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NavSource Online: Service Ship Photo Archive

Contributed by Gerd Matthes

USS Wolverine (IX-64)

International Radio Call Sign:
November - Whiskey - Mike - November NWMN

Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from left to right
American Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal

Training Aircraft Carrier:

SS Seeandbee a side-wheel excursion steamer built in 1913 at American Shipbuilding Co., Wyandotte, MI.

Launched, 7 November 1912

Purchased by the War Shipping Administration from the Cleveland and Buffalo Transit Co. for $246,500.00

Acquired by the Navy, 12 March 1942

Converted to a training aircraft carrier at American Shipbuilding Co., Buffalo, N.Y.

Commissioned USS Wolverine (IX-64), 12 August 1942, CDR. George R. Fairlamb in command

Decommissioned, 7 November 1945

Struck from the Naval Register 28 November 1945

Transferred to the Maritime Commission for disposal

Final Disposition, sold for scrapping in 21 November 1947 at Cleveland, OH. to A. F. Wagner Iron Works (PDX-410) for $46,789.00

Specifications:
Displacement 7,200 t.
Length 500'
Beam 98'
Draft 15' 6"
Speed 28 kts.
Complement 270
Armament none

Propulsion

two compound reciprocating engines

twelve coal fired Scotch boilers
Ship's Service Generators
three recip-drive 75Kw 120V D.C.
one recip-drive 100Kw 120V D.C.

