| Pacific Squadron | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Active | 1820-1910 |
| Country |  United States of America |
| Branch |  United States Navy |
| Type | Naval squadron |
ThePacific Squadron of theUnited States Navy, established c. 1821 and disbanded in 1907, was anaval squadron stationed in thePacific Ocean in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Developing from a small force protecting United States commercial shipping interests in the Pacific waters offSouth America,North America andHawaii, and initially lackingUnited States ports in the Pacific and operating out ofstoreships that provided naval supplies, while obtaining food and water from local ports of call in theHawaiian Islands and towns on thePacific Coast, the squadron eventually expanded its size and reach as US naval power and national interests grew in the 19th and 20th Centuries.
The small initial force expanded its scope of operations to include the Western Pacific in 1835, when theEast India Squadron joined the force; byMexican–American War period over one-half of the United States Navy was sent to join the Pacific Squadron. During theAmerican Civil War, the squadron was reduced in size when its vessels were reassigned toAtlantic duty.
When the Civil War ended the squadron was reinforced again, until being disbanded just after the turn of the 20th century. The squadron was superseded by the establishment of theUnited States Pacific Fleet and the ships and personnel of the Pacific Squadron became the Pacific Fleet's Second Squadron.
The "United States Naval Forces on Pacific Station" was established in 1818, with theUSSMacedonian underJohn Downes setting sail to protect American interests in the Pacific Ocean.[1] TheMacedonian served in Chile until March 1821, when it was relieved by theUSSConstellation underCharles G. Ridgely.[2] These two single-frigate instances of the Pacific Station supported theLiberating Expedition of Peru in thePeruvian War of Independence.[2][3]
Most historians consider the Pacific Squadron to have been officially established in 1821 with the first multiple-ship force in the Pacific Station.[1]Charles Stewart set sail with theUSSFranklin andUSSDolphin in September 1821 and arrived in April 1822 to relieve Ridgely.[1][3]
This small force confined its activities initially to the Pacific waters offSouth America,North America andHawaii protecting United States commercial shipping interests. It expanded its scope of operations to include the Western Pacific in 1835, when theEast India Squadron joined the force. The squadron was reinforced when war withMexico began to seem a possibility. Sailing from the east coast to the west coast aroundCape Horn was a 13,000 miles (21,000 km) to 15,000 miles (24,000 km) journey that typically took from 130 to 210 days.
The Pacific Squadron'sFirst Sumatran Expedition conflict arose in February 1831. Off the coast ofSumatra on February 7, the American merchant vesselFriendship out ofSalem was attacked by Malay natives described as "warrior pirates". The Americans were hoping to buypepper from the natives but were instead attacked by three small vessels. Three men aboardFriendship were killed, one of whom was theFirst Mate; the remaining crew members abandoned their vessel and it was captured. The passing DutchschoonerDolfijn made a failed attempt to rescue the ship—theAnglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 obligated the Dutch to ensure the safety of shipping and overland trade in and aroundAceh, and precipitated theDutch expedition on the west coast of Sumatra later that year. The surviving sailors escaped to a friendly port nearby with the help of a friendly Malaytribal chief, and then obtained the assistance of other American merchantmen to retake the plundered ship. Captain Endecott returned the ship to Salem July 16, 1831.[4]PresidentAndrew Jackson received word of the 'massacre' and orderedCommodoreJohn Downes inUSS Potomac to punish the natives for their acts ofpiracy.
Arriving off Sumatra exactly a year after theFriendship incident, Commodore Downes with just under 300bluejackets[5] andmarines aboard thefrigate, attacked Quallah Battoo, the main village of the hostile Malays. The men went ashore in launches during which a small naval engagement was fought. A few of the boats were armed with a light cannon and were ordered to sink three small pirate craft in the port. The launches achieved their goal and then proceeded in assisting USSPotomac in shelling five enemycitadels. The five forts were attacked by land as well and all were eventually suppressed. Hundreds ofmatchlock armed natives were killed with a loss of only two Americans. After the battle, Downes warned that if any more American merchant ships were attacked, another expedition would be launched in reprisal.
