Charles Dwight Sigsbee

Charles Dwight Sigsbee

Charles Dwight Sigsbee (born January 16, 1845 in Albany , New York , † July 13, 1923 in New York City ) was an American naval officer.

Sigsbee became known as the commandant of the battleship USS Maine , which exploded and sank in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898 . This so-called Maine incident was one of the triggers for the Spanish-American War . Sigsbee is also known in the American Navy as the captain of the USS Brooklyn , the ship that transported the remains of John Paul Jones from France to America in 1905 .

Life

After graduating from the Naval Academy in 1863, Sigsbee served as an officer on various ships in the American Civil War . In the service of the North Atlantic Squadron , he took part - under the command of Admiral David D. Porter - in the largest naval operation of the Civil War, the attack on Fort Fisher , North Carolina, December 1864 and January 1865. By the fall of the fort, Lee's supply lines were up finally cut off from the sea, which would lead to the surrender of the southern states three months later.

In the years after the war, Sigsbee served in various roles at home and abroad. Among other things, he was a teacher at the Naval Academy and, in collaboration with the Hydrographic Office, was involved in exploring and mapping the seas. He also invented some devices for measuring depth and scanning the sea floor ( Sigsbee plumb machine ). The deepest point in the Gulf of Mexico , the Sigsbee Deep , is named after him. In recognition of his services to maritime research, he was of William I of the Red Eagle Order awarded.

The USS Maine in Havana Harbor

In March 1897 he was promoted to captain and was given command of the battleship USS Maine . The Maine had entered service in September 1895. With her four 10-inch guns and a speed of 17 knots, she was originally classified as an armored cruiser , but was put into service as a 2nd rank battleship. On January 25, 1898, the Maine entered the port of Havana . The visit was declared “friendly”, but it was intended to exert pressure on the Spaniards by simply being there.

On February 15, 1898, there was an explosion in the forecastle. The Maine sank in Havana's harbor basin. 266 crew members were either killed or missing. The first results of the investigation assumed that the explosion was caused by a Spanish torpedo or a mine. The “Maine incident”, which was appropriately exploited by the American press, provided the occasion for the USA to enter the war with Spain. “Remember the Maine” became the battle cry of the Spanish-American War . Only new investigations and material tests in 1974 and 2000 led to the result that the Maine was sunk by an internal explosion caused by a coal bunker fire and the resulting explosion of the adjacent ammunition chambers.

Captain Sigsbee was blamed for the incident. He was accused of not being able to take the necessary precautions to secure his ship. In addition, in the course of the investigation, he was charged with further misconduct from previous commands. This ended his career for the time being. He was given command of the auxiliary cruiser USS St. Paul , actually a passenger ship that had only been armed for war operations. With this ship he took part in the blockade of Cuba. Sigsbee was never again given command of a warship.

After the Spanish-American War, Sigsbee was appointed Rear Admiral (1903) and commanded various naval units before retiring in 1907. Sigsbee died in 1923 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. His grandson Charles Dwight Sigsbee III , First Lieutenant of the United States Army (1918-1956) and his wife Georgie (1922-1986) are also buried there.

In his honor, a Fletcher-class destroyer was named USS Sigsbee in 1942 .

Fonts

Books

• Deep-sea sounding and dredging. A description and discussion of the methods and appliances. United States Government Printing Office , Washington DC 1880.
• The "Maine". An Account of Her Destruction in Havana Harbor. Century Press, New York NY 1899.

Essays

• My story of the " Maine " . In: Cosmopolitan . Vol. 53, 1912, pp. 148-159, 372-383.
• Personal Narrative of the "Maine". In: Century Illustrated Monthly. Vol. 57, No. 1, November 1898, ZDB -ID 339712-9 , pp. 74-97 , Vol. 57, No. 2, December 1898, pp. 241-264 , Vol. 57, No. 3, January 1899, pp. 373-394 .