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The
USS Omaha was laid down at the Philadelphia
Naval Yard in 1867 as the Astoria, launched June
10, 1869. She was wooden, of 2,400 tons displacement, length 251
feet, beam 38 feet, draft 18 feet (measurements rounded) She was
bark-rigged, and carried 150 tons of coal for auxiliary engines rated
at 950 horsepower. Renamed Omaha on August 10,
1869, and commissioned on September 12, 1872. She served alternately
on the North and South Atlantic Stations. She was refitted at
Philadelphia in 1885, and was ordered to the Asiatic Station that
same year, serving there from 1885 to 1891. Her crew rendered
"exceptional service" in fighting a fire at Hodogaya, Japan
in 1890. During her service she was one of the ships that escorted
the Statute of Liberty into New York Harbor, and her crew marched in
the funeral services for President Grant.
In
1891 Omaha returned to Mare Island Naval Yard, where she was
decommissioned. She was turned over to the Marine Hospital Service,
and equipped as a Quarantine Ship; she was stripped of her rigging,
equipped with two sulphur furnaces, boilers, and disinfection tanks,
and anchored at the Angel Island Quarantine Station in 1893.
A
1902 description of the Angel Island Quarantine Station tells of
"the old war vessel Omaha, upon which is a
complete small station comprising two sulphur furnaces and fans,
tanks and sleeping compartments for one hundred and thirty detained
persons. This hulk is used for the disinfection of vessels."
She
remained at the Quarantine Station until 1913 or 1914. She was
struck from the naval Register in 1914, after 22 years as a naval
vessel, and 21 years as a quarantine hulk. The Navy sold her to Smith
and Bondrow in 1915. I have a report that states that she was
anchored off San Quentin in 1913, still being used for infectious immigrants--possibly
she was moved from Angel Island that year. Another report said she
was anchored "off California City" when she first went into
quarantine service.
John
Soennichsen
Historian
- Angel Island Association