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NavSource Online: Battleship Photo Archive

M-2 USS AMPHITRITE

Radio Call Sign: November - Bravo - Quebec


Amphitrite Class Monitor: Displacement 3,990 Tons. Dimensions,262 x 55.5 x 14.5 feet/80.08 x 16.86 x 4.42 meters. Armament 2 dual "10/30", 2 6-pound, 2 3-pound. Armor, Steel & Iron: 9 inch belt, 11.5 inch barbettes, 7.5 inch turrets, 7.5 inch CT. Machinery, HC engines, 4 boilers, 2 shafts, 1,600 hp. Speed, 12 knots.

Operational and Building Data: Built by Harlan & Hollingsworth, Wilmington, DE. Laid down 1874, suspended 1876, resumed 1882, launched 7 June 1883, transferred to Norfolk Navy Yard for completion, commissioned 23 April 1895. Operated mainly in training roles; decommissioned to reserve mid-1897. Recommissioned 2 October 1897 but saw little activity. Operated around Cuba, Puerto Rico and Key West during the Spanish-American War; bombarded San Juan 12 May 1898. Postwar operated as a gunnery training ship. Decommissioned to reserve 30 November 1901 for repairs. Recommissioned 1 December 1902 as a training ship; served as station ship in Cuba 1904-1907. Decommissioned to reserve 3 August 1907. Placed in commission in reserve for reservist training 14 June 1910. Loaned to the Connecticut Naval Militia 1916-1917. Served as a guardship at New York 1917-1919. Decommissioned 31 May 1919, stricken for disposal 24 July 1919, sold 3 January 1920. Used as a floating hotel and gambling casino; then chartered to the government in 1943 for use as a barracks at Elizabeth City, NC. Towed to Maryland for use as a floating restaurant and hotel in 1950, but sold in 1951.
Fate:: Planned refit for use as an oil exploration support ship canceled; sold for scrapping in early 1952.

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AMPHITRITE 735k Amphitrite (BM-2) weighs in on the ways just before launching, 7 June 1883. National Archives Identifier: 52560699
Local Identifier: 181-V-7015
Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
AMPHITRITE 1.31k Amphitrite (BM-2) on the ways just before launching, 7 June 1883. National Archives Identifier: 52560701
Local Identifier: 181-V-7016
Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
AMPHITRITE 1.39k Launching of the Amphitrite (BM-2) , 7 June 1883. National Archives Identifier: 52560703
Local Identifier: 181-V-7017
Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
1.17k U.S. Navy yard, Norfolk, Va.
Amphitrite (BM-2) fitting out at the Norfolk Navy Yard during the later 1880s or early 1890s.
Photo & text i.d. courtesy of Chuck Haberlein.
National Archives Identifier: 52560697
Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
Texas 1.14k Texas fitting out after launching on 28 January 1892. The Amphitrite (BM-2) is under construction alongside. National Archives Identifier: 52560715
Local Identifier: 181-V-7023
Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
AMPHITRITE
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6.38k Amphitrite (BM-2) in Boston Navy Yard, 27 August 1901. National Archives Identifier: 55171610
Local Identifier: 111-SC-5363
Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
AMPHITRITE 50k Amphitrite (BM-2) under construction at the Norfolk Navy Yard, circa 1895. The wood backing for the armor has been set in place but the belt is not yet installed. The tall military mast which was typical of the "New Navy" monitors can be seen. USN photo & text courtesy of "Monitors of the U.S. Navy, 1861-1937", pg 41, by Lt. Richard H. Webber, USNR-R.
(LOC) Library of Congress, Catalog Card No. 77-603596.
AMPHITRITE 205k A line drawing of the monitor Amphitrite (BM-2) as completed. Photo courtesy of Transactions of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, collection of Robb Jensen.
AMPHITRITE 65k Amphitrite (BM-2) circa 1895. USN photo courtesy of "Battleships" by Anthony Preston, printed by Bison Books, Ltd, 1982.
AMPHITRITE 2.36k UNITED STATES NAVY—IRON COAST DEFENSE MONITOR AMPHITRITE (BM-2) Image and text provided by Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN.
