USS ALASKA
Major
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2016
USS Lackawanna at Mare Island in 1881. The ship was configured thus between 1872-85, with four ports forward of the forward pivot port, which is shown closed, and ship rig. US Naval History and Heritage Command photo # NH 516.
Screw Sloop-of-War named for a tributary of the Susquehanna River. She was launched at the New York Navy Yard on 9 Aug '62 and commissioned 8 Jan '63. Assigned to the West Gulf Blockading Squadron at Pensacola and for the rest of the war, served along the Gulf Coast. During the Union victory in Mobile Bay, Lackawanna was the ONLY vessel to ram BOTH CSS Tennessee AND USS Hartford. Twelve of her crew received the Medal of Honor for their actions. She departed Key West 24 Jun '65, reached New York on the 28th, and decommissioned at New York Navy Yard 20 Jul '65.
Why bring her up? Well today is an Anniversary!!!
28 Aug 1867
Captain William Reynolds of Lackawanna raises U.S. flag over Midway Island and took formal possession of these islands for the U.S.
As none of you ever heard of Midway Atoll, (as you shouldn't have - worthless territorial acquisition), please allow me to explain. The first recorded sighting of the islands was on July 5, 1859, by Captain N.C. Brooks, of the sealing ship Gambia, who claimed them for the United States under the Guano Islands Act of 1856. For those wondering what that might be...
In the 1840s, guano came to be prized as a source of saltpeter for gunpowder as well as an agricultural fertilizer. The United States began importing it in 1843 through New York. By the early 1850s, the U.K. imported over 200,000 tons a year, and U.S. imports totaled about 760,000 tons. The "guano mania" of the 1850s led to high prices in an oligopolistic market, attempts of price control, fear of resource exhaustion, and eventually the enactment of the Guano Islands Act 1856 in August 1856. The Act enables U.S. citizens to take possession of unclaimed islands containing guano for the U.S., and empowering the President to send in armed military to intervene. This encouraged American entrepreneurs to search and exploit new deposits on tiny islands and reefs in the Caribbean and in the Pacific.
This is the beginning of the concept of insular areas in U.S. territories. Up to this time, any territory acquired by the U.S. was considered to have become an integral part of the country unless changed by treaty and eventually to have the opportunity to become a state of the Union. With insular areas, land could be held by the federal government without the prospect of its ever becoming a state in the Union.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guano_Islands_Act
Whenever any citizen of the United States discovers a deposit of guano on any island, rock, or key, not within the lawful jurisdiction of any other Government, and not occupied by the citizens of any other Government, and takes peaceable possession thereof, and occupies the same, such island, rock, or key may, at the discretion of the President, be considered as appertaining to the United States.
Section 1 of the Guano Islands Act
...anywho, no attempt was made to mine guano on the island. This atoll was the first Pacific isle to be annexed by the United States, the Unincorporated Territory of Midway Island, and was administered by the USN. Known for nothing, this lifeless / waterless ribbon of reef may have some rare bird or psychotropic toad that is the only reason for human interest.
USS ALASKA
Bringing the