Episode Sixteen: John Tyler Morgan
Episode Sixteen, Part V
Number 23: John Tyler Morgan
Party: Democrat
72 years old, from Alabama
The Launching of the USS Kearsarge
The battleship USS Kearsarge was completed before expectations in March of 1897, and commissioned in June. It would be the first of three new American battleships (pre-dreadnaught class) that would be completed by the end of the year that would reinforce the Indiana-class battleships that were commissioned in late 1896, along with eight protected cruisers and a pocketful of modern gunboats. The ship was launched from New York’s Naval Yard, and the event was covered by William Randolph Hearst as President Morgan christened the ship as she was set out into the Atlantic to move towards the Home Station’s home bases in Norfolk, Virginia.
The launching of the Kearsarge sent shockwaves to London, Berlin, and Paris, all of whom realizing that the United States was trying to quickly catch up in the naval arms race and with this launching, finalized herself as the dominate naval power in the western hemisphere as European vessels were busy in home waters, Africa, or the Pacific. The USS Kearsarge immediately became the designated flagship of the United States Navy, and the United States Home Station as the following battleships – Kentucky and the Illinois, and with six modern battleships now in the arsenal of USN, the American navy was now ready to contend with the big brothers of Europe.
The Moroccan Crisis
In June of 1897 the United States Mediterranean Squadron, active since the end of the Barbary Wars when the United States had fought the Muslim pocket states of the Ottoman Empire in 1805 and 1815 after Muslim pirates from the Barbary states had taken American merchant sailors hostage and either sold them into slavery or held them at ransom, ran headlong into Spanish coastal artillery positions along Spanish Morocco. The Spanish had recently defended off gunboat diplomacy attacks by both Germany and Spain, and as the Mediterranean Squadron was headed for New York Harbor for repairs, new sailors, a new commander, and remodeling, the Spanish guns inadvertently opened fire upon the nine American vessels.
The USS Minneapolis, a protected cruiser and the lead flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron returned fired and moved towards the harbor at Ceuta to engage the Spanish batteries and point-blank as the squadron was already too close to the shores to bid a hasty retreat to the sea. Afterwards, the sister ships of the squadron also engaged in the duel with the Spanish batteries. For the next seven hours, the nine American ships fired at 27 Spanish coastal artillery positions and engaged six Spanish ships inside the harbor in what became known as “The Duel at Ceuta.” The Spanish unprotected cruiser Infanta Isabel was sunk by the USS Minneapolis before the Minneapolis made headway back out to sea after sustaining heavy damage, leading to over 150 deaths when the Infanta Isabel sank and leading to over 70 American deaths during the incursion between the two ships.
A Spanish coastal battery like this one, left, reportedly fired the first shot against the American ships that were simply sailing towards the Straights of Gibraltar, albeit extremely close to the Spanish coast. Right, the USS Minneapolis under fire inside the Harbor of Ceuta after sinking the Infanta Isabel. This picture was taken by a Spanish artillery officer when the ship was making a run back to the sea.
At days end, when the American squadron finally fled and crossed the Straights of Gibraltar, 213 American sailors had been killed and 147 had been wounded. Spanish reports were unknown, with American estimates and Spanish estimates and actual figures (compiled two months after the incident) conflicted. American figures put Spanish figures at some 300 sailors dead, a majority from the sinking of the Infanta Isabel, about 50 artillerymen dead, and around 400 wounded. Initial Spanish estimates tallied 350 dead (total) and 300 wounded (total), but later Spanish records numbered only 167 dead and 129 wounded (probably attributed to changes to create the impression of a victory after American newspapers had printed the American casualty reports, most modern historians believe that the first Spanish estimates were likely to be closer to the actual numbers of Spanish casualties).
