, Playa del Rey, El Segundo/Hyperion (two batteries), Manhattan Beach, Rocky Point (Palos Verdes), and Long Point (Palos Verdes). Tactical Battery 3 was decommissioned and the guns were removed from the Redondo Beach pier in 1943.[69]

The I-19 continued fighting in the South Pacific where she successful attacked American ships. On September 15, 1942 south of Guadalcanal, the I-19 torpedoed and sunk the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Wasp, and damaged the battleship U.S.S. North Carolina, and the destroyer U.S.S. O’Brien that later foundered off Samoa on her way back to the United States for repairs. On November 25, 1943, in the Gilbert Islands, the destroyer U.S.S. Radford made night radar contact with a surfaced submarine eight miles away at 8:49 p.m.. At 9:30 the submarine submerged and ten minutes later after making sonar contact, the Radford made seven depth charge attacks sinking the submarine. After the war, it would be confirmed that Radford had sunk the I-19.[70]

[44] The Quote on the previous page is from Secretary Tracy's annual report, appearing in the San Francisco Chronicle, December 7, 1891.

[45] “The Schooner’s Freight”, Los Angeles Times, May 7, 1891, p. 1; “The Saucy Schooner and the Impudent Itata”, Los Angeles Times, May 7, 1891, p. 4. Clearing customs is required of any vessel to insure that no illegal cargo is being brought into or taken out of any American port. This was true of the port of Redondo Beach as well. The records of the port of Redondo Beach list illegal cargo seized at Redondo including obscene postcards, calendars, and books, contraceptive sheaths, and a film of a prizefight. The most common drugs seized at the port of Redondo were cocaine, opium and “yen shee” pipes (for smoking opium), and mescal (liquid form) or mescaline (solid form). Port of Redondo Beach, “Customs Seizures,” Bureau of Customs, Record Group 36, National Archives, Los Angeles, Ca.

[46] George E. Gard, moved to California in 1859, served in the 7th California Volunteer Infantry from 1864-1866, and later served as Los Angeles County Clerk, Deputy Recorder, Detective, Los Angeles Chief of Police, Deputy Sheriff, and United States Marshall. Two years after the Itata affair, Marshall Gard’s posse captured the gang of Sontag and Evans, known railroad and bank robbers at Stone Corral near Visalia, California, June 12, 1893. Margie Jo [Gard] Gray and Narda Jane [Gard] McNally. Looking For the Lost Lambs. August 25, 2002. Internet. Available from http://www.angelfire.com/ wa3/gardline/html/fam01019.htm. [October 31, 2003]. Gray and McNally draw on the Guardian Newsletter, Vol I, No III, April 1978, pg.42.

[47] “How She Escaped”, Los Angeles Times, May 7, 1891, p. 1; “Escaped”, Los Angeles Times, May 7, 1891, p. 1; “The Itata Seizure”, Los Angeles Times, May 7, 1891, p. 1.

[48] “The Charleston Has not Sailed”, Los Angeles Times, May 9, 1891, p. 1; “Omaha and Charleston”, Los Angeles Times, May 11, 1891, p. 4. The details of both ships were compared in the Los Angeles Times, May 12, 1891, p. 1.
     Charleston: [Built 1889. Union Iron Works, San Francisco] Twin-screw steel cruiser. Rig, Two fighting masts. Dimensions, length 300 feet; beam 46, draught 18.6, displacement 3730 tons. Armor, steel belt 3 inches, batteries 2 inches. Power, 7000 horse-power; 800 tons coal capacity. Speed, 18 knots. Guns, two 8-inch breech-loading rifles “of the best an most modern type”, six 6-inch breech-loading rifles, four 6-pound rapid-fire rifles, ten magazine guns.
     Esmeralda: [Built 1883, England] Twin-screw steel cruiser. Rig, two fighting masts. Dimensions, length 270 feet, beam 39.5, draught 18.2, displacement 2810 tons. Armor, steel belt 1 inch, battery 1 inch, gun shields 1 inch. Power, 6500 horse-power, 600 tons coal capacity. Speed, 18 3/10 knots. Guns, two 10-inch breech-loading rifles, six 6-inch breech-loading rifles, seven magazine guns, three torpedo tubes.

[49] “Will They Fight?” Los Angeles Times, May 18, 1891. p. 1.

