USS Detroit CL8: Navy Archives

On that tragic and infamous day when the Japanese attacked pearl harbor, destroying the battleships of the Pacific fleet, The USS Detroit was also moored next to her sister ship the Raleigh in the harbor that day.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Detroit was able to get underway safely and set up an anti-aircraft fire. Only one of Detroit’s crew members was injured during the Japanese attack, Lester Silva, who received a Purple Heart. Once clear of Pearl Harbor she was ordered to sail at once to join up with the light cruisers Phoenix and St. Louis and two destroyers to investigate the west coast of Oahu for any indications of a landing by the Japanese, then to join the search for the retiring Japanese force.

The 555 foot long and 55 foot wide Omaha Class Light Cruser was launched in June 1922 by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp. in Quincy, Mass., and sponsored by Detroit Mayor James Couzens’ daughter.  The ship spent her first eight years as part of the Scouting Fleet either in the Atlantic or Mediterranean. Her first duty was to assist in the USAAS’s first aerial circumnavigation of the world in 1924 and transported the United States Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg, in 1927, from Ireland to France for the negotiations that led to the signing of the Kellogg-Briand Pact.

During WWII she was sent to Alaska to aid in fighting the Japanese that had invaded the Aleutian Islands. After retaking the island, she remained in the Alaskan waters to defend the chain of islands and the Alaskan coastline.

The USS Detroit was decommissioned in 1946 and sold for scrap.

Thank you to all the men and women who served then and continue to serve now.

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Near downtown Muskegon is an old naval warship. Its a unique looking ship with its bow doors open. It opens because it is a tank landing ship and one of only two remaining out of a thousand that were constructed for WWII. LST 393 was laid down on 27 July 1942 at the Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company and launched on 11 November 1942. LST 393 arrived in the Omaha Beach zone on the night of June 6, 1944. She made 30 round trips to Omaha Beach, bringing varied equipment and supplies to France and returning with wounded soldiers as well as thousands of German prisoners. Following the War, LST 393 returned to the United States, was decommissioned on 1 March 1946. The ship was sold to the Sand Products Corporation of Detroit, for conversion to merchant service and renamed Highway 16. She would be a waterborne extension of the former U.S. Highway 16 and sail as a car ferry from Muskegon to Milwaukee. Highway 16 was replaced by Interstate 96 and the old veteran of D-day was never put into service as a ferry. In the mid-2000s she was restored and now serves as a museum ship for visitors to explore. If you are visiting Muskegon stop by and tour LST 393 I thought it was fascinating and they have some excellent displays honoring military veterans.

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At the 40 Mile Point Lighthouse is a strange looking building with the name Calcite proudly displayed on the roof. It was the pilot house from the 436 foot long S.S. Calcite. At the time of its construction in 1912, it was the longest self-unloader on the Great Lakes. Its home port was Rogers City a few miles south of the lighthouse. When the freighter was sent to Ohio to be scrapped the pilot house was removed and saved. The historic pilot house was moved to 40 Mile Point Lighthouse Park in the mid 90s and restored. If you are near Rogers City be sure to check it out along with the lighthouse.

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While doing research for Lost In Michigan I come across some strange and interesting stories. I stumbled upon the strange shipwreck and salvage of the J. Oswald Boyd. The 255 foot long steamer was transporting almost a million gallons of gasoline around the Great Lakes. During a winter storm in November of 1936, the steamer with tanks full of gasoline ran aground on Simmons Reif in Lake Michigan between Beaver Island and the Upper Peninsula. The captain was hoping a tug would pull the ship off the reef but after noticing the rainbow-like sheen of gasoline on the surface of the lake he ordered the crew to abandon the ship for fear of an explosion. The Coast Guard took the crew to Mackinaw City while a salvage tug tried to rescue the ship and it’s cargo. The tugs draft was too deep to get close to the J. Oswald Boyd.

I few enterprising fishermen used their boats to siphon off a few barrels of gas but it made little difference to the enormous supply still on the ship. It was Everett Cole who owned the Beaver Island Transit Company that made an effort to salvage the gas, free for the taking, as it remained stranded in Lake Michigan.  He and a small crew made a few trips from Beaver Island to transport the gasoline by the barrel. By late December the ice was starting to form in the Upper Great Lakes and he used the iron-hulled ferry the Marold II to break through the ice and make another trip. His brother and three other men help with the operation when suddenly the Marold II exploded and burst into flames killing all five men.

After the fire had burned out the Marold II was in large pieces scattered around and on the J Oswald Boyd. The Boyd still had gasoline in its tanks, and now frozen in the thick winter ice, locals began driving out to the ships in their cars to get the free gas for themselves. Movie footage of this strange scene can be found on Youtube HERE

It seems kind of funny to see everyone scrambling for free gas, but I have a feeling if a ship full of gasoline was left frozen in the ice people would still do the same thing today.

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Want to keep track of the tall ships locations while they sail around the Great Lakes? With the Tall Ships Celebration that is happening in Bay City this weekend July 18th to the 21st, they will be traveling from Lake Erie up the Detroit River, the St Clair River and around the Thumb. You can find their location on the lakes at this website HERE

After the port of Bay City, they travel to Green Bay so if you are anywhere along Lake Huron you may see them sailing to Wisconson, The ultimate thing would be seeing them sail under the Mackinac Bridge. If you are in the straits next week be sure to track their location and maybe you will get that chance.

P.S. if you want to keep track of freighters and other ships you can do that HERE

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Most people are familiar with the S.S. Badger car ferry that traverses Lake Michigan from Ludington to Wisconsin. few know that she has a twin sister the S.S. Spartan that is tied up in Ludington near where the Badger loads and unloads vehicles in Ludington. It was built in 1950 along with its sister ship. C&O Railroad that owned the ferries usually named them after cities such as The City of Milwaukee but they decided that fewer feelings would be hurt if the twin ferries were named Spartan and Badger, after the mascots of Michigan State University and the University of Wisconsin.

by the late 1970s ferry service was declining and C&O was going to lease the Spartan to the Ann Arbor Railroad to sail out of Frankfort but the harbor was too shallow for the large ship. Since 1980 she has been tied up to the slip in Ludington and used for parts to keep the old steam-powered Badger running.

If you are in Ludington and the badger is sailing across Lake Michigan you can always see her twin who is faithfully waiting for her sister to return.

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