Tampa (ex-Miami)

 

1912

 

USCGC Tampa known as Miami

Revenue Cutter Miami

USCGC Tampa, originally known as Miami, was built by the Newport News Shipbuild­ing and Drydock Corporation, Newport News, Virginia. Construction was authorized on 21 April, 1910. She launched on 10 February 1912, and was commissioned on 19 August.

Following the sinking of RMS Titanic in April 1912, Miami was assigned ice patrol duty with Seneca in 1913, and saw extensive duty as part of the international ice patrol.
 
That same year, Miami and her crew participated in the city of Tampa’s Gasparilla Pirate Festival, a celebration of a mythical Spanish pirate. That tradition continued until the United States entered World War I in 1917. The cutter and crew enjoyed a close relationship with the city of Tampa, and was re­named in honor of the city in 1916.

Tampa, under the command of Captain Charles Satterlee, was one of six Coast Guard cutters assigned to convoy duty in European wa­ters during World War I. Armed with four 3-inch guns, she es­corted eighteen convoys, losing only two ships and earning a special commendation for exemplary service.
 

On 26 September 1918, having just detached from her 19th convoy, and sailing alone through the Bristol Channel toward the Welsh port of Milford Haven to recoal, Tampa was torpedoed by the German submarine UB-91. Exploding amidships, she sank in just under three minutes. One hundred and thirty men lost their lives, including 111 Coast Guardsmen.
 

The sinking of the cutter was the single largest loss of life for the Coast Guard during World War I. The sacrifices of her crew were not forgotten. The city of Tampa conducted a fundraising campaign, “Remember the Tampa!,”  to an effort to sell war bonds. In 1921, the Coast Guard christened a new cutter in her name. Seven years later, on 23 May 1928, The US Coast Guard Memorial was dedicated at Arlington National Cemetery, honoring the sacrifice of those who had served aboard Tampa.

 

 

Crew of Miami

The crew of Miami

Captain Charles Satterlee

Captain Charles Satterlee

USCGC Tampa in Gibraltar

USS Tampa, in Gibraltar

 

For further information:

Specifications for Building Single-Screw Steel Vessels for the U.S. Revenue-Cutter Service 1910. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1910.

Memo "Subject: Names of cutters" [Authorizing changing the name of CGC Miami to Tampa, 1915]. 

Remember the Tampa!: A Legacy of Courage During World War I. A history written by Nora Chidlow & Arlyn Danielson (Washington, DC: U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office, 2018).

 

Tampa Purple Hearts
2018 - Chief Historian Scott Price at CGC TAMPA Commemoration
2018 - Chief Historian Scott Price at CGC TAMPA Commemoration
2007 - CGC Tampa Underway
CGC TAMPA - The Coast Guard Cutter Tampa patrols off the coast of Key West, Fla., August 1, 2007 in support of alien migration interdiction operations and search and rescue missions. The Tampa is 270 feet long and was commissioned on March 16, 1984. Coast Guard photo by PA1 Dana Warr.
2001 - CGC Tampa Conducts Seizure
Southeastern Bahamas (Jan. 10)--Coast Guard Cutter Tampa, working with the 110-foot Florida-based cutters Monhegan, Matagorda and Padre, directed the seizure of a high speed Go-Fast boat loaded with 5,000 lbs. of marijuana and more than 300 lbs. of hashish oil early Wednesday morning in the southeastern Bahamas. U.S. COAST GUARD PHOTO
1918 Loss of USS TAMPA
Painting by John D. Wisinski, USCG of the loss of USS TAMPA by UB-91 in the Bristol Channel off Wales in 1918.
TAMPA on Convoy Duty During the World War
TAMPA on Convoy Duty During the World War; WPA painting-mural now at the USCGA
USCGC TAMPA (ex-MIAMI)
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter TAMPA (formerly MIAMI)