In July, the American African Squadron, combined with the Home Station set for Cadiz where the American Navy, led by the battleship Kearsarge, along with the Indiana and Massachusetts, engaged the Spanish ships outside of Cadiz in what became known as the Action off of Cadiz. The battle lasted two hours and saw the skinning of the Conde del Venadito, another unprotected cruiser. After the Action off of Cadiz, leaving 98 Spanish sailors dead and another 100 or more wounded at the price of only 7 American wounded, the Powers of Germany, France and United Kingdom mediated the conflict between Spain and the United States before the United States or Spain officially went to war. And this was a good thing, for after the Treaty of Lisbon, signed on August 3, 1897 which put the nations back to pre-hostility relations with neither nation having to compensate the other for losses, the United States Congress scrapped the Declaration of War against Spain which was to reach the Congressional Floors on August 6, a declaration pushed by the Hawks who sought to seize Spanish goodies in the Western Hemisphere and the Pacific. Despite the crisis, both countries were ready to strike at each others’ throat to send a message…
The “Sinking of the Conde del Venadito,” during the Action off of Cadiz. The Moroccan Crisis was a major headache for America, Spain, and the great powers of Europe. 213 Americans had been killed and 154 had been wounded with no ships sinking, although the Minneapolis was badly damaged. Spain had lost anywhere from 265 dead to 500 dead and another 229 to 400 wounded, with two unprotected cruisers sinking during the brief conflict between the two nations.
External Conflicts, The Sino-Japanese War
The Meiji Restoration and the industrialization of Japan, in large part thanks to Europe and the United States, created a military and industrial giant out of an “uncivilized” people of the Far East. In 1896, the Japanese invaded the major kingdom of China, and by 1897 the war had ended in a stunning Japanese victory, which left the nations of Europe and the United States in political disbelief. Although both Europe and America turned their heads from the event, the event was taken in good fun in the USA with many cartoonists and satirists making fun of the war, Puck being the most effective.
The war brought Japan to the forefront of the Great Powers of the world, and with a rapidly modernizing army and navy, and after seeing the Imperial Japanese Navy in action, the Russians laid down six new protected cruisers to serve in their Pacific Fleet to deter potential Japanese hostilities, plus it was a symbolic motion for Russia, after all, why would Japan, a second-rate power in Europe and Russia’s opinion decide to take on the Bear [1]?
A satirical cartoon depicting the Sino-Japanese War by Puck Magazine, the caption reads “Jap, the Giant Killer.”
[1] The Bear is a name for Russia.
Episode Sixteen, Part V
Number 23: John Tyler Morgan
Party: Democrat
72 years old, from Alabama
The Launching of the USS Kearsarge
The battleship USS Kearsarge was completed before expectations in March of 1897, and commissioned in June. It would be the first of three new American battleships (pre-dreadnaught class) that would be completed by the end of the year that would reinforce the Indiana-class battleships that were commissioned in late 1896, along with eight protected cruisers and a pocketful of modern gunboats. The ship was launched from New York’s Naval Yard, and the event was covered by William Randolph Hearst as President Morgan christened the ship as she was set out into the Atlantic to move towards the Home Station’s home bases in Norfolk, Virginia.
The USS Kearsarge in New York, moments before the grand ceremony and commissioning of the ship by President Morgan himself.
The launching of the Kearsarge sent shockwaves to London, Berlin, and Paris, all of whom realizing that the United States was trying to quickly catch up in the naval arms race and with this launching, finalized herself as the dominate naval power in the western hemisphere as European vessels were busy in home waters, Africa, or the Pacific. The USS Kearsarge immediately became the designated flagship of the United States Navy, and the United States Home Station as the following battleships – Kentucky and the Illinois, and with six modern battleships now in the arsenal of USN, the American navy was now ready to contend with the big brothers of Europe.