two sidewheels, 8000hp

Click On Image For Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Contributed By
Merchant Service
	115k	Advertisements for SS Seeandbee service between Cleveland and Buffalo on Lake Erie.	Tommy Trampp
	121k		Tommy Trampp
094606458	406k	The hull of the Cleveland and Buffalo Transit Co.'s new steamer, SS Seeandbee with the Stars and Stripes waving proudly from her fantail, minutes away from her sideways launch into the Detroit River on 7 November 1912. Library of Congress photo	Bob Canchola
094606459	414k	"Noon -- Steamer Seeandbee." Lunch break for men working on the sidewheeler SS Seeandbee at the American Ship Building yard in Wyandotte, Michigan, 14 February 1913. Library of Congress photo	Bob Canchola
	143k	SS Seeandbee PS main saloon, June 1913. International Marine Engineering, 1 July 1913, page 257	Robert Hurst
	113k	SS Seeandbee engine room starting platform, June 1913. International Marine Engineering, 1 July 1913, page 257	Robert Hurst
	273k	Starboard broadside view of SS Seeandbee, 6 November 1912, one day before she was launched at at American Shipbuilding Co., Wyandotte, MI. Notes: "402-T" on negative, "Detroit Shipbuilding Co." on negative, Detroit Publishing Co. no. X 1184, Gift; State Historical Society of Colorado; 1949. This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID det.4a26745.	Robert Hurst
	208k	Launching of SS Seeandbee, 7 November 1912, at American Shipbuilding Co., Wyandotte, MI. Notes: "99390" on negative, Detroit Publishing Co. no. 022746, Gift; State Historical Society of Colorado; 1949. This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID det.4a16222.	Robert Hurst
	124k	The side-wheel steamer SS Seeandbee under way on Lake Erie in 1913. Photo from the State Historical Society of Colorado.	Tommy Trampp
	174k	Post Card image of the side-wheel steamer SS Seeandbee prior to WWII	Tommy Trampp
	77k	Side-wheel steamer SS Seeandbee prior to WWII	Haze Gray & Underway
	230k	The Cleveland & Buffalo Link side-wheel steamer SS Seeandbee moored pierside, August 1919, location unknown. Photo courtesy Maritime History of the Great Lakes.	Robert Hurst
	345k	Large oval Cleveland & Buffalo tin tray advertisement for SS Seeandbee, date unknown.	Tommy Trampp
USS Wolverine (IX-64)
094606452	1869k	Original design drawings by American Ship Building Co., Buffalo, N.Y., for *USS Wolverine* (IX-64)** Aircraft Training Carrier 1942-1945.	Bob Canchola
	114k	SS Seeandbee at Buffalo, New York, in mid-1942. The massive wooden superstructure has been removed, and all that is left above forecastle deck level is four boiler uptakes, a structure over the engine room, and the paddle boxes. US Naval History and Heritage Command, Photo # NH 81057	Mike Green
US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # 81058	143k	SS Seeandbee under conversion from an excursion steamer to a training aircraft carrier, circa mid-1942 to mid-1943.	Tommy Trampp
	58k		Tommy Trampp
	90k	Wolverine (IX-64) running official trials off Buffalo, N. Y., 11 August 1942. US Navy and Marine Corps Museum/Naval Aviation Museum, Photo No Photo No. 1996.488.019.012	Mike Green
094606457	185k	*USS Wolverine* (IX-64)** underway in wintry conditions on Lake Michigan in December 1942 US National Archives photo # 80-G-468730, a US Navy photo by LT. Wayne Miller, USNR.	Bob Canchola
	316k	*USS Wolverine* (IX-64)** as she completes her fitting out in the summer of 1943. At left is the excursion steamer SS Greater Buffalo: her superstructure will soon be razed and a flight deck added. US Navy photo. Photo and text from "Aircraft Carriers of The World, 1914 to the Present: An Illustrated Encyclopedia" by Roger Chesneau.	Robert Hurst
	80k	*USS Wolverine* (IX-64)** probably photographed soon after completion. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 45092. Courtesy Shipscribe.com.	Mike Green
094606463	100k	A Landing Signal Officer (LSO) guiding a North American SNJ-3 Texan trainer to a landing aboard the U.S. Navy training carrier *USS Wolverine* (IX-64)** in Lake Michigan, in January 1943. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command. Photo # 80-G-34356	Robert Hurst
	351k	*USS Wolverine* (IX-64)** underway in Chicago harbor, 22 August 1943. Credits: "Navy Yearbook", Ed. by Phillip Andrews and Leonard Engel; Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1944	Derick S. Hartshorn
094606455	206k	*USS Wolverine* (IX-64)** at Chicago, IL., 22 March 1943.	Bob Canchola
	308k	*USS Wolverine* (IX-64)** lying at anchor in Lake Michigan on 6 April 1943. The black structure on the port side does not belong to the ship. US Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation photo # 1996.488.019.009.	Robert Hurst
	184k	A poem written in October 1942 by Melvin Walter MM2/c USNR while serving in *USS Wolverine* (IX-64)**	Jim Wallace for his wife's grandfather, Melvin H. Walter MM2/c USNR USS Wolverine August 1942 - September 1944
