USS Maine BB-10
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2.
Feb. 4, 2016

I am sending a photo of my grandfather, Walter C. Booth, in naval uniform aboard what is believed to be the USS Maine [BB-10]. My mother (his daughter) believes he served only a short time, before she was born in December, 1917.  She also recalled that he was on the USS Maine.

He was born December 7, 1874, so would have been 42 at the time, which seems rather old to be a "recruit".  The US entered the war in April 1917, I presume he was serving after that, but before December of that year.
He was a Princeton graduate--class of 1900--and I noticed on one site about BB-10 that there were one month cruises with the sons of New York's "great families" and grads of Ivy League colleges.  Perhaps he was on one of those? (He was not, however, from "one of New York's great families"!)--He was, however, a New York City man. Would the Navy have gone to the trouble of issuing uniforms for such a short hitch? I am hoping to find the information that could place this photograph in context, and complete the story of what Grampa Booth was up to in that uniform. Thank you for your help!

Faithfully,
Allen C. Myers

Feb 22, 2016

Further to my previous message:
I came across the following in his 40th college reunion yearbook: "During the War [WWI]. [Booth] was a member of the 9th Coast Artillery N.Y.S.G., formerly Volunteer Coast Artillery.  He went on a Naval Training Cruise on board U.S. Warship Maine in 1916."
"NYSG" might be New York State Guard?  It surprises me that the Navy would have issued a uniform with stenciled name for a training cruise.  Possibly trainees had to pay for these uniforms themselves?

I guess this nails the photograph, probably to the summer of 1916. He was married Feb 29, 1916; my mother (their dtr) was born Dec 24, 1917--so her recollection that he was home at the time of her birth is apparently accurate, or at least consistent with his wartime service.

Interesting that training cruises and coast artillery were active in 1916 (a year before the US entered the war), as were the Plattsburgh Training Camps, attended by three relatives on my father's side.  His father, born 1880, however, served in the NJ Auxiliary police forces guarding the oil depots in northern NJ.  Though six years younger than Booth, he was still too old to serve in the active regular Army, but did see service in the volunteer home guard.

Faithfully,
Allen C. Myers

 

1.
Aug. 27, 2011

My grandfather, Lucius L. Dean, Sr., was a Machinist Mate 2nd Class on the USS Maine BB-10 during WW1. We have a Masonic medal with his name, rank, ship's name and letters P.M.N.Y. along with a "dog tag" with USN, his name, date of birth and the date 10-17-17, which I think is his enlistment date.

Tom Dean






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