Photo courtesy of The Princeton Union. (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 05 March 1896, Image 7, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
THE GREAT EXPOSITION 1.39k NORTH ATLANTIC SQUADRON IN ACTION FIRING OFF $1,000,000 WORTH OF POWDER AND SHELL IN AN HOUR
Iowa (BB-4), Ericsson (TB-2), Porter (TB-6), Indiana (BB-1), Texas, Maine, New York (ACR-2), Amphitrite (BM-2) , Terror (M-4), Raleigh (C-8).
Drawn by an expert marine artist from exact details. The line of battle is that described by Captain Mahan.
Image and text provided by Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT.
Photo from The Anaconda Standard. (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 16 May 1897, Image 16, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
AMPHITRITE 55k Amphitrite (BM-2) at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, MA, during the 1890s. USNHC photo # NH 58949.
AMPHITRITE 1.51k .....Amphitrite (BM-2) spent the next several months operating between Norfolk, Charleston, and Tompkinsville, Staten Island, into early May of 1897. While operating out of Charleston between February and April 1897, she conducted underway training on the average of three days per month. She appears here in in a port bow view at anchor on 27 April 1897. Text courtesy of DANFS.
Library of Congress photo # LC-D4-3741, courtesy of Mike Green.
Photochrom postcard published by the Detroit Photographic Company. Image from Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University via Robert Hurst.
AMPHITRITE 755k Bow view of the Amphitrite (BM-2) with the Statue of Liberty in the right distance, anchored in lower New York bay more towards the Staten Island side of the harbor and just off the coastal batteries of Fort Wadsworth. Text i.d. courtesy of Marvin Korot.
Photo LC-DIG-det-4a13876 courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
AMPHITRITE 532k Port quarter view of the Amphitrite (BM-2) anchored at an unknown location circa 1897-1901. Photo LC-DIG-det-4a13877 courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
PURITAN 460k THE MONITORS OF TODAY.
ESSENTIALLY AN AMERICAN TYPE OF WAR-VESSEL.
Photo courtesy of New-York Tribune. (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 29 August 1897, Image 30, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
AMPHITRITE1.42kAmphitrite (BM-2) name is written on her stern turret. Photo from The American Navy with Introduction and Descriptive Text - Reproductions of Photographs - Belford, Middlebrook & Co. - Chicago, 1898, submitted by Thomas Becher.
MonitorsNRUNCLE SAM'S FLEET OF MONITORS.
In case of war with Spain, the monitor fleet would be of great value to Uncle Sam as coast defenders. Monitors are poor seagoing ships, but are very effective in the defense of seaboard cities.
First row: Wyandotte & Passaic, second row: Nantucket, Amphitrite (BM-2) & Miantonomah (BM-5); third row; Ajax.
Image and text provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI.
Photo by The Hawaiian Gazette. (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 22 April 1898, Image 3, courtesy of chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
AMPHITRITE 4.45k SCENES AT ADMIRAL SAMPSON'S BOMBARDMENT OF SAN JUAN
Incidents drawn by the great marine artist Hofacker from cabled description showing Admiral Sampson stepping into the conning tower of his flagship for an instant, the killing of Seaman Frank Wedemark, the wounding of Samuel Feltman and others, and the flagship Iowa (BB-4), the Detroit (C-10), the New York (ACR-2), the Montgomery (C-9), and the monitors Terror (M-4) and Amphitrite (BM-2) engaging the batteries of Morro Fort. The torpedo boat Porter (TB-6) shown above lay outside the harbor.
Image and text provided by University of California, Riverside.
Photo courtesy of The Herald. (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 26 May 1898, Image 4, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
Monitors677kOUR NAVY AS IT IS TODAY
1. Monadnock (BM-3) . 2. Petrel. 3. Puritan (BM-1) . 4. Concord. 5. Wilmington. 6. Amphitrite (BM-2) . 7. Ajax. 8. Machias. 9. Cincinnati. 10. Marblehead. 1 1. Montgomery. 12. Minneapolis. 13. Kearsarge (BB-5). 14. Kentucky (BB-6). 15. Bancroft. 16. Dolphin. 17. Vesuvius. 18. Raleigh. 19. Indiana (BB-1). 20. Iowa (BB-4). 21. Olympia. 22. Terror (M-4). 23. Catskill . 24. Miantonomah (BM-5). 25. Gustine. 26. Yorktown. 27. Texas. 28. Helena. 29. Massachusetts (BB-2). 30. Columbia. 31. New Orleans, 32. San Francisco. 33. Canonicus . 34. Camanche . 35. Monterey (BM-6). 36. Brooklyn. 37. Detroit 38. Atlanta. 39. Alabama (BB-8). 40. Albany. 41. Baltimore. 42. Chicago. 43. Newark, 44. Boston. 45. Charleston. 46. Oregon (BB-3). 47. New York. 48. Manhattan. 49. Philadelphia. 50. Lehigh. And Torpedo Boats. Drawn by "W. A. Verhas.