	136k	*USS Wolverine* (IX-64)** blackgang, circa August 1942 - September 2944. Melvin Walter is on the left in the first photo, in the rear of photo 2, and in the front row left of photo 3.	Jim Wallace for his wife's grandfather, Melvin H. Walter MM2/c USNR USS Wolverine August 1942 - September 1944
	136k
	173k
	182k	*USS Wolverine* (IX-64)** Christmas Dinner in port Chicago, IL., 25 December 1943 CAPT. Charles L. Lee USN carving turkey in wardroom Wardroom officers and family members Crews' general mess with crew and relatives Christmas Day dinner menu	Jim Wallace for his wife's grandfather, Melvin H. Walter MM2/c USNR USS Wolverine August 1942 - September 1944
	143k
	136k
	80k
	81k	*USS Wolverine* (IX-64)** underway in Lake Michigan, date unknown. US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine April 1960	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
	43k	*USS Wolverine* (IX-64)** underway in Lake Michigan, date unknown. US Navy photo from "All Hands" magazine April 1960. The arrow points to the paddle wheel.	Joe Radigan MACM USN Ret.
	43k	*USS Wolverine* (IX-64)** underway in Lake Michigan, date unknown. US Navy	Robert Hurst
	29k	*USS Wolverine* (IX-64)** underway in Lake Michigan, date unknown. US Navy	Robert Hurst
	149k	*USS Wolverine* (IX-64)** underway in Lake Michigan, date unknown. Photo from the collection of Ralph Matteson.	David Briedis
	59k	*USS Wolverine* (IX-64)** underway in Lake Michigan, date unknown. US Navy photo.	Tommy Trampp
	2027k	*USS Wolverine* (IX-64) and USS Sable (IX-81)** newspaper articles.	Ron Reeves
	45k	*USS Wolverine* (IX-64)** underway in Lake Michigan with Chicago skyline in background, date unknown. US Navy photo.	Gerd Matthes
	41k	*USS Wolverine* (IX-64)** underway in Lake Michigan during training flight operations, date unknown. US Navy photos.	Gerd Matthes
	52k		Gerd Matthes
	95k	*USS Wolverine* (IX-64)** underway in Lake Michigan during training flight operations, date unknown. Associated Press photo.	Jim Kurrasch Battleship Iowa Pacific Battleship Center
094606454	391k	*USS Wolverine* (IX-64)** at anchor in the Great Lakes off Chicago, IL., date unknown.	Bob Canchola
094606453	278k	*USS Wolverine* (IX-64)** operating in the Great Lakes off Chicago, IL. painting, "Practice Makes Perfect", by artist Stan Stokes, date unknown.	Bob Canchola
094606460	145k	The Great Lakes paddlewheel carriers of the 9th Naval District Carrier Qualification Training Unit (CQTU) at rest and tied up to the Navy Pier on the Chicago waterfront in the 1940s. Though moored at the pier, both *USS Wolverine* (IX-64) (right) and USS Sable (IX-81) (left) were attached to Naval Air Station Glenview, Illinois. Located in Glenview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, the air base primarily operated training aircraft as well as seaplanes on nearby Lake Michigan during the Second World War. Later during the war, NAS Glenview also hosted advanced training in Fleet combat aircraft, primarily for carrier qualification in Lake Michigan aboard the Chicago home ported Sable and Wolverine*. Today, the Navy Pier (the long structure in the foreground), is a tourist and entertainment destination with, still intact, lake terminal (lower left). Vintage Wings website*	Bob Canchola
094606404	335k	The Navy's two Carrier Qualification Training Units (CQTU) on Lake Michigan, *USS Wolverine* (IX-64) and USS Sable (IX-81)** docked at Chicago's Navy pier after World War II.	Bob Canchola
094606461	51k	Ex-*USS Wolverine* (IX-64)** being scrapped Jones Island, Milwaukee, WI. in 1948. Milwaukee Public Library Digital Collection	John Spivey
094606456	52k	US Navy Carrier Qualification Training Unit (CQTU) Great Lakes insignia. US National Archives photo # 80-G-19618	Bob Canchola
094606462	366k	"Heros on Deck - World War II on Lake Michigan" A one hour documentary of the history and operation of the two fresh water Great Lakes sidewheel paddle steamers converted to the training aircraft carriers, *USS Wolverine* (IX-64) and USS Sable (IX-81)**.	Bob Canchola

USS Wolverine (IX-64)
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)

Commanding Officers
01	CDR. Fairlamb Jr., George Richardson, USN (USNA 1917)	12 August 1942 - 1942
02	CDR. Bowman, Roscoe Leroy, USN (USNA 1921a) :RADM	1942 - January 1943
03	CAPT. Lee Charles Loomis USN (USNA 1924)	January 1943 - May 1944
04	CAPT. DeWolfe, Robert Rathbun	May 1944 - June 1944
05	CDR. Rigg, James Francis, USN	June 1944 - November 1944
06	CDR. Wigfall, George Hollingsworth, USN (USNA 1934)	November 1944 - 7 November 1945

Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation - Navy Log

Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
MARAD Vessel History Database
Warbird Information Exchange - USS Sable and Wolverine

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This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo

Last Updated 23 February 2024