USS Somers (TB-22)

USS Somers (TB-22), 21 February 1900, location unknown.
History
German Empire
Name	No. 450
Namesake	Master Commandant Richard Somers
Builder	Ferdinand Schichau, Elbing, German Empire
Laid down	1897
Fate	Sold, 25 March 1898, to the US Navy
United States
Name	Somers
Namesake	Master Commandant Richard Somers
Acquired	purchased, 25 March 1898
Commissioned	28 March 1898
Decommissioned	1901
Operator	Reserve Torpedo Flotilla at the Norfolk Navy Yard
In service	1901
Out of service	1909
Operator	Maryland Naval Militia
In service	26 June 1909
Out of service	1914
Operator	US Navy
Commissioned	17 August 1914
Decommissioned	13 October 1914
Operator	Illinois Naval Militia
In service	13 October 1914
Out of service	1919
Operator	US Navy
Commissioned	1919
Decommissioned	22 March 1919
Renamed	Coast Torpedo Boat No. 9, 1 August 1918
Stricken	7 October 1919
Fate	Sold for scrapping, 19 July 1920
Notes	name changed so it could be used for USS Somers (DD-301)
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	Somers-class torpedo boat
Displacement	As Somers: 143 long tons (145 t) As Coastal Torpedo Boat No. 9: 150 long tons (150 t)[2]
Length	156 ft (48 m)
Beam	17 ft 6 in (5.33 m)
Draft	5 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]
Capacity	38 short tons (34 t) coal[2]
Complement	As Somers: 24 As Coastal Torpedo Boat No. 9: 34[2]
Armament	As Somers: 4 × 1-pounder (37 mm (1.46 in)) guns 3 × 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes As Coastal Torpedo Boat No. 9: 3 × 1-pounder (37 mm (1.46 in)) guns 1 × machine gun 1 × Y-gun depth charge projector[2]

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.

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.

Notes

Bibliography

•  This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• Gardiner, Robert (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. Conway Maritime Press. p. 161. ISBN 0-85177-133-5.

• Photo gallery of Somers at NavSource Naval History