Image and text provided by University of Tennessee.
Photo by The Maryville Times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 28 May 1898, Image 3, courtesy of chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
AMPHITRITE 237k THE MONITOR AMPHITRITE. Photo courtesy of Colliers History of the Spanish American War, in 1898, and submitted by Daniel Wilmes.
AMPHITRITE 584k 4 photo PDF of scenes aboard the Amphitrite (BM-2) . Photos from the Scientific Amerian Magazine of 1898 Supplement, courtesy of David Upton.
AMPHITRITE NR SURROUNDING SAN JUAN.
A View of the Northeastern Part of Porto Rico, Showing the Towns of Fajardo In the Center, Thirty Miles From San Juan, and Ceiba on the Left, Which Have Just Surrendered to the Americans, With Cape San Juan and Its Lighthouse, Now Operated by a detail of American Marines, on the Right and in the distance the Peak of El Yungue, 3714 Feet High, From Which All the Spanish Positions in Eastern Porto Rico Can Be Seen. In the Middle Foreground is the Gunboat Marietta, With the Monitors Puritan (BM-1) and Amphitrite (BM-2) on the Right, and the Montgomery (C-9), With the Transports Ready to Discharge Their Troops, on the Left
Image and text provided by University of California, Riverside.
Photo courtesy of The San Francisco Call. (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 07 August 1898, Image 1, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
AMPHITRITE NR THE AFFAIR AT CAPE SAN JUAN.
On the Right Center of the Picture Is Shown the Lighthouse. Near the Extremity of the Headland, Held by Forty American Sailors. To the Left, 300 Yards Distant, Is the Force of 800 Spaniards Firing With Machine Guns and Mausers. In Right and Left Foreground Are the Monitor Amphitrite (BM-2) and Cruiser Cincinnati, Which Have Just Begun to Use Their Large Quick-Firing Guns. Further in Within 100 Yards of the Beach Is the Tug Leyden Pouring One Pound Shells Into the Enemy. Boats From the Larger Ships Are Speeding to the Shore Laden With Reinforcements.
Image and text provided by University of California, Riverside, CA.
Photo from The San Francisco Call. (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 12 August 1898, Image 1, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
Holland 71k Holland (SS-01), at the US Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD., circa 1901-1902. The crew on deck are, L to R: Harry Wahab, chief gunner's mate; Kane; Richard O. Williams, chief electrician; Chief Gunner Owen Hill, commanding; Igoe; Michael Malone; Barnett Bowie, Simpson, chief machinist mate, and Rhinelander.
The two vessels on the right are monitors. The inboard vessel has only one turret and is probably one of 3 monitors: Arkansas (M-7), Nevada(M-8) or Florida (M-9). The outboard 2 turreted monitor is also one of 3 probables: Amphitrite (BM-2), Terror (M-4) or Miantonomah (BM-5).
USN photo courtesy of the US Naval Historical Center.
AMPHITRITE 1.03k Amphitrite (BM-2) at Norfolk Navy Yard, 21 October 1903. National Archives Identifier:52555709
Local Identifier: 181-V-0296
Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
AMPHITRITE 1.03k Amphitrite (BM-2) port view. Photo # Lot 3000-K-21, Detroit Publishing Company, Courtesy of the Library of Congress from the National Museum of the U.S. Navy via flickr.com.
AMPHITRITE 119k Stern view of the Amphitrite (BM-2) in this undated photo. Digital ID # ggbain 24106v, LC-B2-4172-8. Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, from the George Grantham Bain Collection.
FLORIDA NR A Plea for the Monitor in Coast Defence
Tallahassee, ex-Florida (M-9).
Pictured also are the Canonicus, Amphitrite (BM-2), & Monterey (BM-6).