The mission was technically a success for six years until 1838 when the Malays attacked and plundered a second American merchantman. In response, theSecond Sumatran Expedition was launched by ships of theEast India Squadron, which had just joined theUnited States Exploring Expedition forcircumnavigation of the globe, but were able to bombard Quallah Battoo and engage in the battle of Muckie without making a detour.
In 1842 the Pacific Squadron commander CommodoreThomas ap Catesby Jones received false information that war had begun between the United States and Mexico and that the British shipHMSDublin was cruising offCalifornia to take control of the Mexican state. In response Commodore Jones in his frigateUSSUnited States and with thesloopsUSSDale andUSSCyane sailed for California's capital,Monterey. They arrived on 19 October 1842 and took control of the city without bloodshed before returning it to the Mexicans on 21 October when Jones discovered that war had not actually been declared.[6]
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The Pacific Squadron was instrumental in the capture ofAlta California in theMexican–American War of 1846 to 1848. In the conflict's early months after war was declared on 24 April 1846, the American navy with its force of 350–400 marines and bluejacket sailors on board several ships near California were essentially the only significant United States military force on the Pacific coast. Marines were stationed aboard each warship to assist in close-quarters, ship to ship combat and to serve as both ship-board guards and the primary component ofboarding or landing parties; they could also be detached for extended service on land. In actual practice, some sailors on each ship were detached from each vessel to supplement the marine force, although rarely more than would compromise a ship's ability to remain functional. The Pacific Squadron had orders, in the event of war with Mexico, to seize the ports in Mexican California and elsewhere along thePacific Coast.
The only other United States force in California was a sixty-two man "mapping" expedition which had entered California in late 1845 under the command of U.S. Army Brevet CaptainJohn C. Frémont. They had been dispatched under the auspices of theCorps of Topographical Engineers. Frémont, the son-in-law of expansionist U.S. SenatorThomas Hart Benton, had acted provocatively with California's Mexican government, and sustained a shadowy relationship with the American emigrants who began theBear Flag Revolt on June 10, 1846 by stealing government horses they feared would be used against them.[7] On 5 July Frémont proposed to the American insurgents that they unite with his party and become a single military group under his command. A compact was drawn up which all volunteers of theCalifornia Battalion signed or made their mark.[8]
UnderJohn D. Sloat, Commodore of the Pacific Squadron,USS Savannah withCyane andUSS Levantcaptured the Alta California capital city ofMonterey, California on 7 July 1846. Two days later on 9 July,USS Portsmouth, underCaptain John S. Montgomery, landed seventy marines and bluejacket sailors at Clark's Point inSan Francisco Bay and capturedYerba Buena, which is today'sSan Francisco, without firing a shot. On 11 July the BritishRoyal Navy sloopHMS Juno entered San Francisco Bay, causing Montgomery to alert his defenses. The large British ship, the 2,600-tonman-of-warHMS Collingwood, flagship ofPacific Station Commander-in-ChiefSir George S. Seymour, also showed up about this time outside Monterey Harbor. Both British ships observed, but did not enter the conflict.[9]
CommodoreRobert F. Stockton took over as the senior United States military commander in California in late July 1846; his flagship was the frigateUSS Congress. Stockton accepted the California Battalion under Fremont's command to help secure Southern California. The battalion left for San Diego onCyane on 26 July.[10] Most towns surrendered without a shot being fired. Fremont's California Battalion members were sworn in and the volunteers paid the regular United States Army salary of$25.00 a month for privates with higher pay for officers. The California Battalion varied in size with time from about 160 initially to over 450 by January 1847. Pacific Squadron war ships andstoreships served as floating store houses keeping Fremont's volunteer force in the California Battalion supplied withblack powder,lead shot and supplies as well as transporting them to different California ports.Cyane transported Fremont and about 160 of his men to the small port ofSan Diego which was captured on 29 July 1846 without a shot being fired.
