Schoolship Nantucket
Training Ship for the Massachusetts Nautical School 1909 - 1940
Van Horne Morris (from The Sailors section of this site) trained as a cadet on the Nantucket from 1936-1938
The Nantucket (pictured above in Ponta Delgada in 1937) was first known as the USS Ranger. The decommissioned ship was turned over to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on April 26, 1909, becoming Massachusetts Nautical School's second training ship. It was renamed Nantucket in 1918, when a new battle cruiser in the U.S. Navy fleet was given the name Ranger. On January 15, 1919, cadets on the Nantucket were first responders on the scene when a molasses storage tank exploded in what would be known as "The Great Molasses Flood" in Boston. In 1937 a photograph taken from the ship showed the Hindenburg passing over head just hours before it exploded.Specifications
Dimensions: 1,020 tons (1905 - 1,261 tons); 177' 4" length (1914 - 199' 9"); 32' beam; 12'9" draft (1905 - 13')Complement: 138
Propulsion: Four single-ended cylindrical boilers, one 500ihp horizontal compound steam engine and full rig auxiliary sail, one shaft.
Speed: 10 knots
Armament: One 11" smooth bore, two 9" smooth bores and one 60-pounder (1905 - six 4" rapid fire guns, four 6-pounders and one Colt machine gun; 1921 - four 4"/50 mounts)
Laid Down: 1873
Launched: 1876
Commissioned: 1876
Scrapped: 1958
[Information compiled from 125 Years of Excellence: Massachusetts Maritime Academy and NavSource Online.]
