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NavSource Online: Cruiser Photo Archive

USS MINNEAPOLIS (Cruiser No. 13/CA 17)



     

Flag Hoist/Radio Call Sign: Nan - King - Charlie
(Contributed by John Spivey)


Drawing courtesy of Robert Jensen


CLASS - COLUMBIA
Displacement 7,375 Tons, Dimensions, 413' 1" (oa) x 58' 2" x 25' 7" (Max)
Armament 1 x 8"/40, 2 x 6"/40, 8 x 4"/40 12 x 6pdr, 4 x 1pdr, 4 x 14" tt..
Armor, 4" Shields, 4" Deck, 5" Conning Tower.
Machinery, 21,000 IHP; 3 Vertical, Inverted, Triple Expansion Engines, 3 screws
Speed, 21 Knots, Crew 477.
Operational and Building Data
Keel laid on 16 DEC 1891 by the William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia, PA
Launched 12 AUG 1893
Commissioned 13 DEC 1894
Decommissioned 18 AUG 1898
Commissioned 23 APR 1902
Decommissioned 02 JUN 1903
Commissioned 05 OCT 1903
Decommissioned 17 NOV 1906
Commissioned 02 JUL 1917
Reclassified on 17 JUL 1920 as CA 17
Decommissioned 15 MAR 1921
Stricken 05 AUG 1921
Fate: Sold for scrap 05 AUG 1921


Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons



Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Spanish Campaign Medal - Cuban Pacifician Medal - World War I Victory Medal w/ESCORT Clasp

                         
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For Full Size Image
Size Image Description Contributed
By And/Or Copyright
Minneapolis
c1329
NR LAUNCHING OF THE MINNEAPOLIS
Another Commerce Destroyer Set Afloat For the Government.
Image and text provided by Boston Public Library.
Photo courtesy of Springfield Weekly Republican. [volume] (Springfield, Mass.) 1851-1946, 18 August 1893, Image 12, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
Minneapolis
c1325
18k Minneapolis was sponsored by the camera shy Miss Elizabeth Washburn, daughter of Senator William D. Washburn of Minnesota. Text courtesy of DANFS.
Photo courtesy of wikimedia.org
Minneapolis
c1316
427k Minneapolis is berthed at a Cramp shipyard pier, Philadelphia, on 12 November 1894, a month before being commissioned. Passenger vessel Saint Louis is in the distance on shipways. William H. Rau LOC photo via Dave Schroeder and John Chiquoine.
Minneapolis 745k

Minneapolis (C 13) on builder's trials in 1894. She is flying the flag of her builder, William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 46173.

Fred Weiss/USNHC
Minneapolis
c1313
860k

Minneapolis, date and location unknown.

From the collection of the late Antoni Blasi.

Col·lecció Antoni Blasi, via Camil Busquets
Minneapolis
c1319
442k Port quarter view while at anchor, date and location unknown. From the collection of Willard E. Spencer, Jr. Sheila Spencer Lein
Minneapolis
c1317
1.2k Portside view while underway in 1894 that someone attempted to colorize. Darryl Baker
Minneapolis
c1318
272k Minneapolis (C 13) at anchor in 1896. Robert Hurst
Minneapolis 109k

Minneapolis (C 13) Photographed while at anchor, 1898.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 63591.

Fred Weiss/USNHC
Minneapolis 1.01k

Minneapolis (C 13) photographed circa August 1898 by C.E. Bolles, Brooklyn, New York. USS Columbia (Cruiser No. 12) is in the right distance.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 46172.

Fred Weiss/USNHC
Minneapolis 127k

Minneapolis (C 13) at anchor in 1898, with USS Texas coaling in the left distance. The original photograph was published on a stereograph card by J.F. Jarvis, Washington, D.C., 1898. Note Minneapolis' bow decoration, anchor and anchor chain. Donation of Louis Smaus, 1985.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #100346.

