Criteria The World War I Victory Medal was awarded for military service during the First World War. It was awarded for active service between April 6, 1917, and November 11, 1918; for service with the American... The World War I Victory Medal was awarded for military service during the First World War. It was awarded for active service between April 6, 1917, and November 11, 1918; for service with the American Expeditionary Forces in European Russia between November 12, 1918, and August 5, 1919; or for service with the American Expeditionary Forces in Siberia between November 23, 1918, and April 1, 1920. MoreHide
Chain of Command
Walter O. Henry became Commanding Officer, USS Fanning, DD-37.
World War I: Action of 17 November 1917Based on Queenstown, Ireland, Fanning and her sister destroyers patrolled the eastern Atlantic, escorting convoys and rescuing survivors of sunken merchantmen. At 1615 on 17 November 1917, Coxswain Daniel David Loomis sighted the periscope of U-58, and the Officer of the Deck Lieutenant Walter Owen Henry ordered the destroyer to attack. Fanning's first depth charge pattern scored, and as destroyer Nicholson joined the action, the submarine broke surface, her crew pouring out on deck, hands raised in surrender. The depth charge had hit near the submarines diving planes, forcing the submarine to surface, and also knocked out the main generator aboard Fanning. Fanning maneuvered to pick up the prisoners as the damaged submarine sank, the first of two U-boats to fall victim to US Navy destroyers in World War I. Coxswain Daniel David Loomis and Lieutenant Walter Owen Henry both received the Navy Cross for this action.
Fanning continued escort and patrol duty for the duration of the war. Though she made numerous submarine contacts, all of her attacks were inconclusive. On many occasions, she went to the aid of torpedoed ships, rescuing survivors and carrying them into port. On 8 October 1918, she picked up a total of 103 survivors, 25 from a merchantman and 78 from the Dupetit-Thouars.
Fanning passed in review before President Woodrow Wilson on board the transport George Washington in Brest Harbor on 13 December, then remained at Brest until March of the following year. After a quick voyage to Plymouth, England, Fanning departed Brest for the States, by way of Lisbon, Portugal, and Ponta Delgada, Azores, in company with several other destroyers, and escorting a large group of submarine chasers. Fanning was placed out of commission at Philadelphia on 24 November 1919.
Description The United States of America declared war on the German Empire on April 6, 1917. The U.S. was an independent power and did not officially join the Allies. It closely cooperated with them militarily buThe United States of America declared war on the German Empire on April 6, 1917. The U.S. was an independent power and did not officially join the Allies. It closely cooperated with them militarily but acted alone in diplomacy. The U.S. made its major contributions in terms of supplies, raw material and money, starting in 1917. American soldiers under General John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), arrived in large numbers on the Western Front in the summer of 1918. They played a major role until victory was achieved on November 11, 1918. Before entering the war, the U.S had remained neutral, though it had been an important supplier to Great Britain and the other Allied powers. During the war, the U.S mobilized over 4 million military personnel and suffered 110,000 deaths, including 43,000 due to the influenza pandemic. The war saw a dramatic expansion of the United States government in an effort to harness the war effort and a significant increase in the size of the U.S. military. After a slow start in mobilising the economy and labour force, by spring 1918 the nation was poised to play a role in the conflict. Under the leadership of President Woodrow Wilson, the war represented the climax of the Progressive Era as it sought to bring reform and democracy to the world, although there was substantial public opposition to United States entry into the war.
Although the United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917, it did not initially declare war on the other Central Powers, a state of affairs that Woodrow Wilson described as an "embarrassing obstacle" in his State of the Union speech. Congress declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire on December 17, 1917, but never made declarations of war against the other Central Powers, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire or the various Co-belligerents allied with the central powers, thus the United States remained uninvolved in the military campaigns in central, eastern and southern Europe, the Middle East, the Caucasus, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Pacific.
The United States as late as 1917 maintained only a small army, smaller than thirteen of the nations and empires already active in the war. After the passage of the Selective Service Act in 1917, it drafted 2.8 million men into military service. By the summer of 1918 about a million U.S. soldiers had arrived in France, about half of whom eventually saw front-line service; by the Armistice of November 11 approximately 10,000 fresh soldiers were arriving in France daily. In 1917 Congress gave U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans when they were drafted to participate in World War I, as part of the Jones Act. In the end Germany miscalculated the United States' influence on the outcome of the conflict, believing it would be many more months before U.S. troops would arrive and overestimating the effectiveness of U-boats in slowing the American buildup.
