seen from Japan
seen from T1
seen from United States
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States
seen from Russia
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye
seen from Australia
seen from Russia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Vietnam
seen from Netherlands
seen from Romania
Wreck of USS Stewart DD-224. Part of the Asiatic Fleet, damaged and scuttled. Raised by the Japanese and renamed Patrol Boat 102. Found by the Allies in Kure after the end of the war, renamed RAMP 224 (Recovered Allied Military Personnel). Expended as a target. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-newly-discovered-sunken-warship-served-on-both-sides-of-world-war-ii-180985192/
USS Monadnock (BM-3) at sea between San Francisco, CA, and Manila, Philippine Islands, circa June 23 to August 16, 1898. She was one of only two U.S. Navy monitors ever to make the crossing. She was ordered to join George Dewey's Asiatic fleet in the Philippines during the Spanish-American War. While she never turned to the continental US, she protected US interests during the Boxer rebellion and patrol the rivers of China. She served her twilight years as a submarine chaser before being scrapped in 1923.
Photographed from USS Nero (AC-17), her escort on the trans-Pacific voyage.
Note: the amount of water over top of the main deck. While a ship will stay afloat as the main interior body stays dry, that doesn't mean it makes a good sea going vessel. Monitors as design have shallower hulls to make them a smaller target to the enemy, the trade off is they are only really suited for rivers and coastal areas.
NHHC: NH 45956, NH 60659
After war was declared in 1941, the Navy found itself fighting on four fronts—the Far East, Central Pacific, Atlantic, and Mediterranean, although the Atlantic Fleet had been in an undeclared war with U-boats for some time prior to Pearl Harbor. Shots had been fired, depth charges dropped, and lives lost. But the Asiatic Fleet, unlike the others, was completely on its own, left to fend for itself with what it had, an all but forgotten bunch of sailors and Marines fighting a completely separate war against overwhelming odds with no possible hope of winning.
The Last Days of the United States Asiatic Fleet, by Greg H. Williams
Asiatic Fleet and the Royal Navy's East Indies Squadron at anchor in Hong Kong harbor, 1910. Identifiable ships present: USS Cleveland (C-19), USS North Carolina (CA-12), USS Denver (C-14), USS Helena (PG-9), USS Chattanooga (C-16), HMS Monmouth (ACR, 1901), HMS King Alfred (ACR, 1901), HMS Kent (ACR, 1901), HMS Bedford (ACR, 1901), HMS Tamar (depot ship, 1870), HMS Merlin, HMS Hawke (protected cruiser, 1891), and D'Entrecasteaux (French first class protected cruiser, 1896).
The Asiatic Fleet was not only unique in its isolation, but also its purpose. Those who served in the pre-war Asiatic Fleet said it wasn’t really ever meant to be a modern, elite, well-equipped fighting force. Their purpose was to simply show the flag, protect American commercial interests and citizens when necessary, help out with humanitarian aid, and generally maintain a friendly presence in the Western Pacific.
The Last Days of the United States Asiatic Fleet, by Greg H. Williams
USS Stewart DD-224
In action early in WWII in the pacific. She was knocked off her keel blocks during an air raid & later scuttled in place by American forces. The Japanese were able to salvage her and she operated with the IJN until captured at wars end. After the war she was sunk by the US Navy off the coast of California, May 25 1946.
In his own Supplementary Narrative written some years after the war, Hart’s successor, Vice Adm. William Glassford Jr., observed: It should also be recalled that the Force enjoyed no reinforcement, no replacement of ammunition or torpedoes and no replenishment of stores or supplies of any kind, until after the conclusion of the campaign for the defense of the Malay Barrier. We subsisted as best we could on what could be had locally. As ammunition, torpedoes, and even later, fuel, food supplies, and stores were expended, it became necessary to redistribute what remained on board the surviving ships in order to carry on. There was, however, no dearth of splendid personnel. . . . It should be noted here again, for the record, that this personnel, all of the regular service, acted and reacted in general magnificently throughout.
In the Highest Degree Tragic: The Sacrifice of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet in the East Indies during World War II, by Donald M. Kehn