USS Tampa Purple Heart Project

At the time of Tampa’s loss, the Purple Heart was not authorized. In 1942, eligibility was extended to include the Coast Guard, but it was not until 1952 that the awarding of the Purple Heart was made retroactive for actions after 5 April 1917. However, Tampa was overlooked until 1999, when then-Commandant Admiral James Loy authorized the posthumous awarding of the Purple Heart Medal to the crew of CGC Tampa. Today, over one hundred years after Tampa was lost and twenty years after the first Purple Heart was awarded to one of her crew, the Coast Guard is still attempting to identify those families who have yet to receive their ancestors’ Purple Heart. The following crew list identifies those individuals who have yet to be awarded the Purple Heart for their sacrifice. (Please note the red text denotes those Purple Hearts already awarded or in progress.) To submit applications for TAMPA Purple Hearts, please contact Ms. Nora Chidlow, Coast Guard Archivist, at nora.l.chidlow@uscg.mil or 202-559-5142. Documentation showing the descendant’s relationship to the Tampa crew member, such as family trees, pages from family Bibles, birth/death certificates, and/or pages from Ancestry or other genealogical applications, is required to apply for a Purple Heart. Please expect about 4-6 weeks for processing.

Since 1999, a total of 26 Tampa Purple Hearts have been awarded.  10 more will be awarded on May 24, 2019.  There are presently an additional 18 Tampa Purple Heart packages being processed at Medals & Awards, with another 12 awaiting final paperwork for submission.  That leaves approximately 49 Tampa Purple Hearts still unclaimed.  There were 84 unclaimed when we started this project.

Coast Guard

James Jenkins Adams, 23, Key West, Florida

Robert Leake Agee, 22, Ft. Lauderdale, Forida

Earle Clarke Bell, 23, Dover, Florida

Algy Knox Bevins, 23, Davenport, Florida

Arthur Lee Bevins, 25, Davenport, Florida

Roy Ackerman Bothwell, 28, Brooklyn, New York

John Bouzekis, 23, Pashalimani, Greece

Leonard Richardson Bozeman, 24, Tampa, Florida

William Richard Bozeman, 29, Tampa, Florida

John Robertson Britton, Jr. , 22, Tampa, Florida

Roy Wallace Burns, 23, Brocton, Massachusetts

Alfonso Joseph Busho, 21, Saulte Ste. Marie, Michigan

Arthur Robert Campbell, 22, Brooklyn, New York

Herman A. Carmichael, 18, Tampa, Florida

John Thomas Carr, 40, Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts

William Benson Clements, 20, Boston, Massachusetts

Walter Randolph Connell, 19, Tampa, Florida

Stanley Shields Cooke, 25, Denver, Colorado

Richard Cordova, 26, Key West, Florida                                          

Frank William Creamer, 25, Brooklyn, New York

Joseph Cygan, 27, New Bedford, Massachesetts

Benjamin Nash Daniels, 25, Baltimore, Maryland

Jules Garnier Darnou, 41, Tampa, Florida

Arthur Joseph Deasy, 23, Brooklyn, New York

Charles Dechrit, 20, Danbury, Connecticut

William Francis Deering, 25, Boston, Massachusetts

Edgar Francis Dorgan, 21, Woodhaven, New York 

Gilbert James Doyle, 24, Brooklyn, New York

James Marsden Earp, 30, Baltimore, Maryland

Albert Cecil Emerson, 20, Tampa, Florida

Herrick Leopold Evans, 19, Key West, Florida

Clarence Milton Faust, 20, Chicago, Illinois

William Leonard Felton, 18, Key West, Florida

Norman Wood Finch, 23, Springfield, Massachusetts                                  

James Marconnier Fleury, 30, Jamaica, New York 

Peter Fonceca, 18, Boston, Massachusetts

James Alexander Frost, 30, Brooklyn, New York

Charles Emmitt Galvin, 24, Tampa, Florida

Frank Charles Garrett, 22, Flip, Missouri

Charles Edward Greenwald, 26, Albany, New York

George Henry Griffiths, 22, Mineola, New York

Hans Hansen, 17, Hvitmolle, Sweden

Arthur Thomas Harris, 25, Brooklyn, New York

Otto Guenerious Harrison, 21, Jamaica, New York

William Pizza Hastings, 21, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Harold Michel Haugland, 26, Haughland, Norway

