Haze Gray Photo Feature

Great White Fleet Torpedo Flotilla

The destroyers of the Torpedo Flotilla provided a screening force for the fleet during the first part of the Cruise, from Norfolk to San Francisco, via South America and Cape Horn. They also carried out limited independent visits to ports too small to accomodate the battleships. Although they were the largest US destroyers available, they were incapable of long open-ocean transits. Accordingly, they did not accompany the Great White Fleet across the Pacific for the second half of the Cruise. Instead, they were detached from the Fleet at San Francisco and became the Pacific Torpedo Flotilla. All of these craft were sold out of service in 1919.


Torpedo Flotilla
Lt. Hutch I. Cone, Commanding
Whipple (D-15)
Lt. Hutch I. Cone
Although Whipple was the flagship of the Torpedo Flotilla, much of the Flotilla's staff was embarked in Arethusa. Whipple became a banana freighter when she was sold.
Truxtun (D-14)
Lt. Charles S. Kerrick
Stewart (D-13)
Lt. Julius F. Hellweg
Lawrence (D-8)
Lt. Ernest Friedrick
Hull (D-7)
Lt. Frank McCommon
Hopkins (D-6)
Lt. Alfred G. Howe
Tender Arethusa
Commander Albert W. Grant
Arethusa was built in 1893 as a commercial tanker, named Lucilene. She was acquired by the Navy in 1898, renamed, and served as a general-purpose supply ship and water tanker. In 1907 she was outfitted as a tender to the Torpedo Flotilla, and sailed with the Flotilla during its cruise. After the cruise she served in various support roles, eventually becoming a fleet oiler in the Atlantic. She was decommissioned in 1922 and sold in 1927. 		Crew Photo Not Available


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