[50] On October 16, 1891, the captain of the cruiser U.S.S. Baltimore gave shore leave to 117 American sailors in Valparaiso, Chile’s second most populous city and an important port. Later that day, outside the True Blue Saloon, a brawl between American sailors of the Baltimore and Chilean nationals (Chilean sailors, boatmen, longshoremen, and townspeople) resulted in two American sailors killed, 17 wounded (five seriously), and many arrested. Both sides blamed the other for initiating the violence, but American sources suspected a planned assault on American sailors. The incident sparked a diplomatic crisis that lasted for months, occasionally threatening war between the two countries, until a settlement was reached in early 1892. Robert C. Kennedy. The U.S.S. Baltimore Affair. Internet. Available from http://www.rose-hulman.edu/ ~delacova/baltimore-affair.htm. [October 6, 2003]. See also Joyce, Goldberg, The Baltimore Affair. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1986).

[51] “The Itata’s Return”, Los Angeles Times, July 5, 1891, p. 1; “The Itata’s Fine”, Los Angeles Times, July 10, 1891, p. 1; “The Itata Goes Free”, Los Angeles Times, September 23, 1891.

[52] “The White Cruiser”, Los Angeles Times, July 24, 1891. p. 2.

[53] Patrick McSherry, U.S.S. Charleston. The Spanish American War Centennial. Internet. Available from http://www.spanamwar.com/charleston.htm. [April 15, 2001].

[54] There were other monitors on the coast of California besides the Monterey including the U.S.S. Comanche and U.S.S. Monadnock. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Volume III, 1968; Navy Department, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Naval History Division, Washington, DC. Appendix II: Monitor, pp. 749-793; The California Military Museum. Tender Tale: Submarine Tenders of the United States Navy. Internet. Available from http://www.militarymuseum.org. [April 15, 2003]; The Mariner's Museum. Newport News, Virginia. Internet. Available from http://www.mariner.org. [April 15, 2002]. A note of the verso of this photograph notes, “Lieutenant Sherman”, who could have been one of the Monterey's officers. When she was commissioned in 1893, the Monterey’s commanding officer was Captain Louis Kempff.

[55] “The Monterey”, Los Angeles Times, August 18, 1895, p. 7.

[56] Patrick McSherry. U.S.S. Monterey. The Spanish American War Centennial. Internet. Available from http://www.spanamwar.com/Monterey.htm. [April 15, 2001].

[57] Billington, American History, pp. 99 and 106.

[58] Reflex, “Souvenir Fleet Edition,” April 1907.

[59] Shanahan, Old Redondo, p. 58.

[60] “Fill Six Days Afloat, Ashore”, Los Angeles Times, April 8, 1908, p. II10; “Redondo Ready for Fleet”, Los Angeles Times, April 15, 1908, p. II10. This mosquito fleet included the harbor tugs Redondo and Collis, the launches Nellie, Music, Charm, Ina, Baltic, Challenger, and Leone. Some of these launches failed to show up when needed however, and Maddox hired four other launches, capable of taking 100 passengers each, for the rest of the visit. “Lively Scenes at Los Angeles Ports where Sea Dogs are Anchored”, Los Angeles Times, April 20, 1908, p. III2.

[61] Shanahan, Old Redondo, p. 58

[62] “Lively Scenes at Los Angeles Ports where Sea Dogs are Anchored”, Los Angeles Times, April 20, 1908, p. III2.

[63] “Lively Scenes at Los Angeles Ports where Sea Dogs are Anchored”, Los Angeles Times, April 20, 1908, p. III2; Paul A. Embler. Voyage diary of Paul E. Embler. Portland, Oregon. 2003. Internet. Available from http://www.greatwhitefleet.org/ gwf/themen/crew/embler/apr08.htm. [May 15, 2003]. Covers life aboard the U.S.S. Alabama from August 27, 1907 to June 5, 1908. Paul A. Embler is the grandson of Paul E. Embler.

[64] Ric Hedman. Through the Looking Glass: A Historic Look at Submarines. Internet. Available from http://www.rddesigns.com/subs/h-boats.html. [January 12, 2002].

[65] William W. Bushing says that three submarines were sighted about five miles off Silver Canyon, Santa Catalina Island, in December of 1941. It is likely that this was the same submarine (the I-19) sighted three times. William W. Bushing. The History of the Santa Catalina Island Company Part II: An Era of Optimism (1919-1944). Star Thrower Educational Multimedia. Internet. Available from http://www.starthrower.org. [April 5, 2001]. All nine of these Japanese submarines were launched a year or two before the war and had a range of approximately 15,000 miles, a surface speed of 23 knots, carried as many as 18 torpedoes, and mounted a 5.5-inch deck gun. Donald J. Young. West Coast War Zone: World War II. July 1998. Internet. Available from http://thehistorynet.com/WorldWarII/articles/1998/0798_text.htm. [April 15, 2001]. Young is the founder and director of the Fort MacArthur Military Museum in San Pedro, California. A book by Young that explores this topic more fully is December 1941--America's First 25 Days at War. Young draws heavily on the book I-Boat Captain, by Zenji Orita and Joseph Harrington.

