Skip to main content
Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

Rear Admiral Montgomery Sicard, Commander, North Atlantic Station to Secretary of the Navy John D. Long

U.S.Flagship NEW YORK, 1st Rate,

Key West, Florida,

March 1st, 1898.  

Sir:-

     1.   I have to report the following as having been the distribution and employment of ships in this Squadron, for the month of February, 1898:--

NEW YORK:-     On the 4th left for Florida Drill Ground, returning to Dry Tortugas on the 10th.  Left Dry Tortugas on the 16th and arrived at Key West the same day.

MASSACHUSETTS:- On the 4th left for Florida Drill Ground, returning to Dry Tortugas on the 10th.

TEXAS:-        On the 12th left for Galveston, TEXAS, to assist in the celebration of the Mardi Gras.  She left Galveston for Dry Tortugas on the 23rd, arriving at the latter place on the 26th.

MAINE:-        At Havana, Cuba.1

BROOKLYN:-     Left NEW YORK Navy Yard on the 4th  for Hampton Roads, arriving there the following day.  On the 6th she left Hampton Roads for a cruise through the West Indies under order from the Department.

NASHVILLE:-     Arrived Key West on the 2nd.  Left Key West on the 4th and arrived at Dry Tortugas on the following day. She returned to Key West on the 6th, arriving there the same day, and left Key West for Galveston, TEXAS, to assist in the celebration of the Mardi Gras, arriving there on the 15th. Left Galveston on the 23rd and arrived at Key West on the 26th.

MONTGOMERY:-  Left Key West on the 2nd for Matanzas, and having called at the following places:- San Tiago, Port Antonio, San Domingo, and SamanaBay - returned to Tampa, Fla, where she arrived on the 23rd, and Key West on the 26th.

IOWA:-         On the 4th left for Florida Drill Ground returning to Dry Tortugas on the 10th.

FERN:-         Doing dispatch duty between the Squadron and Key West until the 16th, when she went to Havana to the assistance of Captain Sigsbee2 of the MAINE.

MARBLEHEAD:-   Left Key West on the 6th for Florida Drill Ground arriving there the following day.  On the 12th she Dry Tortugas for New Orleans to assist in the celebration of the Mardi Gras at that place, arriving there on the 15th.  Left New Orleans on the 23rd and arrived at Key West on the 25th.

VESUVIUS:-      Engaged in patrol duty off East Coast of Florida.

DETROIT:-       Left Dry Tortugas for Key West on the 7th and arrived on the following day at the latter place.  On the 12th she left Key West for Mobile, Ala., to assist in the celebration of the Mardis Gras at that place, arriving there on the 15th.  Left Mobile for Key West 23rd and arrived Key West the 25th.  On the 28th she left for Dry Tortugas.

Very respectfully,

M. Sicard

Rear Admiral, Comdr.-in-Chief,

U.S.Naval Force on North Atlantic Station.

Source Note: CyS, DNA, AFNRC, M625, roll 227. Addressed below close: “The Secretary of the Navy,/Navy Department,/Washington, D.C./Navigation.” Document reference: “No. 149.” Docketed: “U.S. Flagship NEW YORK/(1st Rate)/Key West Florida/MAR 1 98/Sicard, MONTGOMERY,/Rear-Admiral,/Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Naval Force,/North Atlantic Station./Subject:/Movement of ships February 1898.”

Footnote 1: Maine exploded on the evening of 15 February 1898, and the wreckage was still in Havana Harbor.

Footnote 2: Capt. Charles D. Sigsbee.