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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS Gopher (IX-11)
ex
USS Fern (II) (1891 - 1905)
USLHT Fern (II) (1871 - 1891)

1912 International Radio Call Sign:
Nan - George - King
NGK
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Navy Expeditionary Service Medal - Spanish Campaign Medal - World War I Victory Medal


Gunboat:
  • Built in 1871 at Delamater and Steack of New York City at Newport, R.I.
  • Commissioned in 1871 as the US Lighthouse Service tender USLHT Fern
  • Rebuilt in 1878
  • Transferred to the Navy from the Treasury Department, 30 January 1891
  • Commissioned USS Fern, 22 April 1891, LCDR. Andrew J. Iverson in command
  • Decommissioned, 22 October 1904
  • Laid up at Norfolk in 1905
  • Renamed Gopher, 27 December 1905
  • Recommissioned, 30 May 1917
  • Decommissioned, 19 April 1919
  • Designated Miscellaneous Auxiliary (IX-11), 17 July 1920
  • Recommissioned, 15 May 1921
  • Decommissioned, 21 September 1923
  • Final Disposition, lost 21 September 1923 due to a storm
    Specifications:
    Displacement 548 t.
    Length 160'
    Beam 27'4
    Draft 13'
    Speed 9 kts
    Complement 12
    Armament five 3-pdrs, four 1-pdrs
    Propulsion steam, single propeller

    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image
    Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    USS Fern
    Fern
    098650502
    352k
    Namesake

    Fern - A member of a group of vascular plants that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers.
    Photo - Fern Diversity, Kingfiser via Wikimedia Commons
    Tommy Trampp
    Gopher 85k USS Fern moored at a navy yard during the 1890's.
    US National Archives, RG-19-N-A-1. photo # 19-N-19-2-2 a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives. Courtesy Shipscribe.com.
    Mike Green
    Gopher 84k USS Fern at anchor, date and location unknown.
    Library of Congress, LC-D4-32278
    Mike Green
    Gopher 75k USS Fern at anchor, date and location unknown. Photo is similar to above Library of Congress photo. Ron Reeves
    Gopher 202k This post card identifies the ship as the Minnesota Naval Militia training ship Gopher circa 1914. This is probably Fern mislabeled as Gopher note the changes to configuration in the below photos, this image is probably prior to 1905. Tommy Trampp
    Gopher
    094601113
    85k Model of USLHT Fern
    US Lighthouse Service Digital Archives
    John Spivey
    USS Gopher
    Gopher
    094601114
    190k
    Namesake

    Gopher - Burrowing rodents of the family Geomyidae. The roughly 41 species are all endemic to North and Central America. They are commonly known for their extensive tunneling activities and their ability to destroy farms and gardens.
    Photo - Pocket Gopher photographed at Ano Nuevo State Park in California. The species is Thomomys bottae, the only pocket gopher in that part of California. The ungrooved upper incisors are characteristic of Thomomys.
    Photo by Leonardo Weiss via Wikimedia Commons
    Tommy Trampp
    Gopher 128k Gopher shown after further modifications while serving with the Minnesota Naval Militia. Her bridge has been moved forward of the foremast, the deckhouse behind it has been extended forward, and the deckhouse below it has been extended forward nearly to the bow. The bow gun is still a 6-pounder.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command. Photo No. NH 61559. Courtesy Shipscribe.com
    Robert Hurst
    Gopher 108k Minnesota Naval Militia Naval training ship Gopher probably shown in her original configuration after her repairs at Detroit in 1906 for duty with the Minnesota Naval Militia. A regular navigating bridge has been fitted, complete with bridge wings and a semaphore. She has a new smokestack and has probably been re-boilerd. The gun on the bow is a 6-pounder and there may be two more behind the bulwarks just forward of the foremast. A few 1-pounders may be on the stern. The radio antennas swung from the topmasts are of a pattern that came into general use in the fleet in 1906-1907.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 73675. Courtesy Shipscribe.com
    Mike Green
    Gopher 56k Minnesota Naval Militia training ship Gopher moored pierside, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo # NH-068794
    US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Gopher 67k Minnesota Naval Militia training ship Gopher moored pierside, date and location unknown.
    US Navy photo # NH-068793
    US Naval History and Heritage Command
    Gopher 129k Minnesota Naval Militia Naval training ship Gopher off the port bow view probably shown in her original configuration after her repairs at Detroit in 1906 for duty with the Minnesota Naval Militia.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 61885. Courtesy Shipscribe.com
    Mike Green
    Gopher 143k Minnesota Naval Militia Naval training ship Gopher during the Perry Centennial Naval Parade in 1913, possibly at Erie, PA. Her visible armament consists of one 6-pounder on the bow, two probable 3-pounders in side ports on each side just forward of the bridge, and two 1-pounders on the fantail.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 73673. Courtesy Shipscribe.com.
    Mike Green
    Gopher 129k Minnesota Naval Militia Naval training ship Gopher watching John G. Kaminski fly his Curtiss A-1 Pusher aircraft in an exhibition near Milwaukee in 1912-1914. Kaminski was the first licensed pilot in Wisconsin. The revenue cutter USRC Tuscarora, stationed at Milwaukee, also observed this flight.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # unknown. Courtesy Shipscribe.com.
    Mike Green
    Gopher
    094601112
    54k Minnesota Naval Militia Naval training ship Gopher underway, date and location unknown
    US Navy photo from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Digital Library, Donated by Kenneth E. Thro
    John Spivey

    USS Fern (II) / USS Gopher (IX-11)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR. Iverson, Andrew J.11 April 1891 - 23 March 1892
    02LCDR. Gibson, William C.23 March 1892 - 3 November 1893
    03LCDR. Hemphill, Joseph Newton3 November 1893 - 1 October 1894
    04 LCDR. Bicknell III, George Augustus1 October 1894 - 11 January 1896
    05LCDR. Mansfield, Henry Buckingham11 January 1896 - 6 September 1898
    Courtesy Bill Gonyo

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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
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    Last Updated 10 March 2023