Leaving about forty men to garrison San Diego, Fremont continued on to thePueblo de Los Angeles where on 13 August, with the United States Navy band playing and colors flying, the combined forces of Stockton and Frémont entered the town without a man killed or gun fired. United States MarineMajorArchibald Gillespie, Fremont's second in command, was appointed military commander ofLos Angeles, the largest settlement in Alta California with about 1,500 residents. Gillespie had an inadequate force of from thirty to fifty troops stationed there to keep order and garrison the city.Congress is credited with capturing the Los Angeles harbor and port atSan Pedro Bay on 6 August 1846.Congress later helped captureMazatlan, Mexico on 11 November 1847.[11]
The revolt of about 100 Californios in Los Angeles forced Gillespie and his troops departure on about 24 September 1847. Commodore Stockton used about 360 marines and bluejacket sailors with four field pieces fromCongress in a joint operation with the approximate seventy cavalry troops supplied by United States ArmyBrigadier GeneralStephen W. Kearny, who had arrived fromNew Mexico, and part of Fremont's California Battalion of about 450 men to retake Los Angeles on 10 January 1847.[12] The result of thisBattle of Providencia was the Californios signing theTreaty of Cahuenga on 13 January 1847 – terminating the warfare and disbanding the Californio troops in Alta California. On January 16, 1847, Commodore Stockton appointed Frémont military governor of U.S. territorial California – a move later contested by General Kearny.
The retiredship of the lineUSS Independence was brought back into service, cut down and recommissioned as arazee frigate in 1846. The newly reconfigured ship removed the old top deck and reduced the gun count from ninety to fifty-four making her less well gunned but much easier to sail. The rebuiltIndependence, now classified as a heavy frigate, launched on 4 August 1846 when the nation was already at war with Mexico and departed Boston 29 August 1846 for California. She enteredMonterey Bay on 22 January 1847 after a fast 146-day trip around Cape Horn and became the flagship of CommodoreWilliam Shubrick, now commanding the Pacific Squadron.
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In July 1846,ColonelJonathan D. Stevenson of New York was asked to raise a volunteer regiment of ten companies of seventy-seven men each to go to California with the understanding that they would be muster out and stay in California. They were designated the1st Regiment of New York Volunteers and fought in the California Campaign and thePacific Coast Campaign. In August and September the regiment trained and prepared for the trip to California. Three private merchant ships,Thomas H Perkins,Loo Choo, andSusan Drew, were chartered, and the sloopUSS Preble was assigned convoy detail. On 26 September the four ships leftNew York for California. Fifty men who had been left behind for various reasons sailed on 13 November 1846 on the small storeshipUSS Brutus.Susan Drew andLoo Choo reachedValparaiso,Chile by 20 January 1847 and after getting fresh supplies, water and wood were on their way again by 23 January.Thomas H Perkins did not stop until San Francisco, reaching port on 6 March 1847.Susan Drew arrived on 20 March 1847 andLoo Choo arrived on 26 March 1847, 183 days after leaving New York.Brutus finally arrived on 17 April 1847.
After desertions and deaths in transit the four ships brought 648 men to California. The companies were then deployed throughout Upper-Alta and Lower-Baja California from San Francisco toLa Paz, Mexico. The shipIsabella sailed fromPhiladelphia on 16 August 1847, with a detachment of one hundred soldiers, and arrived in California on 18 February 1847, the following year, at about the same time that the shipSweden arrived with another detachment of soldiers. These soldiers were added to the existing companies of Jonathan D. Stevenson's 1st Regiment of New York Volunteers.[13] These troops essentially took over all of the Pacific Squadron's on-shore military andgarrison duties and the California Battalion andMormon Battalion's garrison duties as well as someBaja California duties.
After Alta California was secured most of the squadron proceeded down the Pacific coast capturing all majorBaja California Peninsula cities and capturing or destroying nearly all Mexican vessels in theGulf of California. Other mainland ports, not on the peninsula, were taken as well. The objective of the campaign was to take Mazatlan, a major supply base for Mexican forces.Cyane was given credit for eighteen captures and numerous destroyed ships.[14] Entering the Gulf of California,Independence,Congress andCyane seized La Paz on the Baja California Peninsula, and captured and or burned the small Mexican fleet atGuaymas across the Gulf on the mainland. Within a month, they cleared the Gulf of hostile ships, destroying or capturing thirty vessels. Later on their sailors and marines captured the town of Mazatlan, Mexico, on 11 November 1847. A Mexican campaign to retake the various captured ports resulted in several smallbattles and at least twosieges occurred in which the Pacific Squadron ships provided support.Cyane returned to Norfolk on 9 October 1848 to receive the congratulations of theSecretary of the Navy for her significant contributions to American victories in Mexico. Other ships headed home too. TheTreaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed in February 1848 and its subsequent ratification by the United States and Mexican legislatures, marked the end of the Mexican–American War.