John Francis Healy, 23, Brooklyn, New York

William Hickey, 33, Boston, Massachusetts

William Holland, 20, Newark, New Jersey

Hubert Holstein, 19, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Maurice James Hutton, 35, Washington, District of Columbia

Harold Benjamin Irish, 21, Hartford, Connecticut

Hans Ivar Johanson, 30, Arslat Tassune, Bohnslan, Sweden

Carl Ivar Johnson, 23, Ragan, Nebraska 

Edward William Kelleher, 29, Maxwell, Nebraska

Charles Henry Klingelhoefer, 42, Baltimore, Maryland

John Cieslw Kosinski, 22, Baltimore, Maryland

Wilhelm Knudsen, 33, Copenhagen, Denmark

Bert Hunter Lane, 23, Lakeland, Florida

Ludvig Andres Larsen, 27, Odderns, Kristianssand, Norway

Clement Minor Lawrence, 21, New York, New York 

Shelby Westen Layman, 25, Rineyville, Kentucky

Eston Drew Legree, 19, Tampa, Florida

Joseph Lieb, 18, Brooklyn, New York

Angus Nelson MacLean, 23, Sneads, Florida

John Farrell McGourty, 36, New London, Connecticut

Frederick Mansfield, 23, Tampa, Florida

Percy Mansfield, 19, Tampa, Florida

Gerassemos Mehalatos, 36, Agea Efhemea, Chefalonia, Greece

John Fred Miller (Johann Topoloski), 30, Jamaica, New York

Harold George Myers, 18, Tampa, Florida

Benjamin E. Nelson, 25, Elroy, Wisconsin

William Foster Newell, 19, Jacksonville, Florida

Jacob Darling Nix, 30, Estelle, South Carolina

Wesley James Nobles, 20, Gasparilla, Florida

Robert Norwood, 18, San Antonio, Texas

Charles Walter Parkin, 17, Greystone, Rhode Island

Felix George Poppell, 19, Quay, Florida

Anders Poulsen, 26, Voer, Denmark

Frank Hugh Quigley, 26, Wallingford, Connecticut

William Henry Reynolds, 22, Sanderson, Florida

John Irving Richards, 18, Dorchester, Massachusetts

Perry Edward Roberts, 40, Key West, Florida

Robert Green Robertson, 18, Birmingham, Alabama

Jimmie Ross (Vincenzo Guerreira), 16, Tampa, Florida

Alexander Louis Saldarini, 20, Union Hill, New Jersey

Michael Sarkin, 27, South Framingham, Massachusetts

Charles Satterlee, 43, Gales Ferry, Connecticut

Archibald Howard Scally, 35, Baltimore, Maryland

Paul Bartley Schwegler, 25, Washington, District of Columbia

Francis Richard Scott, 26, Muskegeon, Michigan

Edward Francis Shanahan, Jr., 21, Jersey City, New Jersey

Irving Slicklen, 15, New York, New York

John Smith (Peter Skelte), 28, Libau, Russia

Homer Sumner, 19, Tampa, Florida

Wamboldt Sumner, 24, Tampa, Florida

John Edgar Talley, 20, Oakhurst, Florida

Frank Joseph Taylor, 25, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Louis Avery Thomas, 20, Charleston, South Carolina

Charles Henry Thompson, 19, Key West, Florida

Harald Tonneson, 37, Brooklyn, New York

Julius Maxim Vallon, 23, New York, New York

Louis Franklin Vaughan, 18, Tampa, Florida

Norman Stanley Walpole, 20, Weehauken, New Jersey

Paul Other Webb, 19, Tampa, Florida

William Weech, 31, Key West, Florida

Justin Plummer Wiley, 23, Dorchester, Massachusetts

Francis LeRoy Wilkes, 21, Nantucket, Massachusetts

James Cristopher Wilkie, 29, Charleston, South Carolina

William Williams, 24, Calumet, Michigan

Fred Wesley Wyman,  23, Goffstown, New Hampshire

 

Navy

Carl Lewis Dalton, 21, Gastonia, North Carolina

David A. Hoffman, 22, Boston, Massachusetts

Edward Reavely, 23, Sale Creek, Tennessee

Hadley Howard Teter, 27, Conshocton, Ohio