Cable Laying Ships
The Army had a history of submarine cable work by the time of World War II operations dating back to the 1899-1900 period. Much of this work had been in relation to communications with far flung Army forces in the Philippines and Alaska. The Army Signal Corps used a number of cable ships for that work including Burnside, Romulus, Liscum, Dellwood and two vessels intimately associated with the Coast Artillery Corps controlled mine work at the coastal fortifications; Cyrus W. Field and Joseph Henry. That cable laying capability had been allowed to deteriorate to the point that the Army had to charter the C.S. Restorer in 1941.
The Army entered the field of undersea cable work in connecting the military installations in the Philippine Islands. As with other cable work, some vessels were chartered. For example the vessel Orizaba (not the later Army owned vessel of the same name) was under Army charter from the Pacific Coast Steamship Company before being lost in 1900. The first ship supplied by the Quartermaster Corps to the Signal Corps for cable work was the U. S. Army Transport Burnside. That Spanish American War prize was replaced by the larger Dellwood for work with Alaskan cables.
There is some confusion on ship designators within even official records. The conventional commercial and nautical term for such ships was “C.S. (name)” for “Cable Ship.” The mix of U.S.A.T., C.S. and even the simple “Steam Ship” (S.S.) as seen in postwar construction of the SS William H. G. Bullard, later the USS/USNS Neptune can be somewhat confusing. All three terms are found in official usage. For example, Smithsonian Institution library records clearly show some of these Army ships as C.S. Dellwood, C.S. Silverado. Army’s ship management lay in the Quartermaster Corps and later the Transportation Corps. Technical management of the cable ships was under Signal Corps and the entire enterprise of undersea cable work was the very specialized realm of several large communications corporations which operated their own cable vessels and provided experts in handling cable equipment and cable. Each appears to have used familiar terms when noting the ships in records as seen in the Quartermaster reference and the records elsewhere.
The nature of the work is such that specialized crews are required to operate the cable machinery and so the actual cable splicing and technical work. The ex-Coast Artillery ships involved in mine planting were military crewed. The C.S. Restorer was under charter and used civilians, many from its commercial crew, under Army contract. The remaining ships were probably mixed crews.
Eleven Transportation Corps ships under technical management of Signal Corps are known to have been active in WW II:
- Dellwood
- Silverado
- Restorer (Commercial Cable Ship under Army charter)
- Col. William A. Glassford (BSP - Self Propelled Barge ) Later USS Nashawena (YAG-35/AG-142)
- Basil O. Lenoir (BSP - Self Propelled Barge)
- Gen. Samuel M. Mills (1942 Mine Planter)
- Joseph Henry (Associated with Coast Artillery Corps mine work)
- Lt. Col. Ellery W. Niles (1937 Mine Planter)
- USACS Albert J. Myer
- William Bullard
- Brico (ex-fishing vessel turned cable barge)
Read more about this topic: List Of Ships Of The United States Army
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