USS MARYLAND (SSBN 738)

USS Maryland (1799 - 1801) Sloop
 

The first Maryland, a sloop, was built by public subscription in Baltimore under the Act of 30 June 1798 Launched at Price Shipyard, Baltimore, Md., 3 June 1799, and accepted by the Navy in August 1799.

Maryland departed Baltimore 13 September 1799 for the Surinam station. Arriving 1 October, the sloop cruised from French Guiana to Curacao protecting American shipping from attacks by French warships and privateers. The Napoleonic wars were raging in Europe and the French were searching and seizing merchant vessels trading with the British West Indies, causing much loss to American commerce. Maryland captured the schooner Clarissa, an American slave trader without papers 4 January 1800, and then on 26 July fell in with and recaptured without a flight the Portuguese brig Gloria da Mar, which had been captured by French privateer Cherry only 13 days previous.

The sloop cleared Surinam for home 9 August 1800, having served since December 1799 as the only American naval vessel on the Surinam station. Sailing by way of St. Kitts, and St. Thomas, Maryland escorted a large convoy of American and British merchant vessels to safe waters, in addition to capturing Aerial, an American merchantman without papers, 2 September.

She arrived Baltimore 1 October for repairs. Maryland departed Baltimore 22 March 1801 with Congressman John Dawson of Virginia, President Adams' designated bearer of the amended and ratified Pinckney Treaty with France, and arrived Havre de Grace, France, in early May. The sloop remained until 15 July, when, because of difficulties in obtaining ratification, she was released by Congressman Dawson and sent home. Carrying several diplomatic passengers and important letters and dispatches, she returned to her home port Baltimore 28 August. Captain Rodgers discharged the crew and then sold Maryland 2 October 1801 for $20,200.

USS Maryland (1905 - 1930) ACR-8
 

The second Maryland (ACR-8) was laid down by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, on., 7 October 1901; launched 12 September 1903; and commissioned 18 April 1905.

In October 1905, following shakedown, Maryland Joined the Atlantic Fleet for operations along the east coast and in the Caribbean, where she took part in the 1906 winter maneuvers off Cuba. The next summer she conducted a training cruise for Massachusetts Naval Militia, men, and then readied for transfer to the Pacific. Departing Newport 8 September 1906. she sailed, via San Francisco and Hawaii, for the Asiatic station v here she remained until October 1907. She then returned to San Francisco and for the next decade she cruised throughout the Pacific, participating in survey missions to Alaska (1912 and 1913); carrying Secretary of State Knox to Tokyo for the funeral of the Emperor (September 1912); steaming off the Central American coast to aid, if necessary, Americans endangered by political turmoil in Mexico and Nicaragua (1913, 1914, and 1916); and making numerous training cruises to Hawaii and the South Central Pacific.

When Congress declared war on Germany, 6 April 1917, the armored cruiser, renamed Frederick, 9 November 1919, was en route from Puget Sound to San Francisco. Taking on men and supplies at the latter port, she got underway for the Atlantic. From May 1917 through January 1918 she patrolled the southeastern Atlantic off the coast of South America. On 1 February she was assigned to escort duty in the North Atlantic and until the signing of the Armistice she convoyed troopships east of the 37th meridian. By 20 November she was attached to the Cruiser and Destroyer Force and before mid-1919 had completed six round trips returning troops from France. Detached from that duty, she entered the Philadelphia Navy Yard where she was briefly placed in reduced commission.

Frederick crossed the Atlantic again, carrying the U.S. Olympic Team to Belgium, as she conducted a naval reservist training cruise in July of 1920. At the end of that year she returned to the Pacific Fleet. Serving as flagship of the Train, Pacific Fleet, for the next year, she conducted only one lengthy cruise, to South America 1 March 1921. Operations off the west coast took up the remainder of her active duty career and on 14 February 1922 she decommissioned and entered the Reserve Fleet at Mare Island. She was struck from the Naval Register 13 November 1929 and sold 11 February 1930.

USS Maryland (1921 - 1959) BB-46

The third USS Maryland, a 32,600-ton Colorado class battleship, was built at Newport News, Virginia, and commissioned in July 1921. During the 1920s and 1930s, she participated in regular fleet training and combat exercises. Maryland also made some notable long-distance cruises, including one to Rio De Janeiro in the Summer of 1922 to participate in Brazil's Centennial Exposition, the U.S. Fleet's trans-Pacific voyage in 1925, and President-Elect Herbert Hoover's 1928 good-will tour of Latin America.

Maryland's base was changed from Long Beach, California, to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 1940. She was moored at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese struck on 7 December 1941, but received relatively minor damage. Following repairs and overhaul, Maryland operated with Task Force One off the U.S. West Coast in 1942, deploying to the South Pacific later in the year. She took part in operations to capture the Gilbert and Marshall Islands in late 1943 and early 1944, employing her sixteen-inch guns in the pre-invasion bombardments of Tarawa and Kwajalein.

In June 1944, Maryland again participated in pre-invasion gunnery, this time against Saipan. During this operation, she was torpedoed by a Japanese aircraft, necessitating a trip to Pearl Harbor for repairs. The battleship returned to action for the Palaus operation in September 1944. During the Leyte invasion in October, she bombarded enemy positions ashore and fired on Japanese warships during the Battle of Surigao Strait. While operating off Leyte in late November, Maryland was damaged by a "Kamikaze" suicide plane.

Maryland was repaired in time to participate in the Okinawa operation during March and April 1945, was again hit by enemy air attack on 7 April, but remained in action for another week. She then went to the West Coast for overhaul. This work was completed in early August, but the Pacific War ended before she could return to the combat zone. After spending the last months of 1945 transporting servicemen home from the mid-Pacific, Maryland went to Bremerton, Washington, for inactivation. She was decommissioned in April 1947 and remained in "mothballs" until July 1959, when she was sold for scrapping.

USS Maryland (1992 - Present) SSBN-731

The fourth USS MARYLAND is the 13th Ohio-Class TRIDENT Submarine.

Keel Layed:  22 April 1986
Christening Date:  10 August 1991
Commissioning Date:  13 June 1992
Currently:  In Active Service

USS MARYLAND PHOTOGRAPHS

USS MARYLAND (ACR-8)

USS MARYLAND (BB-46)

USS MARYLAND (SSBN 738)

USS MARYLAND (SSBN 738)