USS Salem (CL-3), Scout Cruiser No. 3, was a of the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

. She was the first Navy ship named for the city of Salem, Massachusetts

Salem, Massachusetts

Salem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County...

.

Salem was laid down on 28 August 1905 by the Fore River Shipyard

Fore River Shipyard

The Fore River Shipyard of Quincy, Massachusetts, more formally known as the Fore River Ship and Engine Building Company, was a shipyard in the United States from 1883 until 1986. Located on the Weymouth Fore River, the yard began operations in 1883 in Braintree, Massachusetts before being moved...

; launched

Ship naming and launching

The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...

 on 27 July 1907, sponsored by Mrs. Lorna Pinnock; and commissioned

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...

 on 1 August 1908, Commander

Commander (United States)

In the United States, commander is a military rank that is also sometimes used as a military title, depending on the branch of service. It is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the military, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Naval rank:In the United States...

 Henry B. Wilson in command.

Pre-World War I

As one of the Navy's first turbine

Turbine

A turbine is a rotary engine that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work.The simplest turbines have one moving part, a rotor assembly, which is a shaft or drum with blades attached. Moving fluid acts on the blades, or the blades react to the flow, so that they move and...

-engined warships, Salem departed Boston on 17 October 1908 to carry out extensive trials along the Atlantic coast. Joining her sister ships, and , in the Scout Cruiser Division in June 1909, Salem cruised in the Atlantic, making one voyage to Funchal

Funchal

Funchal is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira. The city has a population of 112,015 and has been the capital of Madeira for more than five centuries.-Etymology:...

, Madeira

Madeira

Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...

. Assigned to the 5th Division, Atlantic Fleet

United States Fleet Forces Command

The United States Fleet Forces Command is an Atlantic Ocean theater-level component command of the United States Navy that provides naval resources that are under the operational control of the United States Northern Command...

, in, 1910, Salem briefly deployed to Haitian waters during August 1911, returning to the New York Navy Yard on 11 September. Subsequently placed in reserve at the Boston Navy Yard

Boston Navy Yard

The Boston Navy Yard, originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard and later Boston Naval Shipyard, was one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities in the United States Navy. Established in 1801, it was officially closed as an active naval installation on July 1, 1974, and the property was...

 on 20 April 1912, Salem relieved Wabash as receiving ship there on that date and served until 7 October. Then reassigned to the Reserve Force, Atlantic Fleet, Salem subsequently made a cruise to Gibraltar

Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...

 and returned to the United States in late March 1913. Arriving at Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads

Hampton Roads is the name for both a body of water and the Norfolk–Virginia Beach metropolitan area which surrounds it in southeastern Virginia, United States...

 on 25 March, she shifted to Philadelphia

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

 on 30 March.
Salem remained at Philadelphia, in reduced commission, into 1914. On 23 April, Salem was placed in full commission and assigned to the Special Service Squadron for duty in Mexican waters. She cruised off the Mexican port of Veracruz

Veracruz, Veracruz

Veracruz, officially known as Heroica Veracruz, is a major port city and municipality on the Gulf of Mexico in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The city is located in the central part of the state. It is located along Federal Highway 140 from the state capital Xalapa, and is the state's most...

 supporting US operations ashore until assigned to the Cruiser Squadron, Atlantic Fleet, on 2 September. Departing Veracruz on 19 September, Salem arrived at Boston on 1 October for service with the Atlantic Fleet but was detached from the Cruiser Squadron on 25 November, and was again placed in reserve on 1 December. She relieved Brooklyn as receiving ship at the Boston Navy Yard on 12 March 1915 and served there until assigned to the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

 on 21 May 1916. Cruising off Mexican and Dominican ports, Salem transported Marine detachments, assisted in radio communication links, and protected United States interests until returning to the Philadelphia Navy Yard to be placed out of commission on 2 December.

World War I

Following US entry into World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Salem was recommissioned on 21 April 1917 for duty as a receiving ship at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Two days later, however, she was decommissioned and towed to the Boston Navy Yard to have her original Curtis turbines replaced by General Electric turbines.

Recommissioned on 25 July, while still undergoing overhaul, Salem stood out of Boston harbor on 12 March 1918 for New London, Connecticut

New London, Connecticut

New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....

, to join a force gathering to convoy submarine chasers across the Atlantic. From 31 March-15 June, she served as flagship for two convoys of submarine chasers, leaving both at Ponta Delgada

Ponta Delgada

Ponta Delgada is a city and municipality on the island of São Miguel in the archipelago of the Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal. It includes 44,403 residents in the urban area, and approximately 20,113 inhabitants in the three central parishes that comprise the historical city: São Pedro,...

, Azores

Azores

The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...

, and returning westward. On 18 June, she became a flagship of a flotilla of 12 submarine chasers assigned to Key West

Key West

Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida on the North American continent at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys. Key West is home to the southernmost point in the Continental United States; the island is about from Cuba....

 to operate against German submarines. Arriving at Key West on the 22nd, Salems force carried out antisubmarine patrols off Florida and as far south as the Yucatán Peninsula

Yucatán Peninsula

The Yucatán Peninsula, in southeastern Mexico, separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico, with the northern coastline on the Yucatán Channel...

 through the remainder of World War I.

On 27 November, the force was disbanded; and, after an overhaul at the Boston Navy Yard, Salem steamed to the west coast. Designated CL-3 on 17 July 1920, she was decommissioned at Mare Island on 16 August 1921; struck from the Naval Vessel Register

Naval Vessel Register

The Naval Vessel Register is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from the time a vessel is authorized through its life cycle and...

 on 13 November 1929; and, with cruisers Albany and New Orleans, sold on 11 February 1930 to D. G. Seagraves of San Francisco, Calif., for scrapping.

External links

• Mare Island Navy Yard - 1928. Elbridge Ayer Burbank
  Elbridge Ayer Burbank
  Elbridge Ayer Burbank was an American artist who sketched and painted more than 1200 portraits of Native Americans from 125 tribes. He studied art in Chicago and in his 30s traveled to Munich, Germany for additional studies with notable German artists...
  
  pencil sketch.