Image and text provided by West Virginia University
Photo courtesy of The Sunday Telegram. (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 19 March 1916, THIRD SECTION, Image 27, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
AMPHITRITE 5.33k "The U.S. monitor Amphitrite (BM-2), with the aid of tugs and derricks, laying across the narrows below quarantine. The buoys from which are suspended the steel nets closing the harbor to submarines."
Amphitrite cleared Bridgeport, Conn., on 2 February 1917 for repairs and alterations at the New York Navy Yard, arriving the following day. On 17 February, the ship departed the yard and stood down river to the Narrows, near Rosebank, Staten Island, N. Y., for work on the submarine net in company with three tugs; Hudson, W. J. Conway, and Lizzie D., and Navy lighters Victor, Transport, and the tug S. W. Holbrook. Later, in company with M. M. Millard, George T. Kirkham, and John Nichols, she continued her work laying the net off Rosebank.
Text courtesy of N.Y. Times 25 February 1917, Page 4 & DANFS.
Photo by International News Service, courtesy of memory.loc.gov.
374k Original Caption: U.S. MONITOR AND ARMED LINER COLLIDE IN FOG.
Engineers and workmen are attempting to salvage the armed liner Manchuria, which collided with the Amphitrite (BM-2) in a heavy fog in New York Bay near Quarantine, late on the night of 13 June 1917. The Manchuria, one of the first American liners to cross the Atlantic armed with stern and forward guns as a protection against the German submarines, was out of service for some time. Two big holes were stove in her starboard side amidships, above and below the water line and down by her stern. After the collision both vessels drifted about in the fog and the Amphitrite finally became entangled in the safety net at the entrance to the harbor. The Manchuria settled with the water she had shipped and is lying far down. A close up view of the stern on the Manchuria, showing her lower deck almost even with the water line. Her stern gun can be seen on the deck.
Photographer: International Film Service
National Archives Identifier: 45499677
Local Identifier: 165-WW-272A-14
Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
AMPHITRITE 535k The Manchuria, sinking stern first in New York Bay, after a crash in the fog with the U. S. Monitor Amphitrite (BM-2). Photo courtesy of New-York Tribune. (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 24 June 1917, Image 50, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
BB-1 Indiana 209k "Flotilla A, Destroyer Force".
Tied up with sterns to the wharf in the Philadelphia Navy Yard's Reserve Basin, while awaiting decommissioning, circa May 1919. Other ships in the background include a Monitor, three old battleships and several torpedo boats. Panoramic photograph by Frawley and Collins, Mount Holly, New Jersey.
Ships in the foreground are (from left to right):
Dale (DD-4); Lawrence (DD-8); Perry (DD-11); Whipple (DD-15); Truxtun (DD-14);
A barge; Worden (DD-16); Barry (DD-2); Hull (DD-7); Hopkins (DD-6); Bainbridge (DD-1); Stewart (DD-13); Paul Jones (DD-10); Decatur (DD-5); Preble (DD-12); Preston (DD-19); Flusser (DD-20); Lamson (DD-18); Reid (DD-21); and Isabel (SP-521).
Ships in the background are (from left to right):
Amphitrite (BM-2);ex-Iowa (BB-4) outboard; ex-Massachusetts (BB-2) inboard; and ex-Indiana (BB-1).
Several torpedo boats are moored alongside the old battleships.
Photograph # NH 105512, from the collections of the United States Naval Historical Center.
AMPHITRITE 67k Amphitrite (BM-2) drying signal flags in the Reserve Basin at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, while awaiting decommissioning in May 1919. Image cropped from a panoramic view (Photo # NH 105512) by Frawley and Collins, Mount Holly, New Jersey. USNHC photo # NH 105512-A.
AMPHITRITE
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280k What is probably the Amphitrite (BM-2) & subchaser SC-23. Date is no later than 1920, the year SC-23 was destroyed in a fire. Photo courtesy of David Wright.
AMPHITRITE 63k Amphitrite (BM-2) as a floating hotel and casino off the Maryland coast in 1950-51. Photo courtesy of Robert Hurst.
(NISMF)376kA guest studies a painting depicting the history of battleships. The artwork was painted by George Skybeck and presented to the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association during their annual banquet at Honolulu, Hawaii, on 8 December 1991. USN photo # DN-SC-92-05391, by PHC Carolyn Harris, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil.

USS AMPHITRITE M-2 History
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