[66] Donald J. Young. West Coast War Zone. Eyewitnesses were Army Sergeant James Hedwood and his crew who were manning a coast artillery gun position on the point just below the Point Fermin lighthouse. “We were looking at the lumber schooner when suddenly we saw a fountain of water spout 100 feet into the air at the stern,” Hedwood recalled. “The boat spun around some 220 degrees from the force of the blow, ending up with its stern to sea and its bow facing toward land.”

[67] Navy History. PYc-3 Amethyst. Internet. Available from http://www.multied.com/navy/yacht/Amethyst.html. [April 15, 2001]. Amethyst was decommissioned at San Diego on February 27, 1946. She was resold as a yacht several times under the names Samona II, Pudlo, and Explorer.

[68]The four-masted barkentine Kohala, 891 tons, built at Fairhaven, Calif., 1901, Bendixsen Shipbuilding Co., was used in the Pacific coast lumber trade until eventually being sold in 1928 to become a fishing barge off Los Angeles Harbor. John Lyman, “Pacific Coast Built Sailers, 1850-1905”, The Marine Digest, May 31, 1941, p. 2. Internet. Available from http://www.cimorelli.com/cgi-bin/magellanscripts/ship_dates_volume.asp?ShipName=Kohala+%28barkentine%29. [March 13, 2003].

[69] Marshall Selzriede. Wartime Story: The Experiences of a B-17 Navigator During WW II. September 16, 2002. Internet. Available from http://www.stelzriede.com/warstory.htm. [March 15, 2003]. Selzriede’s Miscellaneous section of the News Articles page includes An article appearing in the Los Angeles Times, November 3, 2002, “During WWII, the City Braced for a Japanese Invasion”; Pete Payette, “Harbor Defenses of Los Angeles,” North American Fortifications,, May 02, 2003. Internet. Available from http://www.geocities.com/naforts/ca4.html. [May 15, 2003].

[70] Bob Hackett and Sander Kingsepp, Sensuikan!: HIJMS Submarine I-19: Tabular Record of Movement. 2001. Internet. Available from http://www.combinedfleet.com/I-19.htm. [May 15, 2003].

"The sole reliance of the country today for the protection of its exposed seaboard is the new fleet."

Benjamin Franklin Tracy
(Secretary of the Navy, 1889-1893)

 

Figure 29: The U.S.S. Charleston in 1898. (Patrick McSherry)

Figure 30: The Itata’s escort, the Chilean protected cruiser Esmeralda. (International Journal of Naval History)

Figure 31: The Chilean steamship Itata in San Diego harbor, 1891. The Charleston is pictured in the background. (San Diego Historical Society)

Figure 32: The U.S.S. Monterey at Redondo Beach, May 5, 1894. (The California Military Museum)

Figure 33: Tourists aboard the Monterey in San Diego Harbor (San Diego Historical Society)

Figure 34: Ships of the Fourth Division of the “Great White Fleet.” clockwise from upper left: Alabama, Kearsarge, Kentucky, and Illinois (United States Naval Historical Archives)

Figure 34a: Crowds watch as the "Great White Fleet" enters the L.A. Harbor, April, 1908. Portions of the breakwaters are still under construction. (Los Angeles Public Library)

Figure 34b: Another view of the "Great White Fleet" at San Pedro, 1908. (Los Angeles Public Library)

Figure 35: Paul Elias Embler, USMC, (standing) pictured with a fellow Marine (Paul A. Embler).

Figure 36: Marines: Ready for Inspection, from “A Souvenir of the Famous Cruise: ‘Around the horn’ with ‘Fighting Bob’” (Paul A. Embler)

Figure 37: H-8 at Redondo Beach, February 5, 1920. Wharf No. 3 is shown in the background. (University of New Hampshire Library)

Figure 38: H-8, with a lumber schooner steaming away in the background, February 5, 1920. (University of New Hampshire Library)

Figure 39: The Japanese Submarine I-19 (Battleship North Carolina Museum)

Figure 40: Submarine chaser U.S.S. Amethyst (NavSource Online)

Figure 41: Actress Jane Russell in front of the hole in Absaroka’s hull created by the Japanese torpedo (LIFE Magazine)

Figure 42: Two 155mm guns were placed on the Redondo Beach Pier from December 1941 to 1943. (Fort MacArthur Museum)

Figure 43: U.S.S. O’Brien (DD-415) is torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-19 during the Guadalcanal Campaign, 15 September 1942. U.S.S. Wasp (CV-7), torpedoed minutes earlier, is burning in the distance. (United States National Archives)