USNHC
Minneapolis 116k

Crewmen on the ship's fore deck in 1898. Photographed and published on a stereograph card by B.W. Kilburn, Littleton, New Hampshire, in 1898. Note Minneapolis armored conning tower, located under her wooden pilothouse. Courtesy of Commander Donald J. Robinson, USN(MSC), 1979.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #89084.

USNHC
Minneapolis
c1315
445k A Postcard of the cruiser Minneapolis in the Bay of Villefranche sur Mer, in the south of France taken before 1900. David Lacroix
Minneapolis 1.73k

Minneapolis (C 13) photographed in May 1904.

Photo courtesy of loc.gov

Edward H. Hart photographer, Detroit Publishing Co., publisher.
Minneapolis

Minneapolis
262k



211k
Postcard Image is from Enrique Muller in 1904 showing the Minneapolis passing down New York Bay on her way to sea. Original Undivided Back Postcard by The American News Company of New York Duane Bass
Minneapolis
c1328
1.82k Constitution, Tacoma (Cruiser No. 18), and Minneapolis (C 13) at Brooklyn Navy Yard [BNY], 1 December 1904. National Archives Identifier 6880339.
Agency-Assigned Identifier F1018 N1
Photo via catalog.archives.gov courtesy of Daniel Hacker.
Minneapolis
c1314
8.2m

Port side view while at anchor in Gloucester Harbor, Gloucester, MA, in 1905. The 2 ships behind the Minneapolis in the photo appear to be Dixie Class Destroyer Tenders or Auxiliary Cruisers. There is also another Columbia class Cruiser at the far left of the photo.

Photo 1A-06791 from the Detroit Publishing Co. collection at the U.S. Library of Congress

Jason Dieffenbacher
Minneapolis
c1327
973k Two views of Brooklyn Navy Yard [BNY], 1 February 1906, Dry Dock Number 4, looking Northeast from Building 131 showing the Minneapolis (C 13). View looking aft from the foremast top. Note stacks and steampipes.
Note also the battleship Indiana (BB-1) tied up across the pier.
National Archives Identifier 6881325.
Agency-Assigned Identifier F544 N78
Photo via catalog.archives.gov courtesy of Daniel Hacker.
Minneapolis
c1324
NR CRUISER MINNEAPOLIS ORDERED TO CUBA
The big triple-screw cruiser, Minneapolis (C 13), has been ordered to prepare in all haste to sail for Cuba, on short notice. It is probable that the Minneapolis will be expected to set off Saturday: Captain Fiske commands the cruiser, which is one of the best of the navy.
Image and text provided by Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN.
Photo courtesy of The Minneapolis Journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 14 September 1906, Image 1, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
Minneapolis
c1323
NR COMPANY OF MARINES OF THE CRUISER MINNEAPOLIS, TAKEN AS THEY FORMED TO MARCH ABOARD THE CRUISER ON ITS DEPARTURE FOR HAVANA.
A brigade of marines consisting of 750 men, commanded by Major Wendell C. Neville, was landed at 8 am today from the United States warships Kentucky (BB-6), Indiana (BB-1), and Minneapolis (C 13), and proceeded by trolley to Camp Columbia. There was no demonstration of any kind. The departure of Senor Palma from Havana has been postponed until tomorrow.
Image and text provided by Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN.
Photo courtesy of The Minneapolis Journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 01 October 1906, Image 1, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
Columbia
c1219
1.1m From right to left are the decommissioned ships Katahdin, Columbia (C 12), and Minneapolis (C 13) moored at League Island Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pa. circa 1907. Ron Reeves
Minneapolis
c1322
766k Minneapolis (C 13) view looking aft from the foremast top, circa 1918. Note stacks and steampipes. Photo NH-46183 via history.navy.mil
Minneapolis 1.03k

Minneapolis (C 13) in drydock for hull cleaning, between convoy escort voyages, 1918. Note triple screws. Photographed in 1918.

