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Gunboat Photo Archive

Castine (PG 6)



Call sign (1919):
George - Quack - Fox - Mike

Castine (Gunboat No. 6)



Call sign (1909):
Nan - Dog - Able
Machias Class Gunboat:

  • Laid down 4 February 1891 by Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine
  • Launched 11 May 1892
  • Delivered 16 October 1893
  • Commissioned USS Castine, Gunboat No. 6, 22 October 1894
  • Decommissioned 8 October 1901 at Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, PA
  • Recommissioned 13 November 1903
  • Decommissioned 23 September 1905 at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth, NH
  • Recommissioned 5 October 1908
  • Decommissioned 28 August 1919 at New Orleans Navy Yard, New Orleans, LA
  • Designated PG-6, 17 July 1920
  • Sold 5 August 1921 and converted to a Banana Boat
  • Sunk by collision in the Mississippi River 12 December 1924 near Southwest Pass, LA.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 1,177 t.
  • Length 212' 4"
  • Beam 32' 1½"
  • Draft 12'
  • Speed 16.03 kts.
  • Complement 154
  • Armament: Eight 4"/50 gun mounts, six 6-pounders and four 1-pounders
    1905 - Eight 4" mounts, four 6-pounders, two 1-pounders and one .30 cal. machine gun
    1914 - Two 4" rapid fire mounts and six 6-pounder rapid fire mounts
  • Propulsion: Two Normand locomotive boilers, two 2,200hp vertical triple-expansion engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Castine 580k
    Namesake:

    Castine is a town in Hancock County in eastern Maine. The population was 1,366 at the 2010 census. Castine is the home of Maine Maritime Academy, a four-year institution that graduates officers and engineers for the United States Merchant Marine and marine related industries. Approximately 1000 students are enrolled. During the French colonial period, Castine was the southern tip of Acadia and served as the regional capital between 1670 and 1674.

    During the 17th and early 18th century, New France defined the Kennebec River as the southern boundary of Acadia, which put Castine within Acadia. The town is named after Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin

