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G.E. Belknap
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R.R. Belknap
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USS Belknap (DLG-26) was named to honor two naval officers,
Rear Admiral George E. Belknap, USN and his son Rear Admiral Reginald
R. Belknap, USN.
George Eugene Belknap was born on 22 January 1882 at Newport, New Hampshire
and was appointed Midshipman on 7 October 1847, at the age of 15. During
1856-1857 he served with the East India Squadron, taking a prominent
part in engagements with the Barrier Forts at Canton, China in November
1856. During the Civil War, he reported aboard the sloop St. Louis
and commanded the ship's boats which reinforced Fort Picken Florida,
in April 1861. Lieutenant Belknap was then assigned to the screw-steamer
Huron and blockaded the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia
from February to June of 1862. He participated in the intense bombardment
of Charleston during April 1863. He commanded the single turret Iron
Clad Canonicus
in attacks at Fort Fisher, North Carolina on 24-25 December 1864 and
13-15 January 1865 which occasioned its surrender. He then also joined
in the final firing against the Charleston defenses prior to their collapse.
He cruised with the practice squadron of the U.S. Naval Academy, before
being assigned to the screw-sloop Shenandoah, in the later part
of 1865. He transited to the Far East, where in 1867, he became the
commanding officer of the screw-sloop Hartford, the flagship
of the Asiatic Squadron and led the expedition against Formosa. During
1873-1874 he performed internationally acclaimed coastal and deep ocean
surveys work in the Pacific. Promoted to Captain in January 1875, he
assumed the role of commanding officer of the receiving ship Ohio
at Boston. He was promoted to commodore in June 1885 and was later served
as the Commander-in-Chief of the Asiatic Station from 1889-1892. Before
he accepted mandatory retirement on 22 January 1894, he was promoted
to the rank of rear admiral and finished his active duty as president,
Board of Inspection and Survey. He had served 47 years of active service.
He died at Key West Florida on 7 April 1903, at age 71.
Reginald Rowan Belknap was born on 26 June 1871 at Malden, Massachusetts,
the son of Rear Admiral and Mrs. George Eugene Belknap. He graduated
from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1891. From 1891 to 1907 he served on
the USS
Chicago, USS
Baltimore, USS Monocacy, USS Yorktown, USS
Newport, USS
Indiana, USS
Badger, USS Ranger, USS
Maine and USS
Kearsarge. From 1907 to 1910 he served simultaneously as Naval
Attache to Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. In 1909, after the destructive
earthquake which destroyed much of the Sicilian city of Messina, he
planned and supervised the American relief effort in that city. He was
made an Honorary Citizen of Messina by its grateful city government.
In 1910 he reported aboard the USS
North Dakota as Executive Officer. On 12 December 1914, Captain
Belknap assumed command of the USS
San Francisco. On 3 July 1915 he was designated Commander, Mining
and Mine Sweeping Division, Atlantic Fleet. During World War I , as
a captain, he was ordered to duty in the Office of the Chief of Naval
Operations to plan and prepare for planting of an antisubmarine barrage
of naval defense mines across the North Sea from the Orkney Islands
to the coast of Norway. Such an antisubmarine barrage had been made
possible by the development of a superior naval mine, the Mark VI. All
plans and preparatory work being completed in the spring of 1918, Captain
Belknap took command of Mine Squadron ONE, Atlantic Fleet, now consisting
of ten large ships with a total capacity of six thousand Mark VI mines.
In May 1918, the Squadron proceeded to its Scottish bases at Inverness
and Iver Gordon on the east coast of Scotland. On 2 June1918, Captain
Belknap conducted the Squadron in its first mining excursion into the
North Sea. He commanded the Squadron on the nine other excursions required
to complete the antisubmarine barrage, the last excursion being in late
October 1918. The barrage was a success. Captain Belknap was advanced
to Rear Admiral by a special act of Congress and was awarded the Distinguished
Service Medal by the President. After serving on the Naval War College
staff from May to July of 1920, he assumed command of the USS
Delaware and in 1929 he took command of the Navy's newest battleship
USS Colorado,
as her first commanding officer. Rear Admiral Belknap died on 30 March
1959, at age 87 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
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Robert M. Cieri |