The United States Navy sent a battleship group to Scapa Flow to join with the British Grand Fleet, destroyers to Queenstown, Ireland and submarines to help guard convoys. Several regiments of Marines were also dispatched to France. The British and French wanted U.S. units used to reinforce their troops already on the battle lines and not to waste scarce shipping on bringing over supplies. The U.S. rejected the first proposition and accepted the second. General John J. Pershing, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) commander, refused to break up U.S. units to serve as mere reinforcements for British Empire and French units. As an exception, he did allow African-American combat regiments to fight in French divisions. The Harlem Hellfighters fought as part of the French 16th Division, earning a unit Croix de Guerre for their actions at Château-Thierry, Belleau Wood, and Séchault.
Impact of US forces on the war
On the battlefields of France in spring 1918, the war-weary Allied armies enthusiastically welcomed the fresh American troops. They arrived at the rate of 10,000 a day, at a time when the Germans were unable to replace their losses. After British Empire, French and Portuguese forces had defeated and turned back the powerful final German offensive (Spring Offensive of March to July, 1918), the Americans played a role in the Allied final offensive (Hundred Days Offensive of August to November). However, many American commanders used the same flawed tactics which the British, French, Germans and others had abandoned early in the war, and so many American offensives were not particularly effective. Pershing continued to commit troops to these full- frontal attacks, resulting in high casualties against experienced veteran German and Austrian-Hungarian units. Nevertheless, the infusion of new and fresh U.S. troops greatly strengthened the Allies' strategic position and boosted morale. The Allies achieved victory over Germany on November 11, 1918 after German morale had collapsed both at home and on the battlefield.... More
Memories Navy Cross, USS Fanning, WWI
HENRY, WALTER OWEN Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Navy U.S.S. Fanning Date of ANavy Cross, USS Fanning, WWI
HENRY, WALTER OWEN Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Navy U.S.S. Fanning Date of Action: November 17, 1917 Citation: The Navy Cross is presented to Walter O. Henry, (then) Lieutenant, U.S. Navy, for distinguished service in the line of his profession as Officer of the Deck on the U.S.S. Fanning in initiating prompt and efficient offensive action on the occasion of the engagement with, and the capture of the German submarine U-58 on November 17, 1917.... More
Description
Submarine Chasers operated in the Atlantic. http://www.subchaser.org/
Memories Navy Cross, USS Fanning, WWI
HENRY, WALTER OWEN Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Navy U.S.S. Fanning Date of ANavy Cross, USS Fanning, WWI
HENRY, WALTER OWEN Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Navy U.S.S. Fanning Date of Action: November 17, 1917 Citation: The Navy Cross is presented to Walter O. Henry, (then) Lieutenant, U.S. Navy, for distinguished service in the line of his profession as Officer of the Deck on the U.S.S. Fanning in initiating prompt and efficient offensive action on the occasion of the engagement with, and the capture of the German submarine U-58 on November 17, 1917.... More
Chain of Command
Walter O. Henry became Commanding Officer, USS Fanning, DD-37.
World War I: Action of 17 November 1917Based on Queenstown, Ireland, Fanning and her sister destroyers patrolled the eastern Atlantic, escorting convoys and rescuing survivors of sunken merchantmen. At 1615 on 17 November 1917, Coxswain Daniel David Loomis sighted the periscope of U-58, and the Officer of the Deck Lieutenant Walter Owen Henry ordered the destroyer to attack. Fanning's first depth charge pattern scored, and as destroyer Nicholson joined the action, the submarine broke surface, her crew pouring out on deck, hands raised in surrender. The depth charge had hit near the submarines diving planes, forcing the submarine to surface, and also knocked out the main generator aboard Fanning. Fanning maneuvered to pick up the prisoners as the damaged submarine sank, the first of two U-boats to fall victim to US Navy destroyers in World War I. Coxswain Daniel David Loomis and Lieutenant Walter Owen Henry both received the Navy Cross for this action.
Fanning continued escort and patrol duty for the duration of the war. Though she made numerous submarine contacts, all of her attacks were inconclusive. On many occasions, she went to the aid of torpedoed ships, rescuing survivors and carrying them into port. On 8 October 1918, she picked up a total of 103 survivors, 25 from a merchantman and 78 from the Dupetit-Thouars.
�??Fanning passed in review before President Woodrow Wilson on board the transport George Washington in Brest Harbor on 13 December, then remained at Brest until March of the following year. After a quick voyage to Plymouth, England, Fanning departed Brest for the States, by way of Lisbon, Portugal, and Ponta Delgada, Azores, in company with several other destroyers, and escorting a large group of submarine chasers. Fanning was placed out of commission at Philadelphia on 24 November 1919.