Photo NH 46190 via history.navy.mil

USNHC
Minneapolis
c1326
396k Camouflaged Minneapolis in the San Diego area seen with tug Challenge (AT 59), circa 1918. Photo via Dave Schroeder and John Chiquoine.
Minneapolis 106k

Minneapolis (C 13) in drydock, receiving a mine defense installation (probably a paravane skeg), 1918.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #46189.

USNHC
Minneapolis 692k

Minneapolis (C 13) painted in "dazzle" camouflage, 1918.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #46198.

USNHC
Minneapolis 64k

Minneapolis (C 13) View looking aft, during convoy escort operations in 1918. Extra coal, to increase her steaming range, is stowed in bags on deck.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph #NH 46193.

USNHC
Minneapolis 97k Starboard quarter view, at Mare Island, CA sometime after 15 March 1921 when she was decommissioned. Here waiting to be scrapped. Jon Burdett
Marblehead
c1124
NR

TWO U. S. CRUISERS ARE SOLD CHEAPLY

Two former proud cruisers, the Minneapolis (Cruiser No. 13) and the Marblehead (Cruiser No. 11), which helped make American naval history during the Spanish war were sold for junk recently and are being dismantled at the Oakland shipyard.
Junk dealers purchased the two veteran vessels from the navy department recently for approximately  $20,000. When the ships were built about thirty years ago they cost almost $6,000,000.
The junk dealers say they hope to take from the vessels material worth about $500,000.
First to go to the junk yards was Minneapolis, second-class protected cruiser, built in 1891 of 7,350 tons displacement. Workmen with gas torches immediately started to cut away at her sides, her mahogany furniture was removed, her decks cut out and soon flat cars carried away huge pieces of steel. Soon after the workmen started, a fire broke out on the vessel and nearly destroyed it.
The Marblehead, a little third class cruiser, built in 1890 of 2,073 tons displacement follows Minneapolis to the graveyard.
The name of the Marblehead was wired around the world when, during the Spanish war. In company with the cruiser Nashville (Gunboat No. 7), she entered the harbor of Cienfuegos, Cuba, and cut a cable while under fire. The Minneapolis was one of the ships of the famous “flying squadron" under Commander Schley.
Image and text provided by History Colorado.
Photo from Pueblo Chieftain. (Pueblo, Colo.) 1889-current, 11 December  1921, Image 21, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.

Commanding Officers
Name/Rank Class Final Rank Dates
Wadleigh, G. H., CAPT 1864 RADM 12/13/1894 -
Sands, James Hoban, CAPT 1864 RADM 06/1897 - 07/07/1897
Jewell, Theodore Frelinghuysen, CAPT 1865   03/05/1898
Goodrich, Caspar Frederick, CAPT 1865   06/10/1898 - 08/18/1898
Decommissioned     08/18/1898 - 04/23/1902
Chambers, Washington Irving, CAPT 1876   04/23/1902 -
Decommissioned     06/02/1903 - 10/05/1903
Marix, Adolph, CAPT 1868 RADM 10/05/1903 -
Miller, James Madison, CAPT 1867   07/23/1906 - 11/17/1906
Decommissioned     11/17/1906 - 07/02/1917
Christy, Harley Hannibal, CAPT 1891 VADM 07/02/1917 - 08/17/1917
Snyder, Charles Philip, CAPT 1896 ADM 08/17/1917 - 08/03/1918
Brinser, Harry Lerch, CDR 1899 RADM 08/03/1918 -
Dodd, Edwin Horace, CAPT 1900   10/10/1919 - 03/15/1921

(Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler & Ron Reeves - Photos courtesy of Bill Gonyo)


USS MINNEAPOLIS (Cruiser No. 13/CA 17) History
View This Vessels DANFS History Entry on the U.S. Navy Historical Center website.

Crew Contact And Reunion Information
Not Applicable To This Ship

Additional Resources
Hazegray & Underway Cruiser Pages By Andrew Toppan.
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