The Moroccan Crisis
In June of 1897 the United States Mediterranean Squadron, active since the end of the Barbary Wars when the United States had fought the Muslim pocket states of the Ottoman Empire in 1805 and 1815 after Muslim pirates from the Barbary states had taken American merchant sailors hostage and either sold them into slavery or held them at ransom, ran headlong into Spanish coastal artillery positions along Spanish Morocco. The Spanish had recently defended off gunboat diplomacy attacks by both Germany and Spain, and as the Mediterranean Squadron was headed for New York Harbor for repairs, new sailors, a new commander, and remodeling, the Spanish guns inadvertently opened fire upon the nine American vessels.
The USS Minneapolis, a protected cruiser and the lead flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron returned fired and moved towards the harbor at Ceuta to engage the Spanish batteries and point-blank as the squadron was already too close to the shores to bid a hasty retreat to the sea. Afterwards, the sister ships of the squadron also engaged in the duel with the Spanish batteries. For the next seven hours, the nine American ships fired at 27 Spanish coastal artillery positions and engaged six Spanish ships inside the harbor in what became known as “The Duel at Ceuta.” The Spanish unprotected cruiser Infanta Isabel was sunk by the USS Minneapolis before the Minneapolis made headway back out to sea after sustaining heavy damage, leading to over 150 deaths when the Infanta Isabel sank and leading to over 70 American deaths during the incursion between the two ships.
At days end, when the American squadron finally fled and crossed the Straights of Gibraltar, 213 American sailors had been killed and 147 had been wounded. Spanish reports were unknown, with American estimates and Spanish estimates and actual figures (compiled two months after the incident) conflicted. American figures put Spanish figures at some 300 sailors dead, a majority from the sinking of the Infanta Isabel, about 50 artillerymen dead, and around 400 wounded. Initial Spanish estimates tallied 350 dead (total) and 300 wounded (total), but later Spanish records numbered only 167 dead and 129 wounded (probably attributed to changes to create the impression of a victory after American newspapers had printed the American casualty reports, most modern historians believe that the first Spanish estimates were likely to be closer to the actual numbers of Spanish casualties).
In July, the American African Squadron, combined with the Home Station set for Cadiz where the American Navy, led by the battleship Kearsarge, along with the Indiana and Massachusetts, engaged the Spanish ships outside of Cadiz in what became known as the Action off of Cadiz. The battle lasted two hours and saw the skinning of the Conde del Venadito, another unprotected cruiser. After the Action off of Cadiz, leaving 98 Spanish sailors dead and another 100 or more wounded at the price of only 7 American wounded, the Powers of Germany, France and United Kingdom mediated the conflict between Spain and the United States before the United States or Spain officially went to war. And this was a good thing, for after the Treaty of Lisbon, signed on August 3, 1897 which put the nations back to pre-hostility relations with neither nation having to compensate the other for losses, the United States Congress scrapped the Declaration of War against Spain which was to reach the Congressional Floors on August 6, a declaration pushed by the Hawks who sought to seize Spanish goodies in the Western Hemisphere and the Pacific. Despite the crisis, both countries were ready to strike at each others’ throat to send a message…
External Conflicts, The Sino-Japanese War
The Meiji Restoration and the industrialization of Japan, in large part thanks to Europe and the United States, created a military and industrial giant out of an “uncivilized” people of the Far East. In 1896, the Japanese invaded the major kingdom of China, and by 1897 the war had ended in a stunning Japanese victory, which left the nations of Europe and the United States in political disbelief. Although both Europe and America turned their heads from the event, the event was taken in good fun in the USA with many cartoonists and satirists making fun of the war, Puck being the most effective.
The war brought Japan to the forefront of the Great Powers of the world, and with a rapidly modernizing army and navy, and after seeing the Imperial Japanese Navy in action, the Russians laid down six new protected cruisers to serve in their Pacific Fleet to deter potential Japanese hostilities, plus it was a symbolic motion for Russia, after all, why would Japan, a second-rate power in Europe and Russia’s opinion decide to take on the Bear [1]?
A satirical cartoon depicting the Sino-Japanese War by Puck Magazine, the caption reads “Jap, the Giant Killer.”
[1] The Bear is a name for Russia.
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