Criteria The Navy Cross may be awarded to any person who, while serving with the Navy or Marine Corps, distinguishes himself in action by extraordinary heroism not justifying an award of the Medal of Honor.... The Navy Cross may be awarded to any person who, while serving with the Navy or Marine Corps, distinguishes himself in action by extraordinary heroism not justifying an award of the Medal of Honor. MoreHide
Comments November 17, 1917, when the Fanning engaged and captured the German Submarine U-58.
Navy Cross, USS Fanning, WWI
HENRY, WALTER OWEN
Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Navy
U.S.S. Fanning
Date of Action: November... November 17, 1917, when the Fanning engaged and captured the German Submarine U-58.
Navy Cross, USS Fanning, WWI
HENRY, WALTER OWEN
Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Navy
U.S.S. Fanning
Date of Action: November 17, 1917
Citation:
The Navy Cross is presented to Walter O. Henry, (then) Lieutenant, U.S. Navy, for distinguished service in the line of his profession as Officer of the Deck on the U.S.S. Fanning in initiating prompt and efficient offensive action on the occasion of the engagement with, and the capture of the German submarine U-58 on November 17, 1917. MoreHide
David Bushnell was born in Saybrook, Connecticut, about 1742. A graduate of Yale University in 1775, he managed to explode gunpowder underwater, which is thought to have suggested to him the idea of a submarine mine or torpedo. In 1775, he completed a man-propelled wooden submarine boat, on the outside of which was attached a powder magazine with clock mechanism enclosed for igniting it. Bushnell's vessel was unsuccessful in her attempts to blow up British vessels in 1776-1777. Bushnell commanded the Corps of Engineers at West Point in 1783. He later became the head of a private school in Georgia; and then practiced medicine until his death in 1824 at Warrenton, Georgia.
The first USS Bushnell (AS-2), named for the Revolutionary War submarine pioneer, was christened by Miss Esculine Warwick Bushnell, great-grandniece of David Bushnell, and launched on 9 February 1915, by the Seattle Construction and Dry Dock Company at Seattle, Washington State. The submarine tender was commissioned on 24 November 1915 with Lieutenant D. F. Boyd in command.
When commissioned, the ship displaced 3,142 tons; was 350'6" in length overall; had a beam of 45'8"; drew 19'6" of water; could make 14 knots at speed; was manned by 151 officers and men; and was armed with four 5-inch guns and two 21-inch torpedo tubes.
USS Bushnell was assigned to the Submarine Flotilla of the United States Atlantic Fleet as the submarine tender for "L" Class submarines in January of 1916...and arrived on the east coast in February. Early in 1917, she escorted submarines to the Azores and in December accompanied Submarine Division Five to Ireland...arriving at Queenstown on 27 January 1918. USS Bushnell acted as tender for submarines operating off Queenstown until the end of World War I.
She later escorted captured German submarines to England, Canada, and the United States.
During September of 1920, she assisted in the salvage operations of submarine USS S-5 (SS-110)...which had gone down off the Delaware Capes. Fortunately, no lives were lost in that submarine sinking...but the submarine, itself, was not salvaged. Subsequently, USS Bushnell, until August of 1931, cruised with various submarine divisions along the Atlantic coast, in the Caribbean, along the west coast, and around the Hawaiian Islands. USS Bushnell arrived at San Diego, California, on 3 September 1931 (the day Robert Loys Sminkey was born), and reported for duty with the Submarine Force, United States Pacific Fleet...with whom she operated until 1937. She towed frigate USS Constitution ... the oldest warship afloat in the United States Navy ... from San Diego to the Panama Canal Zone during March and April of 1934. In February of 1935, assisted in the search for the survivors of dirigible USS Macon ... which had crashed at sea off San Diego. USS Macon had been one of the Navy's largest rigid airships.
During December of 1937, USS Bushnell was transferred to duty with the Hydrographic Survey Service and carried out her operations along the coasts of Columbia, Venezuela, Trinidad, British Guiana, and Samoa until September of 1941. On 25 July 1940, her designation was changed to AG-32, and, on 23 August, she was renamed USS Sumner. "AG" was the designation for "Miscellaneous Auxiliary."
USS Sumner (AG-32) sailed from Norfolk, Virginia, on 20 October 1941; joined the Base Force of the U. S. Pacific Fleet at San Diego; then continued on to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii ... arriving at the Submarine Base, there, on 25 November 1941.
