Newport Overview
Training Ship for the New York Nautical School 1908-1931
Cecil Northrop (from "The Sailors" section of this site) trained as a cadet on the Newport 1921-1922.
The gunboat Newport was a sail-steam hybrid built in 1896 and used during the Spanish American War. In 1908 it became the floating campus of the New York Nautical School (now SUNY Maritime College), which desperately needed to replace its first aging sailing ship, the St. Mary's. The school had lobbied for a larger sloop-of-war, to no avail. While the Newport was much smaller than desired, it brought the cadets into the age of steam and served the school well through 1931 (Williams 39).A caption for one of the Newport's publicity photos read: "Nobody knows that New York state has a Navy. It is the SS Newport, the state nautical school, on which the students learn everything about ships from stoking, rigging, to navigation, under competent instructors. The boat is now anchored in the Hudson River after it's a long cruise, making stops at Lisbon, Gibraltar, Funchal, and Teneriffe."
Specifications
Patrol Gunboat (PG12)
Dimensions: 1,153 tons; 204’5” length; 36’ beam; 12’9” draft
Complement: 156
Propulsion: Barkentine rig steam-sale hybrid with two single-ended cylindrical boilers; one 1,009 horsepower vertical triple expansion steam engine
Speed: 12.8 knots
Armament: 1 4”, 2 3”, 2 6-pdr. (1905: six 4” rapid fire mounts; four 6 pound rapid fire mounts; two 1 pound rapid fire mounts; one .30 caliber Colt machine gun)
Laid Down: March, 1896
Launched: December 5, 1896
Commissioned: October 7, 1897
Scrapped: 1939
Compiled from Williams 319-320.