The extent of the Pacific Squadron's responsibility was further enlarged in the 1850s when California andOregon were admitted asU.S. states and Navy bases on the west coast were established. The U.S. Sailing Navy's use of sailing ships declined as armored steamships were introduced before theAmerican Civil War. The Pacific Squadron was far removed from the fighting during the conflict though some vessels of the squadron were reassigned to duty in the Atlantic and fought in engagements such as theBattle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip.
In July 1870 thepirate shipForward attacked and captured the Mexican port city of Guaymas,Sonora in the Gulf of California. There the pirates robbed the foreign residents and persuaded by force the United States Consulate to supplyForward with coal, then the pirates sailed south forBoca Teacapan,Sinaloa. The Pacific Squadron, with Rear Admiral Shubrick, was informed of the incident soUSS Mohican was sent to destroy the pirate threat. After arriving in the area in early August,Mohican's men discovered thatForward was at Boca Teacapan's harbor in the Teacapan River. A boat expedition was launched andattacked the pirate ship on 17 August 1870. The battle ended with an American victory and the burning and sinking of the pirate steamer.
An American expedition toOahu occurred in late 1873 to early 1874. The Pacific Squadron sloopsUSSTuscarora and USSPortsmouth, underLieutenant CommanderTheodore F. Jewell, set sail to open negotiations with KingLunalilo about theduty-free exportation of sugar from the island to America. However, during the proceedings, Lunalilo died on February 3 of 1874 which suspended negotiations until theelectoral process was completed. The wife of the king,QueenEmma ran against the future KingKalakaua and when he won she was very upset and decided to lead an armed mob in an attack on the representatives inHonolulu courthouse. As result 150 sailors and marines were landed from the American ships plus another seventy to eighty from the British sloopHMSTenedos. The riot was mostly quelled by nightfall but an occupation lasted until February 20 by which time negotiations regarding sugar were concluded, the king also allowed the Americans to build their first repair and coaling station inPearl Harbor.[15][16]
In 1899 another civil war broke out inSamoa between rebels loyal to theMata'afa Iosefo and federal forces ofMalietoa Tanumafili I. Pacific Squadron Rear AdmiralAlbert Kautz inUSSPhiladelphia launched an expedition to the island and occupied the capital ofApia on March 14, 1899 after abattle and bombardment at the port city. From there American, British and Samoan forcesengaged in severalactions against the rebels over the course of a few months. When the conflict ended the United States gained control of eastern Samoa which is today'sAmerican Samoa and the western half of the archipelago was taken byGermany, creating the short livedGerman Samoa that was conquered duringWorld War I.
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In 1903, the Pacific Squadron consisted of thearmored cruiserUSS New York, theprotected cruiserUSS Boston, theunprotected cruiserUSS Marblehead, and thegunboatRanger.
In early 1907, the U.S. Navy abolished both the Pacific Squadron and theUnited States Asiatic Fleet and established the newUnited States Pacific Fleet. The ships and personnel of the Asiatic Fleet became the First Squadron of the Pacific Fleet, while the ships and personnel of the Pacific Squadron became the Pacific Fleet's Second Squadron.
Pacific Squadron[17]
North Pacific Squadron 1866–1878
South Pacific Squadron 1866–1878
Pacific Fleet 1870–1878
Pacific Squadron 1878–1907
1845–1849[19]
1851[20]
1861–1865[21]
1861
...the brigGovernor Endicott, of Salem, H. H. Jenks, master, and the shipJames Monroe, of New York, J. Porter, master, ...at once sailed to Quallah-Battoo, to rescue Captain Endicott's ship from its captors.