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Identification Numbered Vessel Photo Archive

Quinnebaug (ID 1687)

Mine Planter:

  • Built in 1899 as Jefferson by the Delaware River Iron and Shipbuilding and Engineering Works, Chester, PA
  • Acquired by the Navy 3 December 1917
  • Commissioned USS Quinnebaug (ID 1687) 28 March 1918 at Brooklyn, NY
  • Decommissioned 6 February 1919 at Philadelphia, PA
  • Returned to her owner 19 March 1919
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 5,150 t.
  • Length 375'
  • Beam 42'
  • Draft 18' 6"
  • Speed 17 kts.
  • Complement 345
  • Armament: One 5"/51 mount, two 3"/50 mounts and two machine guns
  • Propulsion: Four single ended boilers, one vertical triple expansion steam engine, one shaft.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    SS Jefferson
    Quinnebaug 47k SS Jefferson photographed prior to World War I
    U.S. Navy photo NH 42456    		 Naval Historical Center
    Quinnebaug 184k Post card postmarked Norfolk, VA, 6 October 1909 Tommy Trampp
    Quinnebaug 88k Photographed circa 1917
    Naval Historical Center photo NH 105603    		 Robert Hurst
    USS Quinnebaug (ID 1687)
    Quinnebaug 140k Painted in "dazzle" camouflage, 1918
    Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1969
    U.S. Navy photo NH 67875    		 Original photo: Naval Historical Center
    Replacement photo: Jim Kurrasch, Battleship Iowa, Pacific Battleship Center
    Quinnebaug 74k U.S. Navy minelayers steaming in column in the North Sea, September 1918. At left, British destroyers are covering the formation's flank with a smoke screen. Ships in the minelayer column are (from front to rear): Roanoke, Housatonic, Quinnebaug and Baltimore
    U.S. Navy photo NH 2805    		 Naval Historical Center
    Quinnebaug 71k U.S. Navy minelayers proceeding to sea in two columns, in Area Number 2 of the North Sea, September 1918. Ships in the column at left are (from front to rear): Roanoke, Housatonic, Quinnebaug and Baltimore. Ships in column at right are (from front to rear): Canonicus (out of picture, to right), Canandaigua, Aroostook and Saranac. Note disruptive "dazzle" camouflage worn by these ships
    Photograph from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the National Archives
    U. S. Army Signal Corps photo 111-SC-43563
    Aroostook 111k American minelayers underway on 20 September 1918. They include; on the right: USS Roanoke (ID-1695), USS Housatonic (ID-1697), USS Quinnebaug (ID-1687), USS Baltimore (CM-1). On the left: USS Canonicus (ID-1696), USS Canandaigua (ID-1694), USS Aroostook (CM-3), USS Saranac (ID-1702)
    Imperial War Museum photo No.© IWM(Q 20254) from American First World War Official Exchange Collection     		Mike Green
    Aroostook 182k Quinnebaug's officers and crew pose on her foredeck, at Invergordon, Scotland, October 1918. Quinnebaug was then engaged in laying a barrage of anti-submarine mines across the North Sea. Note the "T.N.T." banner at the left end of the bridge, alluding to the mines' explosive charge material
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 42071    		 Robert Hurst
    Quinnebaug 103k Photographed circa 1919 by O. W. Waterman, Hampton, Virginia
    Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 98371
    Aroostook 223k c. 1919
    Hampton, VA
    Engineer's Division photo
    Photo by O. W. Waterman from the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum    		 Douglas Davis
    Photo added 25 June 2021
    Quinnebaug 271k Original photo: Photo from the 24 January 1919 edition of the Evening Public Ledger, Philadelphia, PA courtesy of Penn State University Libraries, University Park, PA
    Replacement photo: c. 1919
    Hampton, VA
    Crew photo
    Photo by O. W. Waterman from the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum    		 Original photo: Mike Mohl
    Replacement photo: Douglas Davis
    Replacement photo added 25 June 2021
    Quinnebaug 172k Photo from the 30 January 1919 edition of the Evening Public Ledger, Philadelphia, PA Mike Mohl
    Commanding Officers
    01CDR David Pratt Mannix, USN - Awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal28 March 1918 - 6 February 1919
    02LTJG(T) Phillip C. Kauffman, USNRF1918 (Temporary)
    Courtesy Joe Radigan
    Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships History: [The third] Quinnebaug (ID-1687), formerly Jefferson, was built in 1899 by Delaware River Iron and Shipbuilding and Engineering Works, Chester, Pa., for the Old Dominion Steamship Co.

    Chartered by the Navy 3 December 1917, converted to a mine planter by Robbin's Repair Basin and DryDock Co., Brooklyn, N.Y., and commissioned at Brooklyn 28 March 1918, Comdr. David Pratt Mannix in command.

    Quinnebaug reported to the Atlantic Mine Force and was ordered 13 May 1918 to Invergordon, Scotland for mining operations in the North Sea with Mine Squadron 1. From 14 July to 26 October, she successfully completed ten mining missions screened by British destroyers of the 14th Flotilla (Grand Fleet). Quinnebaug was not diverted from her mission by two encounters with German submarines 20-21 September and succeeded in planting approximately 6,040 mines in the Northern Barrage. Upon completion of this duty she returned home, decommissioned at Philadelphia 6 February 1919, and was returned to her owner 19 March 1919.

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