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USS Merrimac (1894)
USS Merrimac, sometimes incorrectly spelt Merrimack, was a cargo steamship that was built in 1894 in England as Solveig for Norwegian owners, and renamed Merrimac when a US shipowner acquired her in 1897.
In 1898 Merrimac was commissioned into the United States Navy as a collier for the Spanish–American War. In June 1898 Spanish Navy ships sank her when she tried to trap them in the harbor of Santiago de Cuba. Merrimac is the only US ship that the Spanish Navy sank in that war.
CS Swan & Hunter built the ship in Wallsend on the River Tyne as yard number 194. She was launched on 29 September 1894 as Solveig, and completed her that November. Her registered length was 330.0 ft (100.6 m), her beam was 44.0 ft (13.4 m) and her depth was 18.8 ft (5.7 m). Her tonnages were 3,380 GRT and 2,193 NRT.
She had a single screw, driven by a three-cylinder triple-expansion steam engine built by North Eastern Marine Engineering of Wallsend. The engine was rated at 289 NHP and gave her a speed of 11.5 knots (21 km/h).
Solveig's first owner was Christian Michelsen & Co, who registered her in Bergen, Norway.
On 9 December 1897 John N Robbins & co acquired Solveig, renamed her Merrimac, and registered her in New York. Ownership then passed to a Jefferson T Hogan, who on 12 April 1898 sold Merrimac to the United States Navy.
The ship was commissioned as USS Merrimac under the command of Cmdr JW Miller, fitted out at Norfolk Naval Shipyard as a naval collier. She joined the squadron of Commodore WS Schley off Cienfuegos, Cuba, on 20 May, and accompanied the squadron along the coast until it arrived off Santiago de Cuba on 26 May, where she bunkered several US warships.
A young Lieutenant, Richmond P. Hobson, devised a plan to scuttle Merrimac as a blockship to trap Spanish warships that were thought to be in Santiago harbor. Admiral William T. Sampson approved of his plan, and a skeleton crew of seven volunteers was selected: three from Merrimac's crew, three from the cruiser New York, and one from the battleship Iowa. Command of Merrimac was transferred from Cmdr Miller to Lieut Hobson.
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USS Merrimac (1894)
USS Merrimac, sometimes incorrectly spelt Merrimack, was a cargo steamship that was built in 1894 in England as Solveig for Norwegian owners, and renamed Merrimac when a US shipowner acquired her in 1897.
In 1898 Merrimac was commissioned into the United States Navy as a collier for the Spanish–American War. In June 1898 Spanish Navy ships sank her when she tried to trap them in the harbor of Santiago de Cuba. Merrimac is the only US ship that the Spanish Navy sank in that war.
CS Swan & Hunter built the ship in Wallsend on the River Tyne as yard number 194. She was launched on 29 September 1894 as Solveig, and completed her that November. Her registered length was 330.0 ft (100.6 m), her beam was 44.0 ft (13.4 m) and her depth was 18.8 ft (5.7 m). Her tonnages were 3,380 GRT and 2,193 NRT.
She had a single screw, driven by a three-cylinder triple-expansion steam engine built by North Eastern Marine Engineering of Wallsend. The engine was rated at 289 NHP and gave her a speed of 11.5 knots (21 km/h).
Solveig's first owner was Christian Michelsen & Co, who registered her in Bergen, Norway.
On 9 December 1897 John N Robbins & co acquired Solveig, renamed her Merrimac, and registered her in New York. Ownership then passed to a Jefferson T Hogan, who on 12 April 1898 sold Merrimac to the United States Navy.
The ship was commissioned as USS Merrimac under the command of Cmdr JW Miller, fitted out at Norfolk Naval Shipyard as a naval collier. She joined the squadron of Commodore WS Schley off Cienfuegos, Cuba, on 20 May, and accompanied the squadron along the coast until it arrived off Santiago de Cuba on 26 May, where she bunkered several US warships.
A young Lieutenant, Richmond P. Hobson, devised a plan to scuttle Merrimac as a blockship to trap Spanish warships that were thought to be in Santiago harbor. Admiral William T. Sampson approved of his plan, and a skeleton crew of seven volunteers was selected: three from Merrimac's crew, three from the cruiser New York, and one from the battleship Iowa. Command of Merrimac was transferred from Cmdr Miller to Lieut Hobson.