    		 Tommy Trampp
    Photo added 1 October 2021
    Castine 145k At anchor
    U.S. Navy photo    		 Joe Radigan
    Castine 82k Photographed in a harbor
    Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969
    U.S. Navy photo NH 67522    		 Naval Historical Center
    Castine 93k Detroit Photographic Co. photo 020268 from the Library of Congress, LC-D4-20268 Mike Green
    Castine 94k Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine
    View of the Yard's waterfront during the 1890s, with a gunboat (either Machias, Gunboat 5, or Castine) alongside. This photograph, published on a postal card, was taken before the ships were lengthened amidships
    Courtesy of Commander Donald J. Robinson, USN (Medical Service Corps), 1973
    U.S. Navy photo NH 78205    		 Naval Historical Center
    Castine 84k USS Machias (Gunboat No. 5) and Castine
    General appearance plan, with decorated mount, showing the ships' preliminary design. It was presented to the Secretary of the Navy [the Honorable Benjamin F. Tracy] by the Chief Constructor, circa the early 1890s.
    Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation
    U.S. Navy photo NH 99985-A-KN
    Castine 302k Original photo: Unofficial outboard profile and deck plans, published in the Transactions of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, 1893.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 70048
    Replacement photo: Line drawing from Transactions of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, Vol. 1, 1893. Collection of Robb Jensen    		 Original photo: Robert Hurst
    Replacement photo: Robb Jensen
    Castine 89k USS Machias Gunboat No. 5, or Castine. Photographed during the Spanish-American War, 1898.
    U.S. Navy photo NH 66577    		 Naval Historical Center
    Castine 80k Underway in harbor in 1898, during or shortly after the Spanish-American War. Copied from "The New Navy of the United States", by N.L. Stebbins, (New
    York, 1912)
    Donation of David Shadell, 1987
    U.S. Navy photo NH 99961
    Castine 75k The Sampson Medal, 1898. Photograph showing the medal's obverse and ribbon, with a bar identifying the recipient's ship, USS Castine (Gunboat No. 6). This medal, featuring a depiction of Rear Admiral William T. Sampson, was authorized by The Congress for Navy and Marine Corps personnel who participated in the Spanish-American War's West Indies campaign. Designer was Charles E. Barber
    National Archives photo 80-G-13423    		 Robert Hurst
    Castine 523k Photo from The American Navy; Belford, Middlebrook and Co., Chicago - 1898 Thomas Becher
    Castine 250k Original photo: Color-tinted postal card of a photograph taken circa 1905 at Pensacola, Florida, by Enrique Muller. It was published by the American News Company, of New York City
    Courtesy of Commander Donald J. Robinson, USN (Retired), 1983
    U.S. Navy photo NH 101247-KN
    Replacement photo: U.S. Navy photo     		Original photo: Naval Historical Center
    Replacement photo: Jim Kurrasch, Battleship Iowa, Pacific Battleship Center
    Castine 82k In drydock at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, circa 1905-1908, while out of commission. USS Topeka (1898-1930), also out of commission, is astern
    of Castine
    Collection of Harry Gilfillan
    U.S. Navy photo NH 94009    		 Naval Historical Center
    Castine 84k At the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, in February 1911. Three submarines are tied up to her starboard side and USS Severn (1900-1916, ex-Chesapeake) is between Castine and the wharf
    Collection of Chief Boatswain's Mate John E. Lynch, USN. Donated by his son, Robert J. Lynch, in April 2000
    U.S. Navy photo NH 102764
    Castine 178k Ship's officers and crew, 1912
    Donation of Rear Admiral Ammen Farenholt, USN (Medical Corps)
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 66300    		 Robert Hurst
    Castine 22k Photo from the 1914 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships
    Castine 54k Among the breakers off Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, while escaping from the tidal waves that wrecked USS Memphis (Armored Cruiser No. 10), 29 August 1916
    From the album of Francis Sargent; Courtesy of Commander John Condon, 1986
    U.S. Navy photo NH 101130    		 Naval Historical Center
    Isabel 143k Key West Naval Station, Florida. Photographed in 1919, with camouflage patterns on some buildings. Ships at piers are Castine, at left, and USS Isabel (SP-521)
    at right
    Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, 1969
    U.S. Navy photo NH 68764
    Castine 109k Photograph autographed by Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, USN, circa the later 1950s or early 1960s. He served in Castine while commanding the Atlantic Fleet Submarine Flotilla between 20 May 1912 and 30 March 1913
    U.S. Navy photo NH 58098
    Castine 104k Same photo as above
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 2087    		 Robert Hurst
    Commanding Officers
    01CDR Thomas Perry, USN22 October 1894 - 8 December 1896
    02CDR Robert Mallory Berry, USN8 December 1896 - 11 April 1898
    03CDR Charles Grimes Bowman, USN - USNA Class of 186922 June 1900
    04CDR Austin Melvin Knight, USN - USNA Class of 1873
    Awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal (1918) - Retired as Admiral    		12 November 1903
    05CDR Edward John Dorn, USN - USNA Class of 187420 April 1904
    06LT Ralph A. Koch, USN - Awarded the Legion of Merit (1946)4 August 1908 - 5 October 1908
    07CDR John Daniel McDonald, USN - USNA Class of 1884
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Vice Admiral    		5 October 1908
    08LCDR Edward McCauley, Jr., USN25 September 1909
    09LTJG Alfred Hart Miles, USN25 October 1912
    10CDR James Francis Carter, USN - USNA Class of 1891
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918) - Retired as Captain    		23 April 1914
    11CDR Kenneth Maratt Bennett, USN - USNA Class of 1895
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1918)    		16 November 1914
    12LT Fred Fremont Rogers, USN - USNA Class of 1906
    Awarded the Legion of Merit (1945) - Retired as Captain    		2 March 1916
    13CAPT Randolph Ridgeley, Jr., USCG - USNA Class of 1892 and 1894 (Bilged out of both)
    Awarded the Navy Cross (1920) - Retired as Rear Admiral    		15 April 1918 - 7 August 1918
    14CDR Lewis Broughton Porterfield, USN - USNA Class of 1902
    Awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal (1918) - Retired as Rear Admiral    		1918 - 28 August 1919
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joe Radigan
    View the Castine (PG-6)
    DANFS History entry located on the Naval History and Heritage Command Website
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