Talk:USS Milwaukee (C-21)
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Slightly fuller account of the loss of the Milwaukee
edit(This isn't quite objective or encyclopedic enough for the main article.)
The submarine ran onto the beach with no loss of life or injury. The navy made several attempts to tow the craft off the beach, the officer in charge finally deciding that a bigger boat was needed. The Milwaukee was cruising in the area and, the captain and crew being somewhat bored, it was decided that this would offer a break. The Milwaukee was maneuvered into position, bow towards shore, and a cable was paid out and attached to the submarine. The ship moved forward to pick up the slack, then the order was given- all engines full astern. The cable strained taught, then snapped like a thread. The Milwaukee, suddenly under full power, shot out of control and grounded on a shoal. That was that- nothing was going to pull the Milwaukee off. A Lyle Gun shot a rope to shore and the crew was taken off in a breeches buoy. Sometime afterwards a private contractor freed the submarine by pushing it sideways int a trench and floating it off at high tide. Total for the US Navy- one submarine saved, one armored cruiser lost.Saxophobia 01:42, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
- The preceding account varies in several important details from published references; and appears to be an anecdotal account of the loss. The Milwaukee was not cruising off the coast with a bored crew, but was in tender status at the Mare Island naval yard and specifically activated for the task of assisting the submarine. The beach gradient is uniformly gradual at the location of grounding, and naval eyewitnesses indicate the cruiser was moved parallel to the coast by currents while tethered to the grounded submarine rather than breaking free and grounding on a shoal further from the coast. Finally, the contractor moved the submarine a significant distance on rollers to Humboldt Bay, and photographs indicate the axis of movement was not sideways; although this account may reflect the method of final relaunch into Humboldt Bay. Thewellman (talk) 19:35, 20 December 2008 (UTC)
You are most probably right, and my source was quite anecdotal- though in any light this was not one of the US Navy's shining moments. Saxophobia (talk) 17:10, 17 December 2010 (UTC)