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Gunboat Photo Archive

Dorothea



Call sign (1912):
Nan - Easy - Sail



Civilian call sign (1923):
Love - Vice - Watch - Tare


Dorothea served the U. S. Navy plus the Illinois and Ohio State Naval Militia

Gunboat:

  • Built in 1897 by William Cramp and Sons, Philadelphia, PA
  • Acquired by the Navy 21 May 1898
  • Commissioned 1 June 1898
  • Decommissioned 20 September 1898 at Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, VA
  • Recommissioned 1 October 1900
  • Decommissioned 24 October 1900
  • Loaned to the Illinois Naval Militia in May 1901
  • Transferred in 1909 to the Ohio State Militia
  • Recommissioned 20 April 1917
  • Decommissioned 23 June 1919 at New Orleans, LA
  • Sold 20 November 1919 to August Grimaldi of New Orleans
  • Abandoned and scrapped in 1927.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 594 t.
    1923 - 420 t.
  • Length 182.4'
    1923 - 186'
  • Beam 23.5'
    1923 - 23'
  • Draft 11.5'
    1923 - 14'
  • Speed 15 kts.
  • Complement 50
    1923 - 22
  • Armament: Four 6-pounders, two 1-pounders and two Colt machine guns
    1911 - Two 3-pounder rapid fire mounts
  • Propulsion: Two Yarrow boilers, one 1,558ihp vertical triple-expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Dorothea 79k Historical Collections of the Great Lakes
    Dorothea 126k Library of Congress photo LC-D4-20367 from the Detroit Photographic Co. Mike Green
    Dorothea 94k In port, 1898
    U.S. Navy photo NH 58839    		 Naval Historical Center
    Dorothea 118k Dressed with flags at Lorain, Ohio, 22 June 1911. The original image was printed on postal card stock by The Letter Post Card Company of Lorain
    Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2005
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 103135    		 Robert Hurst
    Dorothea 117k Original photo: Photo probably taken during her service with the Ohio State Naval Militia
    Photo from the 1919 edition of Jane's Fighting Ships
    Replacement photo: Pesha photo No. 279    		 Original photo: Robert Hurst
    Replacement photo: Tommy Trampp
    Dorothea 103k c. 1918
    One man submarine approaching Dorothea off the Florida coast    		 Richard Cleaveland
    Commanding Officers
    01LCDR William J. Barnette, USN21 May 1898
    02CAPT(T) Cecil M. Gabbett, USCG1918 - 1919
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    View the Gunboat Dorothea
    DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway website
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    This page created and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan
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