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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS Potomac (AT-50)
ex
 USS Potomac (Fleet Tug No. 50)

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons


Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Spanish Campaign Medal
Bottom Row - Haiti Campaign Medal - Dominican Campaign Medal - World War I Victory Medal

1921 International Radio Call Sign:
Nan - Quack - King
 NQK
Potomac Class Fleet Tug:
  • Built in 1897 as Wilmot at F. W. Wheeler Co., West Bay City, MI.
  • Acquired by the Navy, 14 April 1898
  • Commissioned, USS Potomac (Fleet Tug No. 50), 14 April 1898, LT. George P. Blow, USN (98), in command
  • Decommissioned and placed in Ordinary, 15 December 1898
  • Recommissioned, 19 May 1899, BOSN Peter H. Smith, in command
  • Designated (AT-50), 17 July 1920
  • Decommissioned, 26 June 1922
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 31 July 1922
  • Sold, 1 December 1922, to New Orleans & Bisso Towboat Co., for $40,000, renamed SS Robert L. Wilmot
  • Final Disposition, scrapped in 1981
    Specifications:
    Displacement 785 t.
    Length 138' 9"
    Beam 28' 6"
    Draft 12'
    Speed 16 kts.
    Complement 56
    Armament
    two 6-pdrs
    two 3-pdrs
    Propulsion
    one vertical triple-expansion steam engine
    single propeller, 2,000shp
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Potomac 75k USS Potomac during the Spanish-American War, 1898. Note 6-pdr guns at her bow and stern.
    US Navy photo NH 57883 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center    		 US Naval Historical Center
    Potomac 162k USS Potomac astern of the repair ship USS Vulcan off Cat Island in the Bahamas during failed efforts to salvage the Spanish cruiser Infanta Maria Teresa, which had gone ashore there while being towed from Guantanamo Bay to Norfolk
    US Navy photo NH 42653 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, courtesy Shipscribe.com.    		 Mike Green
    Potomac 174k USS Potomac probably shown circa June 1899 at the Portsmouth, N.H., Navy Yard. The tug behind her is USS Piscataqua and both tugs had just been put back into commission, Potomac on 19 May and Piscataqua on 1 June. The small cruiser, still in Manila Bay war paint, is USS Raleigh, and behind her is the transport USS Resolute which in May 1899 began supporting the steam trials of the new battleship USS Kearsarge. By 3 July Potomac was on special service but the other three ships w ere still at Portsmouth.
    US National Archives, RG-19-N, box 57, Photo # 19-N-14183 a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives, courtesy Shipscribe.com.    		 Mike Green
    Potomac 142k A landing party from USS Potomac heading off to St. Pierre, Martinique to search for the American Consul, after the eruption of the volcano Mount Pelee in May 1902. Photograph taken by W. G. Cooper. Image courtesy of DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University. Robert Hurst
    Potomac 130k USS Potomac underway, 2 May 1907 in Hampton Roads, VA.
    US National Archives, Photo # 19-N-13191 a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives, courtesy Shipscribe.com.    		 Mike Green
    Potomac
    NH 57883    		 294k USS Potomac was the first vessel dry docked at Navy Yard Charleston, S.C., 7 April 1909. Note she is missing her bridge and wheelhouse area. Behind Potomac is the ferry tug Kite followed by the Commandant's steamer Courier (II). On either side of Courier is a coal barge.
    US Navy photo NH 57883 from the collections of the US Naval Shipyard Charleston, S.C.    		 NH 57883 contributed by Robert Hall
    colored postcard by Tommy Trampp
    Potomac 228k
    Potomac 24k USS Potomac photo postcard, postmark Portsmouth VA Navy Yard Station, circa 1912. From USS Potomac sailor Irving Hale to his sister Ida in Lockport NY. Bruce D. Liddell
    Potomac 372k Cropped image of USS Potomac from photo postcard, postmark Portsmouth VA Navy Yard Station, circa 1912. From USS Potomac sailor Irving Hale to his sister Ida in Lockport NY. Bruce D. Liddell
    Potomac 246k Post Card photo by Link - USS Potomac retrieving a target practice sled, circa 1912. as USS Utah246 David Wright
    USS Potomac (AT-50)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01LT. Blow, George Preston, USN (USNA 1881)14 April 1898 - 15 December 1898
     Decommissioned15 December 1898 - 19 May 1899
     In Ordinary - BOSN. Smith Peter H.19 May 1899 - 7 December 1899
    02LTjg. McCormick, Benjamin Bernard7 December 1899
    03LT. Proctor, Andre Morton14 April 1903 - 4 August 1908
    04BOSN. Ernest Victor4 August 1908 - 18 December 1911
    05CHBOSN. McCarthy, Stephen18 December 1911 - 19 February 1912
    06BOSN. Mehling, Frank George19 February 1912 - 29 December 1914
    07BOSN. Wilkinson, Michael Joseph29 December 1914 - 1 November 1915
    08BMC. Emery, Peter2 November 1915 - 1 November 1921
    09CHBOSN. Lindberg, John Conrad1 November 1921 - 26 June 1922
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors
    Back To The Navsource Photo Archives Main Page Back To The Service Ship Photo Index Back To The Fleet Tug (AT) Photo Index
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    All pages copyright NavSource Naval History
    Last Updated 17 June 2022