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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

USS Lebanon (AG-2)
ex
USS Lebanon (Target Towing Ship) (1911 - 1920)
USS Lebanon (Collier) (1898 - 1909)

International Radio Call Sign, 1912:
Nan - Item - Zed
NIZ
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from left to right
Mexican Service Medal - World War I Victory Medal (with Atlantic Fleet clasp)


Lebanon Class Collier:
  • Laid down, date unknown, at William Cramp & Sons, Philadelphia, PA.
  • Launched in 1894
  • Acquired by the US Navy, 6 April 1898, from Philadelphia and Reading RR. Co.
  • Commissioned, 16 April 1898, USS Lebanon at Boston, MA., LCDR. Charles T. Forse in command
  • Decommissioned, 15 April 1899, at Norfolk, VA.
  • Recommissioned, 11 August 1905, at Portsmouth, N.H., CAPT. George McDonald in command
  • Decommissioned, 2 October 1909, at Norfolk, VA.
  • Recommissioned, 1 July 1911, for service as a target towing ship
  • Designated Miscellaneous Auxiliary AG-2, 17 July 1920
  • Decommissioned, 6 February 1922, at New York, N.Y.
  • Sold, 2 June 1922, at New Bedford, CT. renamed SS Tobago outfitted for the illicit rum running trade during prohibition
  • Final Disposition, fate unknown
    Specifications (Target Repair Ship):
    Displacement 3,285 t.
    Length 249'
    Beam 37' 4"
    Draft 17' 3"
    Speed 10 kts.
    Complement 61
    Armament
    one 6"
    two 3"
    two Machine Guns
    Fuel Capacity 192 Tons coal
    Propulsion
    Coal-fired triple-expansion steam engine
    one propeller, 1,000shp

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    Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    Lebanon 97k USS Lebanon at the Boston Navy Yard in 1898, probably when preparing for Spanish-American War service. The ship had been built for the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad to move coal along the East Coast, and because she was designed to tow coal barges while carrying coal in her holds she was sometimes called a "big steam tug." Note the open hatch covers forward and aft.
    US National Archives, RG-19-N box 1. Photo # 19-N-1425 a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives, courtesy Shipscribe.com.
    Mike Green
    Lebanon 131k USS Lebanon "talking at sea" with signal flags off Cuba during the Spanish American war. The contemporary handwritten caption explains that "As the vessels seldom come within speaking distance at sea, the flags tell the news, and pass the orders over the miles of intervening water." Lebanon served primarily as a collier during the 1898 war.
    US Naval History and Heritage Command., Photo # NH 105292, courtesy Shipscribe.com.
    Mike Green
    Lebanon 81k USS Lebanon in port with "R" type submarines alongside, circa 1919. Among the boats present are USS R-3 (Submarine # 80), second from the left; and USS R-9 (Submarine # 86), second from the from right
    US Navy photo # NH 77275 courtesy of Mrs. C.R. DeSpain, 1973. From the scrapbooks of Fred M. Butler now in the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.
    US Naval Historical Center
    Lebanon 575k USS Lebanon at anchor in the Hudson River in October 1912 during that year's Presidential Naval Review. Photo - Darryl Baker
    Caption - Robert Hurst
    Lebanon 256k USS Lebanon at anchor, date and location unknown. "Fighting Ships of World War I" (1919). Darryl Baker
    Lebanon 98k USS Lebanon with a gunnery target alongside circa 1920-1921. After 1911 the ship's primary function was towing and repairing gunnery targets for the Atlantic Fleet.
    US Navy photo, courtesy Shipscribe.com
    Mike Green
    Lebanon 51k USS Lebanon towing a target raft with panels erected for short-range gunnery practice. A tug is turning in the foreground.
    Photographed by Francis Sargent from a nearby battleship. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 101080 from the collection of Francis Sargent, courtesy of CDR. John Condon, USN, 1986.
    Robert Hurst
    Lebanon 82k Sailors and Marines eating a noon-time meal, probably at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, circa the mid-"teens." The ships in the distance are the minelayer (former cruiser) USS San Francisco (C-5), in the center, and the target towing and repair ship USS Lebanon, to the right.
    US Naval Historical Center Photograph. Photo #: NH 100788, courtesy Carter Rila, 1986.
    Robert Hurst

    USS Lebanon (AG-2)
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR. Forse, Charles Thomas16 April 1898 - 9 March 1899
    01CDR. Goodwin, Walton, USN (USNA 1867)9 March 1899 - 15 April 1899
     Decommissioned15 April 1899 - 11 August 1905
    02CAPT. McDonald, George11 August 1905 - 15 November 1906
    03MASTER, Merithew, Jeremiah (Naval Auxiliary Service)15 November 1906 - ?
    04CHBOSN, Crone, Christian, USN1913
    05BOSN. Huford, Harry Norman, USN1916 - 20 July 1917
    06LT. Macklin, Thomas20 July 1917 - 15 August 1921
    07LT. David, Bertram15 August 1921 - 6 February 1922
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves

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    Last Updated 10 April 2020