USS Buffalo -- 1914 Alaskan Radio Expedition (Part 2: May-September 1914)
Between 1911 and 1914 the Navy sent a series of three Alaskan Radio Expeditions to build a network of radio stations. The 1911 Alaskan Radio Expedition, in USS Buffalo, and the 1912 Alaskan Radio Expedition, in USS Nero, built stations on Woody Island near Kodiak, on St. Paul and St. George in the Pribilof Islands, on the island of Unalga, and at Dutch Harbor near Unalaska. In 1914 Buffalo returned with the 1914 Alaskan Radio Expedition which upgraded and repaired these five stations plus those at Sitka and Cordova.
Buffalo departed San Francisco with the 1914 expedition, which included 44 civilians, on 7 May and returned to Mare Island on 27 October 1912. The photographs on this page show Buffalo during the middle portion of the expedition. Between late May and mid June 1914 Buffalo, using Dutch Harbor (Unalaska) as her base, made several voyages to the island of Unalga to repair the radio station there. In late June she supported the radio stations on the islands of St. Paul and St. George, and during the first half of July she built facilities at Kodiak to replace a station destroyed by fire the previous year. She arrived in Orca Bay near the town of Cordova in late July, and probably took on coal and supplies at Cordova in early August. Between late August and mid-September she built a third steel tower and provided other support for the radio station near Cordova.
The photographs of the 1914 expedition are from two sources: the official report of the expedition (an oversized looseleaf volume containing copies of documents, blueprints of facilities and equipment, and photographs), and a photograph album made for the Commanding Officer of Buffalo, Commander Montgomery M. Taylor, USN. Both items are now in the collection of the Naval Historical Foundation at the Naval Historical Center.
This page features views of USS Buffalo during the middle portion of the 1914 Alaskan Radio Expedition.
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
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Photo #: NH 105461 USS Buffalo (1898-1927, later AD-8) At the Unalaska (Dutch Harbor) coal dock in late June 1914 during the 1914 Alaskan Radio Expedition. Collection of Admiral Montgomery M. Taylor, donated by Louisa R. Alger, 1962 (NHF-164-B). U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. |
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Photo #: NH 105462 USS Buffalo (1898-1927, later AD-8) At the Unalaska (Dutch Harbor) coal dock in late June 1914 during the 1914 Alaskan Radio Expedition. Collection of Admiral Montgomery M. Taylor, donated by Louisa R. Alger, 1962 (NHF-164-B). U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. |
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Photo #: NH 105451 USS Buffalo (1898-1927, later AD-8) At the Unalaska coal dock in late June 1914 during the 1914 Alaskan Radio Expedition. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation (NHF-165-B). U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. |
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Photo #: NH 105591 USS Buffalo (1898-1927, later AD-8) In Unalaska Bay in May or June 1914 during the 1914 Alaskan Radio Expedition, viewed from Mount Ballyhoo. Collection of Admiral Montgomery M. Taylor, donated by Louisa R. Alger, 1962 (NHF-086). U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. |
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Photo #: NH 105592 USS Buffalo (1898-1927, later AD-8) Assisting the grounded three-masted wooden cannery bark Paramita in Lost Harbor, Akun Island, Alaska in May or June 1914. Paramita was run aground in Lost Harbor after flooding from an earlier grounding in a storm at Ugamak Island on 14 May 1914 ignited lime in her holds. Heavy seas later destroyed the wreck. Collection of Admiral Montgomery M. Taylor, donated by Louisa R. Alger, 1962 (NHF-086). U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. |
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Photo #: NH 105444 USS Buffalo (1898-1927, later AD-8) At Kodiak, Alaska, on 4 July 1914 during the 1914 Alaskan Radio Expedition. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation (NHF-086). U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. |
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Photo #: NH 105599 USS Buffalo (1898-1927, later AD-8) Landing construction materials at Kodiak, Alaska, in early July 1914 during the 1914 Alaskan Radio Expedition. The radio station built on Woody Island near Kodiak by the 1912 Alaskan Radio Expedition embarked in USS Nero was destroyed by fire on 27 July 1913 and the 1914 expedition in Buffalo built replacement facilities there. The large cylindrical object on the ship's cargo pontoon is probably one of several tanks that stored the fuel for the station's electrical generators and heating plant. Collection of Admiral Montgomery M. Taylor, donated by Louisa R. Alger, 1962 (NHF-086). U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. |
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Photo #: NH 105593 USS Buffalo (1898-1927, later AD-8) At the wharf at Cordova, Alaska, between late July and mid-September 1914 during the 1914 Alaskan Radio Expedition. Collection of Admiral Montgomery M. Taylor, donated by Louisa R. Alger, 1962 (NHF-086). U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. |
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Photo #: NH 105594 USS Buffalo (1898-1927, later AD-8) View along the main deck circa mid-1914 during the 1914 Alaskan Radio Expedition. Note the large rope fender on the right. Collection of Admiral Montgomery M. Taylor, donated by Louisa R. Alger, 1962 (NHF-086). U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. |
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Photo #: NH 105595 USS Buffalo (1898-1927, later AD-8) At the wharf at Cordova, Alaska, between late July and mid-September 1914 during the 1914 Alaskan Radio Expedition. Collection of Admiral Montgomery M. Taylor, donated by Louisa R. Alger, 1962 (NHF-086). U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. |
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Photo #: NH 105465 USS Buffalo (1898-1927, later AD-8) At the wharf at Cordova, Alaska, between late July and mid-September 1914 during the 1914 Alaskan Radio Expedition. Note the coal train on the pier in the background. The worn paint around the ship's bow is evidence of the many times that she had to use her anchors during the expedition. Collection of Admiral Montgomery M. Taylor, donated by Louisa R. Alger, 1962 (NHF-164-B). U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. |
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Photo #: NH 105466 USS Buffalo (1898-1927, later AD-8) Coaling ship at Cordova, Alaska, between late July and mid-September 1914 during the 1914 Alaskan Radio Expedition. The sides of the railroad coal cars have been opened, spilling the coal on the pier, where Sailors and local laborers shovel it into wheelbarrows and take it to the ship. Collection of Admiral Montgomery M. Taylor, donated by Louisa R. Alger, 1962 (NHF-164-B). U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. |
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Photo #: NH 105467 USS Buffalo (1898-1927, later AD-8) Coaling ship at Cordova, Alaska, between late July and mid-September 1914 during the 1914 Alaskan Radio Expedition. The coal that has been dumped onto the pier from the railroad coal cars is being loaded into wheelbarrows by Sailors and local laborers using large coal shovels and is then being taken to the ship. Collection of Admiral Montgomery M. Taylor, donated by Louisa R. Alger, 1962 (NHF-164-B). U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. |
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Page made 19 October 2008